tag:www.naturalawakenings.com,2005:/categories/other?page=8Other | Natural Awakenings Magazine Page 8Healthy Living Healthy Planet2019-08-16T00:04:10-04:00urn:uuid:11ebf564-6d44-4cc1-a255-a9d63c2f31bf2019-08-16T00:04:10-04:002019-08-16T00:04:10-04:00Rail Trails: Summer Vacations with a Fun Twist2018-05-31 11:41:00 -0400Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>his summer, consider the convenience and relaxation of watching the world go by outside a panoramic side window instead of focusing on driving the road ahead. Train travel is also more cost-effective, affordable and eco-friendly than flying. SmarterTravel.com highlights railroad discounts for children, seniors, students, AAA members, military personnel and other demographics. Additional advantages include accessible central city terminals, a generous luggage policy and less time waiting until departures. If a station has an unattended parking lot, arrange to be dropped off.</p>
<p><a href="http://Amtrak.com">Amtrak</a> encompasses 300 daily trains on more than 21,000 miles of track to more than 500 destinations. Particularly scenic routes include the California Zephyr that winds through the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains between San Francisco and Chicago; and the Adirondack train between New York City and Montreal, Canada, offering spectacular views of both its namesake national park and the historic Hudson River Valley.</p>
<p><a href="http://AmtrakVacations.com">Amtrak’s 75 vacation packages</a> range from three days to two weeks. Sights include the Grand Canyon and Glacier, Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks. Most long-distance routes provide sleeping accommodations with passenger amenities for day and night.</p>
<p>Advanced technology electric locomotives began enhancing Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor runs in 2016. Designed for maximum energy efficiency with a regenerative braking system that feeds back into the power grid, this innovation saves electricity and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>Amtrak’s partnership with CarbonFund.org allows passengers to offset the carbon emissions footprint from their rail travel. Custom contributions can be made via the Rail Calculator or short- or long-distance traveler or Amtrak Trainiac preset options on Amtrak’s website.</p>
<p>Many travelers also enjoy narrow-gauge, short-rail junkets. Popular options include <a href="http://DurangoTrain.com">Colorado’s Durango & Silverton Railroad</a>, a nostalgic trip back to the mining days of the Old West; the <a href="http://CumbresToltec.com">Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad</a>, a 45-mile ride along the New Mexico/Colorado border; and the <a href="http://ConwayScenic.com">Conway Scenic Railroad</a> in New Hampshire, within two hours of both Portland, Maine, and Boston, Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Neighboring Canada affords many scenic trains including trips connecting Toronto with Vancouver and Calgary. Visit <a href="http://RockyMountaineer.com">RockyMountaineer.com</a> and <a href="http://ViaRail.ca">ViaRail.ca</a>.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the June 2018 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:4e1ec41a-0d44-4918-ae7a-8c067b4027862019-08-16T00:56:34-04:002019-08-16T00:56:34-04:00Helping Hands: Recycled Plastic Transforms into Prosthetics2018-04-30 11:17:39 -0400Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he emerging technology of three-dimensional (3-D) printing can benefit the world in many ways. Re:Purpose for Good, in Australia, creates robotically 3-D printed prosthetic devices from recycled plastic and e-waste. It’s difficult to customize prosthetics, so more invasive surgery is often needed to make standard sizes fit the patient. Other companies produce 3-D printed prosthetic hands and arms, but Re:Purpose for Good customizes both hands and feet at a much lower cost.</p>
<p>The company’s robotics and prosthetics engineer Gerardo Montoya, who had been working on 3-D printing prosthetics for children in Mexico, merged the idea with a desire to do something about the 8 million tons of plastic entering the oceans. Along with plastic waste, they also use e-waste such as discarded smartphones that have all the circuitry and microprocessors needed for advanced features. The company even plans to teach their prosthetic-making process to children as part of their science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) curriculum, so they can learn 3-D printing skills. They’re making it open source so more people can get involved without patent restrictions.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the May 2018 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:0b3cd629-fb98-4792-8e06-2118f0f014f12019-08-16T00:16:10-04:002019-08-16T00:16:10-04:00Nature Videos Calm Prisoners: Reduces Violence and Irritability in Inmates2018-03-30 12:17:39 -0400Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">M</span>aximum-security prison inmates in Oregon that spent an hour a day for a year watching nature videos were involved in 26 percent fewer violent acts compared with fellow inmates, and reported feeling significantly calmer, less irritable and more empathetic. The University of Utah study, published in <em>Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</em>, states, “An estimated 5.3 million Americans live or work in nature-deprived venues. Such removal from nature can result in an ‘extinction of experience’ that can further lead to disinterest or disaffection toward natural settings, or even biophobia (fear of the natural environment). People that infrequently or never spend time in nature will be deprived of the numerous physical and emotional benefits that contact with nature affords.”</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the April 2018 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:ebf65bc2-3a23-4b9c-8c3b-02d253b5e57b2019-08-16T00:31:00-04:002019-08-16T00:31:00-04:00Chinese Chokepoint: U.S. Waste Paper Turned Away2018-03-30 12:17:29 -0400Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>ompanies that recycle cardboard boxes were overwhelmed after record-breaking holiday shopping online. The U.S. Postal Service estimated it delivered 10 percent more packages in 2017 than the year before. Amazon, the leader in online shopping, said it shipped more than 5 billion items for Prime members in 2017. All of this cardboard is a huge recycling challenge. Americans routinely toss food waste and other garbage into their recycling carts, and China, the country that receives the bulk of these contaminated recyclables, says it has had enough.</p>
<p>China, by far the world’s biggest importer and processor of recyclables, has put the U.S. on notice that it will begin turning away all but the most pristine used plastics and unsorted waste paper by this fall and early next year. The pronouncement has alarmed U.S. government and industry officials, especially on the West Coast, that face the challenge of either cleaning up the vast, never-ending stream of recyclables to meet China’s strict standards or finding other places to dump the messy items—perhaps in landfills.</p>
<p>The uncertainty caused by China’s looming ban is beginning to slow down the entire West Coast system for sorting and shipping off recyclables. In Hong Kong, which ships its waste paper and cardboard to the Chinese mainland, mounds of the materials already are piling up at docks and in cargo ships being kept at sea.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the April 2018 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:0391f280-c3ff-4a16-8c01-473be733d9722019-08-16T01:21:58-04:002019-08-16T01:21:58-04:00Toxic Effects of Lead on Reproductive Health: Fewer Births, More Fetal Deaths2018-02-28 12:10:18 -0500Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n a new working paper from the West Virginia University Department of Economics, authors Daniel S. Grossman and David J.G. Slutsky found that during the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan, from 2014 to 2016, there was a 58 percent rise in fetal deaths, and 275 fewer births compared to adjacent areas near Detroit.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the March 2018 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:b41241e7-eef7-462c-a207-6b3baffd770f2019-08-16T00:26:19-04:002019-08-16T00:26:19-04:00Sickly Salmon: Uncontrolled Lice Threaten Fish Industry2018-02-28 12:10:14 -0500Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">A</span> surge in parasitic sea lice that attach themselves to and feed on salmon, killing or rendering them unsuitable for dinner tables, is disrupting salmon farms in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Norway and Chile. Wholesale prices for the species have already increased 50 percent over last year, leading to higher consumer prices for everything from salmon fillets and steaks to more expensive lox on bagels. Scientists and fish farmers are working on new ways to control the pests. <em>Fish Farmer</em> magazine states that losses by the global aquaculture industry could be as high as $1 billion annually. The only hope is to develop new methods to control the spread of the lice, which are naturally present in the wild, but thrive in the tightly packed ocean pens used for fish farming.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the March 2018 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:3f7f2d2d-280f-4bd7-b7cc-d0950b65ad472019-08-16T00:06:07-04:002019-08-16T00:06:07-04:00Food Sourcing: Marine Algae Could Nourish Growing World Population2018-02-28 12:10:12 -0500Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>ccording to the United Nations, more than 800 million people today are regularly undernourished. By 2050, a rise of another 3 billion in global population is expected to escalate pressure on food supplies. The challenge means providing not just sufficient calories, but also a balanced diet for good health.</p>
<p>Fish present a viable solution, but most of the world’s inventory is already overharvested. Some scientists propose “cutting out the middle fish” via the commercial production of marine microalgae as a staple food. They produce fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, polymers and carbohydrates that humans need and that can be used to feed animals and farmed fish. Microalgae are found in both freshwater and marine aquatic systems. Only a handful of algal species are used commercially now, but hundreds of strains have similar potential.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, innovators at Copenhagen’s future-living lab SPACE10 created the Algae Dome, a 13-foot-tall urban ecostructure powered by solar energy that pumps out oxygen and produces food in a closed-loop arrangement. This hyperlocal food system grows microalgae, which are among the world’s fastest-growing organisms and can thrive on sunshine and water almost anywhere.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the March 2018 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:d3f04dde-3d2b-4694-a4b6-84ddf96da9922019-08-16T01:16:55-04:002021-08-30T22:36:03-04:00Range Brutality: Shooting Wild Horses and Burros2018-01-31 12:39:37 -0500Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>s we went to press, the fate of 90,000 wild horses and burros depended on Congressional action, as the U.S. Senate and House were hammering out differences in the delayed 2018 spending bill. The Senate version vowed to fund “humane and viable options” to the animal euthanasia allowed in the House bill.</p>
<p>Last October, the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board recommended that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) achieve its on-range population goal of 26,715 wild horses and burros while also phasing out the use of long-term holding facilities within three years.</p>
<p>Killing tens of thousands of healthy animals would “be a betrayal of millions of taxpayers that want wild horses protected as intended in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act,” says Neda DeMayo, president of Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation. BLM has been tasked by Congress with the responsibility of protecting wild horses and other wildlife.</p>
<p>The agency has balked at using affordable fertility control, despite ample evidence that it’s a more than 90 percent safe and effective means of population control, critics charge. Instead, it spends 65 percent of its annual budget in capturing, removing and warehousing animals.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the February 2018 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:4d638f03-31f2-4177-ac2c-b8d81a36a51c2019-08-16T00:28:44-04:002019-08-16T00:28:44-04:00Animal Smarts: Chimps, Zebrafish and Birds Communicate Like We Do2017-11-30 16:21:01 -0500Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">C</span>himps, orangutans and bonobo apes are now known to be capable of understanding what others are thinking and recognize human thoughts, an ability once thought to be impossible. A team led by Christopher Krupenye, of Duke University, had apes take part in a visual experiment where they watched videos on a monitor while their gaze was being tracked. They discovered an anticipation of events that went beyond the visual cues presented.</p>
<p>The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has determined that zebrafish are social animals, similar to humans and other mammals—they form friendships, experience positive emotions and have individual personalities. The group advises people that eat fish or keep them as pets to consider the moral implications.</p>
<p>Honey hunters in sub-Saharan Africa have a unique form of communication with honeyguide birds that fly ahead to point out beehives which the hunters raid, leaving wax for the birds to eat. A study in the journal <em>Science</em> reports that they listen for a specific call made by their human collaborators.</p>
<p>Dr. Claire Spottiswoode, of the University of Cambridge, in England, and University of Cape Town, in South Africa, observes, “It seems to be a two-way conversation between our own species and a wild animal.”</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the December 2017 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>urn:uuid:c3a9b1d5-b295-4cbe-8ca6-9bbe9f858b322019-08-16T00:49:28-04:002019-08-16T00:49:28-04:00Faster Rescues: Artificial Intelligence Helps Locate People and Wildlife2017-10-31 12:55:33 -0400Anonymous<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>rtificial intelligence (AI) is helping doctors and scientists worldwide do their jobs better. In wildlife preservation, many researchers want to know how many animals there are and where they live, but Tanya Berger-Wolf, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, states, “Scientists do not have the capacity to do this, and there are not enough GPS collars or satellite tracks in the world.”</p>
<p>At AI-driven <a href="http://Wildbook.org">Wildbook.org</a>, photos are uploaded by experts and the public and analyzed for species, age and even gender. One massive Kenyan study in 2015 prompted officials to alter their lion management program.</p>
<p>Also, the locations of stranded victims of floods, earthquakes or other disasters can be determined via computer programmers writing basic algorithms that examine extensive footage. In flooded areas, AI technology can also find debris that harbors trapped people. AI techniques can even monitor social media sites to find out more about missing people and disasters.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the November 2017 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakenings.com">Natural Awakenings National</a></small></p>