Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Nature


Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic.
The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and literally means "birth".Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis(φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.
Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects–the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For, example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the terms unnatural, the supernatural, and the artifactual.

Global Warming


Global Warming
In recent decades a new threat to the health of our planet has emerged: global warming. Whether or not you believe in the phenomena, scientific fact has proven that global temperatures have risen roughly one degree Fahrenheit (.74 degrees Celsius) since 1950, and are projected to rise by much more than that in the future. So what if it gets warmer, right? We can all wear shorts and sip fruity drinks by the pool. Or, maybe not. With global warming comes a host of problems to plague or planet, from mass species extinction to rising sea levels. Global warming is a problem, and unless we act fast, the consequences could be permanent.

Causes of Global Warming
There are many sources of global warming, and not all of them stem from human causes. For example, both solar variation and volcanic activity have both played a role in global warming in the past history of our planet. But the sharp increases seen in the last few centuries have been linked by the vast majority of scientists to human behavior, specifically CO2 emissions.
These CO2 emissions contribute to the greenhouse gas effect, which was discovered in 1824 by Joseph Fourier. The Earth actually has greenhouse gas effects occurring naturally, mostly caused by evaporating water, without which our planet would be too cold to live on. However, the vast quantities of carbon dioxide and methane found in our atmosphere are far from natural. Consider this: the atmospheric levels of CO2 have risen 31% and methane 149% since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mid-1700's. Obviously the increase in greenhouse gases is largely tied to human behavior.
These gasses are released through industrial production, burning of fossil fuels (ie:cars), and deforestation. Obviously if we want to lower our greenhouse gas emissions, we need to find new sources of energy and replant our forests.
Consequences of Global Warming
Obviously the warming of our planet is going to have global repercussions. Current climate projections estimate that by the end of the 21st century we could have global warming of 2 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 to 6.4 degrees Celsius). With these warmer temperatures a variety of changes would happen. Glacier retreat (which is already happening) would speed up, and the Arctic landmass would also be subject to melting. This in turn would raise sea levels up to a foot and a half.
Global warming will also have an increasingly large effect on the patterns of extreme weather on our planet such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and drought. Hurricanes will become less frequent but far more intense, and areas currently experiencing drought will widen. Many locations that rely on a flow of summer streams will lose water during the warmer months as well.
Any species who cannot adapt to the climate change and resulting effects on locations around the world will become extinct. It is thought that this number could reach the hundreds of thousands, including both flora and fauna.
While plants and animals decline, certain diseases will thrive in the increasingly warmer climate. Both malaria and dengue fever will spread as new areas become warm enough to support the mosquitoes that carry the diseases. This will dramatically affect human life, especially in developing countries which lack basic health care.

What Can we Do?Sadly many scientists think that global warming has not even leveled out yet, because of the massive temperature holding abilities of our oceans. That means that even if we were to halt our CO2 producing industries this second,
global warming would still increase for a while before declining. However, we can still make a difference for the future. By supporting renewable sources of energy in our homes and vehicles each person can make a difference. For those of use fortunate enough to live in democratic countries, vote for leaders who truly care about our environment and are committed to making a difference.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Welcome to Organic Facts

What is organic food?
Organic food refers to food items that are produced, processed and packaged without using chemicals. Organic food is increasingly becoming popular due to its perceived health benefits over conventional food. The industry is growing rapidly since the past five years and has caught the attention of farmers, manufacturers and, above all, consumers.
The global organic food market was about USD 36.7 billion in 2006 according to Datamonitor. Over 30 percent of the global organic demand stems from the US, which has a market of about USD 13.6 billion, according to Nutrition Business Journal.
The organic revolution is a global phenomenon witnessed in every part of the world including the US (specially California, New YorkNew Jersey, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Virginia and Pensseylyania), Canada, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Hungary, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Africa. These regions are important production as well as demand centers.
Popular organic food items include organic tea, organic coffe organic wine, organic meat, oraganic beef, organic milk, organic honey, organic vegetables, fruits, organic rice, organic corn, organic herbs, organic essential oils, organic coconut oil and organic olive oil.
But the organic concept is not limited to food items. Due to execcesive usage of harmful chemicals in cosmetics
people are turning towards organic cosmetics also . One can often see organic skin care products, organic shampoos, organic soaps, and organic make up products on the shelves of organic stores. Organic cotton clothing, especially organic baby clothing is also a growing market. Parents prefer to pay a higher premium to protect the skin of their babies from rashes caused by the chemicals used in textiles.

Since organic food costs about 20% more than conventional food, many people also prefer to grow organic food in their home gardens. The conventional gardening is being replaced by organic gardening which uses organic seeds, organic fertilizers, composts, organic root stimulators, and organic pest control.
Organic farming is also a viable means of sustainance for small farmers in the developing countries. Most of the organic fertilizers and pesticides requirement can be met through on-farm and local production. Hence, organic farming does not involve huge capital investments in buying fertilizers and pesticides. Small farmers, therefore, find organic farming beneficial.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Nature of Positive Thoughts

Man is always attracted towards everything that is metaphysical and psychological; leading psychologists have always believed in the matter of mind, which is capable of performing stupendous things for self growth and development. On the flip side, they are also worried by a mind that is out of control, with many manifestations of disease and illness as the final result. It is always believed that human beings could achieve anything and everything under the sun, provided they possess a mind that is tough and intelligent. As a corollary, they also believed that people who have achieved a high degree of personal success, always showed an elevated level of positive thoughts and beliefs. Positive thoughts are known to assist a person in achieving those goals and targets, which can not be achieved by a person with a negative mindset. Understanding positive thought requires considerable amount of intelligence and wisdom. Positive thoughts are so surreal and mysterious; man has always been baffled by the fact that some people are more endowed with a high level of self belief and positive thoughts, while many people lack this natural gift, due to unknown reasons. Positive thoughts seem to originate from the mind, and its flow is always controlled by the person. Though most of us have positive thoughts deep in our mind, we may never experience it in its full potential or may experience only during some time in our life. Is it possible to control the flow of positive thoughts at a uniform rate? It is possible to develop positive thoughts and feelings by adjusting the way in which we think and behave. There are several innovative methods prescribed by many leading experts and often these methods do help us in developing a positive us. However the basic methodology is almost similar in all techniques. If you want to develop a positive personality, you will also need to consider driving away all negative thoughts; it is probably like two opposite faces of a coin. Positive and negative minds are dual in nature. When one of them shows its dominance, other will be in its dormancy. This perceptible shift in alternating domination and dormancy state of mind is the ultimate factor that makes us either positive in nature or negative in behavior. Is it possible to retain positive thoughts as our dominating entity in our mind? Conversely, can we suppress the negative part of our personality by using some methods? Theoretically both are distinct possibilities, provided we have some genuine methods to follow. Though it is almost impossible to drive away our negative aspect of personality, it is also possible to mask such negative part of the personality with fresh, continuous positive thoughts. It is just like filling in fresh, crystal clear water slowly, inch by inch, to replace a mass of water that is dirty and stained. Another analogy is to fill in a glass of water with crystal clear water and add black ink, so that the whole glass of water becomes dark and negative. Now when you add fresh water slowly, drop by drop, and replace the whole glass full of dark water, the resulting water mass is all crystal clear and pure. Our mind actually works in a similar manner.