Climate Change Accelerating
As reported in the online environmental magazine Grist (www.grist.org), climate scientists are growing more concerned as the data becomes overwhelming. In most fields of science, lay opinion tends to be more alarmist than scientific opinion, says Carbon Mitigation Initiative codirector Robert Socolow. "But, in the climate case, the experts — the people who work with the climate models every day, the people who do ice cores — they are more concerned. They're going out of their way to say, 'Wake up!'" In her magisterial New Yorker series on climate change, Elizabeth Kolbert says those calls are finding a mixed reception. In the Netherlands, a quarter of which is already below sea level, the government is funneling millions into projects to widen rivers, raise dikes, and alert the public. In the US however, which produces over 20% of carbon dioxide emissions, the Bush administration continues to downplay the problem. Philip Cooney, the White House official (and former oil-industry lobbyist) recently outed for watering down government climate-change reports, has left his position in the Bush administration to take a new job at yet another oil company, ExxonMobil. Of course, the White House comments that his sudden departure is "completely unrelated" to the controversy over his editing of research reports.

"It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself," concludes The New Yorker's Kolbert, "but that is what we are now in the process of doing."

Sources: The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert, May 9, 2005
The News & Observer, Associated Press, H. Josef Hebert, June 14, 2005
The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, June 15, 2005

The Global Warming "Hoax"
Also reported in the environmental magazine Grist (www.grist.org), ExxonMobil, the same company that hires ex-White House aids caught downplaying climate change data, also plows millions into funding for 40 climate-skeptic groups. Another coincidence?

In 1998, the American Petroleum Institute outlined a strategy to sow the seeds of doubt about global-warming science "with Congress, the media, and other key audiences." "Victory will be achieved," read an API memo, "when... recognition of uncertainty becomes part of the 'conventional wisdom.'"

Since then, ExxonMobil, one of API's leading members, has been working valiantly in pursuit of that strategy, even as other oil, energy, and car companies bow out in the face of overwhelming scientific consensus or public pressure. From 2000 to 2003, Exxon funneled more than $8 million into a network of think tanks, quasi-journalistic media outlets, and civic and religious groups, to great effect. While peer-reviewed scientific journals contain virtually nothing that challenges the consensus on anthropogenic global warming, a flood of "reports," press releases, and op-ed columns has succeeded in creating the illusion of scientific controversy, seized on by sympathetic lawmakers like Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who calls global warming a "hoax" and — whaddya know! — also receives buckets of money from Exxon.

Source: Mother Jones, Chris Mooney, May/June 2005

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Green Money
General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, interviewed May 4, 2005, on PBS's Nightly Business News, described an ambitious new environmental model dubbed "Ecomagination." Immelt said that GE's goal was for a 1% reduction in emissions, admittedly a modest amount, but based on a growth model of increasing usage which normally would have resulted in a growth of several percent per year.

Under Ecomagination, GE has pledged to invest $1.5 billion annually in research in cleaner technologies by 2010, up from $700 million in 2004.

GE intends to double its revenues from products and services that provide significant and measurable environmental performance advantages to customers - from $10 billion in 2004 to at least $20 billion in 2010 with more aggressive targets thereafter. These products include renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar, technologies and materials that make energy production and consumption more efficient, cleaner and more efficient transportation technologies, and products and services that conserve or purify water.

There are more environmentally friendly consumer products in the pipeline too. This is not a moral crusade, but a shrewd move to capitalize on a burgeoning market as well as to protect future profits.

GE pledges to publicly report its progress in meeting these goals. Visit GE's website: www.ge.com/ecomagination

Pale Green City By The Bay
Even though San Francisco was recently named the US's most "sustainable" city, we could learn a thing or two from Europe and the East. Bay Area green group SustainLane put SF on top after scrutinizing urban centers based on 12 criteria, including air quality, transportation, green building, and land use. Yokohama, Japan, about the same size as San Francisco, takes recycling very seriously. Residents were sent a 27 page instruction book on how to sort trash into 10 different recycling bins and detailing how to dispose of more than 500 items, from used lipstick tubes to old socks. Can you beat that? Actually, yes. Norwegians constrain consumption by paying over $6/gallon for gasoline and $395 each year in auto taxes. In a 1980 referendum, the entire nation of Sweden voted to phase out nuclear power in favor of renewables like wind and solar. Swedes are having second thoughts about shutting down their final few reactors, only because they fear having to import dirty energy (coal and oil) from their European neighbors and generating more greenhouse emissions. In "progressive" Berkeley (ranked the U.S.'s 4tth most "sustainable" city) we can't even muster the political will to establish a no-car pedestrian zone downtown. C'mon, people!

Sources: BBC News, June 1, 2005
The New York Times, Norimitsu Onishi, May 12, 2005
The New York Times, Simon Romero, April 30, 2005

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Friedman's Geo-Green Movement
Thomas L. Friedman, writing an op-ed for the New York Times, suggests, "Diffusing Toyota's hybrid technology is one of the keys to what I call 'geo-green'. Geo-greens seek to combine into a single political movement environmentalists who want to reduce fossil fuels that cause climate change, evangelicals who want to protect God's green earth and all his creations, and geo-strategists who want to reduce our dependence on crude oil because it fuels some of the worst regimes in the world."

Friedman would modify Toyota's current hybrid technology with off-the-shelf "flexible fuel" modifications which allow for a 20% mix of ethanol (grain alcohol) with gasoline, reducing gasoline consumption accordingly. There are also plug-in rechargers currently available which would allow owners to travel 20 miles by battery before needing to use gasoline. Since most commuters drive their cars less than 20 miles, this would mean good-bye gasoline, good-bye oil moguls, and good-bye Middle Eastern oil autocrats. Friedman's plan is great as far as it goes to reduce dependence on foreign oil, but it begs one little problem. Home electricity is created by power plants which use large amounts of coal, oil, or nuclear fuel. Until we go greener at the source, we're still courting disaster from greenhouse emissions or nuclear waste.

Source: New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman, June 17, 2005

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Alternative Green Futures: Kunstler or Callenbach?
Will the next generation be living in a green utopia or environmental hell? OPEN EXCHANGE boldly offers you a choice of prophets. James Howard Kunstler, author of this year's apocalyptic prophesy, The Long Emergency, says that the end of cheap oil will cause the collapse of agribusiness, severe economic ruin, political upheaval, and perhaps—if we're fortunate—the return to a sustainable agrarian culture. But not without pain and suffering.

In Kunstler's words, " Along with this, of course, comes the tremendous task of restoring our food production and farming and agriculture because along with the end of suburbia, we're obviously going to be experiencing the end of industrial food production, you know, and the 3000-mile Caesar salad which epitomizes it. This has tremendous implications for the kind of towns that we have, the kind of value-added manufacturing activities that will go on, and the kind of jobs and occupations that people will have. I happen to believe that we may actually live to see the birth of a new social class in this country, the rebirth of the American agricultural laborer." In short, if you want to avoid the worst of it, move away from the big city, get yourself a piece of land where you can grow some food, a big dog, and maybe a shotgun. As Betty Davis said, "Fasten your seat belts! It's going to be a bumpy ride!"

Or is it?

Coincidentally, this year also marks the release of the 30th Anniversary Edition of Ecotopia, a ground-breaking novel by Ernest Callenbach, admittedly not great literature, but a cult favorite that became a bestseller, the first to offer the vision of an environmentally sustainable post-technological culture.

The setting is the early 21st century. Ecotopia, made up of what was once Northern California, Oregon, and Washington, has been independent for several decades. The communal residents of Ecotopia have learned to embrace "poverty," working only 4 hours a day, enjoying a clean natural environment and the pleasures of the senses. Part polemic, part political thriller, Ecotopia embraces the naive optimism of the 60's generation and applies it to the ecological imperatives of our time. It's still a good read for nostalgic Baby Boomers or anyone who still believes in constructive change. The 30th Anniversary edition by Heydey Books contains a new afterword by the author.
Read OPEN EXCHANGE's classic interview with Ernest Callenbach on our website. Also watch these pages for a brand new interview.

Sources: www.globalpublicmedia.com
www.openexchange.org

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AIDS WALK San Francisco July 17
Storm Cattoche is a successful San Francisco Realtor who has taken an important step in the fight against HIV and AIDS. She urges you to join her in this effort:

"On Sunday, July 17, join me in making a meaningful difference in the lives of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. On that day, I will walk as a team with Keller Williams in the 19th Annual AIDS Walk San Francisco.

"This event is California's largest AIDS fundraising event and benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and other outstanding local AIDS service organizations throughout the Bay Area. Last year, more than 25,000 people walked the 10-kilometer (6.2 mile) route through Golden Gate Park and raised over $3.25 million dollars.

"The number of men, women, and children who look to SFAF and other benefiting organizations for life sustaining services continues to grow at a staggering rate. In addition to providing services to 120,000 individuals impacted by HIV and AIDS annually, the AIDS Foundation has been a leader in offering HIV and AIDS prevention education and advocacy on a statewide and national level.

"I hope you will join our team on Sunday, July 17 as we walk in memory of those we have lost and keep in step with others committed to a future without AIDS."

Low-fat Diet, Aspirin Cut Cancer Relapses
A low-fat diet and aspirin, both shown to help reduce the risk of cancer, may also help keep it from coming back in some patients. In a study of more than 2,400 post-menopausal women treated for early-stage breast cancer, those who followed a low-fat diet boosted their odds of remaining cancer free by about 24%. This included cutting oils, margarine and red meat.

Dr. Rowan Chlebowski of the University of California Los Angeles and colleagues worked with more than 2,400 women being treated for breast cancer. They put 975 of them on a moderately low fat diet, with 33 grams of fat a day, and compared their progress to the other 1,462 women, who ate on average 51 grams a day. It was in line with government recommendations to eat less fat and more fruits and vegetables, Chlebowski said. They met with nutritionists eight times and had their eating habits checked with random telephone calls.

"Things eliminated would be things like chips, cheese and crackers — fat-rich dairy — and substitute things like popcorn," he said. Fast-food is also dangerous, he said. "One breakfast sandwich has 47 fat grams," Chlebowski told a news conference. This is the first rigorous trial to show that a "lifestyle intervention" such as diet really influences breast cancer.

In another study, colon cancer patients who took regular aspirin were 50 percent less likely to have a relapse.

Doctors at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting said they were delighted to have some simple suggestions to offer patients who have undergone surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation and now want to know what to do to keep the cancer from returning.

"I think it's exciting," said Dr. Robert Morgan, who treats patients with breast, brain and ovarian cancer at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California. "I will definitely counsel them that this is true. I am sure that it will result in more referrals to nutritionists."

But Dr. Eric Winer of Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute was skeptical. "The one thing you don't want is for every woman who has breast cancer to feel she is damaging her health if she has an ice cream cone," he said in an interview. Winer said he would need more data from studies showing it was really the low-fat diet that had the effect.

The researchers were surprised by one thing. About 80 percent of breast cancers are fueled in part by the hormone estrogen, which is made by fat cells. Studies have shown that low-fat diets reduce the risk of breast cancer and doctors had thought it might be because fat cells produce estrogen.

But in Chlebowski's study, the most pronounced effect was in the 20 percent of women whose tumors were hormone-receptor negative, meaning they do not respond to estrogen. In that group, the low-fat diet reduced the risk of cancer coming back by 42 percent over the five years the patients have been watched so far and 8 percent fewer of them relapsed after four years. The study should fuel more research.

Sources: Reuters, Maggie Fox, May 16, 2005
www.usatoday.com/news/health

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Can you raed tihs?
Olny srmat poelpe can. I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the only iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on !!I find this very interestin

The Health Benefits Of Yoga
Yoga can lower stress hormones and help you sleep, according to Sat Bir Khalsa, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. Khalsa taught 20 insomniacs a 30- to 45- minute yoga routine that included breathing, meditation, and simple seated poses. Those who followed the routine nightly for eight weeks said they dozed off 30% faster than before and spent about 35% less time reawakening after falling asleep. Khalsa says that you shouldn't expect instant results, however. Stress hormones take time to decrease, so give yourself a month or two of practice.

But you say you can't practice yoga on business trips? Think again! Several hotel chains are stretching the rules so you can stretch, too. Kimpton Hotels supply guests with a complimentary yoga mat and block, plus a 24-hour yoga channel. Hilton Hotels & Resorts offer free Travel Fit Kits featuring a mat and other equipment to create your own in-room yoga studio. Westin Hotels have a yoga and Pilates workout channel, too.

Sources: Reader's Digest, March 2005
Newsweek, April 4, 2005

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Hypnosis & Pain Relief
Scientific American Mind recently featured a comprehensive evaluation of the power of hypnosis. Its conclusion was that hypnosis is especially effective for pain relief.

A 1996 National Institutes of Health technology assessment panel judged hypnosis to be an effective intervention for alleviating pain from cancer and other chronic conditions. Voluminous clinical studies also indicate that hypnosis can reduce the acute pain experienced by patients undergoing burn-wound, children enduring bone marrow aspirations and women in labor.... The pain-relieving effect of hypnosis is often substantial, and in a few cases the degree of relief matches or exceeds that provided by morphine." The theory is that hypnosis might alleviate pain by decreasing the activity of brain areas involved in the experience of suffering.

Hypnosis also has proven to be effective in treating obesity, insomnia, anxiety and hypertension. Studies showed that 70% of those who received hypnosis plus psychotherapy showed greater improvement than those receiving psychotherapy alone. The American Psychological Association validated hypnosis as an adjunct procedure for treating obesity as a result of these findings. However, drug addiction and alcoholism did not respond well to hypnosis in these studies.

Source: Scientific American Mind, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2005

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How Much Exercise Is Enough?
The US government recently modified guidelines suggesting that persons trying to shed pounds get at least 60 to 90 minutes of moderate activity daily, up from the recommended 30 minutes. This might include walking, bicycling, gardening, dancing, lifting light weights, and stretching.

This can sound discouraging, especially since most busy professionals can't carve out an hour and a half every day to exercise. But the good news is that you don't have to make the time all at once or each and every day. Everything you do can count. Tips for upping your amount of total exercise include parking an extra block away from your shopping destination, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking with friends, and stretching while watching television. Keep moving and stay healthy!

Sources: http://healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines
Dr. Andrew Weil's Self-healing Newsletter, June 2005

Placebo Effect Is Real
More than a generation ago, battlefield medics discovered quite by accident that when they ran out of morphine they could "trick" their patients into feeling relief with injections of nothing more than salt water. But the placebo effect is more than "a whole lot of nothing." When Fabrizio Benedetti of the University of Turin in Italy added naloxone, a drug that blocks the effects of morphine, the pain-relieving power of saline solution disappeared!

The placebo effect is not just in your mind; it is somehow biochemical. The mind does seem to impact on the body's chemistry, but the mechanism is still unknown. The mind-body connection is still in the exploratory stage....

Source: New Scientist, "13 Things That Don't Make Sense," March 19, 2005