that exposure to nature brings substantial mental health benefits,” according to “Green Exercise and Green Care,” a report by researchers at the University of Essex. “Our findings suggest that priority should be given to developing the use of green exercise as a therapeutic intervention.” Among the benefits: improvement of psychological well-being; generation of physical health benefits by reducing blood pressure and burning calories; and the building of social networks. 2. In some cases, greening neighborhoods may help reduce domestic violence. In a Chicago public housing development, researchers compared the lives of women living in apartment buildings ... posted on Nov 14 2016 (18,958 reads)

an ugly blot on the landscape. Then one day he joined a man who was leaning over the railings looking down at the rubbish. Jonathan said “it’s horrible isn’t it”. They both stood there shaking their heads. Then the other man said “how about getting it for the community?.” Jonathan initially thought it was a crazy idea but somehow the seed got planted. “I tried to acquire the land for nothing – not surprisingly that didn’t work” (he laughs). It was owned by a property company. The freehold was sold to a residents’ block and the lease was too short to interest some potential contributors. “I was... posted on Sep 30 2016 (14,339 reads)

in children, so that it will translate into pro-environmental behavior down the road—and this research comes not a moment too soon. Why disaster talk doesn’t move us (and what does) Painting a disastrous portrait of the earth’s future often causes us to simply check out. The idea of destruction on such a massive scale can either be too difficult to contemplate or seem too out of our control to motivate action—especially action inconvenient to us, like walking to work or bringing our own bags to the grocery store. Psychological biases also play a role. When a problem seems distant or abstract, it can easily be pushed aside by more pressing, immediate c... posted on Nov 3 2016 (12,496 reads)

in favor of test-prep memorization, the library stepped in to supplement project-based creative arts learning. The term maker jawn comes from the learning environments known as Makerspaces, in which participants experiment with creative technology, and from the slang word jawn, which originated in Philly’s hip-hop scene and can take on the meaning of any noun in a sentence. The Free Library of Philadelphia chose it for the program’s title to suggest the range of work that youngsters could create, where nothing is off-limits. Supplied with iPads, power tools, a 3-D printer, hot-glue guns, paint and buckets of marbles, buttons and other knick-knacks, the pre... posted on Nov 10 2016 (10,851 reads)

someone, or mental subtraction, can be a useful tool in cultivating gratitude. Similarly, abstaining from something you enjoy may help you to savor it again when it is reintroduced. Perhaps, rather than a gratitude journal, you may want to keep a gratitude jar, a place to drop a few coins every time you have a grateful thought. As the jar fills, you will have a tangible offering for someone in need. Finally, we can be grateful for our opportunities to give as Mother Teresa was when she worked with the sick and dying in the slums of Calcutta. Her work allowed her the opportunity to grow and deepen her spirituality. Our opportunities to care for family members, to tend to th... posted on Nov 24 2016 (15,097 reads)

Florida, the “land of flowers” as he called it in his journal, and from there board a ship to South America. His immediate plan was to take the wildest and “least trodden” path he could find. “Folding my map,” he wrote, “I shouldered my little bag and plant press and strode away among the old Kentucky oaks.” A self-taught mechanical genius and trained botanist, Muir had been offered a lucrative partnership in an Indianapolis machine works and had been tempted to accept it, but at the risk of abandoning his lifelong dream of exploring the wilds of the Southern hemisphere. Only the clarity drawn from an accident six months earlier ... posted on Nov 22 2016 (20,774 reads)

and do a cheer before a 5:45 a.m. run in Manhattan, Aug. 7, 2015.Chantal Heijnen for NationSwell Back on My Feet is a program that uses running to help the homeless get their lives back on track. In addition to connecting participants with housing and jobs, Back on My Feet is founded on the notion that running can change a person’s self-image. Early morning exercise, three days a week, provides an outlet for pent-up emotions and starts to change the way someone thinks about hard work. If the concept seems hokey or contrived, the program’s numbers show that’s not the case. Back on My Feet’s program has reached 5,200 homeless individuals. They show up volun... posted on Nov 30 2016 (17,235 reads)

Mysterious B. Virdot “The year was 1933 and Christmas was just a week away. Deep in the trough of the Great Depression, the people of Canton, Ohio, were down on their luck and hungry. Nearly half the town was out of work. Along the railroad tracks, children in patched coats scavenged for coal spilled from passing trains. The prison and orphanage swelled with the casualties of hard times. “It was then that a mysterious “B. Virdot” took out a tiny ad in the Canton Repository, offering to help the needy before Christmas. All he asked was that they write to him and tell him of their hardships. B. Virdot, he said, was not his real name, and no one would ... posted on Dec 13 2016 (14,624 reads)

Sámi will probably identify it as a reindeer.” Reindeer herding is an iconic tradition practiced by the Sámi in the north, an area often referred to as Sápmi. Hunting and fishing are also common practices in Sámi communities, so Binnabánnaš will also have a fish sidekick named Ujujju. “We want [children] to like both of them and feel that we have covered everybody that is in Sápmi and all the Sámi people and what they work with and what they have in their communities,” said Runningen. More than 80,000 Sámi people call Northern Europe home and live across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. They&rsq... posted on Dec 18 2016 (8,021 reads)

We are truly doing this to make a difference in these people’s lives. It really touches us when we hear these stories.” “I was lucky that I had my older brother to guide me through the struggles that come with being visually impaired,” Bryan, 25, said of his older brother Bradford, 31. “The Foundation for Fighting Blindness is a source of hope to the many that weren’t as lucky as I was to have a built-in support system. They do incredible work and we are very excited to be helping with funding for research.” “It’s not a question of the science; the science is there,” Brad adds. “It’s a question of... posted on Dec 30 2016 (12,747 reads)

detail: Silva, 42, cannot afford to pay. He lives rough under the platform of a cable car station in Madrid’s sprawling Casa del Campo park, one of dozens of homeless people who have started dining for free at the “Robin Hood” restaurant that earlier opened this month. The project is the brainchild of the “Messengers of Peace” association, led by Angel Garcia, a 79-year-old rebel priest with a thick head of white hair and kindly smile known for his charity work and alternative church. By day, the restaurant charges regular customers for breakfast and lunch with an 11-euro (US$11.7) menu, subsidizing the same meal for the homeless at night, even if th... posted on Dec 29 2016 (14,150 reads)

whenever I lose a sense of presence, I automatically start pushing myself and others along, absent to the flow of energy. So the question of whether we are leading or following is a useful one to keep at the back of your mind and ask repeatedly as you go through your day. For example, next time you engage in doing something, notice how your arms move. Observe the relationship between your hands. They could be aware of each other, turning and talking to each other as you move. When you are working with this image, you will be able to experience a constant reflection of energy from one hand and arm to the other, until they both become alive and tingling. They move through space in relati... posted on Feb 5 2017 (13,089 reads)

years ago I moved to the heart of the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. I was a graduate student, working on my PhD at the University of Illinois, and I wanted to live for a while among the People, the Dine’, to find out what research for my dissertation would be most helpful to the tribe. Within a few weeks, I fell in love: in love with the incredible landscape of red sandstone cliffs and mesas that was as different from the Midwestern rain and black soil as if I had moved to Mars. And in love with the magnificent people and the way they welcomed me as family. So I dropped out of my doctoral program and decided to stay in Navajoland. I needed to provide something in ret... posted on Feb 11 2017 (20,116 reads)

equipping yourself for such action, and for the consequences that come with it. “For anyone to become an active, everyday social hero who does daily deeds of helping and compassion, that journey and new role in life begins in one’s mind,” says psychologist Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect and founder of the Heroic Imagination Project. While few of us will witness an actual hate crime, anyone can be confronted with hateful language—at work, on the street, or even over Thanksgiving dinner. Here are some strategies you can use to turn your mind toward everyday heroism—and to act in ways that reflect that commitment. 1. Educa... posted on Mar 6 2017 (26,783 reads)

overdrive like a sixth sense. When his hearing was surgically restored two years later, the medical miracle ignited his passion for music and science which he channeled into his wildly successful 30+ year career as the CEO of the world’s largest and most-awarded audio communications agency, Elias Arts.  It's from this uniquely intuitive and empirical place that he stands against the conventional economic thinking that businesses exist simply to make a profit. Scott’s work is a force for bringing out the very heart and soul of business.  By designing for love in some of the world’s biggest companies, he’s a leading voice for the idea that busi... posted on Mar 16 2017 (8,127 reads)

life. Many of the essays, poems, and teachings suggest that, while the process of dying is often difficult and painful, there is something beautiful and true about fully showing up for it.  —SM     A Call to Mercy Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve by Mother Teresa Image Books Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4th, coinciding with the conclusion of his Year of Mercy jubilee, honoring those engaged in works of mercy. It’s hard to comprehend how she could have such superhuman fortitude; such unbelievable selflessness; such passion for Christ; such an ability to transcend physical disgust.... posted on Apr 4 2017 (38,060 reads)

Child” television segment at WFAA-TV. Campos estimates that, over the years, she has featured more than 350 children, 75 percent of whom were adopted thanks to her reporting. But of all those children, there was one young boy whose story she would not soon forget — that of Ke’onte Cook. In 2007, Campos featured spunky, well-spoken, 8-year-old Ke’onte on her program. He was adopted shortly after the segment, but unfortunately it didn’t work out and he went back into the foster care system, where he bounced from home to home. After learning about his unfortunate situation, Campos featured Ke’onte again in August 2009. This time... posted on Apr 19 2017 (17,814 reads)

humble toaster. They came up with three different approaches, each of which, says the company, “embodies a different strategy to designing circularity from the outset.” Designing for Longevity AoD began by attacking the planned obsolescence that has dominated product design for so long. Knowing that aluminum recycles “with no loss of its material properties” and that the material is likely to remain valuable to recyclers for the foreseeable future, the design team worked to make every part of the first toaster, known as the Optimist, out of aluminum, “starting off with 100% recycled content and knowing that it can be infinitely recycled into other product... posted on Apr 24 2017 (16,292 reads)

to people. That was my first formal job, and the way people connected there and the way they listened to each other, it really did feel like family. What I learned was your title wasn't all that important. It didn't matter that I was a doctor. What mattered was that I could connect, that I could relate to that essence of being human and being related to each other's happiness. My journey continued on -- I got some scholarships, got certified as a medical assistant and started working in many clinics. Today, I am being trained as a Physician's Assistant, currently working with a geriatric doctor. Yet, I still carry my experience at Michael's store. People skills, ar... posted on Aug 3 2017 (11,230 reads)

anything so good, so sweet. I wanted to grow everything.” For a quarter century, all manner of trees and flowers, fruits and vegetables, have thrived across abandoned lots in the Bronx because of Washington. Deemed “the queen of urban farming,” she’s an African-American woman who’s dedicated her life to greening New York City’s poorest borough. Since 1985, Washington has assisted dozens of neighborhoods build their own community gardens, taught workshops on farming and promoted racial diversity in agriculture. Your food “is not from a grocery store, it’s not from a supermarket. It’s grown in the ground,” she says. ... posted on May 13 2017 (8,502 reads)