So, what’s the environmentally healthy answer? San Jose, Berkeley and Santa Clara County want to persuade people to use “reusable bags.” Their first step, which they are working on now, is to establish ordinances that would restrict the distribution of paper and plastic bags at checkout. How will they inspire consumers? By banning both all together or charging fees for the store-provided totes.

Before the city ordinances went into effect, San Francisco residents used 3.8 billion plastic bags annually. It’s been estimated my local officials that the ban has but that total by 100 million, so obvious it wasn’t a “perfect” solution. But, since 90 billion plastic bags are distributed in this country every year, with no healthy destination once the groceries are put away, something needs to be done on a national basis. I say, if we can no longer get “free meals” in coach class when we fly but are “forced” to come prepared, maybe it’s time to charge for bags at the store so that we can plan ahead and bring our own. What are your thoughts on this?

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Some things we didn’t do, we didn’t do because we were ignorant. Some things we didn’t do, we didn’t do because we were lazy. And, some things we didn’t do, we didn’t do because we thought they were too expensive. But sometimes our “regrets” include all three, as the regret of inaction on global warming will certainly include.

There are those who are ignorant (most often by choice) about the future catastrophic effects of global warming. And, there are those who know that something needs to be done and that that something includes every human being’s participation. But, let’s face it, doing what needs to be done not only takes time and energy away from things we’d rather be doing, but interferes with many of them as well. And, finally, there is the question of cost. If we measure cost in terms of money, whether it is ceasing to burn and pillage the land in Third World countries or funding a new climate agreement among world powers, then the staggering $100 billion or more a year that it will cost by 2020 would put doing what needs to be done in the category of just “too expensive.” But if we measure “cost” in terms of what kind of planet will be left if we don’t take action, then not doing what needs to be done is far too costly!

As world leaders look to work out a new global climate accord in Copenhagen in December, their only task won’t be getting big polluters like the US and China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the cost of change in many countries and among many people of the world. They’ll need to figure out financial incentives for fast-developing countries like India and Brazil so that they will convert to costly, but cleaner, technologies as they industrialize. And, they’ll discuss the money that will be needed to assist the poorest countries in coping with the consequences of current climate change, like droughts and rising seas. Many developing countries have made it clear that they won’t sign a treaty unless it includes money to help them adapt to a warmer planet.

It is my hope that when the future arrives we, people of the planet, will have no regrets. Rather, we will know “then” what we may not be certain of now. That the cost and sacrifice that we all made was worth every dollar, franc, pound, rupee, etc.

Technorati Tags: climate change, global warming

As it turned out, she’d recently rented the movie, “Portrait in Black,” and she wanted to see the spot where Anthony Quinn and Lana Turner sent a car containing her husband’s dead body over a cliff. My wife and I shrugged, and we were on our way. My Volvo weaved through a dense eucalyptus grove, ascended a steep incline, passed through a jagged gap between two steep rock walls, and emerged onto that familiar ribbon of clifftop roadway known as Devil’s Slide.

If you’ve driven along this stretch of Highway 1, you know that it is spectacularly treacherous or treacherously spectacular. But, anyway you say it, it is definitely heart-stoppingly beautiful. The windy bluff juts into the ocean at that point and seems as if it is suspended in mid-air. As we began our descent, gray-blue expanses of ocean, 500 feet below us, swept past the car windows. We were often forced to veer near-fatally close to the cliff’s edge. But, to my amazement, though I found myself white-knuckling the steering wheel, the only sound from my mother-in-law was a slightly audible, sustained expression of “awe.”

The drive only lasted five minutes, but my mother-in-law talked about it for the remainder of her visit with us. And, I have to admit, I was pretty awe-struck myself. Devil’s Slide is only ten miles south of the city, but for just a brief moment, a person feels in a whole different time and place.

If you haven’t been there yet, you’ll need to take a drive there soon because in 2011, the two tunnels that are currently being drilled into the bordering mountain, will open to traffic, and Devil’s Slide will be closed to vehicles. It is expected to be kept open as a path for pedestrians and cyclists, but the thrill of having your car’s tires skim the outside edge of the cliff will be a thing of past.

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If you don’t already know, the museum is located in the Presidio. It’s housed in two of the old army barracks (built in the 1890s). Along with the old barrack buildings is a newly constructed 20,000 square foot glass and steel building which is occupied by a 100 seat theatre, a pavilion and classrooms for teaching digital animation and traditional art techniques.

The Museum was built to tell the creative life story of Walt Disney. It will feature early drawings, animation and the Disney family history. Walt Disney’s voice own voice will be used to narrate certain exhibits.

So, I’ve closed my clinic for the day. I’m taking off my “chiropractor hat” and putting on my “grandparent hat” and heading for the museum. I purchased my tickets over a month ago because they won’t be available for purchase at the door today, but they will be in the future.

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According to the report, consumers will need more third-party evaluations to compare models, and it recommends that manufacturers create information labels similar to the federal Energy Star program for appliances and adhere to the pending industry standards to ease certification.

I’m looking forward to serving my patients, and dinner, using wind energy as the only source of my electricity!

Technorati Tags: wind power, wind turbines

The suggestions for fun and free adventures will surprise you. They’re not usual crooked walk down Lombard Street or straight walk on the Golden Gate Bridge. No, these were suggestions like going for a free ride on the glass elevators at the St. Francis or going to the Sunday service at the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church. There were reasons for these suggestions and several more on the website.

So, if you’re like me and you’re running out of ideas and money when it comes to entertaining people you hardly know, check out sfgate.com for some freely-offered great ideas!

Technorati Tags: entertainment, Glide memorial United Methodist Church, San Francisco, St. Francis Hotel

Well, I’ve been meditating, on my own and at the Center, for about a month now. To be honest, I’m not sure how much in my life has changed yet, as far as my relationships and other situations go, but I can truly say that I have changed. I feel far more peaceful than I ever did and in such a short time. I guess it really is true that peace is always within us, if we just take the time to “drop in” to our center and experience it.

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“One of the greatest services we can provide our communities is to ensure that all children obtain access to books and discover the joy and value of reading,” said Carol H. Rasco, President and CEO Reading is Fundemental, the nation’s oldest and largest children and families’ literacy nonprofit organization, which took part in the seven-day focus. In fact, to further raise awareness about the importance of literacy and its long-term impact on the economy, RIF is challenging all Americans to collectively log 3 million minutes of reading with children by September 11, 2009, on the Read for Change website: http://www.RIF.org/readforchange. At the end of the challenge, RIF will select five participants to receive a children’s multicultural book collection as well as the opportunity to select a school in their community to receive a book collection.

What a wonderful way for us to spend our volunteer time here in San Francisco, don’t you think? As a chiropractor, I treat many children in my clinic. Over the years I have noticed that children who read, just for the fun (and interest) of it, seem to stay healthier in general. The human brain requires stimulation in order for the body to stay healthy and, of course, a chiropractic adjustment stimulates the brain in very positive ways. But, it seems to me that there is a correlation as well between the stimulation a child’s brain receives through the joy of reading and a healthy auto-immune system.

So, let’s get started spending some time reading to our children, or our friend’s children, or volunteering at a school or boys and girls club. Statistics show that nearly two-thirds of low-income families own no books for their children. If you like to read, share your joy of reading with a child. It won’t cost you anything but time, but the rewards, as they say, are priceless!

Read the full story at http://literacyandreading.blogspot.com/2009/07/americans-called-to-log-time-spent.html

Technorati Tags: books for children, chiropractor, literacy, low-income families

Like me, you may be questioning whether or not our human pursuit of longevity has unexpectedly been replaced by a mission to find immortality. No doubt, you’ve been reading a lot recently about the astounding heart benefits of red wine (resveratrol), the extraordinary memory retention benefits of coffee (caffeine), and the myriad benefits of a multitude of natural supplements that, in their own way, “guarantee” to reduce or prevent every known cause of mortality.

To start with, let me make it super clear that I unwaveringly believe that certain~particular things that we ingest can be beneficial to our health. Therefore, I’m absolutely not against taking supplements. Not only do I recommend them to my patients, but take them myself. Secondly, if confession is good for the soul, and red wine is good for the heart, then I’d like to take this opportunity to help both by stating for the record that I enjoy drinking a glass of red wine. The suggestion that it might have heart-healthy properties, well, that’s like icing on the cake, so to speak. And, lastly, as far as caffeine’s ability to genuinely reverse or prevent Alzheimer’s disease goes, I believe that if that were generally true, life would be far less frightening and far more enjoyable for many people and their families.

However, before taking ill-considered action, and indiscriminately adding another cup of coffee to your morning habit, an extra glass of red wine to your evening meal, or an extra expenditure of your hard-earned cash on exotic herbs that promise to make you live forever, let’s rationally consider a couple of things.

For instance, let us consider the fact that we, humans, are dynamic, biological beings, free to enthusiastically interact with life. We have not been detained in a cage, and not one of us has been “propagated” to artificially develop the age-related debilitation and disease that lab animals are bred to do, conditions that are then “reversed” by resveratrol, caffeine, or some exotic herb.

Basically, our being dynamic and biological is another way of saying that we, humans, are not ” mechanistic automatons.” In other words, we aren’t all precisely alike. Due to the fact that our central integrative states are not exactly the same, internal provocation factors and external irritation influences affect us in different ways. For example, though smoking cigarettes is commonly harmful to most people, there are a few individuals who can smoke cigarettes and still achieve longevity without any related ill effects.

Scientific studies isolate certain variables in order to achieve particular outcomes. That’s scientific inquiry! But, because the results occur through such isolation, and due to the fact that they are generally done on animals, when it comes to translating such results to humans, it can be said that what may work for some of the people all of the time, won’t work for all of the people all of the time, and sometimes won’t work at all (to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln!).

You make choices each day, some that are intentional and others that may be indifferent, that will affect your physical health, now and in the future. You decide what (and how much) you’ll eat and drink, and the amount of physical activity and rest you’ll get. Even though you can “sense” what is healthy for you, by the way your body responds, sometimes, perhaps too often, you may override the feedback. Clearly, when you don’t consciously make healthy choices, you jeopardize your health and longevity.

Then you, like many others, may enthusiastically jump on the bandwagon of the latest report that announces that researchers have uncovered THE VERY THING that has the potency to reverse all of the excessive and unhealthy things you have been doing to your body on a routine basis! Talk about wishful thinking!

Your human body is an elegantly complex, homeostatic system. In other words, every operation is interdependent and sensitively balanced. When you choose an unhealthy lifestyle, your fastidiously-responsive system gets “off balance.” Sooner or later, the imbalances created by choosing unhealthily, result in diseases and a shortened lifespan.

As a chiropractor who supplements daily, I suggest that you supplement, too, if they help you to feel vigorously healthy. I agree, as well, that if it feels like the thing to do, an extra cup of coffee might actually be personally beneficial for you. And, if it truly feels healthy, have a little more red wine. Just keep in mind, however, that the only authentic way that you can prevent or reverse age-related health problems is by changing an unhealthy lifestyle. You won’t become healthier or live longer by waiting for the discovery of a “magic potion.”

Dr. Jamie Phillips, a Santa Barbara Chiropractor, has been in private chiropractic practice for 24 years. She is also a consultant for Bloczone Marketing, a chiropractic internet marketing company specializing in chiropractic websites that attract new patients. She can be reached at (805) 985-9502

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This particular seminar was very helpful, too. And, I’m looking forward to utilizing what I learned. Oh, and I met several very cool bay area chiropractors. I particularly liked the doc from San Jose. So, if you see his ads online, just remember, even though your first thought is that he’s trying to make money, his real intention is to help you to find him so that he can help you to feel better again!

Technorati Tags: chiropractic internet marketing, chiropractor