Month: January 2011

Posturing for Success

- Adam Clare

Getting ahead in your career can be greatly influenced by your posture and for your self-esteem. Good posture makes you feel more confident and other people can pick up on that. So sit up straight and walk tall!

In simple terms, posture breeds empowerment, Galinsky said.

Timea Wharton, owner of Turning Point Fitness, a Toronto fitness studio, believes proper posture is not only important for overall physical health but also for mental and emotional well-being.

Wharton, who teaches proper posture in her yoga, Pilates and dance classes, found that when she was going for job interviews, potential employers commented on how good her posture was.

“Posture creates confidence, projects success. . . If you’re slouching, it shows you are insecure, unsure,” Wharton told the Star.

Galinsky agrees.

“Posture does make a difference. How you sit and how you stand will have an affect on how you are perceived.”

Read the full article.

Less Pesticide, More Crops

- Adam Clare

The so-called “green revolution” of farming saw the rise of industrial farming which has arguably done more harm than good. Now, the tides are turning back to a more natural way to grow food. Farmers in a few West African countries have used pesticide-free farming and have found it to be rather great!

To grow healthy crops, IPPM promotes soil improvement and alternatives to chemical pesticides such as the use of beneficial insects, adapted varieties, natural pesticides and cropping practices. Marketing and food safety issues are also part of the training programme.

“Trends in agriculture over the past decades in West Africa have seen an increasing use of highly toxic pesticides in higher-value, frequently irrigated crops. There is a general lack of knowledge in the region of the negative impacts of pesticides on the production, economy and health of communities and the environment,” said William Settle, FAO Senior Technical Officer.

“Simple experiments in the field, as practised by the Farmer Field Schools, have given smallholders the means to produce in a more environmentally friendly way, to substantially increase yields and earn a better income,” Settle added.

“Capacity building at community level is key to the sustainable intensification of food production, which will contribute to increased food security and improved livelihoods in the region, an important step towards achieving the first Millennium Development Goal, reducing hunger and povert

Keep reading the rest here.

Riding the Green Wave in San Francisco

- Dan Harrison 2 Comments

For the past two years, Valencia Street in San Francisco has been experimenting with a system called “The Green Wave.” By programming the timing of traffic signals, the city of San Francisco has made it possible to ride a bicycle at a steady 13 mph (~21 km/hr) without hitting a single red light. This effectively eliminates the tiresome stopping and starting for cyclists, thus making biking even more efficient! It was recently announced that the pilot project will now become a permanent feature of Valencia Street.

Although the concept of optimizing signal timing for cyclists isn’t new, the programme in San Francisco has made some improvements that make it even better than similar systems in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Portland.

San Francisco’s Green Wave is already unique because it is the first in the world to work two ways simultaneously, something Mayor Newsom calls “another example of our leadership in providing quality cycling improvements for this community.”

“Those who bike in San Francisco have seen their rides become safer and more efficient. Our continued commitment is to further the progress made and further establish San Francisco as a champion for providing multiple modes of transportation,” said Newsom.

Read more at Streetblog.org, and check out their information on cycling in cities around the US.

China Bans Some Logging

- Adam Clare

China has protected forests Great and Lesser Hinggan Mountain region in the north east of the country by banning logging there. For the next ten years logging in that region will be illegal in an attempt to help curb climate change.

The ban is part of a forest protection program by the National Development and Reform Commission and State Forestry Administration.

China is trying to increase the size of its forests by 40 million hectares to help reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

The forest reserve in the Hinggan mountains spreads out over 430,000 square kilometres across Heilongjiang province and into neighbouring Inner Mongolia.

Read more

Students Go Green

- Adam Clare

TD Bank has historically had issues with the environment, today they are starting to reverse that attitude. Indeed, they are now encouraging students in Canada to come up with ideas on how to be more green.

TD has announced the Go Green Challenge that will have students submit videos on ways to respect the environment. Students who submit their ideas have the chance to win cash to help turn their idea into action.

Let’s hope TD starts encouraging green investments amongst its customers too!

How the TD Go Green Challenge works:

Teams of two to four students from the same school are invited to submit a short video that explains a sustainability challenge facing their university or college and how they would address it.

A panel of judges, including singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, will select the top three teams based on their proposed on-campus environmental initiatives.

The TD Go Green Challenge is open to all legal residents of Canada who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program, full or part-time, at an approved Canadian college or university.

Read their press release

Scroll To Top