What would it be like if politics was founded upon empathy? it would mean a revolution in how we choose our politicians and how our politicians think and behave. Can we give such an alternative political process a chance? Imagine politicians who are good listeners, who ask questions of others instead of make assumptions. We would instead have politicians who can place themselves in "the oppositions" point of view, and who can be flexible over where the dialogue might lead. Instead of seeking to control and dominate, our politicians would be seeking to support, enable, and care.  read more »

How many times have you heard the statement, “You can’t love anyone until you love yourself?”

While this is a true statement, the reality is we are not taught what it means to love ourselves; or more importantly, how it feels to love ourselves. If you stop and think about this for a moment, you probably will be able to come up with some ideas of what love is, but you would be hard-pressed to actually conjure up feelings of love for yourself. We know what it feels like to love another; yet we don’t know what it feels like to love ourselves.  read more »

They have finally come out and admitted that in those pristine sounding and looking Aquafina, Dasani and Pure Life water bottles is nothing more than purified tap water. Pepsico, Coca-Cola and Nestle are not the only culprits. The fact is that 25% of bottled water sold comes from public sources. In a country that has the safest tap water; it makes no sense to spend money on what one can get for free from the kitchen faucet. Further more, the costs to the environment for producing the bottles, the purifying process and the transportation, in addition to the billions of plastic bottles polluting our planet, should give one pause before their next purchase.  read more »

Mom and Dad,

I am writing this letter to you because I’d be too pissed off if I was telling it to you directly, and I don’t think you’d listen anyway. You are completely hung up on what’s important to you and the only time you pay any attention to me is when there is a problem. Sure you care about my grades in school, my extra curricula activities, and that I stay away from drugs and drinking, but do you really care about ME?

You are completely clueless as to what is going on in my head.

I am miserable. I am scared and lonely most of the time. Life sucks! I hate school, especially all the frigging pressure you and my teachers pile on me. I already feel like a failure. No matter what I do, it’s never good enough. I get that you care about school, but I couldn’t care less about the future. I am unhappy now, and you are building me an unhappy future!  read more »

A new UCLA study links diesel exhaust with clogged arteries. The finding, published in Genome Biology, describe how the particles from diesel fumes affect the fatty acids in Low Density Lipoprotiens (LDL or "bad" cholesterol) by combining with them and helping to trigger the genes that cause atherosclerosis, or a hardening of the arteries. This interaction significantly increases the chance for a heart attack.  read more »

GE released a new credit card that promises toinvest 1% of consumer purchases to emission reduction projects. Consumers can opt for half of 1% as cash back and the other half to fund offsets. Each year on Earth Day you will recieve a report showing how your off sets balance will reduce emissions.  read more »

A sixteen year study has revealed an invasion in the North Eastern Pacific of large aggresive squid. The pack hunting predators are 2 meter Humbolt squid (Dosidicus gigas). The previously rarely seen squid were previous spotted in conjunction with El Nino weather events but they always retreated to their regular territories when the warming events ended.

The squid are credited with the drop in the populations of several commercial fish including hake, and anchovies. Their recent expansion into a new range coincides with both climate related changes in ocean temperatures, and with the reduction of tuna. The Tuna both compete for food with the squid and also feed on young squid.  read more »

The Green Electronics Council released its first report estimating the benefits of purchasing desktops, laptops and monitors registered by its EPEAT database. EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) is an online tool which allows organizations to compare and select computers based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT ranks qualifying products in three tiers, Bronze, Silver or Gold with the lowest meeting all requirements and the strictest (Gold) meeting 75% or more optional criteria.:  read more »

Business 2.0 resleased it's seventh annual list of business blunders, gaffs, and embarrasing moments. The top ten "winners" included Wal-Mart for it's Candidate Wal-Mart marketing campaign, Comcast for the viral video of a repairman who fell alseep on the couch at a customers house, Radioshack for firing 400 of its staff by email, and H.R. hargreaves & Son which, as part of a prank, shipped packages of cooked ham listing "dog sh*t" among the ingredients.  read more »

My hope is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can’t produce enough food through organic agriculture -- co-author Ivette Perfecto

A three year study from the University of Michigan concluded that organic farming could yield as much as three times as much food for developing countries without putting additional farmland into production.

This finding refutes the widely held belief that organic practices would be detrimental to farming in developing nations. Organic farming would not only be more profitable and productive, but also more cost-effective, sustainable, and more ecologically friendly.  read more »