Category — Health & Wellnes

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, left, shakes hands with former Vice President Al Gore at a ceremony to sign the Global Warming Response Act at Giants Stadium Friday, July 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

On the eve of Live Earth (a series of concerts around the world drawing attention to global warming, including one at The Meadowlands), Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed the “Global Warming Response Act” into law.

On Friday, New Jersey became the third state in the nation to enact a comprehensive greenhouse gas reduction law Requiring the Garden State to significantly cut emissions of global-warming gases. California and Hawaii have adopted similar laws, and eight other states are considering them.

Passage of these laws can “inspire hope and build the enthusiasm necessary to get this crisis solved,” Al Gore, the former vice president turned environmental activist told an enthusiastic crowd of lawmakers and environmentalists who witnessed the bill signing. Under the new law, the Department of Environmental Protection will conduct an emissions inventory, and based on the results, devise a plan to monitor and reduce harmful emissions. The law mirrors an executive order Corzine issued in January. Emissions from fossil fuels, such as coal and gasoline, are believed by many scientists to be a leading cause of global warming.

The Live Earth concerts scheduled for Saturday were inspired and backed by Gore’s campaign to force global warming onto the international political agenda by generating a groundswell of public concern.

GRAIN a 16th year hold international non-governmental organization (NGO) which promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people’s control over genetic resources and local knowledge, has just published a special issue of Seedling which focuses on biofuels, or as they like to call them, agrofuels.
In this special edition, Seedling argues that the wide-scale cultivation of agrofuels will actually make things worse in many parts of the world, notably South-east Asia and the Amazon basin where the drying of peat lands and the felling of tropical forest will release far more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than will be saved by using agrofuels.

More than 30 groups from around the world are calling for a Moratorium to stop the EU rush for biofuels (or agrofuels). They warn that agrofuel production for EU markets will accelerate climate change, destroy biodiversity and uproot local communities.
2007-06-27 | Joint Press Release by EcoNexus, Biofuelwatch, Corporate Europe Observatory.

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Kombucha, the “mushroom drink”, also known as the “Manchurian mushroom” is a healthful drink made from a culture that grows on tea, sugar, and water. The increase in popularity of Kombucha can be seen with the many commercial brands now entering the retail marketplace and from the myriad of web pages about the fermented beverage. Becoming more and more common amongst the health-food and yoga set, with annual sales of $34 million according to a recent article by Katy McLaughlin for The Wall Street Journal (6/23/07), we decided to go in for a closer look.

Kombucha has been described as possessing some fantastic therapeutic qualities, if you can stand the way it looks, tastes and smells. God knows I couldn’t bring myself to drink it the first few times I tried…at least not with my eyes open. At first glance, it reminded me of the first time I tried egg drop soup as a child. It just didn’t seem like something meant for human consumption, seemed a bit too slimy. Well after much procrastination, I finally took the plunge. Conclusion: Ginger is the best flavor being that it’s the only flavor that seems to mask the yeasty acidity that I associate most Kombucha drinks with. A few tips for Kombucha selection: - Buy it from a well-stocked health food store – Whole Foods carries a great selection. - Buy a bottle that has a small mat floating on the top – this suggests that it is still alive.- Don’t be alarmed by the taste, Kombucha tastes strange.

The claimed benefits: [Read more →]

A dear friend of ours recently turned us on to a great new book called Visionary Plant Consciousness: The Shamanic Teachings of the Plant World In it, 23 leading experts reveal the ways that psychoactive plants allow nature’s “voice” to speak to humans and what this communication means for our future. Exploring the relevance of plant-induced visions and shamanic teachings to humanity’s environmental crisis, the book comes complete with winning contributions from Terence McKenna, Andrew Weil, Wade Davis, Michael Pollan, Alex Grey and Katsi Cook to name just a few.

Visionary plants have long served indigenous peoples and their shamans as enhancers of perception, thinking, and healing. These plants can also be important guides to the reality of the natural world and how we can live harmoniously in it. In Visionary Plant Consciousness: The Shamanic Teachings of the Plant World, editor J. P. Harpignies gathers presentations from the Bioneers annual conference of environmental and social visionaries that explores how plant consciousness affects the human condition. Twenty-three leading ethnobotanists, anthropologists, medical researchers, and cultural figures present their understandings of the nature of psychoactive plants and their significant connection to humans. What they reveal is that these plants may help us access the profound intelligence in nature–the “mind of nature”–that we must learn to understand in order to survive our ecologically destructive way of life.

J. P. Harpignies is associate producer of the national Bioneers conference and coproducer and founder of the Eco-Metropolis conference in New York City. He is the author of Political Ecosystems: Modernity, Complexity, Fluidity and the Eco-Left and Double Helix Hubris: Against Designer Genes, the editor of Visionary Plant Consciousness: The Shamanic Teachings of the Plant World, and the associate editor of Ecological Medicine and Nature’s Operating Instructions: The True Biotechnologies (The Bioneers Series). Interested in hearing more from JP? He will be at the Open Center in NYC on Friday, June 22^nd for a booksigning & evening lecture.

Sir Richard Branson is on a roll…the President of Virgin Atlantic has delivered the first batch of motorcycles that will help to bring much-needed medical support to small villages and communities in Kenya and throughout Africa.

The money for the motorcycles was raised by Virgin Atlantic’s patrons, the onboard charity appeal and by staff who took part in a wide range of fundraising events over the past year. The money was then donated to support the work of the charity Riders for Health. Riders for Health has been working in Africa for close to two decades and will be purchasing and maintaining the motorcycles. The motorcycles will allow a team of healthcare workers to provide rural communities with improved access to essential drugs and basic health services.

Click on http://www.riders.org/en/html/movies_ewan.php to watch an inspiring film that provides greater insight into the work of Riders for Health. The film is narrated by biker and actor Ewan McGregor. For more information on the work of Riders for Health please log onto Riders.org.

What I wouldn’t give to be a turtle some days…to be able to retreat into my hard shell, to go within when the world is too demanding, to remain calm, peaceful, and happy…going along at my own pace. Well, being that that isn’t an option currently, the Turtle Sanctuary at Le Meridien Bora Bora is a haven for the little guys — and a whole new swimming experience for us humans

The Sanctuary’s main goal: to help save the magnificent hawksbill, green sea turtles. The hotel even offers educational presentations to teach guests about these beautiful creatures, and guests can swim with the turtles in the picturesque lagoon or even “adopt” a turtle and help in the quest to return these animals to their natural wild habitat as you track its progress online.

According to a recent article in Newsweek, the new “it” drink is yerba mate (rhymes with latte). This South American earthy tea has more antioxidants than green tea!

Not news to many of us…I was turned on to it a few years back by a friend of mine…who after hearing about my love of caffeine, but distaste for what it did to my stomach, (not to mention my ulcer), made me my first delicious cup! With Mate, you get a great buzz, sans the coffee jitters. Containing a unique stimulant called trifecta: caffeine, theophylline (found in tea) and theobromine (found in chocolate), Yerba Mate’s got you covered.

Known for its rejuvenating powers, mate isn’t just a beverage…it’s now making a grand appearance in skin-care products from Kiehl’s.

Get your buzz on!

Tagar is a hairy, tufted herb. Indian valerian is prescribed as a remedy for nervous unrest, sleeplessness, depression and other illnesses related to mind.

Who needs Tagar & how does it help?

Mental ill health is essentially a result of disequilibrium brought about by unwholesome interaction between individual and surrounding environment.

This interaction operates through an axis consisting of three fundamentnal factors namely kala (time rhythm), buddhi (intellect( and indryatha (sensorail inputs). The resulting edisequilibrium causes a wide-array of altered behavior being reflected on the mental state.

Valerian is a nervine, aiding sleep and helping fight depression. It helps people under emotional stress or pain. In a recent study done on chronic sleeplessness, valerian improved the quality of sleep in 89% of the participants. Of those participants, 44% described their night’s rest as perfect sleep.

Who should not take Tagar?

Caution should be taken during pregnancy. One should also avoid taking Valerian during activities which require alertness.

As with all medications, use only under the direction of a qualified practitioner.

Ayurveda is the science of life / longevity. Yoga is the science of aligning the individual self with the universal Self. Yoga tries to expand the narrow constricted egoistic personality to the all-pervasive, eternal and blissful state of reality. Both sciences aim at developing our physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels of being.

During the course of the next few weeks, we hope to provide you with a bit more information on the various types of yoga and to discuss some of the basic principles. For now, just sit back and b-r-e-a-t-h-e…

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