WELLNESS FOR PEACE @HOME: PREVENT FALLING, FAILING & GETTING OLD

Select your mindset. Choose to be aware and cautious rather than fearful of falling. Be proactive and mindful by modifying certain activities and environments to prevent falls, but don’t let the anxiety of falling rule your life. Check the surface. When walking in new places, check the type of surface you will need to travel on or across. Make sure to choose sidewalks and roads with minimal cracking and buckling. Also, be wary of walking in the grass as dangerous divots and bumps easily hide. Consider using a steady partner if walking in the grass. The softer the surface, the greater the challenge to balance. Tidy up. Check your home for fall hazards. Remove unnecessary clutter from the ground, place cords away from walking paths, and pick up area rugs to ensure a safe living environment. Focus on lighting. Vision plays a key role in balance. Keep your home well lit and place night lights in hallways, bedrooms, and bathrooms. When traveling to dimly lit places or events, again consider using a steady buddy for safety. Stay active. Perhaps the most important way to prevent falls, staying active is crucial to maintaining health and well-being. A consistent exercise regimen prevents the natural decrease of strength and mobility that accompanies the aging process.

WELLNESS FOR PEACE @WORKPLACES: Wellness Programs Encourages Workers and Employees to be More Healthy

Many use financial incentives to motivate workers to monitor and improve their health, sometimes through lifestyle-modification programs aimed at lowering cholesterol or blood pressure, for instance. Some programs offer a carrot, like discounts on health insurance to employees who complete health-risk assessments. Others use a stick, penalizing poor performance, or charging people more for smoking or having a high body mass index, for example. Wellness programs are popular among employers. An analysis by the RAND Corporation found that half of all organizations with 50 or more employees have them. The new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 36 percent of firms with more than 200 workers, and 18 percent of firms over all, use financial incentives tied to health objectives like weight loss and smoking cessation. Even more large firms — 51 percent of those with 200 workers or more — offer incentives for employees to complete health risk assessments, intended to identify health issues.

UPDATE: Ozone Layer is recovering because of the phase-out of certain chemicals that harm it.

Earth's protective ozone layer is beginning to recover, largely because of the phase-out since the 1980s of certain chemicals used in refrigerants and aerosol cans, a U.N. scientific panel reported Wednesday in a rare piece of good news about the health of the planet. Scientists said the development demonstrates that when the world comes together, it can counteract a brewing ecological crisis. For the first time in 35 years, scientists were able to confirm a statistically significant and sustained increase in stratospheric ozone, which shields the planet from solar radiation that causes skin cancer, crop damage and other problems. From 2000 to 2013, ozone levels climbed 4 percent in the key mid-northern latitudes at about 30 miles up, said NASA scientist Paul A. Newman. He co-chaired the every-four-years ozone assessment by 300 scientists, released at the United Nations. "It's a victory for diplomacy and for science and for the fact that we were able to work together," said chemist Mario Molina. In 1974, Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland wrote a scientific study forecasting the ozone depletion problem. They won the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work.https://ph.news.yahoo.com/scientists-ozone-layer-recovering-181611231.html

RENEWABLE ENERGY: CHILE: 115 MW wind plant has the capacity to power 200,000 homes in the region

Michelle Bachelet, the president of Chile, together with Jean-Paul Luksic, chairman of Antofagasta Minerals SA (“AMSA”) and Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy Group Inc officially opened operations at the 115 MW El Arrayán Wind facility in a grand opening ceremony at the project site, which is located 400 km north of Santiago on the coast of Chile. The El Arrayán Wind facility, which completed construction in June, will generate clean, renewable power equal to the needs of approximately 200,000 Chilean homes each year, according to the World Bank. The facility is utilizing 50 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines, which Pattern Energy is also using at other wind projects in Canada and the United States. El Arrayán Wind connects to the Sistema Interconectado Central's 220kV transmission system. The facility is located on approximately 15,320 acres of coastal land on a long-term lease with a single landowner. Pattern Energy owns 70% of the El Arrayán Wind facility, which it also operates. AMSA owns the remaining 30% minority stake. The project sells approximately 70% of its output to Minera Los Pelambres through a long-term fixed-for-floating hedge. The facility sells its remaining output into the Chilean spot market at the prevailing market price at the time of sale. In addition to its minority interest in the facility, AMSA is the controlling party of Minera Los Pelambres. "This project is important for our present and future energy needs, President Bachelet said. "El Arrayán is the biggest wind farm in Chile, and we are pleased at what we can achieve when we use the natural resources the earth has to offer. This project is another step toward meeting our energy agenda objectives." 1

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Eat less red meat to help save the planet, say academics

People should eat no more than two portions of red meat per week to help the environment and meet increasing global food demand, scientists have found. A study by Cambridge and Aberdeen universities found that population growth and the trend for Westerners eating more meet means that soon farmers will not be able to raise enough livestock. And researchers warn that attempting to produce more meat could be devastating for the environment. Increased deforestation, fertiliser use and livestock methane emissions likely to cause greenhouse gas emissions from food production to rise by almost 80 per cent by 2050, experts from the University of Cambridge and University of Aberdeen warn. The authors warn that without radical changes to diets the food industry alone would spark dangerous climate change, even if every other industry was to cut carbon emissions to zero.

UPDATE: China's national carbon market to start in 2016 -official

China has pledged to reduce the amount of carbon it emits per unit of GDP to 40-45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. It has already launched seven regional pilot markets in a bid to gain experience ahead of a nationwide scheme. "We will send over the national market regulations to the State Council for approval by the end of the year," Sun Cuihua, a senior climate official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a conference in Beijing on Sunday. The national market will start in 2016, although some provinces would be allowed to start later if they lacked the technical infrastructure to participate from the outset, she said. The Chinese market, when fully functional, would dwarf the European emissions trading system, which is currently the world's biggest. It would be the main carbon trading hub in Asia and the Pacific, where Kazakhstan and New Zealand already operate similar markets. South Korea will launch a national scheme on Jan. 1, 2015, while Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are drawing up plans for markets of their own. The Chinese market will cap carbon dioxide emissions from sources such as electricity generators and manufacturers. Those that emit above their cap must buy permits in the market.

UPDATE: Earth May Be in Early Days of 6th Mass Extinction

Earth May Be in Early Days of 6th Mass Extinction - Yahoo News Philippines: "the looming sixth mass extinction is linked to human activity, Rodolfo Dirzo, a professor of biology at Stanford University in California, said in a statement. Dirzo is the lead author of the new review of past research on the topic, which suggests Earth is in the early days of this sixth mass extinction.
A past study, which involved data from the fossil record and modern-day conservation biology, suggested Earth could enter such a mass extinction within the next 300 to 2,000 years. That study was detailed in the March 2, 2011, issue of the journal Nature.
Up to one-third of all vertebrates are threatened or endangered, the researchers said. Large animals — such as elephants, rhinoceroses and polar bears — have the highest rates of decline, which is a trend shared by other mass extinctions. These large animals are at particular risk because they tend to have few offspring and low population growth rates. Hunters and poachers, however, find their fur, meat, tusks or horns attractive targets. [7 Iconic Animals Humans Are Driving to Extinction]
Losing a species of large animal can have unexpected effects on the ecosystem and nearby human developments, a process known as defaunation. In one study, researchers isolated patches of land from animals, including zebra, giraffes and elephants. Without the animals, the grass and shrubs grew tall, and the soil became looser. Rodents quickly took over and doubled in numbers, eating the seeds from the plants and living in the patchy soil that was relatively predator-free.
Rodents can carry diseases and parasites that infect people, the researchers said.
"Where human density is high, you get high rates of defaunation, high incidence of rodents and thus high levels of pathogens, which increases the risks of disease transmission," Dirzo said. "Who would have thought that just defaunation would have all these dramatic consequences? But it can be a vicious circle.""



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