SENSE magazine and Green Cheeks

The Austin Eco Fashion Show is a semi-annual event that is filled with
environmentally conscious designers, artists, vendors, sponsors and participants
who give being eco chic a new identity in Austin. We show how
being Eco friendly is stylish.
The Austin Eco Fashion Show was created by the owners of two eco
friendly businesses, SENSE Magazine and Green Cheeks. It was inspired
by a passion and philanthropy spirit to help eco friendly designers, artists
and local green businesses to gain recognition in their respective industries
as serious competitors. This November, the Austin Eco Fashion Show
will continue as a tribute to the Fall/Winter 2010 fashion season and give
viewers a fresh perspective on what being ECO friendly has to offer.

Bigger and Better

After producing the Spring 2010 show and seeing how we captured a very
large audience, the Austin Eco Fashion Show is expanding for the fall
season. We are also adding an Eco Art Show to be displayed by local artists. In addition,
the Austin Eco Fashion Show will be increasing its marketing campaign
by 200%! Plus the top designer will receive a CASH AWARD to help them
work on their line.
The benefits of participating in the Austin Eco Fashion Show were
almost immediately apparent. Many of the designers that participated
last Spring not only received media attention and recognition as serious
artists by their peers, but have become more confident in themselves and
their work. There’s nothing like the cheer of a crowd to make all your hard
work worth it! Some of the designers even used the show as an opportunity
to go a complete different direction with their work! So whether you
are a new or established designer in the area, we hope that you will join
us this October in this great event and take advantage of what possibilities
the Fall Austin ECO Fashion Show 2010 has to offer!

Download APPLICATION here

Application DEADLINE: September 15, 2010

Pay Pal expedite service will be up soon

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It is about that time of year when most women are dreading getting into their bathing suit.  Splash into summer feeling fabulous, looking great, and feeling full!  What do I mean when I say feeling full?  Yes, you don’t have to starve yourself when it comes to bathing suit season.  Actually, studies have proven eating a healthy breakfast, fibrous foods, and healthy snacks can help boost the metabolism and stay slim.

There is a new slogan for this decade and it is – What’s for breakfast?  50% of Americans skip breakfast and almost 1/4 of children don’t eat breakfast or are indulging in sugary cereals in the morning. Some adults avoid breakfast due to a lack of time or even attempting to maintain weight.  A fast and nutritious breakfast is achievable. Try to incorporate a whole grain every morning.  Have it be instant oatmeal with fruit, nuts, and honey, a whole grain English muffin with an egg and spinach, a piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, or even high fiber cold cereal like Go Lean®.  Fiber gives you the feeling of fullness and provides more concentration throughout the day; which can be found in whole grains.  Make at least half of your carbohydrates from wheat, oats, brown rice, quinoa, or amaranth.

Snack on!  Some people say to avoid snacks; but in theory, eating small meals throughout the day provides the body a consistent glucose level in the body.  Avoid high sugary snacks like cookies and high salty snacks like chips.  Instead, try cheese and crackers, celery and peanut butter, carrots and ranch, a granola bar, or even a handful of nuts.  Snacking wisely can avoid an over consumption of calories at other meals.

Take advantage of the Texas seasonal produce!  Berries are abundant here in the summer.  They are considered a “superfood,” providing antioxidants and energy producing natural sugars.  Stock up from the farmers market and this Fall learn how to can berries so you can still enjoy their flavor during the winter.  Cantaloupe is soft and sweet; but also very low in calories and is fat free.  To take you from pool side to cabana dreams, squeeze fresh lime juice over half of the melon, sit back and relax as if you were on your own deserted island.

Now, when it comes to veggies – who wants to turn their oven or stoves on in the middle of the Texas heat??  Try going raw this summer!  Vegetables are actually very diverse and can be added to so many different things.  Try a spinach pesto dip and pureed eggplant on a pita wrap for lunch.  Red bell peppers have more vitamin C in them than an orange.  Chop up a couple of pieces and throw them on a fresh salad along with some baby bella mushrooms.  Slice a delicious vine ripened, home grown tomato with some fresh herbs like basil and add mozzarella cheese, drizzle with some balsamic vinegar and oil olive, and imagine you are on a terrace in Italy. Take advantage of the fresh and nutritious produce that is available in the summer.

Keeping slim during summer months can be pretty easy if you use the ingredients that are in season and naturally nutrient dense.  If you find some time and want to explore some culinary adventures, check out the recipes below.  Splish, splash, and take a deep dive into a healthy summer.

Watermelon – Rosemary Granita

(Jeffery Ziff Cool, Simply Organic)

6 cups watermelon cubes

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 cup water

Place a 9 inch square meal baking pan into freezer.  In food processor or blender, puree watermelon to equal 3 cups.  In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring sugar and 1 cup water to boil.  Continue to boil for five minutes or until thickens to a syrup.  Pour into a large bowl and cool completely.

When cool, add puree, juice, and rosemary and cover with foil and return to freezer. Freeze, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours or until partially frozen.  Transfer the mixture to a food processor and process until smooth but still frozen/ Return to baking pan, cover and freeze for three more hours.  Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving and scoop into dessert bowls.

If you have an ice cream maker, use according to manufactures instructions.

photo by Melissa Carugati

Matt Newsome

Aaron Murray

Since the United Negro College Fund issued the dictum that “a mind is a terrible thing to waste” nearly forty years ago, it did so with the noble goal of appealing to the nation at large to consider the importance and value of education in improving one’s prospects in life.  The slogan, perhaps better known than its progenitors at Young and Rubicam or the ideals it was intended to stand for, was heard.  According to the most recent US census data, Americans are the most educated that they have been since it started collecting data on education in the 1940s, with more than 80% of adult Americans graduating high school and another one in four achieving a bachelor’s degree.  For many middle and upper class families, a college education has become an expectation, and rite of passage, and the key to success in these modern days.

The impetus to go to college is not without merit.  Another US Census report suggests that college grads have a life time potential to make nearly a million dollars more than those who just complete high school.  Basically, unless you’re getting drafted straight into the NBA, college is one of the best investments to ensuring that you have the opportunity for a comfortable and relatively well paid job for the rest of your life.  As one might expect, parents looking to get their children ahead of the curve haven’t been the only ones to notice the potential value of a college education—and potential profit to be made from selling it.

In case you aren’t obsessively interested in the rising prices of most good versus median household income, it might have passed your notice how drastically college tuition has increased over the past couple of decades.  You might have heard from some folks in Washington more recently that health costs, in a broad sense, have more than doubled over the past decade—which is quite a hefty increase.  What you might not have known is that those rising costs have paled in comparison to college tuition, which has more quadrupled over the past 25 years or so.  To put this in perspective, the median income for a family has increased by less than 150% since 1982, meaning that the middle of the road family makes about one and a half times more than it did under Reagan, but has to pay four times as much to send little Timmy to college.  That’s quite a leap, especially when you remember that costs like health and debt have also outpaced income growth.

Now it would be easy here, especially given the populist anti-intellectualism that has taken hold of our national consciousness, to start denouncing colleges for the highway banditry of a price wall that they have erected, separating our children from that extra million they can make over their lifetimes.  And while some schools (cough, Harvard, cough) continue to charge exorbitant tuition while have endowments larger than the gross national income of several small countries, it’s best here if we take a moment and let our better instincts prevail.  First, most schools are nonprofit institutions, so it’s not like they are contriving, like other big and costly institutions we know, to develop new and costly ways to part the consumer from their hard earned cash.  All the money they do take has to be reinvested into the school in some way.

Second, as many who have noticed the rising costs have pointed out; loans and student aid have done a lot to relieve the burden of rapidly rising costs for most families.  With that in mind, college tuitions start to seem like those late night TV ads that try and sell you fifty seven pieces of kitchen cutlery, worth over two hundred dollars, for four easy installments of $19.99.  This is all well and good until you consider that the analogy looks more like two hundred dollars paid in twenty installments of $9.99 at an annual interest rate of ten percent or more.  In real life terms, Barack Obama was first a corporate lawyer, then a law professor, the state legislator, senator, and bestselling author before he and his wife (a well paid nonprofit lawyer pulling in six figures) were able to pay off students loans.  At the same time as he was running for president.  If deductive reasoning holds, this means it is easier for one to get married, have two children, and build a successful private and public career in a two income household than it is to pay back graduate school loans. And that’s not even including the bestselling author part.  But regardless of whether accepting private loans means having to mortgage a significant percentage of your income over the next twenty years of your life, it does at least lower the financial barrier to attending school.

So if more students are attending college and there are loans and grants to make them affordable, that means that costs can’t keep rising, right?  Well, if you live in the state of California, you probably already know that this could be a logical outcome, but it’s not a likely one.  Instead, to deal with a lot of poorly crafted public expenditures and tax schemes elsewhere in the state budget, you can expect tuition to increase while professors are paid less.  It’s worth taking a moment here to do something that most people addressing the issue would have taken care of earlier on, and note that there is a fair difference between a state college system, like the UCs or SUNYs of the nation, and the private institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Notre Dame that we are all familiar with, mainly because state college systems aren’t necessarily self sustaining institutions, and even when they are, it sometimes makes sense to cut their budgets in order to make room for other critical spending on highways or graft.  The reason I haven’t done this is because the truth about colleges today is that they aren’t just schools, whether they are private or not, but are also research institutions, real estate developers, and semi-professional sports institutions at the same time.  While private colleges might not be grappling with budgetary problems at the scale of California, they are always shifting monies back and forth to support different programs and purposes, whether they’re private or not.  This also means that as colleges try to stay competitive on several fronts, they’re increasing tuition to keep pace with their costs.

With colleges spending money to keep the institution at top notch in all fronts it makes sense then for tuition to keep increasing, right?  And if all of those grads with bachelors have a shot at making a million dollars more over their lifetime, they’ll probably pay off those loans too.  But the picture is more complicated than to give a blanket all’s well with tuition increases.  In the isolated case that is California, as well as some other state schools, an increase in tuition is perhaps justified when you consider where the state is saving tax payers money elsewhere.  Not to mention that, while the old narrative about the college student working his or her way through school while spending every moment of free time studying makes for a nice story, from what I remember from college (I’d say a good 85% of my time there, easy) it seemed to me to be more like an extended adolescence, where one always found time to enjoy the finer, if legally gray (or black), things in life while their parents footed the bill.  Maybe forcing kids to live the myth might instill greater seriousness when it comes to cost.

But by the same token, perhaps colleges could get a little more serious when it comes to controlling costs themselves.  It’s great to go to an institution that has world class athletic, research, and hospital facilities on sight.  But perhaps it’s a little reckless to drop tens of millions of dollars to jump to the forefront of boll weevil research just so your college can be the best at something.  More to the point, when you consider the cost of athletics programs alone, the majority of universities need to reexamine their core values.  Men’s football and basketball programs with only a slim hope of making a championship often cost in the millions of dollars to finance.  While sports do a lot to make the school more appealing to potential students, on the whole most programs only break even or are not profitable.  The picture looks even worse when you consider athletics departments, which are generally always in the red.  Some use this fact to take a shot at Title 9, the provision mandating that schools spend equally on male and female athletics, but I want to point to a recent report from the Christian Science Monitor about what the athletic director at the University of Kentucky makes.  Lew Perkins pulled in about $4.4 million last year, or as Phil Miller put it, the weekly equivalent of ten full time undergraduate tuitions.  UK is a big school, but that works out to more than five hundred students to pay his salary.  And he’s just the athletics director!  When you start to factor in all those superstar (and not quite) coaches, often the highest paid staff at the university, it’s not so hard to see how schools end up putting athletic performance in front of their primary mission—academics.  Anyone who’s been to a Duke-UNC basketball game might make a compelling case for the value this adds to the college experience.  When you spread the inflated cost to your tuition over twenty years, it might even seem reasonable.

Education has been a primary cause for this country’s economic growth and historical innovation and the cost, even the increasing cost, for college is certainly worth it.  The more educated you are directly corresponds to the potential money you can make.  At the same time, however, the wise acknowledge the direct part that household debt has played in the financial crisis.  People who can’t afford to pay loans, default on them.  Defaults push banks into crisis.  It would be glib and flat wrong to place blame for the near economic collapse at the feet of student loans instead of irresponsible banking practices, but if median families are juggling loans, a house, rising health care costs, and a slow growth in salaries, the cost of a college education starts to do more to exacerbate the problem than to bring in more money.  It’s a fine thing to pay the worth of a college degree, but a pretty student center or a conference winning team are little more than good memories.

Sources:

US Census Reports: http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p20-560.pdf, http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/p23-210.pdf

Healthcare costs: http://www.cfr.org/publication/13325/

College fee increases: http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/blog/Scholarship_Advice/2008/12/college-tuition-increases-far-outpace.aspx

College loan growth: http://www.changinghighereducation.com/2009/11/the-elephant-of-college-pricing.html

by Janine Agoglia

Photos by Melissa Carugati

Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II—check spelling) is a standing pose on which many other poses are built. If you can tackle Warrior II then you have a great foundation for most other standing poses. It builds strength in the legs and buttocks, and when done correctly you can strengthen and tone the whole body simultaneously.

Step 1: Start with your feet about one leg-length apart (about 3-4’), feet parallel to each other. Put some distance between your feet, this pose is actually easier if the feet are farther apart (it is not easy, just easier). Pivot on your right heel to turn your toes 90 degrees to the right and turn your left foot’s toes about 45 degrees to the right.  Make sure your heels line up one behind the other (still about 4’ apart). Bring equal weight to both feet and make sure the “pinky side” of your left foot is on the floor so the arch is lifted. Lift all 10 toes off the floor to further activate the feet (tricky to lift the left toes, but do the best you can).

Step 2: Bring your hands to your hips and make sure they are level; if you drew a line between your two front hipbones (the Anterior Superior Iliac Spines, or ASISs for you anatomy buffs), that line would be parallel to the floor. Keeping the pelvis level, turn your hips to the right just enough to point your right kneecap toward your 2^nd and 3^rd right toes.

Step 3: Strongly press back and down through your left leg to bend your right knee until it is directly over your right ankle. Make sure that your pelvis and torso are still upright, that you are not leaning to the right. You are not the leaning tower of Pisa, you are a proud warrior, stay upright! Feel your left hip dropping toward the floor and lift the right hip off of your right thigh. Your chest still faces between the legs with your pelvis on a slight diagonal to keep the right knee in the correct place. Eventually the right thigh comes parallel to the floor; this might be in the “Someday” category,” or it might happen today. It is more important to keep the torso upright than it is for the thigh to be parallel to the floor. Do what works best for your body.

Step 4: Lift your shoulders up by your ears, then roll them back and down. Keep squeezing your shoulder blades down your back and let your arms float out to the sides (right arm parallel to your right leg, left arm 180 degrees in the other direction) until they are parallel to the floor. Keep the hands shoulder height, not level with your eyes. Imagine that your fingertips were extensions of your shoulder blades, that you have enormous condor wings coming out from the center of your upper back that reach beyond your fingertips. Turn your gaze (drishti) toward your right fingertips. See something with your eyes to help with balance.

Things to consider:

While in Warrior II there are small adjustments that you can make to enhance your posture.

a.)   Look for your big toe on the inside of your right knee. If you don’t see it, move your right knee more to the right. This will keep the knee over the ankle and prevent any injury to the knee.

b.)   Draw the navel inward and upward toward your lower back (Uddiyana Bandha). This abdominal lift will support your lower back. You can also squeeze and lift the pelvic floor (Mula Bandha).

c.)   Feel the top of the head lengthening toward the ceiling while the tailbone reaches toward the floor. Feel the right knee reaching away from your left outer heel while the outer left heel reaches away from your right knee. Feel the left and right fingertips reaching equally in opposite directions. See how much space you can take up with your body. Can you be bigger, stronger, more dynamic?

d.)   While maintaining #c, see where you can release mentally, physically and emotionally. You are simultaneously larger than life and strong while being humble and relaxed. Use just enough effort to maintain your alignment and let go of everything else. This will be the hardest part of Warrior II (aside from maintaining the pose, that is).

Stay in Warrior II for 5 breaths to start, moving up to 10 or even 20 breaths for more advanced practitioners. When you are ready, repeat the whole thing to the left side.

Once you understand these alignment adjustments, you will deepen your body awareness and awaken to your own boldness as a free-flowing warrior. This pose can be as challenging as it is strengthening. The key is to maintain your alignment while letting go of any unnecessary effort. Let go of whatever

is holding you back. Be courageous and find the warrior within yourself!

Namaste!

Photos by Melissa Carugati

First, a little about me, I am currently studying a doctorate in Naturopathy to become a certified Traditional Naturopath; under the umbrella of Naturopathy is Homeopathy, Herbal Medicine, Holistic Nutrition, Life-style Balancing, and Hydrotherapy.

Some of us have been in a room with a middle-aged woman standing by the fan ranting about how hot she is or have been out fishing with the grumpy old man wanting to tell everyone how to live their life.  Better yet, some of us have witnessed a middle-aged man’s glances toward women while in his speedy bright sports car.  Hot flashes, grumpy old men syndrome, and mid-life crises are often hormone driven.

American society is starting to recognize and research men’s hormones and possible imbalances more.  Research has shown there is a monthly testosterone fluctuation in men which can be referred to as their so-called ‘period’.  Some men can identify these monthly fluctuations of their ‘period’.  These intuitive men are able to sense hormonal fluctuations by detecting one or all of the following changes: mood, energy levels, work and sports performance. Men’s hormonal changes throughout the month are not as dramatic as women’s.  Surely some men reading this will let out a huge sigh of relief.

Around age 40 male testosterone levels start to drop slowly by roughly 10 percent a year.  The decreasing testosterone stage is referred to as “andropause”, the male menopause.  According to many Traditional Naturopaths, men in andropause benefit from a detailed lifestyle program focusing on bodywork therapies, natural foods, and supplements for their changing needs.

Andropause affects all of the following areas of a man’s life:  physical, hormonal, interpersonal, psychological, sexual, social, and spiritual.  The dropping testosterone levels in andropause account for the following noticeable changes: enlarged prostates, depression, less strong or less frequent erections, lower energy, anxiety, impotence, and a lower than normal sex drive.  High fat dairy foods, red meats, and fried foods in excess, all deplete adrenals and male energy.  However, eating a mostly fat free diet can lower testosterone levels even more.  It is advisable to focus on fat intake from healthy fats such as, olive oils, fish oils, nuts, and seeds.  There are many helpful herbals and supplements for balancing and toning the male reproductive system, therefore aiding men in sustained and increased sexual vitality.  Some of these helpful herbals are Maca (commonly referred to as Peruvian Ginseng), and Panax Ginseng.  A personal consultation would need to be scheduled for proper herbals and dosages specific to the client.  Exercise has shown through studies to aid men in andropause with their sexual abilities.  The psychological side effects of andropause can be difficult for men to handle and cripple their self-esteem.  When a man is experiencing infrequency in sexual abilities, mood changes, sleep disturbances, and unexplained weight gain, these often cause anxiety.  A man may even view this phase of life as demoralizing and want to deny it is happening, and turn to a drug such as Viagra. Viagra will aid in the problem temporarily yet not aid in the underlying issues.

Spiritually a man in andropause usually feels restless, and in search of his soul’s calling, accompanied by a strong urge to follow this calling.  Every man is different in what their souls may be calling them to do; this is where the debate begins on what the calling is and if it is healthy.  Some men try to fulfill a lack of self-esteem in unhealthy ways such as spending more money to achieve a higher image, escort services, and/or a withdrawal all together from life.  When conscious steps are taken to improve problem areas in a man’s life, all these side effects can be diminished, or at least improved drastically.

When men seek professional help from a Wellness Consultant, Traditional Naturopath, and/or other natural health care professionals, they will be on the right track to maintaining their muscle mass, energy, sexual drive, prostate, and hormone levels. Depression often leads to cravings for sweets and carbohydrates which are linked to low serotonin levels.  Some physicians will prescribe TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) to men in andropause.  Also, 52 percent of American men between ages 40 and 70 are impotent, and this could surely be equated to grumpiness and/or the need to acquire more material possessions to stay occupied or distracted.

Since I have shocked the men enough for now, it is time to focus on women’s hormones. Women’s hormones seem to always be beautifully and delicately dancing with one another in order to stay balanced.  I have clients with hormonal issues, and friends and relatives whose lives are rattled by hormonal disruptions monthly.  There are natural remedies to aide these suffering women.  Indicators a woman has a hormonal imbalance include: fibroids, endometriosis, headaches, PMS, depression, low libido, infertility, absence of menstruation, heavy menstruation, painful/difficult menstruation, spotting between periods, and/or frequent water retention.  Wow, that would make any woman sweat!  Vitex is one herbal medicine that is highly recommended and most commonly prescribed in Europe for night sweats and hot flashes. A personal consultation would need to be scheduled to fully recommend the proper herbals and dosages for the client.  Due to successful results using natural hormone balancing and herbals, many American women are opting for these treatments.

Most American women in at the onset of menopause have already worn out their adrenals and have poor liver function.  When an unhealthy woman enters menopause, the hormonal fluctuations increase and all the symptoms are worsened.  Some of the side effects of menopause lasting up to one year in vibrant women are: hot flashes, reduced libido, irritability, mood changes, and irregular heart palpitations, calcium metabolism disturbances which increase the risk of osteoporosis, vaginal dryness, and skin dryness.  A medical doctor may prescribe HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy).  Around 80 percent of American woman do not use HRT at all.  Women are opting out of HRT because it has been shown to have the following side effects: weight gain, uterine and breast fibroids, low libido, heavy bleeding, severe leg cramps, migraine headaches, and PMS-like pain.

Women choosing a natural menopause can benefit from lowering stress and caffeine levels because they both increase the frequency of hot flashes.  Also I recommended Vitex for any woman wanting to balance her hormones, nourish, and rebuild her reproductive system.  Poor circulation and tingling in the limbs often occurs during menopause, and Ginkgo biloba is excellent for increasing circulation and nourishing the brain.  When dealing with low libido and vaginal dryness, I highly recommend both Ginseng and Maca.  Head hair loss is a side effect of menopause, but adding sea greens to a woman’s diet will aid in hair growth and boost adrenals.  That’s a great reason to eat more sushi!  There are many more herbal medicines specifically for menopausal women, life-style balancing, and natural methods to discuss in a personal consultation.  It is imperative to only purchase herbs and supplements from trusted sources and companies.

In conclusion, men and women have their own unique concoctions of hormones, with many possibilities for hormone imbalances.  A saliva test to determine hormone levels may be purchased from People’s Pharmacy in Austin and/or a Natural Health-Care Practitioner.  Let the journey to optimal health begin; please ask for guidance if needed!  Santé!

special thanks t0:

Ferarri of Austin

models:

Barbara Morin, Leo Wilson

Part 1

Part 2

Global Warming
The birds are shrinking…
Planet Earth has been here for about 4.5 billion years, there have been some ice ages, a meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs, and even a medieval warm period.  This last decade was the warmest ever on record and 2005 the warmest year since the 1880s, but this year is cold again. Can you disregard the warming trend?  Are there signs of global warming? Should we be concerned? Do something? Let us look around our planet…
The permafrost, that layer of frozen ground found usually close to the poles, is melting at a rate of 1.5 inches per year, they are finding mammoth bones and tusks like never before, in Siberia there is even a new word for searching for bones, ”mamontit”.  It is amazing that you can buy a chess set made of Wooly mammoth ivory.  Maybe if this melting keeps up we can find a mammoth we can clone;   forget the species we might lose because of the warming, a wooly mammoth would be priceless.  Then again, it might not survive the heat.
The warming has affected the Inuit as well, in Western Greenland the sea did not freeze in the middle of winter for the first time.  Greenland lost more than 200 billion tons of ice in 2007.  This complicates dog sledding, hunting, and fishing; integral parts of the Inuit culture.  There is a project called coolEmotion, which is creating sculptures to put on melting icebergs to raise awareness about climate change.  Well at least the Inuit will have some artwork up there; they can always open a casino if they cannot hunt or fish anymore.
The birds are shrinking…
There is a little island in the Bay of Bengal, an island by the name of New Moore.  For 30 years Bangladesh and India have been arguing about who owns this rock of about 4 square miles.  Thanks to global warming, the island is now completely under water.  The people of Lohachara, a nearby island that met a similar fate, also had to abandon their homeland.  The good news is that relations have improved between India and Bangladesh; no one is fighting over New Moore now.
Glacier National Park has only 25 glaciers left, down from more than one hundred a century ago.  Global warming is to blame.  In a few decades, there might not be a single glacier left.  No need to worry, we can just change the name of the park to Montana National park #7.
Magellan penguins are showing up in tropical Brazil.  The Niteroi Zoo, near Rio the Janeiro, has returned around 1000 penguins back to the Patagonia and Antarctica.  Some scientists believe that global warming is disrupting the currents penguins use to navigate, which causes them to get lost and end up in strange places.  So a few hundred penguins get lost, some die, but the lucky few get to see Brazil.
The birds are shrinking…
Corals live in symbiosis with zooxanthellae, algae that produces food for them.  As the ocean temperatures rise the coral colonies expel this algae, this makes them turn white a process called coral bleaching.  Sometimes corals can recover, but sometimes they die.  Corals have been dying in the Seychelles, in the Great Barrier Reef and in other reefs all over the world; scientists believe global warming is the culprit. Corals are among the most diverse places our planet has to offer, in a few decades there might not be any left.  At least living in the digital age will spare us from having to visit such beautiful places because we will always have them available on YouTube or Google.
Have you heard that the birds are shrinking?  Over the last fifty years both bird size and feather length has been getting smaller, says a study of songbirds in North America.  Yes the birds are shrinking, which means they are adapting and we do not have to worry about them…if it keeps getting warmer we’ll just have bald eagles the size of hummingbirds…hmmmm…what about the hummingbirds? What will happen to all the species that cannot shrink or adapt?  Bye-Bye birdies?
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which means that as carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere (everything else being held constant) temperatures in the earth increase.  We are emitting about 27 billion tons of CO2 each year.  The volcanoes do it (emit CO2), it is natural, so it must be ok, never mind the fact that we currently emit ~130 times what they emit.  Surely, we can keep increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and nothing will ever happen, our planet will take care of itself, right?  Let our children’s children worry about it, we will be fine or we can shrink…like the birds.
The roaches will survive…why be concerned with global warming?  Why do anything when we can take a chance on mass extinction.
The birds are shrinking…what are you going to do?

]]> http://www.makesenseofyourworld.net/makesense/?feed=rss2&p=590 0 http://www.makesenseofyourworld.net/makesense/?p=550 http://www.makesenseofyourworld.net/makesense/?p=550#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:39:32 +0000 Melissa Carugati http://www.makesenseofyourworld.net/makesense/?p=550 Achoo!

By Dr. Tenesha Weine, Austin  Texas

If you live in Austin and other allergen-laden locales, you are certainly familiar with the outward symptoms of airborne allergies. And if you’ve ever rushed to the bathroom after lunch, you may also be familiar with some food allergies and what they do to you. But did you know that depression can actually be a symptom of an allergy at work in your body? So can muscle aches, joint pain, anger and irritability, even an inability to think clearly. The list of allergy symptoms goes on and on.

An allergy is an example of misplaced immunity. Western science defines an allergic reaction as the body’s defense mechanism against an allergen or foreign substance. The body’s immune system takes over in an attempt to protect it. Ironically, your body is making you uncomfortable by fighting what are often benign substances.

Allergies to airborne substances (cedar, ragweed, mold, dust, mountain juniper) are often indicative of inflammation somewhere in the GI tract, where most of our immune system starts and is.  Changing the pH and calming the inflammation of the bowels is the key to reducing or eliminating airborne allergies. While it isn’t an overnight process, the results are worth it-living without sinusitis, itchy watery eyes, headaches, pressure, fatigue, drainage, sinus infections, irritable bowels, spastic colon, diarrhea, and constipation.

You may be shocked to discover how many of your seemingly unrelated symptoms are actually allergy related. Other symptoms of allergies include migraines, heartburn, fainting, blood-sugar problems, indigestion, and even mood disorders. Often, depression is actually a result of commonly ingested allergens, and many people find they can reduce or eliminate their need for psychotropic medications by modifying their food intake.

So what can you do?

Work on your Immune System! Again, the immune system starts in the Gut.  If you have a high strong immune system, your body will be able to function at its highest in order to attack and dissolve allergies before they cause havoc on your system.  A gut repair protocol is recommended consisting of Probiotics, herbs such as Echinacea and Golden seal, Fiber, and Aloe Vera juice.  Working on overall health and a strong immune system will make you stronger than the allergen.

Like Treats Like Homeopathic Medicine is a great way to treat allergies in Texas. The theory is based on the fact that a large amount of a substance will cause a symptom, while a very small diluted dose of the same substance will cure it.  This is the same science behind vaccines.  Homeopathic works by stimulating the body’s own natural immune response against that substance.  You can actually find homeopathic remedies for the allergen that bothers you.  In my practice I start patients on their allergen as far as a month before the allergen is airborne, and keep them on the remedy through the season.  For example Oak is high right now, so I started patients on a Texas Oak homeopathic about a month or so ago and they will continue it through May.

The Neti Pot Flushing your sinuses with a Neti pot can be extremely helpful. Pick one up at Whole Foods, or try using a baby bulb syringe to squirt a saline solution (Sea Salt mixed in bottled water) into one nostril, letting it flow into your sinuses as much as possible and “rinsing” them out. A product carried by Walgreens called Alkalol is available by asking the pharmacist for it. It is an excellent blend of essential oils, including Eucalyptus, which is made for sinus washing. Follow the directions on the bottle.

Acupuncture Many people turn to acupuncture for a last resort when they find Western medication only covers up symptoms of allergies.  Acupuncture takes an Eastern medicine approach and looks at the constitution of the body, meaning looking at the body as a whole and removing blocks where needed and adding energy to where there is deficiency.  This will increase the body’s energy flow restoring balance and again increasing the immune system against allergens.

To know which method, if not a combination of all is best for you, contact a holistic practitioner that is familiar with the allergens in your area.  In my office we use a combination of homeopathic remedies herbs, acupuncture, and Chiropractic to alleviate allergy symptoms as well and address the cause.

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Make Sense of Your World Magazine and Green Cheeks are proud to present the 2010 Austin Eco Fashion Show, featuring local designers, models, music, fun, free food, drinks, and a door prize. All happening at Spider House’s ART AUTHORITY

Details below

door prices $10

For DETAILS:

WHERE, WHEN, HOW click here to download the flyer

credits:

Special thanks for Location

Green Pastures Restaurant

Photography
Melissa Carugati

www.melissacarugati.com

Models Lft. to rt.;

Leslie Ellison, design by Liz Wong

Barbara Elaine, design by Melissa Taylor

Ariel Prosser, design by Audrey Young

Anslee Connell, design by Savannah Red

Lisa Messelt, design by Malissa long

Rachel Butler, design by Amanda Winski

Rachel Butler, design by Jinxedaposed

Hair

Desirée- CheVogue

www.chevogue.com

Make Up

Allyson Bryce Richard