Florida Green Energy Works Program provides property owners the ability to purchase and install energy efficient and renewable energy technologies through innovative financing alternatives. This Program, which is available to other cities and counties statewide, creates clean energy solutions and new job opportunities

The Lights are on, people are in...They are saving energy and money and that is just the beginning. | SYS-CON MEDIA: "Easy and Affordable. Commercial property owners who install energy saving technologies pay for them through a non-ad valorem assessment on their property tax bill. This easy repayment strategy allows property owners to see energy savings immediately and helps stimulate the economy when local contractors and equipment is purchased.

Leaving the Competition in the Dark. The Florida Green Energy Works Program is the only program to successfully develop and adopt this type of robust, open market alternative for commercial property-owners to invest in and benefit from clean energy. Working through existing assessment repayment processes of local governments like the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser and Tax Collector makes repayment easy. The low risk associated with these investments results in low interest rates for every project. Better still, local governments interested in joining this Program have the opportunity to do so."

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Tennessee enacted a law Tuesday that critics contend allows public school teachers to challenge climate change and evolution in their classrooms without fear of sanction

Tennessee enacts evolution, climate change law - latimes.com: "Republican Gov. Bill Haslam allowed the controversial measure to become law without his signature and, in a statement, expressed misgivings about it. Nevertheless, he ignored pleas from educators, parents and civil libertarians to veto the bill.

The law does not require the teaching of alternatives to scientific theories of evolution, climate change and "the chemical origins of life." Instead, it aims to prevent school administrators from reining in teachers who expound on alternative hypotheses to those topics.

The measure's primary sponsor, Republican state Sen. Bo Watson, said it was meant to give teachers the clarity and security to discuss alternative ideas to evolution and climate change that students may have picked up at home and want to explore in class."

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South America Update: Gastrointestinal Reflux Disease (GERD) a growing health care concern has alternative remedies

There are alternative remedies to help with 'GERD' - Wire Health & Medical - The Sacramento Bee: "Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory medicine that also may help reduce GERD symptoms; the active ingredients in turmeric are known as curcumins. One study using 162 mg of curcumin twice daily for 4 weeks showed that patients experienced significant relief from dyspepsia and irritable bowel symptoms. Improvement was noted after patients had been on the curcumin for one week.

-Ginger can also reduce GERD symptoms by helping move food out of the stomach and into the intestines; try drinking ginger tea 3 times daily, or take dried ginger in capsule form, approximately 500 mg twice daily.

-A recent study in China showed that acupuncture was effective at reducing reflux and alleviating symptoms in patients with GERD. The benefit was similar to a group of patients who received Prilosec 20 mg twice daily.

-Chewing gum for one hour after a meal has been shown to reduce acid reflux.

-Stress makes acid reflux worse by reducing the movement of food out of the stomach; deep breathing exercises, hypnosis, and meditation can all help to reduce symptoms from GERD."

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North America Update: Employer Wellness Programs On The Rise: Willis Health And Productivity Survey

Employer Wellness Programs On The Rise: Willis Health And Productivity Survey - TheStreet: "The most common types of wellness programs being offered by respondents include: Physical activity programs (53%), Tobacco cessation programs (49%) and Weight management programs (45%). Although 29% of survey respondents consider themselves to be a global organization, only 15% indicate they have implemented a wellness program for their global employees. 43% of employers said the leading barrier to measuring success was difficulty in determining the influence of wellness compared with other factors impacting health care costs. Insufficient data and not enough staffing/time remain common barriers to measuring success. This year’s survey included a subset of questions that also asked employers about Work/Life balance programs. Findings reveal that 51% of respondents reported promoting Work/Life balance programs within their worksite wellness program. After Employee Assistance Programs, flexible start/end times are the most common offering of Work Life Balance program options, reported by 81% of respondents."

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South Africa Update: Tackling Student Mental Health - Mental Health Education Programme (MHEP) aims to raise awareness of the mental and psychological issues that often have severe consequences such as student suicide

Tackling student mental health - Varsity Newspaper Online: "UCT’s Student Wellness Services (SWS) in conjunction with the SRC developed a series of talks concerning the mental and psychological well-being of students as part of an initiative to address serious issues affecting UCT students.The Mental Health Education Programme (MHEP) aims to raise awareness of the mental and psychological issues that often have severe consequences such as student suicide. The latest in the series of talks held on Friday, March 30th, concerned substance abuse specifically within the UCT student community. Cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana are the most commonly used drugs within the UCT community, said Carmelita Lee Shong and Robert Artnott from SWS, who presented the talk. However, these are not exhaustive, with a significant amount of students engaging in harder drugs. In descending order of usage, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy are all found to be commonly used drugs amongst UCT students. The abuse of over-the-counter medication has also been found to be significantly high amongst UCT students."

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UK & Spain Update: British pursuit of health and wellness tourism increases

British pursuit of health and wellness tourism increases: "Health tourism and health travel are on the up as 94% of British people now seek holidays to pursue health and fitness, says The Body Holiday survey commissioned by wellness travel agency Health and Fitness Travel. 85% are now willing to try a health and fitness holiday to improve their body and mind.

Choosing a holiday including health and fitness is very important to 82% when they are away from home with spa treatments, fitness classes, land and water based sports being the most sought after. 85% are likely to try new forms of exercise or body treatments on holiday so they can open their minds to new experiences."

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Asia-Pacific Update: 'Wellness' new weapon to improve Productivity & Performance

'Wellness' new weapon to improve productivity, performance - Indian Express: "According to Mercer Marsh Benefits survey, across the Asia Pacific region, 35 per cent of the 899 companies that participated in the survey spent over 6 per cent of their annual payroll on health benefits in 2011, while 10 per cent spent more than 15 per cent.

Alarmingly, 59 per cent of responding employers expect their health benefits expenses to rise in 2012, and senior management is growing increasingly anxious about their employees' health, the report said.

Mercer's Asia Pacific Employee Health and Benefits Leader Rosaline Chow Koo said "our clients are experiencing the real benefits of implementing health and wellness programmes, as without such preventative programmes in place their employee health profiles continue to deteriorate, particularly among younger employees."

Unhealthy behaviours lead to poor health among employees."

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