gaiaplanet

Activism

2012-01-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

We totally suggest you take a look to the following associations and activists' campaigns who fight for a better world all around the planet!!!

http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/

http://www.charlizeafricaoutreach.org/

A great foundation thanks to which a 100% of the money raised goes to charity!!
A marvellous tale for you children but also for adults!!!!!!!
http://www.justlikeyoufoundation.org/

Nutrition

2011-07-25T09:39:00.001-07:00

What’s in a nutrient?
written by Kate Gardner, MS, RD
http://www.kategardnernutrition.com/

The globalization of trade sparked a new food environment worldwide. Food environments traditionally based on locally procured items have expanded to offer a wide array of options from every corner of the earth. An increasing number people no longer eat to live but rather live to eat. Whereas girth was once considered a sign of wealth, it may now be a risk to one’s health. But amidst all of these delectable options, do you always need to choose the healthy item? When and how often is it ok to indulge?

Obviously, eating is necessary to sustain life – we have to eat in order to get energy, vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients that enable our cells to function normally. But there’s more to it than that. There are many reasons to eat healthy, but the biggest and most obvious is that you’ll feel better. You’ll feel happier, more energetic, and more able to focus your attention.

Eating healthy has value in and of itself and as a means to an end. Great, you’re convinced. Now, how do you do it? Here are, in my opinion, the top 5 principles to guide your food choices:

1. Eat a variety of nutrient rich foods (aka get your fiber and vitamins). We were all taught the 5 food groups (fruits, vegetables, dairy, proteins, grains) so you probably have a basic understanding of your needs. Have a variety of different colored fruits and vegetables, eat lean proteins, choose low fat dairy, and select whole grains. There is no single food that is nutritionally leaps and bounds above its counterparts.
2. Eat as ‘close to the earth’ as possible (aka reduce processing). When a new ‘magic’ extract from the pituitary gland of jumbo shrimp hits the market this fall, don’t jump on it. You don’t need it. Eating is much more intuitive than laboratory synthesized (or even than highly processed) foodstuff. Foods with less processing, grown organically, or raised naturally are generally good selections.
3. Eat moderate portions (aka don’t overeat). You can indulge in any of the highly refined treats that you want, but, they should be treats – consumed occasionally in small portions. We’re all allowed a certain number of discretionary calories – calories needed to maintain our weight but that don’t have to be healthy if the other foods we’re eating are nutrient rich.
4. Maintain balance (aka be aware of what you eat). Every food, every meal, and every day doesn’t have to be a succession of “perfect” foods. Instead, balance your choices. If you didn’t eat any green vegetables today, have some tomorrow and don’t worry about it.
5. Enjoy your food (aka derive pleasure from eating)! People who savor their food and don’t rush though meals tend to be more satisfied. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to sense that your stomach is at a comfortable fullness, so slow down when you eat, have lots of water and enjoy it. Learn to love the food you eat and eat the foods you love.

Oh, and for the record, shrimp don’t have pituitary glands – don’t buy into the marketing schemes! You’re smarter than that and a more sensible eater.

Yoga Workshop with Sri Venudas in Greece

2011-06-13T02:50:00.000-07:00

Yoga Workshop with Sri Venudas
in the island of Samothraki, Greece
3-9 August 2011

Photograph:Clarisse DEMORY
clarissedemory.com

Sri Venudas is born in 1970 in Keralam, Southern India.
He started his studies at the tender age of 3 years old under his Guru and grand-father: Sri Vasudeva Perumal. He learned both Yoga & Music through a traditional way « Guru Kula» : transmission from Guru to disciple. Living by his grand-father in the forest, he learned the yogic way of life near the nature. His knowledge is deeply rooted, with tolerance and intuition.

He began to teach at the age of 14 years old in India and still continues in his country and all over Europe and America for the last 28 years. Nowadays he is based in Paris where he transmits Hatha Yoga and Southern Indian Classical Music. After all these years of observing and teaching, his transmission is imbued with kindness and generosity.

Schedule of the Workshop
This experience is an intensive 7 day yoga workshop, which includes Hatha yoga asana
practice, meditation and mantra singing.
It demands the full commitment of the participants as well as respect of the timetable.
Participants are kindly requested to avoid smoking and are invited to prefer organic
vegetarian food during this 7 day practice.
All participants need to arrive at least one day before the beginning of the workshop to take the necessary time to settle and have a first meeting with the island and its particular natural environment.
There will be a meeting of all participants with the teacher in the evening of the 2nd of August.The opening ceremony begins at 08.00 in the morning of the 3rd of August.

The daily schedule includes

Morning
08.00 - 09.00 meditation
09.00 - 11.00 hatha yoga asana practice

Evening
17.30 - 19.00 hatha yoga asana practice
19.00 - 19.30 mantra singing
19.30 - 20.00 meditation

The practice of the group will be in the nature.

Number of Participants : 10-20

Samothraki Island

Samothraki is a beautiful, particularly green greek island with rich vegetation and wild nature. It is situated on the northern aegean sea. The Saos mountain, where according tothe ancient legends Poseidon used to sit to watch the Trojan war is the highest peak of the aegean sea and gives birth to many little rivers and waterfalls with crystal water. This island with few sandy beaches, it is mostly known for the beautiful lakes and waterfalls.

Samothraki is known from the antiquity for the mystic ceremonies worshiping the Great
Gods that took place in the island, called “Kaviria Mistiria”. Those were the only mystic ceremonies of the antiquity open to all - men, women, greek and non greek people.
Olympiada, Alexander the Greatʼs mother is said to have conceived her son during one of these ceremonies.Samothraki is difficult to reach, and its wild nature attracts mostly ecotourists and discourages the city people from going. This makes the island a precious destination for a peaceful retreat near the nature.

Accommodation

The yoga practice will be in the nature, near the Free Municipality Camping of Samothraki;which is a forest area near the sea where you can camp with your own tent. The camping provides water and showers.
Next to this camping is situated the Organized Municipality Camping of Samothraki; whichalso provides electricity and more comfort.
We clearly recommend the Free Camping area, where you can camp in the forest.
The Workshop activities will be happening around this area.
Prices are around 3 euros per day for adults and 2,5 - 4 euros per day for a tent, depending on the size of the tent.

You can find here some links with photos of the camping and additional information.

http://www.samothraki.com/htm/indexf_g.htm?../nutzer/camping/freecamping/freecamping

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23004334129&v=info

There is also a possibility to rent a room, the village of Therma which is situated 15 minutes on foot from the camping.

links to hotels and rooms to rent

calypso.gr

Food

The participants will be free to eat wherever they want for lunch. There are many beautiful taverns on the island, you can also cook in the camping if you have the necessary equipment. The workshop organization team will arrange for a vegetarian meal in a beautiful tavern of the island, for a “Menu” price.
Dinner will be cooked after the evening meditation, by the fire next to the seaside with the participation of everyone. We bring the ingredients, we prepare the food and eat together.

Transport

There are many ways to get to Samothraki:

- Take a plane to Alexandroupolis (Olympic or Aegean airlines, escale in Athens) and then take the boat to Samothraki (3 hours).

- Get a plane to Thessaloniki; then take the train or a bus to Alexandroupolis (4-5 hours);then take the boat from the port of Alexandroupolis to Samothraki (3 hours).

- Get a plane to Istanbul; then take the train or a bus to Alexandroupolis (5 hours?)
then take the boat from the port of Alexandroupolis to Samothraki (3 hours).

The boat to Samothraki leaves from the city of Alexandroupoli everyday. The cost of the ticket is approximately 15,10€ fixed price.

The Greek Railway Company is called Trainose (ΤΡΑΙΝΟΣΕ). The prices for the tickets
are fixed and you can buy your ticket at the guichet some days before your journey or the same day. There is recently a system to buy online tickets but this is not a common practice.

You can consult the website
tickets.trainose.gr/dromologia

or call for information at 􁽸 +30 2310 59812 (Thessaloniki railway station)

The journey is quite long, but this is one of the reasons why we avoid tourists and city people. Samothraki only accepts those who are really motivated to get there...
The beautiful landscape will reward you.

Contact

For reservations from France and international

Ingy Ganga
ingyvolando@gmail.com, 0033 (0)679 056 022

For reservations from Greece

Xanthoula
dxanthoula@hotmail.com 0030 6934795926

Cost : 200 for working people
150 euros for students, unemployed, couples and greek people

Send your check to Ingy Volando, 12 rue Leon Jouhaux, 75010, Paris

Marathon

2011-06-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Marathon
by Sonia Karim
BSc. Hons Biochem
3 Times Marathon Finisher: New York, London, Rome

“From long distance running I learnt just how constricted we are by consensus and limiting belief systems. Being “out there” for hours does not simply test the physical stamina, it is a serious challenge to mental abilities. It becomes a process of self discovery that totally changes your perceptions and your idea of what is possible as doubts and fears just dissolve. It is incredibly soothing. You learn to construct your own reality by changing your thoughts and this positive mental attitude endures in other areas of your life. In running my first marathon I learnt to trust; I discovered the body is limitless and capable of achieving any feat by sheer will driven by desire. You learn to appreciate and listen to your body like never before. To just let go and venture into an unknown and not hold back. Moment I did, the physical discomfort jolted me. With running you get so involved that nothing else seems to matter: a state of mind when consciousness becomes harmoniously ordered. Something that cannot be taught, it must be experienced. It teaches in a short period just what life tries over decades.”

Tashirat foundation in Mexico

2011-04-26T04:03:00.002-07:00

Tashirat foundation in Mexico

2011-04-26T04:03:00.001-07:00

Tashirat Kids Newsletter – March/April 2011
Dear Family and Friends,

It’s the height of the dry season, and things are getting pretty dusty around here. There seems to be no way of keeping the kids clean, short of keeping them indoors, which frankly, would be too cruel when there is so much nice, chocolate colored dirt around to play with! They also love grinding different rocks and bricks into “chile” powder, and playing “restaurant” with it, but after an hour of two, they are hardly recognizable!

Our teen boys have been diligently building a cement paved bike track, advancing a few meters a day. It's hard work though, so thankfully our recently returned volunteer, Kao, has recruited all the younger boys to join in too, and they are advancing at triple speed. Since everyone is into riding bikes, we can’t wait until it’s finished. Many of the girls also recently received a donation of bikes from friends and family. Thank you Pimi Gill, Tina, Kao and family for their great bikes!

A couple of months ago the children were fast asleep, when smoke from a nearby forest fire forced us into an emergency evacuation of the entire orphanage! As ambulances and police trucks poured into Tashirat, the children huddled together in their pajamas, wide eyed, watching the mountain close behind our bungalows smolder.

We piled them and their bedding into the awaiting rescue vehicles, and were taken to our friends Anneke and Adrian’s house. When we arrived at our friends’ house, there were loads of beds already laid out, but the kids were having so much fun by then that it felt much more like a pajama party than an emergency evacuation!

The next morning, the smoke was better but the kids were having too much fun playing in our friends’ garden and enjoying their gracious hospitality to want to go home.

Other exciting news: we received a new little girl in February, and a new little boy just last week! The girl’s name is Joline and she is 4 ½ years old. She was abandoned when she was two years old, and has spent the last two years living in the big government foster home in Cuernavaca. Jolie was very timorous and insecure, and spent the first few days here sleeping and talking to no one. She is getting happier by the week though and is starting to run, play and gain confidence in herself.

When Jolie first arrived, she behaved much like a two year old. Fortunately, she has started to mature again and seems to be developing the equivalent of a few months every week or so. Surely by the next newsletter she’ll be a very different little person!

Juan Diego is also four years old, and basically grew up in the government foster home since he was abandoned at 6 months of age. He is a very easy kid, who is naturally extroverted and curious about everything that is going on around him.

Juan Diego is always pointing everything out and saying or asking it's name. We think he is going to prove to be one of the easier cases we have taken. He is lacking gross motor skills for a child his age, but we think he may normalize with age and lots of physical activity.

We are also hoping to take more Special Ed in the near future. Recently, we went to the visit the child welfare agency and were begged to take 6 more very special cases, between 5 months and 4 years old. One of the main reasons is that they have seen how the Special Ed. children we have taken in the past, have ended up normalizing a lot in our care. Plus, it is hard to find orphanages who will keep disabled children after they reach age 18, so these cases will probably end up in a government home all their lives, as they will never become 100% independent.

Also, many of the children we took were on up to 4 medications and suffered from many physical problems when they arrived and none is on medication nor do they suffer from those same problems now. The changes in our other children have also been positive; even the youngest of our children give these special children so much affection and love. It has really opened our kids’ hearts to love and care for others who need their love, as well as to receive love from all of us.

The biggest thank you to everyone who has stuck with us in an effort to help our children live a new life!

Happy Spring and best wishes to all,

Tashirat kids and staff

Posture of the month

2011-04-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

Posture of the month –
Adho Mukha Svanasana – Downward Facing Dog

Namaste!

As we move into Spring we enjoy the re birth of nature around us and begin to feel more alive and rejuvenated. Our yoga practise changes too becoming a little more physical and dynamic. Having enjoyed a slow, thoughtful and restorative practise during the winter months , deepening the meditative aspects of our practise and letting go of unwanted patterns, we now awaken to fresh energy.

Adho Mukha Svanasana, the Downward Dog is a prevelant pose in yoga and used to enhance our strength and awareness of breath.

With Spring in the air and the warmer months insight why not enjoy a yoga class with friends either take a class together or roll out the mat in the garden and enjoy a gentle practise in the sun.

Primary aim:
• A resting pose for the entire body and all its functions
Secondary benefits:
• Stretches and strengthens the shoulders and upper chest
• Releases tension from the trunk
• Stretches calves and Achilles tendons
Set up:
• Go down onto all fours
• Activate core muscles, bandhas and breath freely
Performance:
• Inhale curl toes under and lift sit bones up to the sky
• Press fully into the hands, straighten the arms and legs
• Lengthen through the spine and neck
• Exhale, lower the heels to the floor
• Relax the shoulder blades away from the spine
• Position the ears between the arms
• Gaze at the knees
• Breath freely
Avoid:
• Squeezing the shoulders into the neck
• Rounding the back
• Forcing the chest to the floor
Modifications:
• Bend the knees to avoid pressure on the lumber spine and hamstrings
• Lift the heels a little off the floor to release Achilles and calf muscles
• ‘Walk the dog’ to release lower legs and massage hips

Cathy Underwood is the founder and creator of the award winning YOGA4MUMS. To find out more please visit www.yoga4mums.com
www.facebook.com/yoga4mums

Arcturos Foundation

2011-03-23T04:56:00.000-07:00

We thank the representatives of the arcturos foundation
for the courtesy of sharing this inforamtion with us, which belongs to the main website of the foundation: http://www.arcturos.gr/en/default.asp

The Myth

According to an ancient hellenic myth, Callisto was the daughter of Lykaonas, the king of Arcadia. As a young girl, she vowed to the goddess Artemis to be forever faithful and devoted to her. She was to remain a virgin forever in order to serve and accompany her while hunting animals in the forest. However, one day, Zeus, the father of the gods fell in love with Callisto and forced her to sleep with him. Callisto gave birth to a son whom she named Arcadian. Zeus knew that if Hera, his wife, learned of his disloyalty she would be angry with Callisto, so in order to protect her he transformed her into a brown bear. Callisto, as a bear, roamed around the forest looking for her son, Arcadian. After years of searching she found Arcadian who was now a grown man. She finally ran into him and happy as she was she stood on her back legs and tried to embrace him. Arcadian however did not recognize her and thought he was being attacked, so he drew his sword trying to defend himself. Zeus, watching everything, as usual, felt sorry for them and in order to prevent this tragedy he transformed them into constellations (Ursa major and Ursa minor) and placed them near to him in the sky. Hera, who was still furious, asked the Ocean, the river that surrounds the earth, not to permit them to wash themselves in his waters; therefore these two constellations are always seen high in the night sky. Moreover in order to protect them from Hera's jealousy he placed another star near to them, called Arcturos, which means the guardian of Arctos, the bear. It protects and accompanies them for eternity.

The Reality

ARCTUROS was founded in 1992 in order to put an end in the phenomenon of the 'dancing bear' which was at the time a common sight around Greece. Since then ARCTUROS has been actively working for the conservation of large carnivores both in Greece and around the Balkans. Through applied research it gathers information that allows dynamic intervention in cases where important habitats are threatened or destroyed by large technical works such as roads, dams, quarries and so on. At the same time it carries out Special Environmental Studies in areas of high ecological significance. Over the last 15 years ARCTUROS has developed initiatives based on legislative provisions previously not put into action, which improved existing regulations or the establishment of new provisions.

http://www.arcturos.gr/en/default.asp

Posture of the month – Navasana, The Boat

2011-02-28T02:22:00.000-08:00

Posture of the month – Navasana, The Boat
By Cathy Underwood
www.yoga4mums.com
www.facebook.com/Yoga4mums

photo by Nicolas Lapite

Our posture this month is with spring in mind. The Boat helps to maintain the strength and support about the spine, improving posture and mobility. So with the cold winter months behind us, let’s stand tall and enjoy the great outdoors!

Primary aim:
• To strengthen and condition the muscles about the spine

Secondary benefits:
• Aids balance and focus
• Strengthens core muscles and Quadriceps

Set up:
• From sitting, bend knees, place hands on the shins, rock back on to the sit bones.
• Performance:
• Breathing freely lift the feet off the floor
• Lift the chest and lengthen through the spine and neck
• Draw up through the centre of the body
• Extend the arms parallel to the floor
Avoid:
• Rounding the back
• Holding the breath
• Modifications:
• Straighten the legs
• Bend the knees
• Place hands on the floor for more stability

The state of Ease

2011-02-03T07:11:00.000-08:00

The State of Ease
from Doc Childre, founder of HeartMath®

One of the first things most of us do when children (or adults) are overwhelmed with inner turbulence is: we instinctively try to calm them down into a state of ease before starting to sort out solutions. Why do we do this? Because we intuitively sense that the state of ease helps us to get back in our heart which helps to re-stabilize the mind and emotions—this re-connects us with our reasoning capacity and clear view. As we grow into adults we occasionally remember the wisdom of such practices, but it’s often after the fact and after much personal energy drain. This article suggests a few advantages of accessing our state of inner-ease, not just for bailing out of emotional turbulence, but to use throughout the day for maintaining connection and coherent alignment between the heart, mind and emotions.

More and more people share that they are feeling an intuitive nudge to add more heart warmth and deeper connection within themselves and with others. At the speed of life today, operating with low heart energy is often compared to a vehicle that’s operating low on oil, which increases the vulnerability to stress and malfunction. Learning to address life from the state of ease can help increase the heart/care connection in our interactions and can especially help reduce and prevent much stress.

Our personal space of “inner-ease” can be accessed with minimum practice and a little time spent. When operating in the ease-mode, it’s easier to choose less stressful perceptions and attitudes and re-create “flow” in our daily routines. Practicing inner-ease creates “flow” by helping to regulate the balance and cooperation between our heart, mind and emotions—coherence. Increased coherence promotes more intuitive connection with our higher potential for effective reasoning, discernment and people interactions. The lack of coherent alignment between the heart, mind and emotions generates resistance to “flow,” resulting in stress from anxiety, indecision, frustration, impatience, anger, self-judgment and much more—the familiar list. One reason the “flow” is often hard to access is because increased time pressures and overload exaggerate the mental and emotional angst we can often experience—this jams the connection with our heart’s intuitive input. When our heart connection fades, the mind and emotions often become chaotic and drive us at a faster pace than our heart’s intuitive guidance can assist us. Most all of us are aware of how being stuck in this loop increases self-perpetuating stress and what that brings with it. Shifting to our inner-ease space at the onset of stressful feelings helps to prevent many stress-typical scenarios and creates a much easier transit through challenges and resistances. (Dread and anxiety are examples of what I mean by resistances.)

Practicing inner-ease is not intended to instantly dissolve all of our challenges on the spot. Yet it creates an extra time-window, allowing deeper discernment for competent choices—conscious choices that can help prevent and resolve many unnecessary challenges and unwanted predicaments. The state of inner-ease helps us attune our mental and emotional nature to the most reasonable and effective way for responding to each situation that life brings us—challenging, normal or creative.
Operating in the ease-mode does not suggest that we move through the day at the speed of a snail nor is it a sleepy-time relaxation state: It’s about slowing down our inner body language—the mechanical mental and emotional reactions that we often regret at the end of the day; the ones that cause avoidable mistakes, compromise friendships, create “under-grumble” and excessive internal drama. These examples and others can drain much more of our energy than a hard day’s work and then follow us to sleep to compromise our rest. Such experiences don’t happen because we are bad or inept; they’re just highly predictable outcomes when our mind and emotions rush through a day without the connection to the heart’s guidance and the practical facilitation it brings. Practicing inner-ease increases our conscious memory to include our heart, as our mind and emotions navigate through daily choices and feelings that decide the quality and direction of our life. Inner-ease is like a quiet doorway into our Presence, while also being a simple reflection of our instinctive common sense.

The following steps for accessing the ease-state can be used when you are experiencing stress or for the general maintenance of balance and resilience in your mental and emotional system. The ease-state is especially helpful and effective when used to “prep” before engaging in potentially stressful situations, projects, communications, complex decisions, etc. You can use it in the morning to prep for the day—and remember to reboot the process occasionally.

Basic steps for accessing the State of Ease:

Inner-Ease™ Technique

(1) If you are stressed, acknowledge your feelings as soon as you sense that you are out of sync or engaged in common stressors— feelings
such as frustration, impatience, anxiety, overload, anger, being judgmental, mentally gridlocked, etc.

(2) Take a short time out and do heart-focused breathing: breathe a little slower than usual; pretend you are breathing through your heart or
chest area.
(This is proven to help create coherent wave patterns in your heart rhythm—which helps restore balance and calm in your mental and emotional nature while activating the affirming power of your heart.)

(3) During the heart-focused breathing, imagine with each breath that you are drawing in a feeling of inner-ease and infusing your mental and emotional nature with balance and self-care from your heart.
It’s scientifically proven that radiating love and self-care through your system activates beneficial hormones and boosts your immunity.
Practicing will increase your awareness of when the stressful emotion has calmed into a state of ease. The mind and emotions operate on a vibrational level. Slowing down the stressful vibration helps re-establish the cooperation and balance between heart, mind and emotions.
(Like an old electric fan that rattles until you turn it to a slower speed,which often quiets and restores the unbalanced vibration.)

(4) When the stressful feelings have calmed, affirm with a heartfelt commitment that you want to anchor and maintain the state of ease as you re-engage in your projects, challenges or daily interactions.

It’s okay if a disruption takes you out of the ease-state through the day; just reset your intention with a genuine heartfelt commitment and move on. You’ll have to reset your commitment periodically; yet soon you can remain longer in the ease- state and with lower maintenance. In a short time you won’t need to labor through all the steps; you will be able to skillfully and consciously just “breathe” yourself into the ease-state. But first, practice the steps for awhile to increase the awareness of when you have effectively shifted to the state of ease, which is often a little deeper than your first few attempts achieve. Some emotions take longer for the vibrational rate to slow down; just relax with it, no force. Remember, you’re not trying to fix the emotion; the ease-state helps to quieten the significance within the emotion so you can reason and discern with objectivity. This reduces stress and inspires creative and practical solutions for handling or adjusting to situations.

This article regarding inner-ease is not intended to re-invent a concept that most all of us are already familiar with, from childhood on. Its intention is to illuminate the stress reducing potentials and energy balancing benefits of practicing ease.

I would like to recall six of the principal benefits of the state of ease:

(1) Practicing inner-ease creates “flow” by helping to regulate the balance and cooperation between our heart, mind and emotions. It allows us an extra time-window to discern effective choices, reactions, decisions, and how we respond to life and to others. Clear choices prevent much energy drain from mistakes and “re-do”.

(2) The state of ease helps us to attune our mental and emotional nature to the most reasonable and effective way for responding to each situation that life brings us—challenging, normal or creative. Ease helps to maintain the cooperative alignment of the mind and emotions with the balancing energies of our heart.

(3) Practicing ease will help to prevent and eliminate much personal stress and facilitate quicker recoup from unexpected stressful occurrences that we all encounter. This benefits our health, well-being and quality of life.

(4) The ease-state is especially helpful and effective when used to “prep” before engaging in potentially stressful situations, projects, communications, complex decisions, etc.

(5) Shifting to our inner-ease space at the onset of stressful feelings helps to prevent many stressful scenarios and creates a much easier transit through challenges and resistances.

(6) When in the ease-mode, it’s easier to include the heart’s intelligence in all interactions. When the heart is open, it allows for a warmer, more genuine connection with our authenticity and with others.
If you are not already practicing techniques that include the values of ease, then hopefully this content may inspire experimentation.

With Deep Care
Doc Childre

Posture of the month

2011-01-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

Posture of the month by Cathy Underwood
Creative director of the award winning YOGA4MUMS

Great Posture

The Economist featured an interesting article this month entitled ‘The power of posture’ drawing on research compiled by the University of Illinois. The piece suggests that how you hold yourself affects how you view yourself.

With over 20 years of experience teaching fitness and yoga techniques my first reaction was ‘well duh!’ To me it seems obvious that to stand tall makes anyone feel better as it brings the body into correct alignment, one can breathe better and it is an active stance that inspires confidence.

The article concludes that ‘those who walk around with their heads held high not only get the respect of others, they seem also to respect themselves’

Inspired by these words our posture of the month has to be:

Samasthiti – the equal pose

Primary function:
• To begin and end the sun salutations, also used for stabilising before and after other postures
Secondary function:
• An opportunity to correct alignment and restore free breathing

Set up:
• Stand tall with feet together
• Spread your body weight evenly across both feet
• Find neutral spine
• Activate core awareness and breathe freely
• Gaze ahead

Performance:
• Energise posture rooting down through the feet, arms, hands and fingers
• Draw awareness to the core/ bandhas
• Imagine energy lifting up through the spine and out through the top of the head

Avoid:
• Fallen arches, locking knees, looking down

Modifications:
• Separate the feet and soften the knees for more stability

Final point:
• Smile, you’re awesome!

For more information about YOGA4MUMS please visit our website www.yoga4mums.com

Tashirat foundation in Mexico

2011-01-24T11:48:00.000-08:00

Dearest Friends and Family,

Christmas has passed but we are still left with a lot of beautiful memories of the Christmas pageant which is now officially Tashirat’s end of the year highlight. This year was our 3rd annual “Pastorela”, which is performed by many of our Tashirat children and students from the Ixaya School. We uploaded many video clips from the Pastorela. They are all located at our You Tube Channel: www.youtube.com/tashiratkids

One of our favorites is our angel Melina on the "telas" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lawt1JgZfss but you can find all of the videos at http://www.youtube.com/tashiratkids if you'd like to see the whole show .

It’s not as good as the real thing, but it will give you a glimpse! The best part of the show was really seeing the kids feel so good about themselves for what they accomplished, and their parents with tears in their eyes as they watched them perform.

This year Rubi and Sami portrayed Mary and Joseph, and Melina, Tanya, and Misha performed acrobatic dance on the telas. This was Misha’s first “telas” performance, and a big event because just two weeks before the performance she wanted to drop out! She couldn’t perform the routine as fast as her partner, but within a week of the show, she picked up speed and come show night, she did a beautiful job. Melina and Tanya are already becoming seasoned performers; since Shana has been too busy with high school, the younger generations are getting intothe spotlight more than ever!

Many of our younger children danced and sang along with their classes; for Atair, it was his first ever performance ever. When he got his costume, he was so excited, he just couldn’t stop giggling and grinning – and he didn’t want to ever take it off!

Following the pageant we all sang “the piñata song” as we broke a bunch of piñatas with Ixaya students and their families. Having been used to our more tame piñata parties, with only our little children, we watched in horror as a mob of 30 kids dive-tackled the fallen piñatas. Although it looked a lot like a football pile up, everyone came out with huge, piñata-crazed grins and hands full of fruit, peanuts and, the ultimate prize: pieces of the piñata to store their loot in!

Christmas was spent with our official Tashirat grandpa and grandma, Tom and Kristen Bissinger. They have been coming for years and really cultivating a relationship with each one of our children, even as their clan of grandchildren ballooned from 9 to 19 to 30 children! Christmas was especially festive with “granma and granpa” here to share it! A big thank you as well to all of your who sent such beautiful gifts down for the kids this Christmas!

On three Kings Day, the traditional day for giving gifts here in Mexico, we invited the government home for abandoned senior citizens to Tashirat. It is like the home our children once lived in, but for seniors, many of whom remain in the home until they pass on. It was really beautiful to see the kids interact and give of themselves, spending time playing board games, sharing cookies they had baked, probing them with questions and just listening to their stories.

Now, the Ixaya school is back in session and everyone is really excited to be back!

As for our high school teens Shana, Antar and Julio, we have found an amazing on-line, virtual high school which is based in Miami, Florida. While it is specifically made for Spanish speakers, it will provide them with a diploma that's valid both in Mexico and the United States and give them a lot more time to pursue their various interests. Other advantages are that they can complete their high school studies in just one and half years, instead three, which is important because Shana and Antar are already 2-3 years behind in their schooling , because of all the years they weren't sent to school before the age of 11. They also will have more time for the extracurricular activities such as dance and music and Antar's electronics course, all of which they had to give up when starting the local highschool this fall. The schooling there was very intense for them, with many, many hours of homework and long hours at school. After two semesters in the local highschool, we saw they really needed a more practical education – in large part because of all the years they didn't go to school. The are really excited to have enrolled in this on-line school,as it really meets their needs and academic level better, and has allowed them to pursue all of their interests at the same time. Of course, all of this would never have been possible for them if not for Georgie's Computer Lab, where they are currently taking all of their classes! Thank you again Georgie and Jak; you have opened a whole new world of possibilities for our children with this amazing gift!

Wishing you all a wonderful 2011!

With much love,

Tashirat kids and staff

2011

2011-01-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

Try to make 2011 a year to remember, full of generosity, creativity and wellbeing.May it take you closer to your dreams and to your inner self and may it be full of positive surprises.May you listen to those you love and mostly to those you do not understand and may you be heard from those around you..

From all of us of gaia-planet to all of our readers who encourrage us to go on,

HEALTHY NEW YEAR

Namaste!

Tidy Temple

2010-12-31T02:20:00.000-08:00

Tidy Temple
written by Rob Ginnivan
founder of Tidy Temple

Tidy Temple is a complimentary online educational and motivational health & well being service. Have you ever heard the saying "my body's a temple? Or "the world is a temple?

In this day and age where we are seeing alarming statistics around the topics of cancer,heart disease,obesity,diabetes,mental illness, climate change and pollution it is time to change some habits and take a preventative approach towards life.

In doing so we increase our chances of feeling better,living longer, and making the world a better place to live in. It is important to focus on taking care of our mind,body,spirit and environment surrounding us.

So I encourage you to subscribe to the free weekly Tidy Tips and encourage your loved ones to do the same by visiting www.tidytemple.com. Stay in touch with tidy temple for updated information and a window to the holistic view towards better health and well being.

Take care and keep your temple tidy,
Rob Ginnivan
Founder, Tidy Temple

Tashirat kids and the Ixaya school

2010-12-01T02:13:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

Autumn is here and in Mexico that means corn on the cob and all its variations!

We celebrated our annual corn festival with an outdoor corn roast, and a month later, the Day of the Dead, which is always a colorful celebration. This year the 1stand 2ndgraders won first prize for their unique ecologically themed offering to the animals of the world in danger of extinction and a group of secondary students created a puppet show for the rest of the school.
Everyone had a lot of fun dressing up and visiting each others inventive offerings, as each was full of their own surprises!

Our students really love to organize these events. Just last month, two of our 2ndgrade girls had the idea to plan a goodbye party for our annual volunteer from London, Jamal, who was their gym teacher during his stay. They organized – without much if any direction from their teacher – for their whole class to bring cake and fruit to share (and chile powder of course because in Mexico, all kids like their fruit with a little – or a lot – of sour, spicy chile!). The two girls also brought costumes for all the girls in the class, so they could perform a little song and dance for Jamal together. They made and posted notices around the school inviting other classes, and organized all their classmates to jump out of hiding when Jamal walked in. Ximena, the 7 year old mastermind behind all of this, was so pleased with herself after pulling off this event that she just kept saying “I feel so happy today, I don’t know, but I am just soooo happy! This is the best day!”

We are just about to begin practicing for our annual Christmas show. So far we have a group of very enthusiastic students who are practicing acrobatic dance on the “telas”, which are 4 meter lengths of cloth hanging from the ceiling. We also have some boisterous second graders whose everyday antics make them natural clowns, and the cutest first grade group who is learning to sing in English. Somehow by mid December this year, we will have developed these and other talents that the children have for dance, yoga, acrobatics and music, and put them into a very artistic version of a traditional nativity play!

We are also busy preparing for our Christmas bazaar, where the children will show off what they are learning in the workshops given at the end of each school day. These workshops currently include carpentry, crafts made with felt, bracelet weaving andjewelry making with colorful stones and recycled glass, candle making, and painting classes. We just finished a photography workshop in which these second graders made cameras out of oatmeal containers and developed the photographs they took.

Other workshops include ecology and agriculture, and yoga. We also hope to squeeze in a baking workshop, where they will learn to make their own whole grain bread.

We have a whole new group of very enthusiastic first graders this year. Recently, we had a new little boy come to try out our first grade class. At first he wouldn’t even come into the classroom, no matter how many times the other first graders called and waved to invite him in. Finally he did make it into the classroom, and within a few hours confidently marched up to the teacher and announced “My parents told me to see if I liked it here, and I just wanted to tell you – I do, I do like it!" The first graders get excited for just about everything, but one of the things they love most is working in the green house. Our goal is to keep their spark of joy and excitement for learning alive, and for those children who have lost it, to fan their love of learning.

The biggest thank you to Tom and Gisela Rodgers & Tom and Kristen Bissinger for once again supporting our projects so generously. We cannot thank you enough for completing the missing funds we needed to keep the school open for the remainder of the year and for both of your tremendous support over the years. A big thank you as well to all of you who have continued with your sponsorships. It’s is because of you that we still have a school.

With love and appreciation,

Tashirat kids and staff and the Ixaya school

2010-11-22T08:34:00.001-08:00

Posture of the month

2010-11-11T01:50:00.000-08:00

Posture of the Month

By Cathy Underwood Radan

Utthita Trikonasana – Extended Triangle Pose

This posture helps to maintain the strength in your legs and ankles. It nourishes the hip joint and releases tension from the pelvis and chest.

Always remember to practise this posture after your sun salutations to ensure you are connected to the breath and the body is warm.

• Standing at the front of your mat, inhale and step out to the right into a wide triangle pose. Arms sweep out parallel with the shoulders. Pause and exhale
• Imagine you have a line running down the centre of your mat and place the insteps over that line
• Inhale, turn in your right foot
• Exhale, soften the right knee and take your right toe with your index and middle finger
• Inhale, straighten the knee pressing the toe down onto the fingers. Lift your left hand up to the sky so that the arms are in along line
• Exhale turn your head to look up towards your thumb, draw the navel in and lengthening the spine away from the hips
• Remain here for five deep thoughtful breaths
• On the exhale look at your right foot bend the knee and as you inhale come back to centre
• Repeat on the other side

Avoid locking your knees in this posture and collapsing in the hips

If you need to modify try resting the hand lightly on your shin or thigh with the knee soft

Om shanti!

Yoga4Mums
Yoga4Mums is an award winning business that inspires mum and her family to get back into regular exercise and back into a social network. The business was created and founded by Cathy Underwood Radan who has recently won the WNF, Business Growth Award. For more information please go to http://www.yoga4mums.com

Tashirat foundation in Mexico

2010-11-06T08:42:00.001-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

This past month we celebrated the inauguration of our first ever computer lab, replete with 10 new computers, and a great central building here in Tashirat! This most amazing gift came to us in a very heart-warming way, through a donation from our friends Georgie and Jak, who are sponsors to three of our Tashirat children. As a surprise to Georgie for their 10th wedding anniversary, Jak decided to give something big to all of the children in Georgie’s name! Thank you Georgie and Jak for spreading your love to all of our children and students on your special day!

We have also just officially opened a health food cafe/juice bar and nutrition center! The café is also a kind of community space for our Learning Center. The Center continues to give daily yoga and meditation classes to the community, as well as courses. In the last weeks prior to the grand opening, the older children helped build herb and vegetable gardens around the café.

Most of our boys spend their afternoons riding bikes – it’s officially the big boy craze around Tashirat. Everywhere you look there are little boys on their bikes (or tricycles), often traveling in packs. They not only spend a lot of time riding them, but also decorating them. Each bike is outfitted with old CD’s stuck in the spokes and plastic bottles over the tires, in order to create the biggest “VROOM” sound possible!

Three of our teenagers, Cristian, Blanca and David, are now in high school and really enjoying their new social life and classes! Their only complaints are the many hours every night they spend doing homework and getting up at 5:30 in the morning for school! Otherwise, they couldn’t be happier with their exciting new school life. For many children in our area, making it to high school is considered quite an achievement. For our 18 year old Cristian, who’s been here 7 ½ years and was clinically labeled autistic before coming to Tashirat at age 11, it is a real triumph that he now attends this regular high school and has his first girlfriend, a really beautiful girl. Over these years he’s become a wonderful, normal, real “cool” kid.

Great ways to save on your home energy

2010-10-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

Today more than ever all of us need to find ways to save on our home energy!
One of the greatest manuals that will help you undestand how to own an eco-friendly home an how to save on your bills!
Click Here!

simple yoga secrets

2010-10-17T05:45:00.001-07:00

Do you think it is possible to relax your mind body and spirit every day,even though it seems you do not have enough time to do what you would like?
Click Here!

Yoga posture of the month

2010-10-04T03:10:00.000-07:00

Yoga posture of the month - The Deep Seated Warrior Pose
by Cathy Underwood, Creative Director of award winning Yoga4mums

Namaste! Welcome to the first in a series of yoga postures offering tips and ideas to help you live a flexible, tension free life!

So, I’m sitting in front of my computer deciding which posture to offer you and I’m wondering which would be the most practical and useful? Then it dawns on me that we’re probably sitting in exactly the same place, in a chair at a desk? This is great as it perfectly demonstrates the reason I have chosen the Deep Seated Warrior Pose as my posture of the month. A posture to stretch, open and alleviate tension from the hip flexors and help improve postural alignment.

In our modern society, most of us spend a fair amount of time sitting — sitting at the computer, watching television, driving in the car. In the seated position, the muscles of the hip flexor are in a constant state of flexion and this causes the muscles to shorten. When the hip flexors are tight the pelvis tilts forward, limiting the muscles ability to fully extend and causing an imbalance in the hip area which in turn can lead to lower back and postural problems.
The Deep Seated Warrior Pose is just one of many yoga postures that helps stretch and create space about the hip flexors. Try this posture daily to help prevent the many problems that afflict us, from lower back issues to neck and shoulder complaints. Why not stand up and try this one now? There’s no time like the present!
• Stand up and take a couple of deep breaths, stretching the arms up over the head on the inhale and releasing them down to your side on the exhale
• Find a space and come on to all fours aware of the breath and gently zipping up through your core to support the spine
• Place your right foot in the space between your hands, under the chest. Be sure the foot is flat and the knee is sitting directly over the ankle. If the supporting knee is sensitive try placing a blanket underneath it for comfort
• Inhale and lift the body, leading with the heart, gazing forward. Relax your shoulders and gently guide the hips forward a little. Breath freely and noticed the stretch and release about the front of the hip and into the front of the thigh
• Stay in posture for five deep and even breaths. When ready repeat on the other side.
If you experience any pain or discomfort or should you have any hip related injuries please consult your GP before continuing yoga exercise.
Om shanti!
Cathy Underwood is Creative Director of Yoga4Mums an award winning business that won the Barclays Innovative Business of the Year Award 2009 and she is a finalist in the Barclays Trading Places Award 2010. For more information please visit www.yoga4mums.com

Stem Cells and….Clocks

2010-10-01T00:32:00.000-07:00

Stem Cells and….Clocks
by Anastasia Sideri
Biologist-Biochemist (PhD)

Stem cells are precursor cells found in all multicellular organisms. They are characterized by the ability both to renew, through cell division, and to differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell types, which is, also, known as plasticity. The balance between self-renewal and differentiation is finely tuned, so that the stem cell population is maintained.
Stem cells are at the forefront of the rapidly evolving field of cellular therapy. The scientific developments in stem cell research contribute to our knowledge of how an organism develops from a single cell, and most importantly, how healthy cells may replace unhealthy or damaged cells. The medical field dealing with the replacement of damaged cells by healthy ones is called Regenerative or Reparative Medicine. Scientists are continuously discovering new, promising applications of stem cells that could prove revolutionary for the treatment of human disease in the future.
There are generally two broad types of stem cells:
•Embryonic stem cells: Derived from up to 5th-day fertilized eggs (blastocyst stage). Due to their origin, they are highly controversial and the subject of many bioethical debates in the media.
•Adult stem cells: Adult stem cells are isolated from newborns, children and adults.
There are adult stem cells throughout life in essentially all tissues of the human body, such as brain, bone marrow, liver, brain, heart, pancreas, retina as well as hair follicles, amnion and endometrium. There are differences amongst the stem cell populations that are specific to a tissue. Over time, these populations tend to decline in number, but their presence is important for restoration and/or regeneration of local tissue damage.
The most extensively studied adult stem cells are hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that differentiate to blood and immune system components:
 Red blood cells, which transfer oxygen to all other cells of the body.
 White blood cells, which contribute to immune system defense against infections.
 Platelets, which contribute to blood coagulation.
 All progenitor cells, which compose human blood.
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) can be isolated from bone marrow and peripheral blood in adults and children, as well as, umbilical cord blood in newborns (the blood that remains between the umbilical cord and placenta following birth). There are currently many publications on the successful differentiation of HSCs in neural, pancreatic, myocardial, hepatic and other tissue cells, both under laboratory conditions (in vitro) and in humans (in vivo).
HSCs reside in a specific region in the bone marrow, also known as stem cell niche, and only a minor percentage circulates in the peripheral blood under steady-state conditions. Following medical treatment with mobilization drugs, however, the stem cells can be forced from their niche in the peripheral blood. They can, then, be harvested from the blood, via a process that is less invasive and painful, compared to their isolation from the bone marrow.
It was recently found that release of HSCs from the bone marrow is regulated by a highly conserved, across species, set of genes encoding the “core circadian regulatory proteins” (CCRP). The CCRP act as molecular biological clocks to direct the oscillatory circadian (rhythmic) expression of genes that are essential for key metabolic events. CCRP expression is affected by light:dark cycle changes, feeding and physical activity pattern. Stem cell release from the bone marrow undergoes circadian oscillations in humans, emerging from the bone marrow into the bloodstream at higher concentrations at night than in the day. The opposite applies to mouse HSCs, since the mouse’s time of rest is daytime. Circadian oscillations have, also, been observed in bone marrow stem cells in vitro, by interfering with their growth conditions. Scientists verified that these physiological cycles are maintained during treatment of patients with mobilization drugs, too. The number of stem cells they were extracted from cancer patients who underwent the mobilization procedure before 12:30 pm was lower compared to that of patients who underwent the procedure before 3:30 pm. Circadian oscillations have been observed in adult stem cells other than hematopoietic, too.
The physiological significance of this observation is not fully elucidated. Biologists have observed that cell division in normal cells in species ranging from unicellular organisms to humans peaks at specific times of the day and consider this as indirect evidence that the process is regulated by their internal biological clocks. Cells in the human mouth, for example, tend to divide in the evening, just before nightfall. This could be explained evolutionary in the sense that ultraviolet light is one of the primary causes of mutations. Since cells are particularly vulnerable to mutations during cell division, cells that divide at night confer a selective advantage to the organism. It is, therefore, not surprising that the malfunction of biological clocks, in such a way that there is no control in cell division, is, also, implicated in the transformation of healthy stem cells to cancerous, since there is growing amount of evidence suggesting that cancer-initiating cells are indeed malfunctioning stem cells. The circadian, neutrally-driven release of HSCs during the resting period may promote the regeneration of the stem cell niche and possibly other tissues.
HSCs are commonly used to replenish a patient's stem cells, which are depleted during cancer therapy. Interfering with circadian oscillation could be valuable in clinical practice, since stem cells are currently harvested during the day. A simple change in hospital procedures to collect the stem cells in the afternoon or evening could, therefore, significantly increase the stem cell yield that is available for therapy. The biological clock pathway could be an effective target for anti-cancer drug development, by restoring the control of the biological clock over cell division.

gaia-planet's authors

2010-09-26T01:45:00.001-07:00

dear readers,

we have decided to add a hit counter only today,after having received such a great feedback on your behalf.
All the authors of gaia-planet would like to thank you for the support and for keep reading us the last two years!
We all hope that you will help us pass on the information to those around you,dreaming of a better world to live in!

warmest regards
the authors

Ndoro Children's Charity Organization

2010-09-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

WHO WE ARE

Ndoro Children's Charity is an independent non-profit organization which was officially launched on the 10th of July in the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London, with the aim to help underprivileged children with a particular emphasis on orphans to HIV/AIDS, in remote parts of the developing world.

Ndoro Children's Charity is actively involved in attaining universal access to education for children in need. The organization’s current major project is the construction of an orphanage home, school and clinic in Zimbabwe - a country with the highest number of orphans per capita and the lowest average life expectancy in the world. Factor in political chaos, hyperinflation, droughts and a population where 1 in 4 are HIV/AIDS infected and you can find children without hope.

The Charity's common aim is to assist through education, health, community development and research; to bring preventative measures to halt and reverse the spread of HIV. Thus effective strategies are built on providing suitable accommodation, schools and clinics for the children in need.

There are many ways you can get involved such as becoming a volunteer [in Ghana , Zimbabwe, South Africa, London or New York ], join the campaign or raise funds for an event for the charity or making a financial donation. It is very important to underline that by becoming a donor or sponsor you become a partner with the school. You will be informed of the progress in detail, from the construction of the building to the graduation of the children.
No matter the way you will choose to support the organization, your contribution will be fully appreciated and many children will be able to benefit from your efforts and live a productive life out of poverty.

Tashirat foundation

2010-08-31T05:55:00.000-07:00

A huge thank you to everyone who has been helping us to raise funds for the school. We are still in need of one teacher’s salary – $700 USD a month – so please let us know if you can help in any way. Every sponsorship means so much. www.tashirat.com/donate .

In order to keep Ixaya open, we have two of our staff members volunteering full-time in the primary school grades, and another two volunteering part time to avoid the cost of three additional teacher’s salaries. We still need to pay four hired teachers though and as mentioned above, we are still missing the salary of one, so we continue to work on this and appreciate all your support!

The summer vacation here in Mexico has quickly come to an end, but it seems it was only days ago that we celebrated the last day of school and graduation!

In Mexico graduation from 6th grade (primary school) and then again from 9th grade (middle school) are celebrated as very big events in a child’s life. Here are some of our graduates this year.

The celebration was made special by the children’s artistic performances. One especially interesting performance was directed by a professional parade organizer, Roxana, who was a volunteer at Ixaya this past year. As one of the elective classes offered to the secondary students, Roxana gave instruction in performance arts.

Another highlight was a musical performance performed by the first and second graders as the culmination to this year’s music classes.

It was directed by our music teacher Jimmy, who has been a parent in the school and a volunteer teacher for the past two years.

The students also presented an array of their artwork.

A very special thank you to several friends who have gone the extra mile in their efforts to support our projects. Michelle Silva pulled off an amazing fundraiser, her first time ever, in Vancouver this spring, and all before ever coming for her first visit! One of our past volunteers Genevieve (aka Kao) Lawrie and Tina Jojic have been making and selling their own granola and tons of Ixaya stickers Kao designed, while another past volunteer, Craig Smith, inspired the local soccer academy in his hometown in Scotland to donate the proceeds from a soccer match. This week we just received the news that yet another past volunteer, Iris Maertens, raised funds by organizing an event for the World Cup and will be holding a music event in her native Belgium soon.

Our friend Alicia Gentz Montoya has been holding yoga class fundraisers over the past year in and around Los Angeles, California to help support Tashirat. Her next yoga event, Sweat for Tashirat, will be held September 25th at the Yogaworks studio in West Lake Village. The event will include free aromatherapy consultations courtesy of Robin Barnette of Aromachick, followed by a fun Vinyasa flow yoga class with Chaz Russ, who was recently named Best New Yoga Instructor in LA Family Magazine, and is the founder of Sisters Yoga, an all female yoga studio in Fresno, California. After the class, there will be complimentary Mexican style snacks, courtesy of Chipotle Restaurant.

Please attend if you are in the area or pass this invitation on to your friends that live in or around LA. You can call 805-371-3030 for more information or to rsvp. This entire event is free! All donations contributed will be sent directly to Tashirat to support our Ixaya School.

A very big thank you once again to each one of you for your continued care and support for the Ixaya school; we couldn’t do this without you!

Lots of love,

Tashirat and Ixaya school staff and students

www.ixayaschool.com

'‘Take a deep breath and pull yourself together!’'

2010-08-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

‘Take a deep breath and pull yourself together!’
Written by Cathy Underwood, Creative Director of Yoga4mums
Winner of the Barclays Innovative Business of the Year Award 2009

What is the secret to great health and wellbeing? Simple…you’ve just got to breathe!

Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means ‘union’ – the union of the mind and the body. The key to that union is the breath, which the yogis call pranayama. Translated this means correct breathing. For many of us, particularly living in the city, the breath is incorrect and shallow. This puts the body into an anxious state and creates tension that eventually affects us energetically too.

What makes yoga so different to many other forms of exercise is its attention to pranayama. With regular practise the deep breathing techniques help calm the mind of busy thoughts. This has a soothing effect on the nervous system and the body begins to release and open. Our posture improves. We begin to stand taller to allow the breath deep into the lungs and this simple action re aligns the body taking tension away from areas such as the neck, back, hips and knees.

When I come to my yoga mat I step out of my busy self and into a peaceful space. I take a few deep breaths and then using my pranayama techniques I connect with an energy that I believe nurtures and heals me. Focusing deeply on my yogic breathing, I move through the sequence gently releasing energetic blocks and tension held within the physical, mental and emotional aspects of my human self.

At the end of my yoga practice, I sit and enjoy the lightness within and about me, a deep inner peace that is without judgement or expectation of myself or others. This is where the magic happens in yoga and it has a very powerful healing effect.

We are no strangers to modern day stress. Our current financial climate has had a huge demoralising effect on our nation’s workforce and the continual spew of negative media headlines only helps elevate our fears and concerns for the future. Without an outlet for this pressure this affects our home life and our personal health. To cope some of us bury the stress and begin to ignore any physical signs that the body is in overload. Re-occurring headaches, backache, addictions to food and alcohol are just a few examples of the inner self trying to send us warning signs.

Relaxation is an important healing technique but for many the end of the day is in front of the television sitting on the sofa, which only stimulates the senses and agitates the body. Eventually something has to pop physically or emotionally.

My advice…take a deep breath and pull yourself together! Literally close your eyes and fill the lungs with breath, then slowly let the breath out across your lips. Repeat as many times as necessary. On the inhalation imagine that you are coming back to centre, drawing positive energy back into the body and on the exhalation imagine you are letting go of any tension or stress you may have picked up. Repeat until you feel whole again, centred and calm. Then gently breathe and enjoy this healing experience.

Cathy Underwood – Creative Director of Yoga4mums
www.yoga4mums.com
cu@yoga4mums.com
07957 272066

photo by Nicholas Lapite

Tashirat Foundation

2010-07-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

Our animal population has been growing – we now have a parrot, four bunnies, several dogs, and we just got two 4 month old St. Bernard puppies, which we are planning to breed (to help pay for the copious amount of food they eat!) This breed of dog is known to be kind, loving and loyal, which we thought would make them just perfect for the children…what we didn’t count on was that the littlest children would be absolutely petrified of them (and they aren’t nearly full grown yet)! Most of the little ones will now pet the dogs hesitatingly, but are still more than terrified if one of the dogs comes eagerly running to greet them! Only baby Arian, has been pretty much fearless from the start.

This spring we have been very excited about our eco- project. Our goal is to make the ashram and orphanage self sustainable and ecological. We are currently looking into installing “earthworm composts” by the main houses. This seems to be the most effective and fastest way of composting our organic waste, but we will need a lot of worms, as it takes one kilo of earthworms to make one kilo of compost per day! The earthworms are expensive, but an engineer friend has donated our first 10 kilos for free!

We are currently arranging an exchange program for groups of students to come and stay on the ashram, in exchange for landscaping gardens around the children’s homes, and building irrigation systems which recycle the water from the homes. This will supplement the food supply from the greenhouse, which is also being prepared to produce presently. We have a chicken coop just finished and are working on outfitting a solar room, where we can power our most important appliances. We also recently installed drain pipes to the large soccer court roof which funnels all the rain water into an enormous cistern. We can then use this water throughout the dry season. Since we only have rain during four months of the year, and no underground spring water, catchment systems are imperative.

Meanwhile the new children have been giving us so many funny anecdotes over the past year. Here are a few we thought you would enjoy hearing:

Dovin, age 5, and third youngest in a family of five, is one of the most impish little people you will ever meet. When he is excited and happy, he’ll often break into a jerky dance while pulling the most hilarious faces. He is full of enthusiasm, but loves to say “No!” to just about everything you say. One day, two of our teenage girls, Kendra and Rubi, began complaining that something or someone was leaving rocks in their beds night after night! It remained an unsolved mystery for a few days, until Dovin was caught in the act of sneaking into one of the girls’ rooms and filling her pillow case with rocks!

Recently all of our boys, ranging age 4 to 10, have discovered the joy of fort making! They will spend the entire afternoon building forts from just about anything they can find. Atair, age 10, and our most recent newcomer, is the master architect; he’ll spend hours making and remaking some of the most elaborate constructions on his own. Alex and Dovin, our 3 and 4 year old brothers, work more like a pair of mini engineer twins, chattering away as to the merits of each new piece of plastic or plywood they put into place.

Now Alex and Dovins’ older brother Abundio likes forts but he would much rather busy himself loading and unloading wheelbarrows of rocks, digging holes, and collecting brush. He so loves to help with “real work”, that he actually becomes immensely upset if his help is ever not needed.

We are very proud of our almost 4 year old boy Gaby, who suffers from Ehler Danlos syndrome (characterized by hyper elasticity of the joints) and dwarfism, as he is making the biggest effort to become mobile. He gets so excited when he sees a child running, that he shrieks, flails his arms and bounces up and down and motions them to run some more for him! Although his legs are still weak and floppy, his arms are strong enough to support his own weight now. His favorite thing is going down the slide; he likes to hang from the rails at the top of the slide, then let himself go whizzing down as he holds his breath! Gaby really loves the thrill, and the moment he comes to a stop, he calls out “mas, mas!” for more. One day while getting his diaper changed, Gaby came up with another new trick – he rolls over and then scoots himself backwards off the bed! We happened to catch one of his first tricks on video; check this link to see it!

Another great kid accomplishment, which we can’t take the credit for, is Oscar’s recent reading and writing progress. Oscar is just turned 11. His family of 3 arrived in the summer of 2009. None of the children had ever properly attended school, and Oscar was extremely self conscious about his inability to read or write. But thanks to a special volunteer, Antares Hernandez, he is improving by the week! Antares has been very dedicated to her daily three hours of tutoring him; so much so that she recently decided to commit to stay here for an entire year, instead of the two months she originally had planned, so that she could continue to give Oscar all the individual attention he needs, both academically and as his special “auntie”!

We have also had Betina Mansbach, a veteran elementary school teacher here for the past month as another great help tutoring the children in our special learning classrooms. With her passion for teaching she brought an enthusiasm and excitement to the classroom that kids and staff really enjoyed.

Our first and second graders had a blast in Betina's inspired classes!

As for our other volunteers, we’ve just had an acrobat from Germany, Kristin VeiB, who gave a 3 week beginning acrobatics course to the children, which culminated in an informal performance for all the families!

Melody White, another one of our artistic volunteers, created a puppet theatre with our 11 and 12 year old girls Misha and Danya, which they performed for the other kids! Alex and Dovin must have never seen a puppet show before, because they kept jumping up to scrutinize the puppets and then very gingerly try to touch them, to see if they were real!

Artistic opportunities for the children seem to just keep on coming, too; this summer we have both a professional pianist and modern dancer coming to do artistic programs with the children!

Thank you all so much for your care and support; we are deeply grateful for the kindness that you continue to share with us!

Wishing you all a wonderful summer!

With lots of love,

Tashirat kids and staff

Mandela day 2010

2010-07-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

Mandela Day is an annual celebration of Nelson Mandela’s life and a global call to action for people to recognize their individual ability to make an imprint and change the world around them.It is a social movement that does not discriminate, but embraces every organization that does good, whilst enabling people to serve their community and improve their lives.
It is celebrated every year on the 18th of july, date of birth of Madiba.

Mandela Day has been created to inspire people all over the world to embrace the values that have embodied Nelson Mandela’s life – democracy; equality; reconciliation; diversity; responsibility; respect and freedom – for these are the values of Nelson Mandela and they are his legacy to the world.

Mandela Day aims to showcase the work of the Nelson Mandela charitable organisations (Nelson Mandela Foundation; Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund; Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

The Mandela Day campaign message is simple: Nelson Mandela has given 67 years of his life fighting for the rights of humanity. All we are asking is that everyone gives 67 minutes of their time, whether it’s supporting your chosen charity or serving your local community.

Mandela Day is not a holiday!It is a day for all people to opt in and show that they can all make an impact by their individual ability to make an impact on the world.

“It is time for the next generations to continue our struggle against social injustice and for the rights of humanity. It is in your hands.”
Nelson Mandela,2008

Yoga 4 mums

2010-05-31T05:41:00.001-07:00

written by Cathy Underwood : Founder and creative director of Yoga4mums
Based in Middlesex, married and mother of two boys.

Cathy Underwood set up her yoga company just over a year ago. Now she’s the proud winner of the Barclays Innovative Business of the Year Award 2009. She is currently developing online service and is a contestant in the Barclays Take One Small Step competition 2010.

cu@yoga4mums.com
+44 (0)870 626 2020
http://www.yoga4mums.com
https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/View/3592

Yoga4mums is a unique health initiative designed to encourage mums of all ages and fitness levels, back into gentle exercise and back into a social network, using online modules, community based classes and donation packages.

The online and community classes offer mum consistent support for her physical and emotional health during the various stages of her life. Our donation packages invite a larger area of the community to come together, practice yoga and help ‘give back’ to local schools, charities and community projects.

The perfect tool for a busy mum, yoga exercise helps to improve posture, strength and flexibility with breathing and relaxation techniques to soothe emotional stress.

Our goal is to blend yoga exercise with these innovative ideas to enable mums, of all ages and abilities, to be more active and socially connect, bringing families together within the local and global community.

Community packages include:
• Local classes and monthly workshops
• Pre and post natal classes
• “School Run” Yoga
• Mother and baby
• Kids and teens, nurseries and schools
• Charity classes and donation packages
• Mental Health & Learning Disabilities support programmes

Business modules:
• Onsite training and donation classes
• Wellness days and weekends
• Alternative teambuilding events
• ‘Walk Yoga, Talk Yoga’ – an active networking group for working mums

We hope to help the community in the follow way:
• Inspire community health awareness and wellbeing
• Raise valuable funds for schools and charities
• Encourage social interaction
• Offer participants the recommended 30mins exercise per day
• Healthier workforce, better output, calmer working environment
• Calmer, fitter, focused children & young adults
• Improved relations within the family
• Employment

Yoga4mums believe there is a special empathy and synergy between mothers that can benefit, strengthen and nurture a community. Our community classes, “school run” yoga, workshops and events encourage women to come together and increase their awareness of general health and wellbeing. They begin to interact with likeminded people and start to benefit from their shared experiences. The friendships that begin to blossom ripple back into the community and a new network of families support one another.

Yoga exercise has enormous benefits. It is a non-competitive activity and encourages participants to work at their own pace. It is a wonderful tool that helps build great self-esteem as it combines physical and mental health techniques to aid emotional stress and encourage general wellbeing.

Yoga4mums is a conscientious business idea and our donation classes have helped benefit local charities and schools, raising significant funds for them. We currently support and provide classes for TreeHouse, the national charity for autism, Cancer Research UK and The Isobel Hospice, with a growing number of schools running sessions through their parents and teachers association.

Local businesses can benefit using our yoga modules too. We actively encourage local employers and employees to take extra measures to protect their physical and mental wellbeing. Using tailor-made modules, we can offer tools and techniques to help cope with the demands of the workplace. The current, global climate means we are all under pressure to perform well at work but this cannot be to the detriment of our physical and mental wellbeing. Yoga4mums have designed packages to encourage better internal, working relationships, to inspire a stress free workplace.

Health awareness starts within the family and who better to inspire them but mum. From the womb to adulthood mum is generally the driving force and if she is healthy and happy then the family will be too. In an age when online games and social networking distracts from family interaction Yoga4mums want to encourage active, interaction to include the entire family whatever the age or ability. Yoga4mums is a benefit to the community as participants contribute and connect with a strong sense of purpose.

To find out more please contact Cathy Underwood:
+44 (0)870 626 2020
email: cu@yoga4mums.com
Web: http://www.yoga4mums.com

To support this business please view our video pitch:
https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/View/3592

My Pledge to the Animals

2010-05-28T01:14:00.000-07:00

My Pledge to the Animals
written by
Pramada Shah
Vice President/ Animal Nepal
President /Animal Welfare Network Nepal
pramada00@yahoo.com

There seems to be no limit to the everyday crimes committed against animals in Nepal. The level of cruelty against every kind of species is so high and so commonplace that most of us simply close our eyes and ears and get on with our lives.

Stray dogs are regarded as pests, and left to die in the streets. Household pets are tied on short chains or locked up in tiny, dirty cages, 24 hours a day. Exercise , grooming, balanced diets and most of all love is something these poor creatures never see in their lives. Exotic breeds find their way to the market through unscrupulous breeders and dog dealers. They are mostly bought, to show-off, but noone seems to hear the yelping of tied up, hungry and thirsty pets. No one bothers to request their neighbors to untie the poor animal. We are all so afraid of not being taken seriously when talking about animal rights and welfare that we fail to speak up.

In the past I fought with people who kicked dogs or abused cows, I cajoled and shouted at neighbors who treated their pets cruelly. But I wasn’t pro-active in the true sense. I have let years go by ranting and raving about how badly our animals are treated. All this because I am one of those unfortunate ones who loves animals with all her heart and soul and wants to end their suffering (unfortunate because loving animals in a place like Nepal is living a life of constant mental torture). I cannot forgive myself for being silent for so long, watching the years go by instead of organizing, mobilizing, fundraising, rescuing and doing everything in my capacity to end the pain and the suffering of domestic, wild and pet animals.

I have finally seen the light and have stopped bothering about comments like: “Who cares about animals when there are so many humans suffering.” Of course I care about humans and will continue to fight to end human suffering. But I also care about animals equally and will be pro-active for them from this moment onwards. I will speak out for and work with animals. This is my pledge to them.

The crimes committed against these hapless creatures vary from the extreme to the gory (if one can categorize the level of pain and suffering) . We have rituals that are so bloody in nature that one hesitates to describe them. Live goats are being thrown into ponds and bitten and torn to death by cheering young men. Drunk men chase after thousands of sacrificial animals, armed to the tee with khukuris and machetes, creating untold suffering and a sea of blood. Thousands of animals are sacrificed in the name of religion, sacrifices done in the goriest of manners like slitting of throats and hacking of necks, all in the name of rituals, created by man, in the name of god, the creator and the protector of all living beings. Don’t all religions say the same thing? Isnt it man who created the rituals?

Buffaloes, goats, chicken etc are transported in the most inhumane of conditions. The animals are starved of water and food . They are piled on top of each other, tethered by their sensitive noses, their necks twisted, bones broken, eyes gorged. They arrive half or fully dead. Their adrenaline so high, that their meat is a breeding ground of toxins which are extremely hazardous to human health. But no one speaks out.

The suffering doesn’t end with their long painful journey to the drop-off point. They are dragged out of the vehicles by yanking their tails or simply hurled out of the trucks, or from atop busses before being herded off for the meat market and eventual death. They are tethered on short ropes in all kinds of weather with no place to rest or move in front of meat shops on the roadside. They are barely fed or watered. They are hacked to death in front of each other and the passers by. No one says a word.

Chicken and other feathered birds are stuffed into small cages in the most unhygienic of conditions. People queue up outside these shops for the meat they want to cook and relish. Silent about the conditions, silent about the suffering and unaware about the hazards to their own health.

The plight of working animals makes me want to cry. Donkeys, horses, mules, bullock, buffaloes, sheep are suffering physical torture beyond anyone’s imagination. They are made to carry burdens way beyond their capacity, pull carts and buggies overloaded with humans and goods on backs with festering wounds. They are flogged mercilessly if their battered and bruised bodies, weary from their heavy burdens stumble or fall. They work till they drop dead, relieved to leave this uncaring, cruel world behind. How inhuman can we be? How long are we going to allow this to happen? When are we going to raise a voice to change things for the better?

We breed monkeys for export for bio-medical research. Absolutely unnecessary and completely inhumane. Condemned by ethical people all over the world. There are enough alternate means for testing and substantiated research to prove the uselessness of using monkeys for medical research. This is so wrong. A group of animal rights campaigners tried to stop the monkey business through legal means. A writ has been filed in the Supreme Court against all those involved in this heinous crime of breeding and using primates for bio-medical research and those who are allowing it to happen. We want to save our monkeys from a fate worse than death. The torture and pain they have to go through is insurmountable. Thankfully the government has but a ban on this after much campaigning.

Mahatma Gandhi was so right in saying that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals. If we don’t get moving fast we will be judged as one of the most uncivilized societies in the world. A society, that treats its animals as inanimate objects, oblivious to the pain and suffering of these voiceless creatures.

Not everyone can be animal rights activists. But at least one can support movements and individuals who are fighting for the rights and welfare of animals. Support the campaign to get animal welfare legislation in place. Support initiatives that give animals the care they deserve. It’s the least we can do. Stop abusing animals. Become aware of the impact of your food, clothes and entertainment on the lives of animals. .Educate yourself, educate others and make a difference.

Humans can be known for their kindness and empathy. I invite anyone who wants to end animal abuse to join us. Help us clean up this awful, bloody mess and ensure the rights of Nepali animals. Help us to rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured animals. Help us to introduce humane working conditions, transportation and slaughter. Help us to bring abusers to book. Help us to fight for a clause in the Constitution that guarantees the humane treatment of Nepali animals. We invite the international community of animal lovers to join us.

In the New Nepal let’s make sure our animals are no longer left out.

Tashirat Foundation

2010-05-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

As you probably know, our school has been in financial crisis due a loss of monthly sponsors over the course of this past year; the economic recession has really hit our school hard! But thanks to a few of our supporters, who inspired some of their friends to become new sponsors, we are able to assure our students that Ixaya will be open next year! We'd like to take this opportunity to give a special thank you to all of you who helped us get the word out about our funding needs!

Unfortunately, as things stand, we will have to close grades 5th through 7th and reduce the number of students per classroom to 10 in order to remain open next year. Two weeks ago we had to explain all of this to the parents, and we were deeply moved by how adamantly they fought for a last chance to raise the necessary funds themselves before the end of the year! Inspired by the parents faith and efforts, we ask you also to join us in one last great effort to continue to serve all of our students again next year. We only need $2,000. USD more a month in combined consistent sponsorships. Hopefully by the end of June we will have raised enough sponsorships to avoid turning away any of our students.

Please help us spread the word! If the efforts of only a small group of our friends and supporters managed to keep the school open this year, we can only imagine what could happen if every person who receives this newsletter today simply spread the word among their friends and family!

Ways you can help us turn things around:

Spread the word through any social networking sites you are a member of, through personal emails or word of mouth.

Be a monthly sponsor for ANY amount OR sponsor one of our students entire education for $60 dollars a month. Everything helps! Simply click on DONATE OR SPONSOR.

Send people you know the link for our latest Ixaya school video at :
http://www.youtube.com/tashiratkids#p/a/u/1/GodS-7e8xlQ

Simply forward this email!

If you would like to help us raise funds please respond to this email so we can brainstorm and share ideas! Even just inviting close friends and family over to have a little get-together fundraiser is a great way to help us. Please remember, donations are greatly appreciated but sponsorships are what keep the school alive.

What's new this spring!

Due to some of our students' unstable childhoods and learning disabilities, we have recently implemented a "high school preparation class" for our older students with learning challenges and/or a history of absences during the course of their education, who are about to enter high school next fall.

They are catching up on all that they never learned from first grade onwards. Many have struggled through secondary school, very handicapped by the fact they never learned what they needed to in younger years.

We have taken many very young and/or learning disabled children into our orphanage especially this past year, and found it necessary to open a preschool, kindergarten and special needs first grade classroom, which our Tashirat staff members teach.

We have received help from two great volunteer tutors, Saya Knox from Australia, who was with us for three months this year and Antares Hernandez, a Mexican volunteer who has just returned to help for another two months!

These dedicated young women have been great tutors and motivators to several of our young special needs children who need a lot of personal attention.

Our students have also been enjoying the service of one great parent volunteer who has been setting up her own small mobile library in the parking lot every Friday during recess.

As the children browse for books and play checkers and other games she made at home, she reads to the little ones and invites them to dress up in her collection of funny hats!

As we don't have much of a library for the school yet, her book mobile has been a great way to get the kids enthusiastic about reading.

Fortunately, we did just receive a surprise donation of brand new books from our friends from New Jersey, Debra Trofe and Nancy Mazgajewski.

Thank you all so much for helping us to keep our little school alive!

Wishing you a wonderful spring,

Ixaya School students, teachers and staff

Erasing borders

2010-04-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

Erasing Borders
written by Santiago Pablo Apiolazza
Media producer, photographer and simultaneous interpreter
pabloapiolazza@gmail.com
http://heyquetal.blogspot.com

"Well, I am a filmmaker, I worked as a digital artist (motion graphics, cgi) most of my career and lately as a producer. I am also a spanish-english simultaneous interpreter, and a big language freak. I had english lessons pretty much since kindergarden, both french and english in high school, my ancestry is from Italy, so I also had a good grip on italian when I was a kid. I speak spanish as a mother tongue and then I've got interested in german so I started taking lessons. After that I took norwegian lessons, and nowadays I'm also learning dutch, because in a long term I'd like to go live to Amsterdam, my dream city.
To have that amount of languages to learn and practice can be really hard, so in order to keep up I discovered that podcasts are a good method to practice or at least have some regularity.

On the other hand, my job and life itself gave me the chance to meet and be friends with a lot of foreigners from all over the world. Buenos Aires is a very touristic city, and lots of people come here to learn spanish. The thing I first noticed about them, was that once they were gone, they began to lose all the knowledge that they got here. And some of them were really interested in learning the language, so I always thought it was a pity, and it made me want to do something about it.
If you think about it, the current times don't give people many chances to spend time in language learning, so even with the initiative, some people just don't have the time to go to take lessons, and therefor they miss the chance to learn.
It is also amazing that spanish is the most spoken language (as a mother tongue) in the world after mandarin. And even so, it's not that easy to find free resources to learn it.
I strongly believe that knowing a language is not only a way to communicate, but also a way to understand a culture. So this way I try to help people to get together. To make the gaps smaller.

In my podcasts I also try to share some of the culture and traditions of Argentina, and mostly Buenos Aires, because that's what I know the most.

Maybe it is a big goal, but this is my little sand grain to make people together."

Earth Hour

2010-03-26T02:17:00.000-07:00

written by Mara Camilleri

Earth Hour is a global event organized by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature, also known as World Wildlife Fund) and is held on the last Saturday of March annually, asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. Earth hour was conceived by WWF and The Sydney Morning Herald in 2007, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights. Following Sydney's lead, many other cities around the world adopted the event in 2008.

Earth Hour 2010 will be held from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, March 27
Earth Hour 2010 is reportedly on track to become the largest Earth Hour yet, aiming to garner more than the one billion participant goal of 2009's Earth Hour.
121 countries have signed up for Earth Hour 2010.

Surfcastle - The lost paradise in Portugal

2010-03-25T02:31:00.000-07:00

written by João Sepúlveda Castanheira
Co-founder of the Surfcastle

Let me introduce you to the Surfcastle… a vintage house located just by the edge of Baleal beach. This beach is described by the famous poet Raul Brandão as being “the most beautiful beach in Portugal”… and truly, the geographical shape of this coastline is quite unique ! Imagine three beautiful bays with miles of sandy beaches and countless surf spots… well this is reality in Portugal and the Surfcastle is located right in the center of it all…

The village of Baleal is amazing with the peculiar houses surrounded by the Ocean… it almost feels like you are living in a big boat ! Peniche is the main town which lies just 3 Km. south… a city that is literally focused towards the sea. We are working together with the city hall of Peniche and with several ecofriendly organizations in order to create a cleaner and greener environment in this region ( you can follow their work on the following websites:
http://www.cm-peniche.pt/he.pt/ ; http://associacaoarmeria.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.geota.pt/coastwatch/cw_portugal/index.html ). There is also the medieval town of Óbidos just 20 min away, a fascinating place lost in time… like a fortified town inside the city walls !

Our house was built in 1921 just after the first World War by an eccentric millionaire… he wanted to build a mansion in a very remote and beautiful place… the location of the house is perfect because Baleal beach is one of the few spots that has sea on both sides (North & South)… all the rooms in the main house of the Surfcastle are located in the first floor of the house and offer a panoramic view over this unique beach. The interiors are mostly made of wood and we try to use natural fabrics as much as possible.

Photo by Laura Putter

In October 2006, the owners decided to transform this amazing property in to a bed & breakfast guest house with a Surf school… this was the only way to give maintenance to such an amazing house in a eco friendly environment… our goal is to allow our guests to have contact with this amazing sport called Surfing… we help them learn to Surf, and more important than that… we share our peculiar beach life style in harmony with the nature, the waves and the Ocean itself !

Surfers are responsible for rescuing many swimmers in our coastline and even animals. Our students generate a great bond with the sea just by having surf lessons with us… they immediately fall in love with the waves, and the beach… a deep sense of respect and caring by the Nature develops and this is very visible specially with the kids !

Come & visit us anytime, for more information please visit: http://www.surfcastle.pt/ing/index.html

Photos by

Arthur Lavooy www.arts-pictures.nl/framesetartspictures.htm

slowmotionshop.com

2010-02-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

A life in Slowmotion
written by Hanna Johansson
co-founder of slowmotion fashion brand

Slowmotion is a Swedish designed brand of eco-friendly and ethnic fashion. The brand was founded in 2008 and the first collection was launched in January 2009. The sorbet coloured spring collection is made of super soft jersey pieces such as tops, dresses, sweatshirts and yoga pants. The qualities are super fine, organic Egyptian cotton and lyocell – an eco-friendly kind of viscose. Slowmotion also do accessories such as vegetable tanned leather belts, made without chemicals.

“We don’t do organic because it’s trendy” says the founders Sophia Söderström and Hanna Johansson. “We do it because it’s the only way that feels right. We want to run our company in the best possible way - we are not perfect, but we always try to find the best and most eco-friendly solutions.”

The spring collection from Slowmotion is sold in Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. On the web you can buy Slowmotion through slowmotionshop.com and Asos.com.

http://www.slowmotionshop.com/
http://www.asos.com/

"Masterpieces" from Kahia Dustin

2010-02-25T02:33:00.000-08:00

Masterpieces from Dustin Kahia

As every month the group of authors of gaia-planet proposes an artist and his work.This month we have chosen a director, Dustin Kahia, and his new film, "Masterpieces", which we find brilliant and rich in performances.The following description was given to us by Dustin Kahia himself, through a written interview which we managed to have.

"After what seems like a rather entertaining night with the boys, Sean Karr (Manu Intiryami) finds himself in a life and death situation. Distraught and tormented by the past traumas of his “broken” childhood, he decides that suicide is his only escape. When his artistic friend Dillon (Eric Silver) arrives unaware of the situation to Sean’s home, he takes a very unorthodox approach in attempt to save his best friends life."

Youtube Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_3qxiTOOw

Production Company Website:
www.kahiafilms.com"

Back in 1992

2010-01-26T03:10:00.000-08:00

In 1992 the 12 years old Severn Suzuki gave a speech to the United Nations assembley.
After 18 years and listening carefully to her speech, couldn't we wonder what has changed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1I6ljzaY9k&feature=related

Eco-cities

2010-01-04T02:23:00.000-08:00

Lilypads
written by Mara L.Camilleri
MScA University of Bologna
MFA & MDes in Academy of Arts&Design
Free lance creator/consultant in A&D

The belgian architect Vincent Caillebaut was inspired by water lilies to create a floating home that will provide shelter to the inhabitants of islands and coastlines which are expected to bedrowned away in the coming decades because of the fact that the climate warms up.Infact he was inspired by the great lilypad of Amazonia Victoria Regia.
More than 50.000 people will be hosted in the eco-city which will have a total recyclable structure.Moreover it will be capable of reacting to UV rays by absorbing atmospheric pollution.All type of renewable energies will be integrated such as thermal,solar and photovoltaic energies,wind energy etc.

Light pollution

2009-12-29T07:30:00.001-08:00

Light pollution
written by Mara Manduchi
Bachelors in Astronomy-University of Bologna,Italy
Teacher of Physics and Mathematics

With the term “light pollution” we intend an alteration of the natural ambient light levels in the night environment produced by artificial light.
The size of pollution level, that varies from place to place, represents one of the rapidly increasing alteration of natural environment.
The major negative effect is the growth of night sky brightness, responsible of the loss of starred sky visibility. Professional and amateur astronomers are suffering greatly for the adverse effects of night sky observation: due to light pollution, optical instruments potentiality cannot be used at all.
Light pollution is a serious problem not only for scientists and astronomers but for common people as well. The whitish fog surrounding Earth produces a loss of perception of the Universe depriving people of a contact with nature. Starred sky observation, that has always had strong influence on human thought and culture, both humanistic and scientific (art, religion, philosophy, literature, physic, astrophysics), is precluded to an increasing part of world population.
It has been calculated that about two-thirds of the world population and 99 per cent of the population in the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and European Union live in areas where the night sky is above the threshold set for polluted status. Assuming average eye functionality, about one-fifth of the World population, more than two-thirds of the United States population and more than one half of the European Union population have already lost naked eye visibility of the Milky Way (1)
Many impacts on the natural environment due to light pollution are shown by a large number of studies and reports: alterations of life and hunt custom in animals, disturbances associated with animal reproduction and migration, alterations of circadian rhythm, alteration of plants photosynthesis process and photoperiodism.
Not to underestimate the importance of saving energy reducing the use of not necessary light sources and developing eco-sustainable illumination technology. Energy waste is in fact both an economic and environmental damage.
To get an impression of light pollution entity in Europe you can see the “loss of stellar visibility in Europe map” in http://www.savethenight.eu/Map.html\ which show the loss of capability of population to see stare in Europe, and the "Lights in Europe" map in http://www.savethenight.eu/Lights%20in%20Europe.html that show radiance of the Heart surface mesaured by satellites.

References

http://www.lightpollution.it
http://www.savethenight.eu

(1) “The first world atlas of the artificial night sky brightness.” P. Cinzano, F. Falchi, C.D. Elvidge - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 328, 689-707 (2001)

Snapshut Bamboo T-shirts

2009-12-06T06:43:00.000-08:00

Snapshut Bamboo T-shirts
written by David Peacock
fashion brand owner

http://snapshut.carbonmade.com
http://snapshut-tshirts.blogspot.com
david@snapshutdesigns.co.uk

Snapshut is a new and exclusive brand, offering a range of art‐inspired designs printed on high quality bamboo T‐shirts. While snapshut T‐shirts are all about the funky and bold minimalist designs, there is also some method behind the madness. Here is some more information on why we use bamboo.
At snapshut, we love bamboo clothing because it has a light feel, almost like silk, but with the practical advantage of being machine washable. It is durable and strong, yet super soft and comfortable to wear.
It’s hypoallergenic and naturally anti‐bacterial, and what’s more, it is also one of the most eco‐friendly fabrics available today.

Bamboo is a sustainable and renewable resource as the bamboo plant, a type of tropical grass, is selfreplenishing.
The plant has an extensive rooting system that grows four to six new shoots a year, naturally replenishing itself.
Bamboo is also the fastest growing plant on earth, and is therefore highly renewable. The type of bamboo used for making fabric, commonly known as Moso, grows at a rate of several feet a day and can reach a mature height of 75 feet in just 45 to 60 days.
In addition, bamboo possesses an antibacterial and bacteriostatic bio‐agent called ‘bamboo kun’, which prevents bacteria from cultivating on it. As a result, fewer pesticides and fertilizers are required in the cultivation of bamboo, and it is 100% biodegradable.
All this means that bamboo textiles are one of the most sustainable and eco‐friendly fabrics available.

So, bamboo clothing is less harmful to the environment than convenPonal fabrics, but
it’s difficult to believe that tall,hard canes of bamboo can actually become so,
comfortable clothing.
As bamboo is a grass, although the culm wall is hard, the leaves and inner pith can be pulped and processed into bamboo fibre. – The first pulping creates a thick pulp that is then crushed and mixed with caustic soda, a low‐impact chemical, to leave a very fine pulp. The next stage of the process is to spin this pulp into thin fibres, which are later spun into bamboo yarn to be woven into bamboo fabric.

The resulting fabric is durable, incredibly soft, and carries many unique properties from the bamboo plant itself.

Bamboo fabric retains the plant’s natural antibacterial qualities, which means that clothing made from bamboo will keep you fresher and odour‐free for longer than clothing made from other conventional fabrics.
Bamboo clothing is also highly breathable. Compared with cocon and other comparable fabrics, bamboo garments are typically up to 2 degrees cooler in warm weather. Bamboo garments are also quick to absorb moisture, and are reported to cut out many harmful UV rays.
Bamboo therefore provides us with ultra comfortable and eco‐friendly garments which, when coupled with snapshut’s bold designs, allow you to stand out from the crowd in a more subtle fashion.
Snapshut T‐shirts are made up of a blend of 70% bamboo and 30% organic cocon. This mix ensures that our garments are super soR and have excellent drape, yet they are sturdy enough to hold the bold line prints that snapshut is all about.

GIVING BACK -- We are big believers in giving something back, and so we pledge to donate a percentage of the profits from the sale of our bamboo T-shirts to charitable organisations.

We hope to involve our stockists and customers in this process by inviting them to nominate a charity to receive the funds. We will soon be selling our bamboo T-shirts through innovative new fashion e-portal, Touch2Give -- http://www.touch2give.com -- which will be launching in the next few weeks!!

For further information on snapshut T‐Shirts:

http://snapshut.carbonmade.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/snapshut
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Snapshut-T-Shirts/119472201510
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/snapshut-tshirts

Ecological hotels in Europe

2009-11-22T00:15:00.000-08:00

here below is a list of ecological hotels around Europe

Okura Hotel in Amsterdam www.okura.nl
Mamaison in Prague www.mamaison.com
The Zetter in london www.thezetter.com
Villa Casanova in Venise www.casanovavenise.com
Casa camper in Barcelona www.casacamper.com

Design Exhibition in cité des sciences/ paris

2009-11-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

There is a beautiful exhibition regarding the 183 design objects of the year in the city of paris in the centre called cité des sciences.The exhibition shows the new objects which will be the hit design objects of the year, with a great analysis of their conception, design proceedure till the final state of their production.

The ecological aspect of each object is vastly described and the present installations and 3-D videos explain the positive aspects of the ecofriendly materials.

Reiki

2009-10-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

Reiki
written by Nicoletta Crudeli
Reiki practioner

Reiki is a sanscrit term which means connection between our proper vital center(ki) and the universal center.
It is a tecnique of natural healing but it is most of all a path towards selfestime and great changes.
Through reiki we can learn how to canalize the energy of universe in ourselves and in others through the use of the most simple of the means:our hands.
This tecnique was discovered around the middle of XIX century from the japanese monch Mikao Usui and was diffused in the western world by the great master Hawayo Takata.

The tecnique has been passed over from one master to the other, till it arrived to us.It's not a case that in an era full of transitions and changes,like the one we are living,it is offered to all humans through three levels, with the possibility to access to the source of love and energy which is capable of recreating in us the harmony inside and outside.
even though humanity has reached extremely elevated levels of knowledge,research and tecnology is still facing the risk of its extintion.It is required a
higher sense of responsability from each of us.
As written before there are three different levels for accessing to the source:

The first level regards the activation of the energetic channels and during this fase we are capable to cure ourselvs and the others.
At the second level the person who operates reiki receives a specific "activation" which gives him the ability to use three symbols.

These simbols are made out of a form, a sound and a positive thought which is connected to the form.The symbols cannot be written or spoken to somebody
who hasn't been "activated".

The third level is the reiki master during which another symbol is given and permits to the master to operate the activations.

Reiki can rappresent a great help during humans' life, given that it helps us reconnect in a more profound way, with ourselvs and all that surrounds us.
Infact it is not only a tecnique of cure but also a chance towards change, a new way of being in harmony with out inner essence.It nurrishes our spirit
and body by sustaining our groth and evolution.Through reiki our body's energy circulates in a more regular way and cronical aches can gradually fade.
Moreover procedures of dixitontication are aviated and a great state of relaxing feelinf is induced.

Reiki helps humans to maintain a good health and conduct a life and this is why it is practised with extreme respect towards the others and ourselvs.

Globale premiere: The age of stupid

2009-09-20T02:18:00.000-07:00

written by Mara Manduchi
Bachelors in Astronomy-University of Bologna,Italy
Teacher of Physics and Mathematics

On September 21st / 22nd, on the eve of the UN General Assembly's climate session,there will be the globale premiere of The Age of Stupid.
A-list celebrities will walk the green carpet to a solar powered cinema tent in downtown New York, in the greenest film event of the world.
The event will be linked by satellite to 700 cinemas in 50+ countries and will be accompanied by the presence of Kofi Annan.

http://www.ageofstupid.net/global_premiere

Ecodesign books

2009-08-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here below there is a list of books regarding the ecological design and architecture.

The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design by Sandra F. Mendler

The Green Studio Handbook: Environmental Strategies for Schematic Design
by Alison Kwok (Author), Walter Grondzik (Author)

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises
by Architecture for Humanity (Author)

Green By Design: Creating a Home for Sustainable Living by Angela Dean

Design for Sustainability: A Sourcebook of Integrated, Eco-logical Solutions by Janis Birkeland

Environmentally Responsible Design: Green and Sustainable Design for Interior Designers by Louise Jones

Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning by Daniel E. Williams, David W. Orr, and Donald Watson

Experimental Eco-Design: Product, Architecture, Fashion by Cara Brower, Rachel Mallory, and Zachary Ohlman

Small Spaces: Good Ideas by Cristina Paredes

Ten Shades of Green: Architecture and the Natural World by Peter Buchanan and Kenneth Frampton

Ecofriendly bags

2009-08-06T02:42:00.000-07:00

written by Susan Kjorova
www.ecobagsbulgaria.com

~ There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story ~ Linda Hogan

It is not necessary to read long statistics, to see that only we, as human beings harm nature. Just one look around- the rivers have lost their color; we need to escape very far away from our towns, to be able to breathe normally, dying trees and fishes.
“It is not my responsibility. I am here for short.” - Many people’s point of view. Even we are here for such a short time, and yes, nature has survived many like us before. In this period of about 60- 70 years we only exploit the best sides of nature. And in this time our wish is, our personality to be threaten well, with respect and love. Just think about, may be this is natures wish too.
Do we have to pay for each of nature’s presents, to be able to appreciate them?
Bulgaria and the counties near are waking last years up with the knowledge to protect and keep alive what is given us for free.
We have a long way to go, to learn and this realization to become part of our life.
A small detail in this is to grow into the habit to carry and use a shopping bag.
Everyone can participate to avoid the everyday growing mountains of polyethylene bags. Concerning an article, written from Veselin Dimitrov from 30 April 2008 in capital.bg, the quantity of using polyethylene bags in Bulgaria is 3, 4 milliard for one year. The time needed for decomposing of polyethylene is between 100- 400 years. (http://www.capital.bg/show.php?storyid=491396)
Here is also some info about the general waste disposal in the EU: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/8-09032009-BP/EN/8-09032009-BP-EN.PDF

With the wish to reduce the use of polyethylene bags and with a compact foldable shopping bag, bought in Berlin began the existence of Eco Bags Bulgaria. The idea, to produce handy bags, everybody can use many times. Most of them are produced from cotton, polyester and jute fabrics. The variation of models is endless.
Many companies have realized, that by putting their printed or embroidery logo on a shopping bag, they show care for nature and advertise their product in the same time.

CDM projects opportunities: Focus on Colombia

2009-07-01T08:18:00.001-07:00

CDM projects opportunities: Focus on Colombia
written by Natalia Garavito - CDM/JI Broker
MBA EDHEC
n.garavito@gmail.com

Like most countries in Latin America, Colombia has submitted only one National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2001.

The country is working on the Second National Communication and it is scheduled to be completed by 2010. It will include an update of the National GHG Inventory for 2000 and 2004, the vulnerability and adaptation studies for various sectors, including water resources, and a chapter on mitigation measures.

Colombia has a potential of 29, 9 million tons of CO2 emissions reduction per year under optimum conditions of information, risk and international and national institutions. By now, the quantity of CERs issued for a period of 8 years is equal to 295.200 CERs from the potential of 29.9 million CERs to be issued, it means that Colombia has seized only a 0.90% of its Emissions Reductions potential.

There are 109 projects in various stages of the CDM project cycle; 37 projects approved by the DNA-Environment Ministry (with 7.855.473 tonCO2e/year); 13 projects registered with the Convention Executive Board (with 1.928.865 tonCO2e/year); 5 projects have issued 295,200 CERs; and 8 agreements to purchase CERs by 37.4 million dollars. As shown in the graphic on the right, the 32% of the projects are developed in the energy sector, 24% represents waste projects,18% belongs to industry projects, 12% represents Forestry projects, 11% are Transport projects and only 1% represents the agricultural projects.

The emission reduction potential of the agricultural sector (including land use change and forestry) is significant and not yet sufficiently explored in the country. Around 40% of Colombia’s land is used for agriculture (37% for pasture and 3% for cultivation), with forestry occupying 60% of the land in the country.

The REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), is another project type to reduce carbon emissions well-known as “Avoided Deforestation”. These projects are now under negotiations to be implemented for the second Kyoto Protocol period as a CDM projects. If REDD projects are included (as predicted), it would represent a great opportunity to countries with extensive areas of forests Like Colombia. Actually various REDD projects initiatives are carrying out in the country, but none of them has been registered with the Convention Executive Board, as it is expecting the approval within the Kyoto Protocol. However there are examples at the regional level, like Brazil, where this kind of certificates has been negotiated through the voluntary markets.

Colombia produces less than 1% of the global emissions. The energy sector, the transport sector, and the construction sector, all together represent 42% of total emissions in Colombia, the Industry sector and waste only represents 4%, and 3% respectively, and the agriculture sector with 40% and the deforestation sector with 11%, represent the largest emissions in Colombia.

In Colombia there is a large amount of land suitable to develop CDM projects (particularly forestry, agriculture and energy); Tax incentives for CDM projects are implemented; New methodologies for CDM projects have been developed (i.e. Transmilenio); Better prices for CERs are expected; and programmatic projects and Bundling Projects arise as a good option for the small projects in the country.

A recent study by the Inter-American Development Bank shows that if Colombia continues to consolidate its CDM projects portfolio, the country would be able to expect around U.S. $ 85 million income per year, which would lead the CDM industry in the 22nd line of Colombian’s exports.

DNA: Ministerio de Ambiente, Vivienda y
Desarrollo Territorial
GRUPO DE MITIGACIÓN DE CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO

MiaGreen Exp & Conference Miami Beach June 2009

2009-07-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

MiaGreen Exp & Conference Miami Beach June 2009
Susie Glass, LEED AP
Vice President of Marketing
sglass@metro1properties.com

The first annual MiaGreen Expo & Conference kicked off this past June 11th and 12th, 2009 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The event attracted a sizeable crowd of approximately 2,500 attendees who were eager to learn more about the green building industry. The exhibit hall boasted over 120 American and foreign firms, launching and showcasing a wide variety of innovative products and services for major fields within the green and sustainable professional arenas. Attendees also participated in twenty major conferences and panels, that included topics from “How To Be Green & Profitable,” to “Energy, Water & The Environment.” A special eight-hour LEED V3 Technical Review and Exam Preparation course was also offered, in addition to the two main opening sessions, which included a panel from the UK Trade & Investment Group and Skanska USA.

The Expo & Conference offered attendees and exhibitors an additional opportunity to establish and strengthen business relationships during a special VIP cocktail networking reception. The attendees represented the fields of architectural design and engineering, building and construction, real estate, environmental specialists, recycling, distribution and professional services and consulting industries. The official summer meeting of the National Green Energy Council Board of Directors was held during the conference. The organization launched its Green Job Corp Program, with a record number of students signing up for the courses, which included topics such as “Sustainability 101.” The National Green Energy Council is an educational nonprofit organization committed to enlightening children and leaders alike about environmental stewardship and renewable energy in order to save our planet for future generations.

Being the fist of its kind with, the MiaGreen Expo & Conference successfully brought together a myriad of green and sustainable businesses and service providers unparalleled by any other event in South Florida. Attendees could sample water from machines that condensed water from air, or learn about recycling programs available in the region. If an attendee needed a quick break, he or she could relax in one of the sustainable furniture lounges provided by South Florida’s very own Project Import Export, also known as PIE, (www.pie-studio.com). PIE studio is an award winning green design company that focuses on architecture, interiors and furniture creating a healthier environment. Their work has been added to the permanent collection to the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum -Smithsonian Institution in New York City.

Innovative exhibits and installations, such as the work of Bamboo Barry, the largest custom bamboo builder in North America, inspired and impressed attendees to use bamboo (a renewable resource) in non-traditional and creative ways. It simply would not have been a South Beach event if there was not some element of beauty, style and fashion incorporated. Those that arrived to the MiaGreen Expo & Conference early enough for the ribbon cutting ceremony caught a glimpse of gorgeous models dressed in haute recycled couture courtesy of Green Art USA. These amazing designs were all the rage as flocks of attendees rushed to snap photos with the beauties, a creation of Luis Valenzuela, fashionista and founder of Green Art USA, whose motto is ‘more art, less waste.’ Valenzuela repurposed old maps and trash bags to create one-of-a-kind designs that can be worn by just about anyone. Other exhibitors included those from nonprofit and government sectors, such as the Miami Office of Sustainable Initiatives and the United States Green Building Council South Florida Chapter. Both organizations exhibited MiaGreen Expo & Conference with on-site staff to answer any questions the public may have had about green building and sustainable initiatives in Miami and the surrounding area.

According to Jose Garcia-Pineyro, President and Executive Director for MiaGreen, “Our upcoming edition will again be serving the South Florida region, as a major market in the US. This time we will also be focusing on making MiaGreen 2010 a major convention that will bring together professionals, experts, businessmen, educators, governmental authorities and suppliers from the entire western hemisphere as well as Europe, to Miami, the Business Capital of the Americas!”

The 2nd edition of the Mia Green Expo and Conference is slated for February 25th and 26th, 2010 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Branded as the GREEN Convention of the Americas, the event will expand its educational programs, trade sessions and exhibition opportunities to host participants from the entire western hemisphere and Europe. For more information on the MiaGreen Conference and Expo please contact Hector Hernandez at 305.412.EXPO or visit www.miagreen.com.

Archaelogical summer fieldwork in Italy

2009-06-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SUMMER FIELDWORK CAMPAIGN IN ITALY

Are you interested in improving your Italian speaking skills and learning about Archaeology hands-on, both at the same time???
Then the Archaeological Summer Fieldwork Campaign organized in Bibbiena (Arezzo Province), Tuscany, is what you are looking for!!!

Archeodomani society, in collaboration with Tuscany Regional Authority for Archaeological Heritage Preservation (Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana) and Bibbiena Town Authorities, organizes an archaeological fieldwork campaign in the Bibbiena municipality during the Summer of 2009.

The focus of the fieldwork activities will be the thermal complex of the Roman villa located near the village of Domo.

The fieldwork, now in its second year of activity, is equally open to students of Archaeology and Heritage Preservation disciplines, who wish to practice their skills, and to Archaeology enthusiasts, of any age, who have a desire to participate in and learn from all the activities of an archaeological excavation.

There is no prerequisite for the participation in the campaign, a part from the necessity of a base fluency in Italian.

The fieldwork activities will be directed and supervised by professional archaeologists who will guarantee that the appropriate scientific methodologies of archaeological excavation will be respected throughout the activities.

The area of excavation will be open to tourists during the fieldwork activity and they will be able to observe the "archaeologists at work".

The campaign period is divided into two turns, of two weeks each (1st turn from July 19 to August 1, 2nd turn from August 2 to August 16).
The excavation activity will be carried out from Monday to Friday and it will be integrated with other activities, such as findings cataloging, digital archiving, lectures and laboratory experiences. Saturdays and Sundays will be free of pre-organized activities.

The cost for participating is 420.00 € for each turn or 240.00 € for one half-turn (one week). The costs include all taxes and full coverage for accommodation and food.

CONTACTS FOR INFORMATION AND BOOKING:

Dr. Lorenzo Dell’Aquila (project coordinator), tel: +39.339.778.6192

http://web.mac.com/archeodomani

archeodomani@yahoo.it

Ixaya school in Mexico

2009-06-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

www.ixayaschool.com

TASHIRAT
By focusing our teachings on the Chakra Life Lessons, Yoga, Meditation, Nutrition and Natural Medicine and Selfless Service, Tashirat guides spiritual aspirants to the connection with the Higher Self. The Tashirat Cosmic Learning Center offers students Intensive, Correspondence and Teacher Training Courses.
Through their courses and service projects they teach students, volunteers and children the fundamental tools necessary to strengthen and balance all four bodies (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual). It’s their belief that the best anyone can do in their lives is realize their extraordinary potential by becoming connected and guided in life so they can help others to do the same.

Since 2003, the Tashirat Orphanage has blossomed into a high quality, ecological, family-style home for 20 children. The Tashirat kids receive the love, environment and elements they need to flourish and shine as individuals – to unleash their inner force, beauty and talents.
September 2008, Tashirat expanded with the opening of the Ixaya School. The Ixaya School is a free alternative school for the Tashirat Orphanage children as well as 60 children from the surrounding underprivileged communities. Ixaya provides impoverished children with nutritious meals, a positive learning environment and the confidence and skills to achieve their dreams in life.

MORE IN DEPTH
The Mission of the Tashirat Orphanage is to take in handicapped children, children who are too old to be adopted, or siblings who normally are separated from each other or left in overcrowded government orphanages for the rest of their childhood. Upon turning 18, these children would have been sent into the world alone with no one to count on, no social preparation, education or security. Our handicapped kids would have been institutionalized for life since they had no family to care for them. Our orphanage is a loving home that gives the most marginalized children what they always dreamed of, but never thought possible.
Tashirat is comprised of small families. Every staff member is a foster parent to 1 – 6 children and each family has their own little bungalow. The kids are raised and loved as our own. Although they will eventually attend universities and go out into the world to start their adult lives, they will always have a home and family to count on.
All of the children arrived in an extremely poor state of health. Many were on heavy medications for chronic illnesses; all were malnourished and weak physically as well as emotionally. Seven of our children are special needs children with various handicaps, psychological and mental disorders. We have watched all the children flourish since their arrival and with every passing year they realize more of their potential, becoming less “special needs” and more confident and secure. Living in a positive environment where they are cherished and their loves and talents are cultivated has given all of our Tashirat kids the force to transform into the most open, communicative, harmonious, fun and beautiful individuals.
The Tashirat children are given the highest quality vegetarian diet. We use homeopathy when necessary and avoid using allopathic medications. In Tashirat we live ecologically. The children are raised to become independently thinking, globally and spiritually conscious individuals who care about themselves, others and the world as a whole. All children understand English and most are fully bilingual now.
Our permanent staff team of young enthusiastic individuals is entirely dedicated to the children as well as their own spiritual paths. The Tashirat staff members are from all over the world and speak both English and Spanish. A majority of the staff members have lived and worked in Tashirat for nearly a decade.

The Mission of our Ixaya School, is to give underprivileged and “at risk” children a globally-conscious education, emotional stability, correct nutrition and unconditional love. Ixaya means “to open one’s eyes” in the native indigenous language of Nahuatl. It is our dream that this school will assist many children in opening their eyes to world of opportunity and growth through quality alternative educational and creativity.
Mexican public schools are notorious for being overcrowded, having a low academic standards and under-qualified teachers. Slow learners are chronically neglected. Many students 'slip through the cracks,' become frustrated, and drop out after primary school, leaving them without the skills or education required to find employment. What's more, high fees for uniforms, school supplies, and endless other costs in the public schools, keep many under-privileged children from even attending.

For many poverty stricken families, alcoholism, abuse, neglect and hunger are an everyday reality. Even if a child is eager to learn and has the opportunity to attend school, malnutrition drastically reduces a child's ability to concentrate and absorb new information. Children from abusive homes too often grow up to be abusive adults, with stunted emotional development, poor communication skills, and a lack of self-worth. Ignorance is passed from one generation to the next, and the vicious cycle of poverty and abuse continues. With your help we can break that cycle for an entire generation of children in Tepoztlan.

Through our Ixaya School we provide a supportive educational community. Children receive nutritious meals daily, personalized attention, ecological consciousness, initiative and leadership training, extra-curricular workshops, English classes, Yoga and a positive home away from home. Ixaya is a safe haven where children are provided with the skills and building blocks to construct successful, healthy and happy lives.
We immerse our children in everything they would never have been exposed to otherwise in life; we assist each child to discover his/her unique talents; to follow these talents, academic or otherwise, with passion, and thus find his/her niche in life. We work to help our students overcome blocks and fears; encouraging them to be creative, original and free-thinking. Our aim is to guide them to become fulfilled and successful young adults, who in turn reach out to those less fortunate than themselves, passing on the kindness bestowed upon them.
Our school currently makes free quality education accessible to 80 children in grades 1 – 8. Our plan is to build a high school and kindergarten as soon as more funding is made available. Please help us to bring light, which is knowledge, into these children’s lives, dispelling darkness / ignorance that causes so much unnecessary suffering!

"Did You Know?"

2009-05-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

"Did You Know?"
written by Mara L.Camilleri
MScA University of Bologna
MFA & MDes in Academy of Arts&Design
Free lance creator/consultant in A&D

1) 20 million is the amount of trees consumed each year for books, 4 million of those for textbooks.

2) It takes 95% more energy to create a new aluminium can than making it from recycled aluminium.

3) In the average home, 40% of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off.

4) More than one billion people, or 1 out of every 6 people, lack access to a safe supply of drinking water!!Diseases associated with the lack of clean water
are leading cause of death in the world.

5) About 20,000 gallons of water per year can be saved if a family of four chooses to use low-flow showerheads instead of full-flow models .

6) By 2025, the world must increase its water supply by 22 percent in order to meet its needs. Meanwhile, 40 percent of the drinking water supplied to homes
is flushed down the toilet.

Source: Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen, authors of The Green Book

7) The refrigerator is the single biggest energy-consuming kitchen appliance, and opening the refrigerator door accounts for between $30 and $60 of a
typical family's electricity bill each year. The amount of energy saved in a year by more efficient
refrigerator usage could be enough to light every house in the United States for more than four and a half months straight.

Source: Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen, authors of The Green Book

8) Arctic ice thickness has almost halved since the 1960s.The polar ice cap is now melting at the alarming rate of 9% per decade
Source: NASA

9) Since 1980, the earth has experienced 19 of its 20 hottest years on record, with 2005 and 1998 tied for the hottest and 2002 and 2003 coming in second
and third.

Source: NRDC

10) Only 1/5th of the Earth's original forests remain pristine and undisturbed.Half of the forests that originally covered 48% of the Earth's land surface
are gone.

Source: NRDC

11) Only 10% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb produces light; the rest is given off as heat.

12) A leaky faucet can waste up to 20 gallons of water per day, and a leaking toilet can waste up to 200 gallons a day.

13) Making a ton of paper from recycled stock saves up to 17 trees and uses 50% less water than making paper from virgin fiber.

Ecofriendly fashion labels

2009-05-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

Orly Shani
owner of Orly Couture fashion label
www.orlycouture.com

“Orly Couture uses vintage and recycled fabrics to create one of kind, eco-conscious pieces. Through her designs, Orly Shani hopes to raise your awareness to the importance of eco-friendly Fashion, while looking your absolute best. Orly Couture creates innovative pieces that emphasize classic and ageless designs. Each composition uses an inventive fusion of Vintage fabrics and modern details in a wide range of styles, from the classic black cocktail dress to the edgy leather motorcycle jacket.” N.G. for NY magazine

Here below you can read the article written by the fashion designer herself, describing the history of Orly Couture and the importance of her ecofriendly choises regarding her fashion line.

“Without realizing it, I started this line as a teenager. It was a way for me to be able to wear the designs I saw in magazines, when I was still on an allowance.
I would sift through the pages of W magazine and always end up with two or three looks that I had to have. So, I would take a trip to the vintage/thrift stores in Los Angeles. There, I would find pieces that had one element of what I was trying to re-create. I would take it home, go to my mother’s sewing machine, and try to accomplish the rest on my own.

I never went to school for fashion. I grew up making clothes with my mom and took a few classes at a local fabric shop, in Calabasas. Those classes, combined with EXTENSIVE trial and error, taught me what I needed to know, in order to alter the vintage garments I bought.

I officially started my business in 2007 and I’ve found great success ever since. I’ve been picked up by one of Hollywood’s hottest stylist, Ilaria Urbanati, at her high end, boutique Confederacy. I am presenting Orly Couture at Fashion Fix, a weekly fashion event meant to increase awareness for emerging nyc designers. Ultimately, I’m working everyday to build my business and spread the word; Eco-living is the way of the future!

Eco-Living is just a part of life in California. It’s not considered trendy, or fabulous, it’s just a way of living. When you are surrounded by nature, it’s easier to be reminded that you want to protect it. So when I realized that I had something here; a style that people liked, and a concept that was sustainable, it was a no brainer. I’m proud of what I do. I create clothing that women get excited to wear and I’m able to re-use the textiles that have already been produced. Often times these clothes would be thrown out and added to our landfills. Through Orly Couture, I’m able to create fashion relevant garments that people get excited to purchase all over again! Eco-fashion is one of the many ways we can spread the word about a better way to live. I understand that feeling of, “oh, this one decision, on one day, at this one moment, it’s not going to change anything.” But it will! It’s like anything else, it’s only a matter of time until something becomes a habit. And getting in the habit of making better choices for out planet, it’s a good habit to be in. As my business grows, I plan to continue making recycled, one of kind pieces, along side a line that I produce. I have, however, been looking into green production options. Organic cotton fabrics, energy efficient manufacturers, etc. Although, the reality of running a business comes banging on my door every day, I am committed to finding a better way to run MY business, one day at a time.”

Creating the background for the re-integration of society and nature

2009-03-26T02:06:00.000-07:00

Creating the background for the re-integration of society and nature
written by Alexandros Konstantinis
Environmental Management, University of Ioannina, Greece
MSc in Geoinformatics, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
Environmental Manager in Management Body of Rivers Acheron and Kalamas, Igoumenitsa, Greece

If you want to prosper one year, cultivate wheat.
If you want to prosper ten years, cultivate trees.
If you want to prosper one hundred years, cultivate people.
- Chinese maxim -

One of us starts an ordinary day by turning a number of switches on. He drives then to work, he heats his working spaces, etc.. That man has released to the environment so far in this day about 8kg of coal and has contributed accordingly to the global warming. If he eats a 250g veal steak produced in Brazil, he will destroy 5m2 of forest. The production of this steak also needs 750lt of water and 1,7kg of forage (cereals). Furthermore, provided that the animal is one year old, it has released 27kg of methane (a greenhouse gas) to the atmosphere via its peptic system. The steak served with 100g of rice needs about 90g of nitrogen fertilizer, 80 of which are released to the environment contributing to global warming, eutrophication and water pollution. If our man takes a 300g trout dinner, he will release of 400g of particles (mainly organic), 19g of ammonia, 4g of nitrate and nitrite, 5g of phosphorus and small quantities of antibiotics, formaldehyde and other disinfectants to a river. The car of our man needed, only for its steel parts and tyres, 160tons of water. Its battery contains about 8kg of lead which has produced 310kg of waste in some Australian mine in order to be extracted. The vehicle has about 10kg of copper which has polluted some mine in Chile or in USA with 990kg of waste in order to be extracted. If the car’s air conditioner is old, uses Freon and is replaced 5 times, it will destroy 500tons of ozone.
Let’s recall a few things about thermodynamics. We know that it is based on four laws. Here, the first and the second are in concern to us. The first, which is the law of conservation of energy for any system, says that the internal energy of a system which receives an amount of heat is increased by that amount minus the work that the system performs. For example, a man eats a quantity of food. His internal energy increases by the metabolism. If the man does not eat anything else for a short period, his internal energy starts to decrease because his body on one hand performs some work and on the other loses heat to the environment. The first law of thermodynamics says that the reduction of the internal energy of his body is equal to the heat lost plus the work done. Generalizing to the entire universe, one can say that the amount of energy is always constant, or, otherwise, energy is neither created nor destroyed. It only changes form. The same law, formulated to describe matter, says that also matter is neither created nor destroyed. The quantity of matter we have before a process, physicochemical or other, is the same we have after it. This is called the law of matter indestructibility. Following the publication of the theory of relativity by Einstein, the law was found incorrect. We now know that mass and energy are equivalent so mass could be included in the principle of energy conservation. In addition, when referring to the usual speeds and standard technologies (technologies such as nuclear fission or fusion are excluded), it is safe to assume that indestructibility of matter is valid. The latter law, as we shall see, suggests that pollution is inevitable, regardless of how «pure» a technology is.
The second law of thermodynamics has been formulated in many ways. Without emphasizing on strictness and mathematical formulation, the second law says that if a system is left on its own, the disorder in it will increase. A measure of this disorder is called entropy. The latter is a central concept of many scientific disciplines and in a significant way it is connected to the fate of all things and that of us: decay and death. A little better, the second law says that the entropy of a system that has no interactions with its environment (“closed” system) and is subject to spontaneous internal changes, increases. More specifically, if the changes are reversible, the entropy remains constant but if they are irreversible, the entropy increases. The entropy always increases because there is no process in nature that is completely reversible. Furthermore, another version, less strict, is that the entropy of the entire universe increases because no system can be considered completely “closed” except universe. According to the second law, many things are impossible to happen. Irreversibility of things is an everyday experience. A man ages gradually and the signs of aging appear on his face and the rest of his body. Nobody expects anyone to become younger over time. However, mechanics is full of events which are reversible. Indeed, the solution of differential equations of mechanics, like the one that relates the force exerted on a body with mass and acceleration, may be a function of time (t) or its opposite (-t). Time, in other words, may refer to the future or the past. The subjective sense of time that we all have is not that of mechanics’. Time is an entity that has a specific direction towards what we call the future. The subjective time moves from situations of smaller entropy to those of greater. Nobody remembers the future but the past. A universe with reversible time where we could remember the future is not unthinkable. However, in our own, time has only one direction and the future is always unknown. The reason is not yet understood. What matters is that the second thermodynamic law is a reality. It will stop to be valid by the day an airplane which collided will be spontaneously assembled, its dismembered passengers will return to their seats and the flight will resume. Perhaps that is why the miracles of various religions, from ancient times, were the strongest weapon in making them convincing. Only a truly superhuman strength may be in breach of the second thermodynamic law.
Let’s return to earth. Energy, whose flow is governed by the two laws we have seen, exists in two forms, available and unavailable. A kilo of coal is available energy since its combustion can move an engine, heat a room or roast a piece of meat. Once released, this energy becomes not available. The heat that moved the engine was converted into kinetic energy while some escaped into the environment. Finally, part of the kinetic energy is converted by friction into heat again, which, because of the first law, is totally equal to the energy that initially existed in coal minus the work that was performed. Only now it is in a form that renders it unavailable. This is another view of the second law. Energy thus has a tendency to be converted from available to unavailable. Our culture is based on the economic processes that handle the flow of matter and energy which are governed by the laws of thermodynamics. And it is matter and energy that pollute the environment and exterminate living species which are essential for the existence of the planet and us.
Like energy, matter exists in both available and not available forms and continuously the first is changing into the second. The force that makes matter unavailable is friction. A car is composed of materials in available form. Some day it will be left to its own in a car graveyard where it will rust and gradually, because of the activity of the nature’s elements, will be destroyed. Because of the damage already happened during operation, a portion of the materials has become unavailable. After a few decades that car will disappear. But as we saw before, its mass does not really disappear. It goes somewhere. This whole matter cannot now be recovered. It is unavailable. Recycling of all materials, theoretically, is possible but time and energy required for this are of such size that the total damage (or increase in entropy) in the environment would be unacceptable.
A closed system that would produce work for ever needs not only energy but also matter in its available form. But since both are converted into unavailable forms, such system does not exist. Regarding to materials, the Earth is a closed system. The conclusion is simple: Sooner or later some materials will be exhausted.
Extraction, production and consumption produce waste. According to the law of conservation of mass, the entire quantity of matter used in the production process is long-term waste. Except, of course, the amount recycled. The amount of recycled matter is always less than the originally used because of the second thermodynamic law and as long as it transforms into new products that are also recycled, this quantity tends to zero. This is the importance of the two thermodynamic laws. All production at some point will reach the environment as waste. If this production is less than the absorbent capacity of the environment, the phenomenon stops there. But in all places around the world we have exceeded this capacity. So the whole production is converted to pollution. Even more important: there is a limit on so-called clean technologies below which they cannot become cleaner. Provided that production exists, pollution exists. Therefore, for the acquisition of material capital, which is the artificial material world around us, we inevitably destroy a part of the environment, often irreversible, like when we exterminate some living species.
Production is the opposite, in some way, of consumption. The first creates low entropy by the construction of high class items by raw materials. This low entropy is what consumption transforms into high entropy (loosely speaking, rubbish and pollution), higher than the original because of the second law. The economic process, through production, is continuously increasing the entropy. The word “production” is not precise, because matter is neither created nor destroyed, as we know from the first law. It is only converted to other forms. Finally, economic process does nothing more than to convert low to high entropy. In the way, we gain some benefit. We enjoy life.
If conversion of low to high entropy had no further consequences, we could continue this course without problems. Consequences, however, exist and are of two forms: environmental destruction and depletion of raw materials. According to the second thermodynamic law, matter is being converted continuously to non-available forms and the stocks of raw materials are depleted over time. The increase in production of material goods is followed by an increase in material “evils”, namely pollution. Why are we interested in the destruction of the environment and depletion of raw materials; Quite simply because as a species we are interested not only in our survival but also in that of our offspring.
The question, therefore, is whether the increase in production, which today is the fundamental economic and political doctrine, could continue in the future. There is nothing infinite in nature. Thus the doctrine of continuous growth is not valid. Somewhere there is a limit. Otherwise the system will explode. Given the state of the environment, I feel that we are approaching to the point (not to say that we have already reached there) at which we must choose between our destruction or the transformation of our value background and institutions that have prevailed in the economic, political, social and ecological field.
In order to survive and achieve a quality of living our decisions from here onwards should be made with regard to the reintegration of society and nature. The path of alternative options will open as soon as we become able, through realization, to achieve a rupture from the dominant social paradigm and its values and transform the institutions that currently demand and propagate economic growth, “representative democracy” (imaginative name to legalize the oligarchic regime), racism etc.. The path we have chosen about 200 years ago has led to destructive exploitation of human by human and the environment by humans. Much work must therefore be done in education and information.
Through the education system and other institutions offering to the cultivation of realization, we should reach the point to encourage such a realization that an individual would be able to challenge the system that encouraged it. Moreover, the individual could then discover, through the scientific method and the process of “ex recensione” (to have a reason for a decision and be able to both give and get reason – to speak and to listen), where it coincides with the system and invent (meaning the introduction of new and the creative criticism) variations from the matrix within which it developed.
In order to continue to exist, as it comes to my knowledge so far, we should nurture individuals able to create solidarity and build on the foundation of «democratic rationality», as described above. Some may argue that our extermination could be a solution of our existential problems. We may be led to the acceptance of this solution by the inability of earth to sustain us forever, if we continue to walk the same path. For me, however, this is not an option. The transformation of institutions to achieve economic, political, social and ecological democracy by making massive the rupture from the dominant social paradigm forms a viable option.
Ecological democracy involves the creation of institutions and a culture that secure the re-integration of society and nature. This means that the goal of economic activity is not the present eco-catastrophic “development” which is necessitated by competition and profit demands, but the covering of the needs of all citizens in a way that secures the true quality of life that only a harmonious relationship between society and nature can bring about. Ecological democracy, therefore, can be achieved neither within the present market economy system and the consequent ‘growth economy’, nor within any system mainly aiming at growth, like the centralized system of ‘actually existing socialism’.
Thinking the above, one can notice how much apposite and diachronic was Gandhi when he said: “You should be the change you seek in the world”.

REFERENCES
FILIS A. GIANNIS, “The twilight of human kind”, Exantas (1994), p.26-33
FOTOPOULOS TAKIS, “Inclusive Democracy – Ten years after”, Eleftheros Typos (2008)

Calendar for global environmental events

2009-03-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

Global Environmental Events
written by Mara L.Camilleri
MScA University of Bologna
MFA & MDes in Academy of Arts&Design
Free lance creator/consultant in A&D

January

Arbor Day celebrations: held annually throughout the year (date determined by the best tree planting times in each country/state).

February

World Wetlands Day: 2nd of February.
World Day of Social Justice: 20th of February.

March

World Water Day: 22nd of March.
Earth Hour:promotes efforts to address global warming by asking businesses and residents to turn off their lights for one hour. Held in late March

April

Earth Day: 22 of April.

May

World Fair Trade Day: held annually on or around the second Saturday of May.
International Day for Biological Diversity: 22nd of May.
Fair Trade Day/Week: during the second week of May
World No Tobacco Day: 31st of May.

June

World Environment Day : 5th of June.
World Ocean Day : 8th of June.
National Trails Day: on the first Saturday of June (U.S. and Canadian event).
Great American Backyard Campout: held in the latter part of June (U.S. event).

July

World Population Day: 11th of July.

August

International Day of the World's Indigenous People: 9th of August.
International Youth Day: 12th of August.

September

International Coastal Cleanup Day: held annually during the second or third Saturday of September.
International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer: 16th of September.
Clean Up the World Campaign: during the third weekend of September.
International Day of Peace: 21st of September.
World Carfree Day Campaign: 22nd of September.

October

World Vegetarian Awareness Month: during the month of October.
World Habitat Day: on the first Monday of October.
Junk Mail Awareness Week: during the first week of October.
World Farm Animals Day: held annually on or around October 2nd (Mahatma Gandhi's birthday).
Take Back Your Time Day: 24th of October (U.S. and Canadian event).
National Tour of Solar Homes:tours of solar homes held every October throughout the United States (U.S. event).

November

World Vegan Day: held annually on November 1st.
America Recycles Day: in mid-November (U.S. event).
Buy Nothing Day: in late November.

December

International Volunteer Day: 5th of December.

Houseplants

2009-02-24T02:29:00.000-08:00

Houseplants
written by Mara L.Camilleri
Interior designer and certified feng shui practitioner

In most interiors, plants have certainly a very important role: not only they are part of our interior decoration but it seems that certain houseplants purify the air of our homes. Infact the presence of elements, such as formaldehyde,trichloroethlylen and benzene in all indoor environments, underline the importance of finding a solution to indoor air pollution which is a real fact.
At the same time,it looks like that these are of the easiest plants to grow!!!

It has to be stressed that formaldehyde is an important chemical used widely by industry to manufacture building materials and numerous household products.Sources of formaldehyde in the home include building materials, smoking, household products, and the use of un-vented, fuel-burning appliances, like gas stoves or kerosene space heaters.

As far as it regards benzene people can be exposed to it indoors at home, where the air can contain higher levels of benzene than outdoor air, from products such as glue, paint, furniture wax, and detergent.
Approximately half the national exposure to benzene comes from smoking cigarettes or being exposed to cigarette smoke, indoors or outdoors.

Here below you will find the list of the twelve plants which where tested during the NASA/ALCA research [in a sealed experimental chamber during a 24 hour exposure period]:

• Bamboo palm, Chamaedorea seifritzii
• Chinese evergreen, Aglaonema modestum
• English ivy
• Fiscus, Benjamina
• Gerbera daisy, Transvaal daisy
• Dracaena 'Janet Craig'
• Dracaena 'Marginata'
• Corn cane, Dracaena massangeana
• Mother-in-law's tongue, Sansevieria laurentii
• Peace lily, Spathiphyllum 'Mauna Loa'
• Pot mum, Chrysanthemum

It was found that to remove Trichloroethylene concentrations from the air,Gerbera daisy, Dracaena Marginata, Peace lily (Spathiphyllum), Dracaena 'Janet Craig' and Bamboo palm should be used.
Moreover to remove Benzene concentrations in the air the most effective plants are the following: Bamboo palm, Dracaena 'Janet Craig', Mother-in-law's tongue, Dracaena Marginata, Peace lily and green Spider plant.
Part of the results of the research regarded the removing of Formaldehyde and the top seven houseplants were found to be the following: Bamboo palm, Dracaena 'Janet Craig', Mother-in-law's tongue, Dracaena Marginata, Peace lily, green Spider plant, and golden pathos.

It is estimated, as a result of this research, that 15 to 20 of these test houseplants can purify the interior of a typical house of 1,800 square feet.

Pilates

2009-02-23T04:59:00.000-08:00

Pilates
written by Maryliz Phillips
Pilates & Yoga for Kids Instructor
BA (Hons) Dance and Culture- University of Surrey, England
MA Arts Management and Criticism- City University, England
Pilates Institute, England
Yoga training at Asana, Greece.
Email address: marylizp@hotmail.com

Introduction to Pilates:

Pilates is a method that has become increasingly popular the recent years and its success is the result of much than just fashion. Pilates is a system that was developed by Joseph Hubertus Pilates and contains a series of exercises designed to improve strength and flexibility. Based on quality and not quantity, pilates as a method re-educates the body creating a well-balanced and lithe physique.

The pilates technique is a unique system of stretching and strengthening exercises that tone the muscles, improve posture and flexibility and unite the body with the mind. The method’s philosophy focuses a lot on training the mind to work together with body and it therefore offers a unique way of understanding and appreciating your body’s strengths and weaknesses; namely, the first step to breaking bad posture habits.

As a form of exercise, pilates is suitable for everybody from all age groups and it is particularly beneficial to those who suffer from back problems. During all exercises the "powerhouse" (abdomen, lower back, and buttocks) is supported and strengthened, enabling the rest of the body to move freely. It is therefore natural that chiropractics and physiotherapists often recommend it for strengthening the back and the spine and also for rehabilitation purposes.

Historical Facts:

The Pilates technique, originally named “Contrology”, is a system that was developed by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century. Pilates was born in Germany in 1880; he was a sickly child who suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever and dedicated his whole life to become physically stronger. In his youth he studied body building, diving, skiing and gymnastics. In 1912 he moved to England where he had a varied career as a boxer, circus performer and self-defence trainer for English detectives. The First World War interrupted his career and as a German national he was interned together with other fellow countrymen that lived in Britain at the time. This experience led him to further develop his method. He devised exercises to keep himself and his fellow interns healthy and for this purpose he used beds and other furniture to build fitness equipment. Pilates was widely credited when none of his inmates succumbed to an influenza epidemic that killed thousands.

After the war, Pilates returned to Germany where he continued developing his technique. His method attracted famous dancers like Rudolf von Laban and Martha Graham and even attracted the interest of the Hamburg Police force! When in 1926 Pilates received an order to train the new German army, he decided to leave immediately for America. On the ship to New York he met his wife Clara and upon arrival they opened up a physical fitness studio together. Pilates’ method attracted many top dancers as his technique complemented their training and soon actors and sports people also joined to learn the technique that strengthened the body without building a bulky musculature. Today, pilates has become popular worldwide and it has something to offer to everyone!

Positives and Negative Aspects of Pilates:

One factor that differentiates pilates from other forms of exercise is its holistic approach and the combined training of the body and mind to achieve correct alignment through the exercises. One of the major advantages of the method is that whilst working on larger and stronger muscles, it also strengthens the weaker muscles- often ones that many people are not aware of. Locating these smaller muscles and learning how to use them requires a great deal of concentration, control and precision- and for this reason pilates is commonly referred to as ‘thinking exercise’.

Pilates addresses the whole body and works the deeper muscles in a more focused manner helping to improve your posture, flexibility, strength and coordination as well as toning the abdominal region and the back. Regular practice and mastery of the technique stretches, strengthens and tones muscle. Pilates movements also increase body awareness, reduce stress and tension, increase energy and improve circulation and range of motion. Pilates is challenging without being strenuous and its focus is on muscle isolation.
To sum up the Benefits of Pilates:
• Is a refreshing mind-body workout
• Builds strength and creates long, lean muscles and improves flexibility
• Develops a strong core
• Creates an evenly conditioned body and prevents sports injuries
• Helps you be confident and safe
• And it challenges you!
Up to now there have been no reports of disadvantages associated with pilates; however it is bound to be a lot more effective and safe on a one-on-one session where the instructor can really focus on the person’s needs and specialities.
Who is Pilates for?
Pilates is for everyone and Pilates is for life!!!
Despite the fact that Pilates has become particularly popular, most people believe that to try it you have to be young, an athlete or dancer or at least very fit. This is a great misconception as pilates can be beneficial for people of all ages, fitness levels, and physical limitations. Pilates will just continue to grow and change with you throughout your life and practice.
Pilates can really benefit the fit person, the dancer and the athlete not only because it improves the body but also promotes the mind-body union through the neuromuscular coordination. Pilates’ balanced approach ensures that the body works as a whole system without overworking certain muscle groups.

Seniors also have every reason to try Pilates. The special adaptations made to the regular pilates lesson will help them improve their posture, balance, breathing, circulation, help them gain muscle and joint stability, increase their mobility and above all: help them perform daily tasks with ease whilst improve their self-confidence! Chiropractics and physiotherapists also recommend Pilates to those who suffer from osteoporosis.

Pilates and pregnancy is another beneficial combination as pilates targets the deep postural muscles, builds strength from the inside, develops core stability and re-balances the body to bring it into correct postural alignment. Pilates also provides an ideal preparation for labour and an important help for the recovery period after the birth.

What will I find in a Pilates class?

The Pilates technique is divided into Matwork and Machine work and just as with Yoga it can be taught in many different formats and systems. In the matwork class one may only need a mat, maybe a towel and most definitely comfortable clothing. Through the use of the weight and the resistance of your own body you can work really effectively and safely. However, in some matwork classes you may use special elastic bands, free-weights, small and large fitness balls, the magic circle as well as the foam roller. All these will add some extra resistance and will vary your program nicely.

It was the intention of Joseph Pilates that the equipment and the matwork would work to assist each other. The repertoire for the equipment is almost identical to the matwork series of movements. Using the equipment will enhance both understanding and performance of the matwork exercises and vice versa. Depending on the springs used, a machine-work exercise may become easier than done on the mat and conversely sometimes the spring tension may make a movement more challenging. The pilates equipment includes the Reformer, the Cadillac, the Wunda Chair, the Barrel, the Spine Corrector etc.

Electronic paper

2009-01-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

Electronic paper
written by Mara Manduchi
Bachelors in Astronomy-University of Bologna,Italy
Teacher of Physics and Mathematics
Currently attending the SSIS School of the University of Bologna,Italy

introduction

the electronic paper, also called e-paper, is a display technology which has been designed to mimic the aspect of a printed paper on a specific display.
The e-paper gives to readers the chance to read magazines,books and journals on a technological support.

history

In 1970 Nick Sheridon who was working at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), created the first version of today's electronic paper, called Gyricon.
Nevertheless the research for the real version of e-paper started only after 1998.Infact it was the members of E Ink who in 1997, through researches in the Massachusetts Institute of Tecnology’s Media Lab, found the Electrophoretic Frontplane technology.
In 2004 companies such as Philips, Sony and E-Ink announced the first application of an Epd (Electronic Paper Display) in a new reader for e-books created by Sony.

Advantages/Disadvantages
E-book readers,which are an application of electronic paper technology, are very managable, light and have the dimensions of a book. Moreover they are easy to read. It has to be stressed that one of the most important advantages is the reduction of the paper which is consumed on a daily basis and the amount of energy which is saved up.

Futur goals

In these days e-book readers have a very high cost but it is predicted that in a short period of time, they will be affordable in a large scale.

E-paper
As written before,the electronic paper is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink and paper.It has been invented thanks to the will to minimize the use of ordinary paper.It has two basic components which are the following: the frontplane which is made out of electornic ink, also called e-ink and the backplane which is used to produce the text and the immages on the page e-ink.
The enormous progress during the last ten years have given place to the developpment of extremely managable supports,easy to read and very ecological! Infact there is a grear reduction of the quantity of paper which is used. Furthermore e-ink is saving up energy given that the later is needed during the upload of a page and not to maintain the visible parts on the display.

An application of this technology is the electonic reader.This display of reading books in an electronic format,already out in the market, is revolutioning the world of books.
Infact magazines, journals and books can be downloaded on the e-book reader at a low cost in comparison to the traditional books.

There are a few houses of publish which are extending the production of e-books in books for school which can be stored in a USB key.This could be very useful for students on a financial level. Moreover the more innovative aspect of e-books is the fact that they can be regularly uploaded with new material through an interactive procedure. Infact several european countries are about to finance programs which will include the use of e-books,even though these are not present at the moment in most of the schools.

Polymers and Biopolymers

2009-01-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

Polymers & Biopolymers
written by dr. Carmelo A. Spadaro
Bachelor of Science in Physics-University of Messina,Italy
Master of Science degree in Applied Polymer Science and Technology from ProPlast Consortium & Polytechnic of Turin,Italy
Researcher at Polytechnic of Turin/involved in research projects dealing with the exploitation of renewable and alternative energy sources.

A polymer (from the Greek poli meros = several parts) is a chain structure of a great number of small molecules, the so-called monomers, also called repetition units within the polymer, as they are repeated by the same type of chemical bond.
Polymers are macromolecules, that means molecules with a high molecular weight. Polymeric macromolecules can be divided into three main groups, that are:
- Natural Polymers
- Synthetic Polymers
- Biopolymers
Some examples of natural polymers are proteins, whose monomers are amino acids, and cellulose, whose monomers are glucose units.
Synthetic polymers cover the vast majority of plastic materials that consumers can find on the market, and are produced in petrochemical refineries from petroleum and since its refining process. Some examples are polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), etc

The definition of biopolymers given by the EBA (European Bioplastics Association) include two kind of materials, that might have completely different sources and characteristics:
1. Polymers with high biodegradability (according to UNI EN 13432 norm).
2. Polymers produced from renewable raw materials.
This means that polymers of the first kind can be either from renewable sources or from fossil origins, but have to be biodegradable, while polymers of the second kind can be either biodegradable or not, but the sources must be renewable and not depletable. Some examples of biopolymers are polylactic acid (PLA), whose monomer is lactic acid, and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), whose monomer is hydroxybutyrate.

According to ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard, a polymer can be considered biodegradable if it is able to comply with modifications of its own chemical structure when subjected to the effect of some bio-organisms like bacteria, fungi, algae, etcâ€¦, with a loss of some of its starting characteristics. Biodegradability must be proven for each significant organic component, i.e. for constituents present in more than 1% with respect to the dry weight of substance. Keeping the biodegradability epithet needs at least 95% of all constituents to be biodegradable.
Nowadays biopolymers are able to replace conventional plastic materials in a number of application, with undoubted environmental benefits. According to a research conducted by Utrecht and Fraunhofer University, biopolymers are able to replace 33% of conventional plastic materials (15.4 Mioton/year). Unfortunately, biopolymers have a poor economic competitiveness, mainly due to their low production volumes. Biopolymers are coming down in price, about 5 times in 10 years, but still prices remain higher than the petrochemical counterpart.
Anyway at present itâ€™s a niche market, bound to packaging and agricultural segment, with an estimated production of about 0.3 - 0.4% with respect to global world production.
But the situation may change drastically in the near future, due to normatives and tax incentives, and also due to oil price increase, of which consumers and companies are helpless witnesses in these very days.
According to the EBA, both market and production capacity will strongly increase in the next few years, getting boosts from a number of factors, e.g. more competitive prices, the ability to improve in technical performances and in tailorization, the come into effect of a specific legislation, a higher education and acceptance by consumers, etcâ€¦
Biopolymer is a very active and rich field for the search of good opportunities in the R&D field. Bioplastics are now coming under the spotlight with several uses that spread from the everyday use to applications with a high technical performance content, with the huge advantage of a reduced environmental impact.
Awareness campaigns and consumer culture are key factors that can determine a switch from the current niche market to a large scale demand and production, that will influence the plastics division and the whole world.

Keywords: polymers, biopolymers, plastic, bioplastic, biodegradable, EBA, European Bioplastics Association

Renewable energy

2008-12-31T16:00:00.000-08:00

RENEWABLE ENERGY ELECTRICITY IN ISLANDS –
Combining institutional and scientific tools
Evanthie MICHALENA
Special Advisor in the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Athens, Greece
Phd Cand., Sorbonne University, Paris, France

1. INTRODUCTION
Recent evolutions related to renewable energy technologies (RETs), made us consider the issue of their penetration into landscapes and local physiognomy of specific areas. We have been interested in questioning this issue for insular spaces and more particularly in the case of Hellenic islands. We concluded that if small and well planned and if adjusted at local geographical scale, the equipments of Renewable Energy Sources (RES), could even contribute at the update of the physiognomy of a micro-scale space (like the one of islands). This fact together with national and European funding incentives, make these technologies an attractive solution for an autonomous energy feeding combined with a preservation of local landscape particularities. Local abundant natural energy sources (such as sun, wind and see), as well as specific needs related to tourism development and to the need for regional economic development, further encourage this thought. Through a suitable Hellenic Plan for RETs planning (expected to be institutionalized in September 2008-) RETs could answer to the need for a local sustainable development with respect to the preservation of the physiognomy’s identity of our islands. The concept of “carrying capacity” is included in this Plan but its need is not scientifically justified. We therefore discuss here the idea of the synergy between institutional and scientific tools towards the optimal integration of renewable energy technologies (RETs) in insular areas. At least for Greece, time for experimentation is limited and therefore such a combination is more than necessary.

2. COMBINING TOOLS FOR A SUCCESSFUL RETs PLANNING
The exploitation of renewable energy sources is a result of international (Protocol of Kyoto) and European decisions which set obligatory targets for the introduction of renewable energy sources into the energy mix of each Member State of the European Union, until 2020. The overall goal of the European Union is 20% by renewable energy sources in the European energy mix until the year 2020.

Islands concern the 4% of the European land and only the 13 million of European citizens. Greek islands are active paths between the Middle East and the Europe, rich in energy natural resources and characterized by a variety of geo-morphological particularities, fragile ecosystems and special cultural elements. They are usually located at a distance from the mainland with a weak degree of accessibility. At the same time, peripheries where Hellenic islands belong present more and more increased rates of economic development and energy demands. Especially during summer months and because of increased tourist traffic, the demand for energy is vertically increasing (almost 45%) [PARASKEVOPOULOS, 2004] having as a result major problems of electricity inadequacies. Islands are also characterized by a bunch of energy particularities (such as deficient electricity infrastructures, a dominance by the high-cost imported oil (as the main fuel for their energy feeding), and peak electricity demands during tourist periods (usually June until September).

Islands present specific features in their economic and social development as well: because of their small dimensions and their relatively restricted communication with Mainland, they create economies with some degree of autonomy. Nevertheless, an improvement of their communication has been noted due to their tourism activity: the wonderful climate and the cultural heritage of Mediterranean countries, have established Mediterranean islands as significant pole of tourist attraction, carrying the 30% of the international tourism [DASCALAKI and BALARAS, 2004] , whereas the 113,000 inhabitants of Cycladic islands multiply by five every summer [ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE, 2002]. The most wide-spread form of tourism in these islands is “mass tourism” which results in the massive construction of hotel, transport and other infrastructures.

The need to face problems generated by mass tourism, combined with the challenge of competitiveness and environmental worries, offer a marvellous opportunity for the promotion of effective energy politics, the exploitation of renewable energy sources and the reasonable usage of energy (especially in the hotel sector) and turn islands to be the perfect experimentation sites for the integration of renewable energy equipments and infrastructures and the attending –under specific conditions- of a local “sustainable development”.

The principle of “sustainable development” were introduced almost 20 years ago at an international level and concern the economic, social and environmental development of an area aiming at “meet the present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" [UNITED NATIONS, 1987]. In line with sustainable development principles and specific local and energy characteristics of insular areas, renewable energy development is of an essential priority due to both their economic and social benefits for regional economies, as well as due to their environmental nature: At a social level, the development of pure energy projects results in the cultivation of a feeling of environmental responsibility and, the most important, in the assurance of labour posts and the enriching the local community funds. The usage of renewable energy technologies (RETs) is also advisable for technical reasons, since cost of electricity production in islands is very high due to the high cost of the oil imported from Mainland [NTUA, 2001]. Moreover, most of the islands are not connected to the grid of Mainland and this facilitates more RETs penetration since some of them (i.e. small wind generators and solar systems) can provide electricity in an stand-alone way and also offer the potential of extension in line with the energy needs arisen. The possibility of storing the produced energy (through some battery) could be used for dealing with the instable character of wind energy (which depends on the existence and the power of wind velocities). Finally, RETs aim to cover dispersed energy applications (agricultural, hothouses, hotels, units of desalination, etc). RETs are also preferred for aesthetic reasons, in order to avoid the negative phenomena of diesel machines (smokes, chimneys, etc) and for reasons of harmonisation (through a good planning) with the existing, local, natural particularities.

These characteristics and benefits are essential for a country with a rich history in the use of natural energy resources (the first wind mill was designed in Greece at 343 before J.-C.!!) The first attempt for electricity production by wind energy (through a wind generator) being noted down in the beginning of ‘80s, Hellenic laws 2773/99 (following the Community Directive 96/92/EC), 3175/2003 (following the Community Directive 2003/54/EC) and 3486/2006 have structured the basic institutional framework where RETs projects authorization were based. In 2006, 335.68 GWh were produced in Crete (from wind, biomass and hydraulic energy), 24.1 GWh in Rhodes (from wind energy) and 139 GWh in other islands (from wind energy).
The potential is still large (especially as far as solar energy is concerned), but there are many obstacles which should be overcome, the most fundamental one being the lack of a Spatial Planning for RETs. Today a plan of RETs Planning has been announced by the Government and has been submitted for public consultation. The RETs Planning is expected to be institutionalized in September 2008 and includes norms and regulations concerning the criteria under which RETs should be installed in a given space.

Among these norms, an important criterion of planning RETs into a specific territory is the estimation of its “carrying capacity”. Whereas, in the plan, this estimation of “carrying capacity” embodies rather a “technical character”, for us the carrying capacity of islands should be measured at the basis of a material, psychological and ideological assessment. This means that RETs integration should be incorporated in the islander landscape in a contributing way to the cultural and esthetical conservation of islands features, elevating in parallel their characteristic physiognomy and their historical character. In this context, the concept of “currying capacity” concern the result and combination of various coordinates related to specific needs for the installation of energy equipments, their environmental charge and consequences, etc.
For example technical parameters, such as the credibility and the flexibility of the system, the time of construction, the need for auxiliary works and the restricted capabilities of connection to the network, impose the installation of small wind generators and photovoltaic systems, whereas the energy needs of the population are increased especially in tourist periods. Specific technical particularities of areas, such as the existent or potential natural energy sources, and the existing (or not) electricity transport network must be co-evaluated with technical parameters and/or comportment of RETs for the prioritization of RETs equipments and locations.

Moreover, as mentioned before, Hellenic islands are characterized by particular morphological and territorial features, rich biodiversity and ecosystems and rich cultural heritage. As far as energy equipments are concerned and in accordance with the existent decisions of the Supreme Administrative Courts of Greece, islands are accepting only a mild development(25) which indulge only as “mild energy system”, the system which consists of energy production by renewable energy sources (wind, solar etc). Still, for sensible ecosystems of this kind, the danger of optical disturbances that wind generators, for example, create is very important and needs a balance between RETs equipments forms and the landscape shape and features. The spatial plan for RET’s foresees special guidelines for areas under protection and NATURA 2000 areas, but still some other local prerequisites have to been taken into consideration when assessing local carrying capacity of a given area: The vertical feature of the wind generator for example could create an optical problem to the visitor; or (if well planned) could be so much harmonically integrated in the infertile and rocky territories of the Cycladic islands that could emphasize on their specific geo-morphologic landscape architecture. In order to obtain positive results and due to the fact that Hellenic islands present geo-morphological differences between them, we realize that the essential here is to conceive each island as a “unique case”, indicate differences and comparative advantages at a first step and then point out their particularities through RETs equipments. We could say that this is what happened in the old times, when windmills were used to point out the particularities of each Cycladic island.

The above mentioned approach shouldn’t neglect economic parameters, such as the cost of each RETs technology separately (of investment, of operation, of maintenance and of dismantlement), the return rate and the funding mechanisms which are available at a national and European level.

Local tourism development is an additional parameter which has to be co-evaluated, as well as predictions for future tourism development in a specific insular area.

In the final output we should also include the new technological discoveries and evolutions (for example as far as the wind generators nominal capacity is concerned) which are to come in a given time horizon. Possibilities of “synergies” between technologies (such as combinations of wind or hydraulic systems –hybrid systems) and the combined use of RETs for both electricity production and other applications (such as water desalination) should also be co-assessed.

3. CONCLUSION
By recapitulating the above analysis and resuming the necessary actions which are needed to be put in place for a successful RETs integration in the Hellenic islander territories, we conclude that:
Each island is different and areas of the same island are different between them (in terms of social capital, natural environmental and energy sources, economic development, etc.) Therefore, in order to conceptualize the ideal “energy system” of a specific area, energy planners should be in a position to understand its specific energy needs and then to assess its specific “currying capacity”. Especially as far as RETs implementation is concerned, planners should take into consideration a variety of parameters such as the economic return of each renewable energy technology, aesthetic parameters which lead at an harmonic integration of a RET in the landscape, technical parameters, data related to local economic activities (mainly tourism) and possibilities for national or European funding mechanisms. Some promotion of research and development at a local level would also be advisable.
An optimal assessment of local energy carrying capacity prior to RETs implementation, in combination with an official and institutionalized RETs planning, would activate third and local entrepreneurs towards investments on renewable energy, would secure the harmonious operation of RETs after their implementation, would protect local societies from unwanted actions, and would maximize benefits from renewable energy exploitation towards the satisfaction of local needs.

What is very true is that time for experimentations related to the implantation of innovative energy technologies into geographically restricted areas, is limited. In these cases, it seems that precaution is better than a bad planning and the combination between institutional tools and careful scientific studies prior to RETs installations are more than necessary towards the optimal exploitation of natural energy resources in Hellenic islander territories.

REFERENCES - BIBLIOGRAPHY
DASCALAKI, BALARAS, “Xenios – a methodology for assessing refurbishment scenarios and the potential of application of RES and RUE in hotels. Energy and Buildings 36 (2004) 1091 - 1105.

ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE Archipel Guadelupe “The introduction of Wind Power into insular electricity systems”, EuroCarribean RES Conference, 30th May 2002.

NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS (NTUA), Conference on «Renewable Energies for Islands – Towards 100% RES Supply», Chania, June 2001

PARASKEVOPOULOS, A. 2004, "Tehno-economical analysis of a hybrid Wind Reversible Hydroelectric System in Ikaria", Bulletin of the Hellenic Association of Qualified Mechanical engineers-electricians, Copy [370] September, p.49

UNITED NATIONS, 1987 "Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development."

Introduction to eco-design

2008-12-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

Eco-design
written by Mara Camilleri

This term referres to the construction of buildings,products and places through processes that are sensitive to environmental issues.Eco-design is also known as "green design" ,"design for environment" or "sustainable design" given that it relates people to the natural environment.It ranges from the creation of simple objects for everyday use till the design of buildings and cities.Several fields are getting involved on a daily basis such as:architecture,interior design,fashion design even art.

Principles of eco-design

The most important principle of green design is the respectful creation which has nothing to do with the violation of what was there before. We can not talk about sustainable design if we are not able to consider the ecological cost of our constructions.From the macroscopic to the microscopic world, green design is about trying to establish a reasonable bond between our expectations and the result in terms of ecological impact.
One of the fundamental principles of eco-design is based on the use of materials that can be recycled and reused in the future.In this way there's little energy which is required during the process of their "production".
Furthermore it is clear that the better the materials,in terms of durability and quality, the more long-lasting the products are and their replacement is less frequent.

Advantages
By choosing to create in an eco friendly way, a higher effectiveness and efficiency are achieved in terms of energy and materials.Moreover through sustainable design, the impact on the enivironment is minimized so we can all try for a "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This definition was created in 1987 at the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission).
But green design is not only about concerving natural resources,is more than that!It's about creating better living conditions which protect better your health.

"there is a big creative challenge in finding your place with respect among all that which was there before you arrived.."
mara c.l