globalbriefs Online Opportunity
Major University Offers Integrative Medicine Certificate The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences is inaugurating an online Integrative Medicine Program in partnership with the Metabolic Medical Institute and accepting applications toward graduate certification in integrative medicine. Integrative medicine focuses on the whole person, and the curriculum includes prevention, self-care, nutrition, exercise prescription, dietary supplements and wellness-based therapies. Students also review advanced predictive diagnostics, biotechnology, and systems biology utilizing proteomics, genomics and metabolomics. Graduates will gain cutting-edge knowledge to make well-informed decisions with their patients about treating disease, promoting vitality and optimizing aging. To learn more and enroll in the program, visit MMIMedicine.com.
Apple Crunch
Celebrating Pesticide-Free Orchards The nationally acclaimed Rodale Institute will celebrate its fifth annual Organic Apple Festival on September 21 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, more than 30 years after planting the trees. Organizers note that when growers select just one genetic variety of apple to reproduce and cultivate, they create a monoculture that easily becomes more susceptible to pests and diseases than an orchard that hosts several varieties. An array of insects and blights favor this all-American fruit, which is why standard apples are the single-most pesticide-contaminated produce item at conventional groceries. Large agribusiness operations typically grow fruit bred for durability and color during shipping and shelf life. Organic apples, by contrast, are chosen for flavor and regional adaptability. Source: Facebook.com/RodaleInstitute
Ice Cubed
Greenland a Big Contributor to Sea Level Rise New research by University of California-Irvine and NASA glaciologists published in Nature Geoscience shows that Greenland is more vulnerable to warm ocean waters from climate change than previously thought. Newly discovered deep valleys stretch for dozens of miles under the Greenland ice sheet in bedrock well below sea level. As subtropical Atlantic waters hit the fronts of hundreds of glaciers, their edges will erode much further than had been assumed and release far greater amounts of water. Ice melt from the subcontinent has already accelerated as warmer marine currents have migrated north, although older models predicted that once higher ground was reached in a few years, the ocean-induced melting would halt, Greenland’s frozen mass would stop shrinking and its effect on higher sea waters would be curtailed. Source: Environmental News Network (Tinyurl.com/Greenland-Sea-Rise)
Cleaner Air
New EPA Rules Proposed for Climate Change The White House plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030. Each state will have its own goal within the overall national pollution reduction effort, an attempt to be politically and practically flexible in its implementation. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy explains, “Each state’s goal is tailored to its own circumstances, and states have the flexibility to reach the goal in whatever ways work best for them.” States can renovate existing coal-fired plants with newer, cleaner burning technology; switch coal plants to natural gas, which produces much less carbon; and work to persuade residents to be more efficient in their use of electricity. States can also band together in cap-and-trade networks for emission reductions, in which companies buy and sell permits allowing them to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions. Clean producers can be sellers, dirtier producers buyers. The program represents an absolute reduction in U.S. carbon emissions of nearly one-third, rather than a simple slowing in the growth rate of emissions. Contrary industry groups, many Republicans and some coal-state Democrats oppose the proposal due to its anticipated costs and increased regulations. Source: The Christian Science Monitor
natural awakenings
September 2014
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