You probably have a routine for when you get home from work. You might go through your mail, change out of your work clothes, spend a few minutes checking in with your spouse or maybe grab something to drink. You get the idea.
You basically have a handful of automatic responses designed to help you physically and emotionally recover from your day. And it requires no thinking on your part. Unfortunately, because of the increasingly complex and demanding lives most of us are choosing to live, these automatic responses are not enough.
The winner of Mitchum’s Hardest Working Man in America contest was awarded $100,000 last month for his labor of love: hauling tires, trash – and even rusty cars – out of the nation’s rivers on behalf of his non-profit conservation group.
Chad Pregracke has worked for twelve years to clean up America’s rivers – retrieving over six million pounds of debris including 775 refrigerators and 55,000 tires.
Pregracke was shocked as a high school student when he first glimpsed the trash that littered the bottom of the Mississippi. In 1998 he founded Living Lands & Waters, based in East Moline, Illinois, and today, the organization has grown to include ten full-time employees and a fleet of four barges, a towboat, six workboats, two skid steers, six work trucks. The crew has worked with tens of thousands of volunteers along the Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, and Potomac Rivers.
“Chad’s work in preserving the Mississippi, Illinois and other rivers for the enjoyment of all epitomizes the drive and dedication embodied in Mitchum’s hardest working person in America contest, and truly justified America’s decision to vote him the winner.”” said Alan T. Ennis, CEO of Revlon, Mitchum’s parent company.
“Although Mitchum’s contest focused solely on my efforts,” said the humble Pregracke. “I can’t accomplish the mission without the help from a dedicated bunch of conservationists and thousands of volunteers that allow us to keep the rivers clean.”
His work offers other rewards beyond peace of mind: He met his bride-to-be when she came on board as a volunteer.
Having received 50,000 votes in the Mitchum contest, Pregracke will be among the subjects featured in a short film by acclaimed documentary director Albert Maysles set to premiere on Sundance Channel in early October.
A wide range of Americans submitted reality videos on which the voting was based, ranging from a drill sergeant, fighter pilot and working mother, to a custodian, and blacksmith. Their films offered a rare bird’s eye view into our neighbors’ lives and provided a source of inspiration on the tireless efforts of Americans every day.
The winner of Mitchum’s Hardest Working Man in America contest was awarded $100,000 last month for his labor of love: hauling tires, trash – and even rusty cars – out of the nation’s rivers on behalf of his non-profit conservation group.
Chad Pregracke has worked for twelve years to clean up America’s rivers – retrieving over six million pounds of debris including 775 refrigerators and 55,000 tires.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control analyzed 2000-2009 data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey on tobacco use and found a significant decline over the decade.
During 2000–2009, the prevalence of current tobacco use among middle school students declined 6.9 percent (15.1% to 8.2%), and cigarette smoking experimentation declined 14.8 percent (29.8% to 15.0%).
Similar trends were observed for high school students, with current tobacco use declining from 34.5% to 23.9% – an improvement of more than 10 percent. Experimentation with cigarettes in high school also was down nine percent over the decade, according to the school-based survey.
Middle school girls who said they smoked decreased even further during the latter period of 2006-2009, down from around 6.5% to 4.5%. And, similar trends were seen among high school girls recently, with tobacco use dropping between 2-4 percent.
There’s a lot less smoking in the movies these days, too, a new report shows. In the most popular films from 1991 to 2009, tobacco use on the silver screen peaked in 2005 and has been on the decline since.
Last year more than half of the 145 top movies released didn’t show any smoking at all. That’s a record for the past two decades. For films aimed at children or teens, the percentage of non-smoking was even higher — 61 percent.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control analyzed 2000-2009 data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey on tobacco use and found a significant decline over the decade.
During 2000–2009, the prevalence of current tobacco use among middle school students declined 6.9 percent (15.1% to 8.2%), and cigarette smoking experimentation declined 14.8 percent (29.8% to 15.0%).
Gene targeting drug therapy may offer hope for those with difficult-to-treat advanced-stage skin cancer according to preliminary data published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Treatment with the drug was able to shrink tumors and slow the progression of the disease for 81 percent of patients with metastatic melanoma.
A Haitian-born Canadian singer has taken leave from a successful musical career to help the earthquake-displaced people in his homeland by spearheading the building of a village.
But Luck Mervil wants to build homes that will withstand any natural disaster by using retired shipping containers as the main building blocks.
Mervil plans to use 900 retrofitted containers to construct a new village fit for 5,000, erected on a parcel of previously uninhabited land near Leogane, a coastal city west of Port-au-Prince.
Ever since the night 10 years ago, when Oscar Aranda, a biology student out of college, witnessed the gruesome death of a sea turtle killed for its eggs and meat, he has patrolled Puerto Vallarta’s beaches as an unofficial keeper of the sea turtle maternity ward.
He later founded a conservation group, La Sociedad Ecológica del Occidente, dedicated to protecting turtles that nest along Mexico’s northwest Pacific beaches.
From June through December — prime nesting season — Aranda and his unpaid volunteers watch over the shorelines where the turtles lay their eggs.
Ever since the night 10 years ago, when Oscar Aranda, a biology student out of college, witnessed the gruesome death of a sea turtle killed for its eggs and meat, he has patrolled Puerto Vallarta’s beaches as an unofficial keeper of the sea turtle maternity ward.
He later founded a conservation group, La Sociedad Ecológica del Occidente, dedicated to protecting turtles that nest along Mexico’s northwest Pacific beaches.
The University of Oregon is marshaling a veritable army of faculty and students in architecture, law, business, and other fields to help Oregon’s capital transition to a more sustainable and accessible future.
Short on tax dollars, Salem, a city of 150,000 people, will be the academic sandbox for roughly 600 University students in 25 classes who will devote 80,000 hours during the coming year.
Consumer confidence rose in August and home prices gained more than expected in June, easing some worries the economy is headed for another downturn soon.
The data shows “the economy, while it is not going on all cylinders, is also not sliding into this double-dip recession that people are concerned about,” Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp told ABC News.
A Christian relief organization says its aid worker kidnapped in May in Sudan’s Darfur region was freed Monday.
Samaritan’s Purse relief worker Flavia Wagner was held hostage for 105 days by kidnappers but now is doing well and looking forward to being reunited with her family in the United States.
“We thank God that Flavia is safe and free,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “We appreciate the help of the government of Sudan and the United States government.
From Lexie C. comes this video of a daily friendship between a dog and a dolphin. Every day the dolphin comes calling to the seaside pier and calls the dog, who comes running…
Brad Pitt was interviewed for Meet The Press on this anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and gave a tour of the new homes built by his Make It Right Foundation.
Residents living in these affordable, sustainable homes now pay nothing for electricity because the homes make more energy than they use.
Another special feature is their flood resistant architecture.
Brad Pitt was interviewed for Meet The Press on this anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and gave a tour of the new homes built by his Make It Right Foundation.
Residents living in these affordable, sustainable homes now pay nothing for electricity because the homes make more energy than they use.
Another special feature is their flood resistant architecture.
Exercise is a KEY to happiness. Research shows that people who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, sleep better, and have delayed onset of dementia. They get relief from anxiety and mild depression. They perform better at work.
Also, although it’s tempting to flop down on the couch when you’re feeling exhausted, exercise is actually a great way to boost energy levels. Feeling tired is a reason to exercise, not a reason to skip exercise.
But even when you admit that you’d feel better if you exercised, it can be very hard to adopt the habit. My idea of fun has always been to lie in bed, reading, preferably while also eating a snack – but I’ve managed to keep myself exercising over the years by using all these tricks on myself:
Exercise is a KEY to happiness. Research shows that people who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, sleep better, and have delayed onset of dementia. They get relief from anxiety and mild depression. They perform better at work.
Also, although it’s tempting to flop down on the couch when you’re feeling exhausted, exercise is actually a great way to boost energy levels. Feeling tired is a reason to exercise, not a reason to skip exercise.
But even when you admit that you’d feel better if you exercised, it can be very hard to adopt the habit. My idea of fun has always been to lie in bed, reading, preferably while also eating a snack – but I’ve managed to keep myself exercising over the years by using all these tricks on myself:
Understanding that many people are suffering from “compassion fatigue,” Angelina Jolie stepped forward on Monday to donate $100,000 to efforts to help the victims of the floods in Pakistan.
While promoting her spy thriller “Salt” in London, Jolie told the Washington Post that she understands “it is getting hard for people – they see Haiti, they see these other events … and they get exhausted by the time another big one rolls around.”
When Jenni Ware found herself unable to locate her wallet as she stood in front of the cash register at Trader Joe’s market, a stranger stepped forward to pay her entire $207 bill.
The next day, Jenni sent a check in the mail for $300 to cover the Good Samaritan’s deed — enclosing an additional $93.
A Facebook discussion propelled Carolee Hazard to give the extra money to a hunger charity.
She also sent $93 of her own money, added to Jenni’s $93, and donated the cash to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.
But the kindness didn’t stop there. An avalanche of like donations started pouring in from Facebook friends, eventually totaling $100,000 in spontaneous giving.
USA Today reports the two women, who are now good friends, started the 93 Dollar Club on Facebook to collect donations from around the world to feed hungry families in Northern California.
You probably have a routine for when you get home from work. You might go through your mail, change out of your work clothes, spend a few minutes checking in with your spouse or maybe grab something to drink. You get the idea.
