The Nation’s First Eco-Friendly Childcare Center

In April, the first entirely eco-friendly childcare center opened in Atlanta. FIO360 is green from the building itself to the toys and resources used within.

Founder Crissy Klaus named the center after the Latin root word FIO, meaning “to become.” Then she took it to the next level, building her center on the site of a former hazardous waste plant and making it green.

Visitors to the building where blue bootie shoe coverings to ensure that no chemicals are tracked in to the place.

The Atlanta center has no PVC plastic products, only natural and organic toys, floors that emit radiant heat and environmentally friendly cleaning products and naptime is on custom-made organic mattresses free of formaldehyde and other chemicals. They even have an in-house organic chef using hormone free and organic foods to prepare meals. The building was not officially LEED certified, but the owners claim that they surpassed the government’s LEED standards for green building.

Kids start the day with an affirmation, take yoga lessons and recycling classes, and then round out the afternoon with a massage to help them sleep.

Although the Atlanta owners claim to be the first “eco-early care” center, The Oregon Environmental Council put together an Eco-Healthy Childcare program encouraging centers to take measures like buying only nontoxic art supplies, restricting aerosol sprays and chlorine bleach, and no wall-to-wall carpeting to address parents rising concerns about the environment and the health of their children. And in New York, Creative Environment Day Care has courses that teach the center’s 120 children about their role in the environment and their interaction with different ecosystems.

Hopefully, the trend towards eco-friendly childcare will take off across the United States.

Eco-jewelry to Commemorate Your Special Event

June is traditionally the most popular time of year to wed. So if you are tying the knot this wedding season, or anytime for that matter, consider eco-jewelry to celebrate your nuptials or any other special occasion you have.

Mining for precious metals and stones has come under fire not only for the potentially irresponsible and inhumane practices the business of mining can perpetrate but because mining also presents an environmental hardship on the earth. By purchasing jewelry from socially responsible sources like greenKarat.com or estate jewelry, you can help stem the tide of ecologically and socially irresponsible mining practices.

Gold mining produces an eco-hazard from start to finish, from the roads built to lead to the mines to the extraction process, both of which damage the delicate ecosystems and biodiversity in the vicinity of the mines. Frequently, miners will use the toxic materials, mercury and cyanide in order to separate gold from the rock. The mercury and cyanide then leak into the environment, harming not only the natural world, but often the miners as well as they inhale toxic fumes from the substances. Until better mining practices and reclamation processes are put into place, buy jewelry made of recycled metal and gemstones.

When you buy recycled jewelry from a responsible source like greenKarat, you can learn about the recycling process and what you can expect from your jewelry. GreenKarat also lets you pay a voluntary Carbon Offset Tax to offset any emissions that occur when making your jewelry that they pay forward to an organization in keeping with their goals.

Recycling metals helps eliminate the need for mining for new metals and the environmental harms it produces.

Study Shows Happiness Comes From Giving

In an unlikely news story squeezed in somewhere between high oil prices and
Obama/Clinton drama, the journal Science published a study that showed how money
relates to happiness. As it turns out, it isn’t the amount we have, but what we do with it
that has a large impact on our happiness.

A group of college students were split into two and each given an amount of $5 or $20
after being asked how happy they were. Group A was told to spend the money on
anything they want for themselves, while B was to purchase gifts for others, or donate to
charitable causes. At the end of the day, the students were again questioned how happy
they were.

The results showed that those who spent the money on others were significantly happier
than those who bought items for themselves. Perhaps more surprising, the amount of
money the students were given didn’t seem to matter at all.

Elizabeth Dunn, one of the authors of the study and a professor of psychology at the
University of British Columbia in Canada, reported, “This suggests that even making
really small changes in how one spends money can make a difference for happiness.”
She was also involved in a study that tracked the happiness levels of 16 employees who
received a profit-sharing bonus. Again, the results were the same.

Yet another study reveals how completely unaware we may be of the basic teaching, “it’s
better to give than to receive.” Dunn and her colleagues asked another group of college
kids what they thought would make them happier if given the two choices on how to
spend money. The vast majority responded with spending money on themselves.
Eric Weiner of NPR commented on Dunn’s research recently, signing off by saying
“Apparently there is a large chasm between what we think will make us happy and what
actually does.”

I doubt science will ever be able to explain that “chasm.” That seems to be up to us to
learn.

The World Is More Peaceful In 2008

The global thinktank the Institute for Economics and Peace conducted an index
measuring internal and external conflict in 140 countries. “The world appears to be a
marginally more peaceful place this year,” said Steve Killelea, the Australian technology
entrepreneur and founder of the Global Peace Index. “This is encouraging, but it takes
small steps by individual countries for the world to make greater strides on the road to
peace.”
Iceland was found to be #1 most peaceful country on the list. Ingibjor Solrun
Gisladottiir, Iceland’s minister of foreign affairs, accepted the honor saying, “We are
very pleased that the index confirms the core values of a small democratic society in the
north which has never had a military and has effectively practiced peace for hundreds of
years.” The Guardian UK notes that Iceland has the lowest proportion of its citizens in
jail of all 140 countries surveyed.
To no surprise, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan took the bottom of the index, while several
larger, richer countries seemed to place in the middle. France ranked at #36 and the
United Kingdom at #49, and the United States barely broke the top 100 at #97. Like in
previous indexes, Scandinavian countries continued to rank favorably. The only G8
representative to make it in the top 10 was Japan. Indonesia, Angola, and India showed
the most improvements in moving away from internal and external turmoil, with all three
ranking higher than in previous years.
The survey concludes that on average, political instability, terrorism, and violent crime
are somewhat better in 2008. In contrast, however, the world’s armed services have
grown on average per country, as has the sophistication of weaponry.
Sponsor Archbishop Desmond Tutu stated that business could play a major part in
bringing peace to troubled areas, as the survey seems to indicate. “You ultimately can’t
have business where you have conflict,” he said. “So it is in the nature of self-interest to
promote the kind of circumstances and the kind of environment where you can carry out
your business when there is peace.”

Earth and Titan Shadow Twins?

You say water, I say methane. The planet Titan is so similar to Earth that scientists are calling it our planet’s “shadow twin.” Geological traits such as volcanism, tectonics, erosion, wind activity forming dunes, and bodies of water parallel Earth’s make-up. The main difference is that Titan is cold enough to make the majority of its liquid solid, with methane being the water’s main ingredient. The surface is made up of methane bodies of liquid, which collects when it rains. “There’s about 40% relative humidity of methane,” says Sushil Atreya from the University of Michigan, which also makes it a clear parallel to Earth.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named some of Titan’s lakes after similar bodies of water in Australia, Canada and Ethiopia, such as Lake Ontario. Its river valleys are also similar, possibly even spouting vegetation. The three layers making up its troposphere, ionosphere and stratosphere all compliment Earth’s model. There are significant differences, however. Titan holds possibly 1,000 times more liquid hydrocarbons in its lakes than in all oil wells combined on Earth. It also has the possibility of a hundred times more coal supply.

Titan has always been a bit of mystery to planetary researchers, but now its details are emerging after the Cassini-Huygens mission, dually funded by Europe and the US. The mission landed a craft on the illusive planet, allowing access to pictures and data of its neighboring planet Saturn, and its 60 moons. There are many reasons to further explore the planet. "This combination of liquid water in the interior plus complex organic molecules composes two big ingredients for life - certainly life as we know it,” says researcher Ralph Lorenz. An ocean of water could be lying below Titan’s surface.

Scientists hope to further invest in Titan’s possibilities; possibly deploying balloons and other landers to sample it’s hydrocarbon levels, and snapping sharper radar images of the twin planet.

China Boosts Entertainment Production

Beijing, along with the rest of China’s booming metropolis, is using every opportunity this August to expand their media market. With the Olympics quickly approaching, China’s TV stations and film companies are feeling the pressure. Concentrating on their homegrown market, China is showcasing new TV dramas, animation series’, TV films and documentaries, hoping to gain some fans in the international circuit. Boosting production and screening more films at festivals like Cannes than ever before is helping them get the word out.

“Our major goal is to open the international market for Chinese TV products and to learn the taste of overseas audiences,” says Wang Qiao, sales staff member of the overseas department at China Intl. Television Corp. There seems to be a real focus on domestic products other than international according to CITC.

However, Wings Media, part of the Shanghai Media Group, plans on buying English-language products to support its recent English-language branch. But domestic shows such as manufactured copycats like “Super Girl,” a play on U.S. hit “American Idol,” reign supreme. They’ve found their niche in rehashing American shows including renaming “Ugly Betty” “Invincible Ugly Woman.” A localized version of CBS Paramount’s “America’s Next Top Model” also rules their airwaves.

The Chinese government is cracking down on censorship laws with an “antivulgarity campaign against all manner of content it considers inappropriate.” This leaves room for more family and period dramas, which have been the most consistent successes in Chinese television. The country’s roughly new media market will be put to the test this summer.

Bats Mysteriously Die, Scientists Ask Why

Bewildered scientists have been trying to decipher a reason why half a million bats may die soon in Northeast America. You may be thinking, I don’t like bats anyway, but many animals may be in danger for the same reason. Speculations include a possible infectious disease, which makes scientists worried it could spread to other species during migration season.

25 caves were found infected this year within only a 135-mile radius. Bats have recently been found dead, lying on house decks, roofs and lawns. Scientists are worried there may be a disruption in the natural balance, and have compared it to the mass deaths of honeybees in North America. The bats appear to have what scientists are calling “white nose syndrome,” a white fungus that attaches to their noses. Besides the white noses, the bats also starve to death. But these are the only two facts researchers have to go by.

Now, every kind of scientist from pathologists, to toxicologists to biologists is searching for an answer why, and feels an urgency to do so. “We’ve got to find an answer, and in so many ways we don’t know where to start,” admitted Susi von Oettingen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The fear of the unknown seems to cause the most worry.

After an autopsy they found no irregular pattern in the bat’s cells, which makes it hard to determine whether the deaths are caused by a specific virus or parasite. The facts also indicate that the bats may be immune to what eventually kills them. Needless to say, this made scientists realize they don’t even know enough about healthy hibernating bats to compare the situation. Tom Kunz from Boston University has been studying bats for over 40 years, and he can’t even figure it out. “We need to know so much more about their ecology and physiology,” he says.

There are lots of theories from bystanders, including government planes spraying chemicals and electromagnetic radiation from cell phone towers. Kunz believes it might have something to do with having an inability for bats to jump-start their immune system after hibernation. It may be a case of having to train themselves a certain way. But whatever the cause, scientists are conducting numerous expeditions as we speak, working around the clock to find the answer, because the end result could mean something much bigger than just saving bats. It could mean preventing a natural epidemic.