Body & Mind – Page 183 – Things Are Good

Good Voting

A basic democracy needs people to vote at the very least. Recently two democracies that have been under question have actually defended the basic tenet of democracy. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), people were able to vote for the first time in forty years!

‘”I voted for the first time in my life!” shouted one man with excitement as he left the voting station’

In the United States, civil rights groups are celebrating the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The act protect minorities from racial discrimination in elections.

“The bipartisan support for the legislation underscores the recognition of and importance of equality for all citizens’ right to use the voting booth to elect officials who reflect their concerns. For, if liberty and equality are found chiefly in a democracy, as Aristotle said, then it is best attained when everyone shares in the government to the utmost.”

World Map of Happiness

The first ever World Map of Happiness has been created. This map measures the happiness levels of people from different countries all over the globe. Developed at the UK’s University of Leicester the Happy Map is based on responses from 80,000 people worldwide who rated such things as their health levels, prosperity and education. Denmark ranks highest while Zimbabwe ranks amongst the least happy. Click on the map to take a closer look.

Vegan Medicine

carrot Recent studies show that people with type 2 diabetes can experience dramatic improvements in their health if they switch to a low fat, vegan diet. Research in Canada and the U.S has been done on two separate groups of patients with diabetes, with about half on the vegan diet, and the other half on the traditional diabetes regimen.

In close to 6 months the results were quite astounding, showing those who ate vegan losing nearly twice as much weight as people on oral medications alone. Not only that, but the people eating vegan were able to ignore other suggested health precautions usually required for stable weight and blood sugar, such as a decrease in carbs and portion size. They could literally eat what they wanted when they wanted so long as it was meat and animal free. Subjects also found a significant reduction in both their cholesterol and blood sugar levels after adopting a vegan diet.

Vegans are typically slimmer than meat and dairy consumers and have much lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, lung cancer and osteoporosis. Many health problems associated with saturated fats and other apparently ‘toxic’ foods can also be eliminated through switching to a more veggie friendly lifestyle. Perhaps this is why many fantastic athletes are vegan, such as 9 time Olympic Gold Medallist Carl Lewis, and and six time Iron Man Triathlon winner Dave Scott.

Greenpeace’s McVictory

mcvictory Greenpeace is reporting great success in their campaign to get McDonald’s to better respect the environment. This is really great for the rainforest!

“In recent years, the seemingly unstoppable expansion of soya farming in the Amazon had become one of the main threats to the world’s largest rainforest. The soya wasn’t being used to feed the world; instead it was used to feed farm animals destined for fast food and supermarket chains across Europe.”

The campaign to get McDonald’s to change their destructive was launched only in April of this year. The name of the campaign is rather witty – Eating up the Amazaon.

“The result is that McDonald’s and other big food retailers have worked with us to develop a zero deforestation plan. The plan will also help bring an end to the land-grabbing and social injustice that is rife in the Amazon.”

Blogging in Beirut

People on blog sites such as livejournal are telling their personal stories about living with war and many are even engaging in civil and informative conversations with people on opposite sides of the conflict. In a recent article in Wired News there is a story of a young woman living in the center of Beirut whos has been doing just that.

“We have opportunities of directly talking to the person on the other side and figuring out what they want,” she said. “I get a lot of questions like: ‘Why didn’t your government kick out Hezbollah? Why didn’t your army stop them?’ Now people get a chance to find out.”

Through discussions and journal entries bloggers are reaching a new level of communication that would have been impossible throughout history during armed conflicts. It is allowing citizens to converse and relate to one another. This is an awesome story of people working to reach each other and tell personal accounts of what life is like when living in the heart of a war zone.
“A five-minute walk and I’ll be right in the middle of it,” she said. “I can hear everything very loudly — the building shakes. I can see the smoke, and so I know where they’re hitting exactly.”