An article by Serena Gordon lists many positive ways that "spirituality" can influence health and longevity. But the experts interviewed are defining spirituality to include more than traditional religion. The executive director of the Integrative Medicine Initiative at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago said spirituality is where people find meaning in their life. It’s what brings them peace and safety:
Belief in a Higher Calling Creates Health
Harvard Course in Happiness Draws Students in Droves
The most popular course at Harvard this semester teaches the skill of positive thinking.
855 students signed up for a positive psychology course to learn how to create "a fulfilling and flourishing life." Harvard is one of about a hundred campuses around the country offering courses that focus on what helps people to feel good. Positive Psychology is the empirical study of such things as positive emotions, strengths-based character, and healthy institutions.
Growing piles of scientific research are promoted on the covers of magazines like Time, and leading to masters degree programs, like the one centered on the work of Dr. Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology.
Condors Return to Big Sur After 100-Year Absence
A Condor nest has been spotted in Northern California for the first time in 100 years. It is believed to contain an egg. Population levels have increased tenfold in recent decades thanks to condor recovery efforts, but this is the first time since 1905 that an active nest appeared in the Big Sur area. KTVU has pictures and this report.
United Arab Emirates to Allow Construction Unions
The BBC reports that the United Arab Emirates is drafting a law that will allow laborers to form trade unions and pursue collective bargaining.
Reminder: Watch/Tape The New Medicine Tonight on PBS
Remember that tonight on PBS Dana Reeve, in one of the last projects she undertook before she died of lung cancer on March 6, hosts The New Medicine, a special on the benefits of alternative therapies in today’s health care. Check local listings.
And, discuss the show on our New Medicine story page.
Head Off Allergies: Expose Kids to Pets and Dirt Early
If you are a mom or dad, and feel guilty about not cleaning your house often enough, relax. You’ve been doing the best thing for your kids’ health.
A USA Today news article, which includes informative links, states:
“What we’ve learned is that it may, in fact, be important to be exposed early on to a sufficient quantity of allergy-causing substances to train the immune system that they are not a threat,” says Andy Saxon of the University of California-Los Angeles.
“Between the ages of zero and 12, you’re learning to read, you’re learning to write, and your immune system is learning to react to things. Part of that is learning to limit reactivity,” says Joel Weinstock of Tufts New England Medical Center.
Resources Pledged to Protect Pacific Islands
The BBC reports on a major milestone for marine conservation efforts in the Pacific and for island biodiversity. $18 million dollars were pledged to protect nearly a third of coastal waters and a fifth of the land area of islands in Micronesia by 2020. In addition:
In a separate move, one of the world’s largest marine parks will be created in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati to protect an extraordinary untouched coral ecosystem… an area twice the size of Portugal, and will heavily restrict human activities (including fishing) in the Phoenix Islands, a group of eight coral atolls between Hawaii and Fiji.
Ontario Hailed as First to Subsidize Solar Power
Ontario, Canada announced an historic proposal to buy clean, renewable electricity from homeowners and entrepreneurs who produce solar, wind or other green power over the next 20 years by connecting them to the power grid. Premier Dalton McGuinty says he hopes the plan will see a quarter of a million homes powered by renewable energy within a decade.
While Canada is far behind European countries like Germany and the Netherlands in providing renewable energy, Ontario’s incentives are leading the way as the most progressive in North America, says well-known environmentalist David Suzuki.
"We’re taking a bold new step that will allow hundreds of small, local renewable-energy producers to get into the energy market," McGuinty said. (more info)
Brazil Expands Amazon Protection as Global Environmental Conference Starts
CURITIBA, Brazil — Brazil announced plans to expand protection of the Amazon rain forest at the opening of 11-day Global Environmental Conference.
Nerve Regeneration One Step Closer in MIT Lab
Christopher Reeve, a quadripelegic since his traumatic fall from a horse resulted in the severing of nerves in his spinal cord, always held fast to the belief that one day he would walk again. Reeve didn’t survive long enough to realize his dream, but today, scores of research scientists, many funded by his foundation, now believe that nerve regeneration is not only possible, it is within reach.
This month, neuroscientists at MIT, lead by Dr Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, repaired traumatic nerve injuries in hamsters with severed optical nerves, not by surgery, but by causing the nerves to grow together and mend. Their breakthrough was founded in the fledgling science of nanotechnology, which applies engineering on a microscopic scale.
One for the History Books, George Mason in the Final Four
Tom Boswell has worked in the Washington Post Sports Department since 1970, and been a D.C. sports fanatic for 50 years, and in terms of local sports drama he says, "In my book, nothing’s close."
For shock impact, for underdog glory and for the inspirational value of watching perfect team play, (it’s) George Mason.
The perfect David and Goliath story…
Valuable Borneo Forests Set Aside to Sustain Endangered Orangutans, Elephants and Rhinos
The government of the Malaysian state of Sabah announced Friday it will protect its most important remaining lowland forests on the island of Borneo. The surprising decision will permanently preserve one of just two places in the world where the endangered orangutans, Bornean Pygmy elephants and the critically endangered Sumatran rhino co-exist, and where forests are still large enough to maintain viable populations of each.
The plan, long sought by conservationists, places three forest reserves, which cover an area the size of Rhode Island, under sustainable forest management. Large-scale timber harvesting would end by 2007 and be replaced with sustainable forest management practices.
“This is one of the most important actions ever taken to secure the future of Borneo’s endangered wild mammals,” said Carter Roberts, CEO and President of Word Wildlife Fund – U.S.
Ruling Gives Political Bloggers Same Protection as Media
The FEC did the right thing for democracy in a 6-0 ruling today. It is only fitting that we should turn to a blogger for the story. Thanks to Rose Colored News for the link, hot off the press.
Responsible Forest Management in South America
Georgetown, Guyana — In a record-setting accomplishment for tropical forest conservation, Barama Company announced that 570,000 hectares (about 2,200 square miles) of Barama’s forests in Guyana is being certified as meeting the rigorous environmental, social and economic standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Thanks to technical and financial support from the World Wildlife Fund, Barama’s certified forest becomes the largest tropical natural forest certified by FSC in the world.
In another example of how rigorous social and environmental practices can improve business as a whole, the certification enables Barama not only to retain access to its current markets in the United States, but opens the door to new buyers in Europe and North America that demand forest products from well-managed forests. As a result, in a country with a high unemployment rate, Barama is able to employ at least 1,500 persons. Before certification, the company was in danger of down-sizing its operations. Today, Barama forecasts increasing employment in the area. Barama’s employees benefit from a better work environment and the company provides social services for local communities such as health services, medicines, transportation in and out of remote areas and emergency assistance. (more info)
Cancer Survivors to Get Better Insurance Rates
The Hartford Financial Services Group is announcing today that they will begin selling insurance at normal rates to men over 60 who have been surgically treated for moderate levels of prostate cancer. In the past, the men would have been forced to wait up to three years following treatment to qualify for life insurance coverage and would have paid much higher rates. (read the full Seattle P-I story)
Oregon Governor Pushes Renewable Energy
An ambitious plan for using renewable energy:
The New Medicine Airs on PBS March 29
A burgeoning movement is taking place in hospitals and clinics across the country, integrating the best of high-tech medicine with a new attitude that recognizes it is essential to the healing process to treat the patient as a whole person, and not a cog in an assembly line. A new public television documentary, The New Medicine, suggests that medical practice in America may be on the brink of a transformation. As scientific findings reveal that the mind plays a critical role in the body’s capacity to heal, the medical community is beginning to embrace a new range of treatment options, including many once considered fringe.
The program, which airs this Thursday on most PBS stations, is hosted by the late Dana Reeve, who died last month with lung cancer following the death of her husband Christopher. The two-hour show visits medical schools, healthcare clinics, research institutions, and private practices to show physicians at work on the cutting edge of this new approach. It explores why even some of the most conservative health institutions are now prescribing meditation and self-hypnosis along with high-tech modern medicine.
Rival Gangs in Jamaica Find Common Ground: A New Woman Prime Minister
common ground reached by rival gangs where gunfire used to be commonplace between supporters of the new Prime Minister’s party, the PNP, on one side of the road, and backers of the Jamaican Labour Party, JLP, on the opposite side:
“While flare-ups here and in other ghetto communities continue, prompted by turf wars and gang disputes, the factions have at least found common ground in Mrs Simpson-Miller.
“The PNP like her, the JLP like her. On this we agree,” Michael Traill, a community leader in the JLP stronghold, said. “She gives us promises — schools, development, help for the children. She came from a poor background like ours.”
The Christian Science Monitor reports on the rising of women in Jamaica and features an inspiring photo of Simpson-Miller among supporters.