It has been eight years since Pushpa Basnet, a 28-year-old Nepali woman, began gathering the children of Nepali prison inmates in a centre in the capital, Kathmandu, and providing them not only with shelter, but also education and motherly love.
CNN Hero of the Year 2012
It has been eight years since Pushpa Basnet, a 28-year-old Nepali woman, began gathering the children of Nepali prison inmates in a centre in the capital, Kathmandu, and providing them not only with shelter, but also education and motherly love.
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From www.nationofchange.org
Women's equality goes hand-in-hand with finding real solutions to climate change. Here are three reasons why. 1. Women are disproportionately affected by climate change. Increased flooding, drought, and desertification aren't good for anyone. But in developing countries and low-income communities, it's often women who are hit hardest. In developing countries, women are responsible for collecting water in two-thirds of all households and grow 60 to 80 percent of the food, according to United Nations reports. And if that makes women uniquely vulnerable to climate change, it also gives them an incentive for taking the lead in action and adaptation. 2. Women control the money.In Senegal, for example, where erosion and poor soil were making it hard to grow food, women from rural villages built stone walls and planted trees to retain and improve the soil. It worked, and their crops are now more productive than ever before. In North America, women manage more than half the wealth and make nearly 80 percent of consumer purchases. Women are beginning to take that purchasing power and consumer influence, and use it to encourage solutions to climate change. Women are more likely to recycle, buy organic food and eco-products, and value low-energy transportation, according to a study of the 34 member counties of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Women are leading the shift to renewable energy sources and local, sustainable agriculture at the community level. 3. We can't afford to miss out on women's knowledge. Women represent half of the population, of course, but they often aren't in control of half the decision-making. When that happens, humanity loses out on half of its brainpower, ideas, and cooperation. Greater women's equality often corresponds with greater care for the earth. For instance, a study surveying 130 countries found that those with higher female representation in parliament were more likely to ratify international environmental treaties. That's why why Osprey Orielle Lake, founder and president of the Women's Earth and Climate Caucus, is gathering 100 women from around the world in Suffern, N.Y., from September 20 to 23. The participants will draft a Women's Climate Action Agenda, a document outlining steps they believe the world should take to address climate change. "With the complexity of the climate crisis calling for unprecedented levels of collaboration and problem-solving skills to meet a deeply rooted dilemma," Lake says, "women in particular are poised to help solve and overcome this daunting challenge." Lake says the initiative is not about creating new solutions, but about lifting up those that are already working. She adds that existing women's networks are a largely untapped resource for spreading solutions to climate change such as solar, wind, and geothermal technologies; sustainable agriculture and permaculture; and new cultural narratives and economic structures. Among the members of the International Women's Earth and Climate Initiative are primatologist Jane Goodall; United Nations climate change specialist Christiana Figueres; 350.org executive director May Boeve; environmental activist Vandana Shiva; and many other scientists, politicians, business leaders, indigenous leaders, activists, and community organizers. Though the summit is invite-only, the general public is invited to follow and contribute to the discussions through interactive live-streaming during the conference at www.iweci.org. Katrina Rabeler wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Katrina is a freelance reporter and writer. From www.huffingtonpost.com - Today, 3:26 AM I haven't smoked in over 40 years (I am 96 years old). Of all the drugs, smoking has the highest death rate -- more than 400,000 people per year (which is more than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined). Healthy Soul
Exercise your Brain
We all have little lapses in memory like leaving the keys in the door, forgetting someone's name or missing an appointment. Rarely do we think we are getting old or senile. Most times it's due to too much going on in that brain of yours. You have too much on your mind or you're stressed out. Maybe you didn't concentrate enough on what it was you were supposed to remember.Research shows that brainpower can increase with mental activities in older people. Aging does not mean automatically losing mental capacity. The National Institute of Aging has conducted a series of tests that prove most dramatic memory decline occurs around age 70, if it occurs at all. Even though memory may fade with time, thinking ability remains strong. Vocabulary and reasoning skills often improve with age. No matter what your age, exercising your brain may make the difference between using it and losing it. Or if you are young and have older family members or friends who seem to be losing memory, encouraging brain activity can help. Activities such as doing crossword puzzles, playing word games or cards strengthens the synapses between brain cells in memory transmission areas. Physical exercise can increase mental abilities 20% to 30 %, according to recent studies. Journal writing and working with your hands to build or create can help as well. For older adults who sense memory loss occurring, use mental helps such as calendars, calculators, list making, and group discussions. And relax. Worrying about what you're going to forget can cause a mental block. 10 Tips for Mental Health
Build Confidence - Identify your abilities and weaknesses together, accept them, build on them and do the best with what you have. Accept Compliments - Many of us have difficulty accepting kindness from others but we all need to remember the positive strokes when times gets tough. Make Time for Family and Friends - These relationships need to be nurtured; if taken for granted they will not be there to share life's joys and sorrows. Give and Accept Support - Friends and family relationships thrive when they are "put to the test". Create a Meaningful Budget - Financial problems cause stress. Over-spending on our "wants" instead of our "needs" is often the culprit. Volunteer - Being involved in community gives a sense of purpose and satisfaction that paid work cannot. Manage Stress - We all have stressors in our lives but learning how to deal with them when they threaten to overwhelm us will maintain our mental health. Find Strength in Numbers - Sharing a problem with others who have had similar experiences may help you find a solution and will make you feel less isolated. Identify and Deal with Moods - We all need to find safe and constructive ways to express our feelings of anger, sadness, joy and fear. Learn To Be At Peace with Yourself - Get to know who you are, what makes you really happy, and learn to balance what you can and cannot change about yourself. 10 research-proven tips for a better memory
Normal age-related changes in the brain can slow some cognitive processes, making it a bit harder to learn new things quickly or to ward off distractions. The good news is that, thanks to decades of research, most of us can sharpen our minds with proven, do-it-yourself strategies. Here are some ways to boost your ability to remember as you age. 1. Believe in yourself. Myths about aging can contribute to a failing memory. Middle-aged and older learners do worse on memory tasks when exposed to negative stereotypes about aging and memory, and better if exposed to messages about memory preservation into old age. 2. Economize your brain use. Take advantage of calendars and planners, maps, shopping lists, file folders, and address books to keep routine information accessible. Designate a place at home for your glasses, keys, and other items you use frequently. 3. Organize your thoughts. New information that’s broken into smaller chunks, such as the hyphenated sections of a phone or social security number, is easier to remember than a single long list, such as financial account numbers or the name of everyone in a classroom. 4. Use all your senses. The more senses you use when you learn something, the more of your brain will be involved in retaining the memory. For example, odors are famous for conjuring memories from the distant past, especially those with strong emotional content, such as visits to a cookie-baking grandparent. 5. Expand your brain. Widen the brain regions involved in learning by reading aloud, drawing a picture, or writing down the information you want to learn (even if you never look back at your notes). Just forming a visual image of something makes it easier to remember and understand; it forces you to make the information more precise. 6. Repeat after me. When you want to remember something you have just heard or thought about, repeat it out loud. For example, if you’ve just been told someone’s name, use it when you speak with him or her: “So John, where did you meet Camille?” 7. Space it out. Instead of repeating something many times in a short period, as if you were cramming for an exam, re-study the essentials after increasingly longer periods of time — once an hour, then every few hours, then every day. Spacing out periods of study is particularly valuable when you are trying to master complicated information. 8. Make a mnemonic. Mnemonic devices are creative ways to remember lists. They can take the form of acronyms — such as the classic “Every good boy does fine,” to remember the musical notes E, G, B, D, and F on the lines of the treble clef. For older learners, a particularly helpful system is a story mnemonic — that is, a brief narrative in which each item cues you to remember the next one. 9. Challenge yourself. Engaging in activities that require you to concentrate and tax your memory will help you maintain skills as you age. Discuss books, do crossword puzzles, try new recipes, travel, and undertake projects or hobbies that require skills you aren’t familiar or comfortable with. 10. Take a course. Memory-improvement courses are becoming more common. Choose one run by health professionals or experts in psychology or cognitive rehabilitation. Stay away from courses that center on computer or concentration games, which generally won’t help you with real-life memory problems. Select a course that focuses on practical ways to manage everyday challenges. For more information on the many things you can do to protect and improve your memory, order our special health report, Improving Memory: understanding and preventing age-related memory loss, available at www.health.harvard.edu/IM. Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, or research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but may also be autodidactic. Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. |