Health

How do you feel about your morning java after reading this...

There are lots of problems with disposable cups. Up to 90 per cent of flavour comes from the aroma you inhale, so the non-recyclable styrene lids make your morning jolt about one-tenth as delicious.

Paper cups are all lined with plastic to prevent sogginess and, if you want to keep your reproductive organs functioning, plastic is seldom considered a good marriage with hot or acidic liquids.

The 50-Million-Tree Slurp :: Views :: thetyee.ca

Might be a good idea to ditch the disposable cups and bring along your own mug - or drink only at establishments like the Clean Bean Cafe in Nelson...

Deconstructing Dinner - Coffee, The Earth, and the Future of Civilization - 05/03/07

The Clean Bean Café exclusively sells Capulin Coffee. Located alongside the main highway running through the city, the coffee is sold out of the back of a trailer and is essentially a drive-thru coffee shop. But while Capulin Coffee presents a real opportunnity for social and environmental change, Benji Hansen is encouraging yet another level of change by NOT offering ANY take-out cups. Instead, Hansen maintains a 'mug orphanage' whereby customers are free to take their ceramic mug with them!

I love my morning coffee - that's why I always carry my travel mug.

While we worry about foreclosures and the price of gas, it seems like there is a disaster unfolding in China that is almost un-reported in the West.

Snow disaster leaves 1.6 mln people frostbitten in NW China province _English_Xinhua

Severe snow disasters have left 1.65 million people snowblind and frostbitten, 500,000 livestock and wildlife dead and 3.1 million others on verge of starvation in Tibetan prefectures of northwestern Qinghai Province. Since October last year, consecutive low temperature had gripped the province. The temperature plunged to minus 36.3 degrees centigrade, the record lowest in January in the province, said the provincial meteorological bureau.

I'm sceptical of anything published in China, but this one is troubling. Check out some of the photos and video on this page. Sure it's propaganda, but the scale of effort required is huge.

To me this sounds far worse than the New Orleans disaster of a few years ago, but being in China... well it doesn't make the news unless it's a nuclear test right?

Technorati Tags: China, snow, weather, snowblind, frostbite, Qinghai, Tibet, Tibetan, New Orleans, propaganda

The next ten years will say a lot about the provincial and federal support for healthcare facilities in rural areas.

With the average age of the population increasing, something needs to be done to ensure that adequate healthcare for the elderly is available in rural communities. It is not appropriate to suggest that elderly residents should have to move away from their hometown to find a bed in a care facility or hospital that caters to common elderly issues.

The Situation in the States

A recent article from down in the states points out how much investment has been pumped into the health care system in many states. We're talking billions of dollars in upgrades and new construction. This is a massive turn around from the seventies on, where there had been a decline in many areas in healthcare infrastructure spending.

The Boom goes on

The most significant expansion and replacement of U.S. hospitals since the post-World War II building spree continues to fuel a red-hot construction market. With hundreds of additional projects in the planning stages, it’s a trend that’s expected to last through the rest of the decade.

Read more after the jump...  read more »

It looks like support for a local coop abattoir in the Kootenay's own Slocan Valley is growing. A group has formed, a website is underway and memberships are available.

The concept of a local abattoir is necessary for this area as the nearest registered facilities are about 350km away... a return trip of 700km, and under the newly adopted BC Meat Regulations it is illegal to buy or sell meat from anything other than a provincially licensed facility.

If you live in the Kootenays and like the idea of supporting local farmers and want to "eat local", consider a membership. A membership form and information brochure is available for download here for the Slocan Valley Abattoir Co-operative.

Technorati Tags: food, meat, meat regulations, BC, Kootenays, Slocan Valley, abattoir, meat processing, sustainable farming, eat local, local food, 100 mile diet, coop, co-operative

Playgrounds evoke memories for many of us: swinging through the air, sliding down death-defying slippery-dips. But what about the times that we feel like slipping into the hard rubber of a swing seat and kicking off, pumping our legs back and forth to go ever higher and higher? Is it appropriate for adults to have fun at a playground?

The following article leaves me feeling a bit, well, dried up about growing old.

Is this all there is to look forward to in our older years? Is this the best that our communities and governments can come up with for the aging? Why aren't there playgrounds for the middle years? What publicly provided play equipment is there for sufferers of mid-life crises?

Young at Heart: Germany's First Playground for Seniors - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

A new outdoor playground in Berlin's Preussen Park is the first of its kind in Germany. Instead of catering to screaming tiny tots and children with boundless energy, the space is strictly for adults. The equipment, in fact, is designed for people at least 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall -- children can use it only with adult supervision. The idea is to encourage seniors to exercise.

Eight graffiti-resistant machines (click link for image) made of robust stainless steel are laid out on a layer of soft bark under a canopy of trees. It looks as if someone has taken a gym and placed it in the middle of a forest.

I must agree that it is an interesting idea, and on the surface has merit in this day and age with an every aging population. There is surely a market for some fun outdoor recreation for elderly people.

The closing remarks of the article are quite telling though

There were no young people at the opening, just pensioners. Later, though, when the celebrities were gone and the machines glowed in the sun like shiny public memorials, the battle over control of the playground began.

Two youngsters swung wildly at the leg trainer, as if they wanted to tear it apart. Behind them an old man had a go at the back massager. Meanwhile, two elderly ladies had their walking frames stuck in the layer of bark that covered the playground. <

Are the elderly ready for their own playground?

Technorati Tags: play spaces, playground, elderly play spaces, elderly playgrounds, payground for seniors, active seniors, acitivties for seniors, outdoor activity, healthy living

I stood at the top of a near vertical drop, swaying in the brisk April breeze. I had conquered the climb, below me my peers stood in awe at the prowess and fearlessness that had been evident in mastering this feat of bravery. OK, so maybe the imagination of an eight year old version of me is getting a bit out of hand as I sit at my desk reminiscing the "good old days"...

But I do remember the feeling of meeting a good challenge head on, and some of the best challenges were in playgrounds or places that we made our playgrounds, trees, building sites, caves, creek beds, rock faces and even steep roadways. I grew up in a culture and environment that didn't put the constraints on children that are common in our over-protective society today. Most of the kids in my neighborhood were free to play in "the bush" or "down the road" or "over at Billy's house", as long as they were home in time for dinner, or before it got dark, whichever came first, depending on the season.

Playgrounds are a passion of mine. I love designing them, I love playing on them, and I love seeing my kids having fun on them.

Long Forgotten Playgrounds

One of my favorite pieces of play equipment is the swing set. I love the feeling of a well designed swing; where the chains are just the right length to get a heart stopping pause at the top of the arc, before you swoop back through to earth again. Not long ago it was still possible to find a park with a merry-go-round, a set of real see-saws, a long set of monkey-bars and a death defying slippery-dip slide, but with the advent of litigious communities and cautious cities, these simple, study and fun pieces of play equipment began disappearing from the parks scattered around our nation. There was no outcry, no conspiracy theories, after all the Atari and Sega game consoles were getting more of a workout than the playgrounds, parents were happy, and their children were safe inside.

A recent article in the Boston Globe quotes Susan Solomon, an architectural historian and author of American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space...

Back to the playground - The Boston Globe

"The see-saw today," points out Solomon, "is pretty much a horizontal bar that hardly moves in either direction. It just kind of jiggles a little bit." School playgrounds in Broward County, in south Florida, now post "No Running" signs.

Recent Trends in Playground Design

Most playgrounds around the country have been installed by developers or cities as new development occurs, or as older parks get vandalized or marked for equipment replacement or upgrading. Its pretty safe to say that most parks have a 5-6 foot high slide, some sort of ladder or small climbing structure, again no more than six feet high, maybe a swing set, typically with chains not more than 9-10 feet long all surrounded by pea gravel bounded by treated timber as if to say, you can only play within these boundaries.

If my four year old gets bored after a few minutes of playing at some of these parks, is an eight year old going to play on the equipment? Now there are exceptions to the rule, but generally these aren't built without significant cost, or an ongoing commitment to facilitate play or provide materials.

Children are smarter than we give them credit for, if they are forced to play in uninspiring play areas, they will find ways to make it more dangerous, hence the signs on indoor play areas "do not climb on the outside of tunnel" and the netting preventing children from accessing forbidden more challenging terrain.

Kids want the challenge, kids need the challenge of heights and speed and balancing in a playground.

Check out my ideas for Innovative Play Space Designs in my next blog post.

Let us know what you think of these ideas, and share your experiences good and bad in playgrounds.  read more »