The Oasis

See Ya Later, Alligator...

So what's going on with the spate of fatal alligator attacks in Florida?

Officials cite various reasons, including the time of year, pressures to find a mate and the possibility that these particular reptiles were simply more aggressive than others.

But some biologists think that it's not the gators that are the problem. The real culprit is...

us.

Yes, you read it right. Us people. The same ones who continue to drain every square acre of wetland available for homes and malls and churches and shopping centers.

The Everglades National Park, once a teeming watery wilderness, is now just one seventh of its former size. The Everglades, known as the River of Grass, was once part of a five million acre plus watershed that covered more than one-third of the state of Florida.

Most people today accept the idea, once radical, that we humans are part of the Earth. We cannot continue to erode the Earth's habitats and expect that we will not reap the consequences.

Gator attacks in Florida, cougar attacks in the American West, Black bears scavenging in backyard trash cans in upstate New York...

and on a larger scale, Hurricaine Katrina.

What is good for the Earth is naturally good for us. Why is that such a radical idea to some?

See ya later, alligator...

Through a Glass Darkly

When it comes to seeing ourselves as we truly are, some of us are wandering around in the dark. According to a study conducted at the University of North Carolina, only 15 per cent of study participants who met the National Institutes of Health Criteria for obesity in adults, actually realized that they were obese!

According to federal guidelines, people with a Body Mass Index (known as BMI) less than 18.5 are considered underweight. Those people who are in the range of 18.5 to 24.9 are considered normal weight. BMI's from 25 to 29.9 show that a person is overweight, and people with a BMI of 30 and above are overweight.

This blind spot could be lethal when it comes to your health. Being obese carries a set of frightening health risks, including increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer, to name a few. But if an obese person doesn't even identify with being obese, all the messages in the world about reaching a healthy weight will go unnoticed.

Do you know what your BMI is? You can calculate it easily at the National Institute's of Health Body Mass Index Calculator

References: Truesdale, K.P., and J. Stevens. 2006. Do the obese know they are obese? Experimental Biology 2006. FASEB Journal 20(March 7):A1313.

My Bioregion: Spring '06

Spring is here, in all her Southern splendor. Clouds of snowy dogwoods dance at the edge of the woods. Azaleas with their showy pink, white and red blooms, gather in colorful masses under the towering pines.

The oaks and sweetgums are adorned in new Spring green, that tender, almost translucent color that signifies the end of Winter and the return of the sun. Green chameleons bask on the backyard gate, the blue-tailed skinks rest themselves on the warm sidewalk outside the house and fireflies light up the dusk, their twinkling signals a sign of hope for the rest of the year.

Peepers croak in the small creek below the house and turkey vultures soar overhead. My spirits lift, flying higher, following the great birds upward in spiraling circles. Below, I catch a vision of my life, and my place in the scheme of a grander design.

This is my bioregion...the rolling Piedmont hills of Georgia. Look around you this Spring. Notice. Listen. Breath.

See.

Humpty Dumpty

According to a recent CDC (Centers for Disease Control) report, the epidemic of obesity in America may be leveling off. On the surface this is good news, but let's take a closer look.

The CDC is basing this on the percentage of women who are obese (33%). This percentage held steady, instead of increasing. This leveling off in women is seen as a good sign, as women influence the eating habits of their families. But the bad news is this...

the percentage of both men and children who are classified as overweight and obese increased substantially. And remember, the women only leveled off and did not lose weight.

Strange isn't it, in a country where the diet industry has been estimated at 100 billion dollars a year. Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture. The health of our children, and of our country, is at stake.

Energy Crisis - It's Not What You Think

Whenever I hear the words 'energy crisis' my thoughts invariably turn to higher gasoline prices, depletion of oil supplies and unsavory political maneuvering. While of course the term can mean all of these things, there is another energy crisis going on and this one is right in our own backyards. Or rather, for the majority of us, right in our living rooms. On our sofas to be exact.

I'm referring to worldwide supplies of human energy, as evidenced by a global lack of exercise. Here in the U.S., insufficient exercise contributes in a big way to four of the six leading causes of death: heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes...leading to a shocking 250,000 premature deaths every single year...deaths made all the more tragic because they are preventable.

Even though scientific studies conducted over the last fifty years have throughly documnted the beneficial effects of exercise, fewer than 25% of Americans get the exercise we need. So if we have this information, why don't we exercise?

There are no simple answers. Much of our exercise, which used to come from human labor, is now no longer necessary, due to industrializtion. The average U.S. adult spends 170 minutes a day watching TV and movies, 101 minutes a day driving and a scant 19 minutes exercising. Many of us were scared away from exercising by the aerobics revolution, that made it seem like we had to exhaust ourselves several times a week in a gym jumping around like mad to deafening music. But new research shows that moderate exercise produces great benefits...benfits that are remarkably similar to a harsh aerobic regimen. In addition, the guidelines are confusing. Is it 30 minutes three to four times as week or forty-five minutes a day? And what kind of exercise and at what intensity?

Dr. Harvey Simon, the author of The No Sweat Exercise Plan: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, and Live Longer (McGraw-Hill, 2006) advocates a simplified system of CME points, rather than the conventional number of minutes of exercise per week. His guidelines suggest aiming for 150 points daily for general overall health or 1000 points a week. And points can be earned by activities that we do not classify as formal exercise. For example, thirty minutes of digging in your yard at a moderate pace earns you a whopping 190 points. Even dusting, when done at a moderate pace for thirty minutes, get you a respectable 75 points. Plus, those activities that most people classify as exercise, such as walking, can be done at a moderate pace, rather than walking as fast as you can.

For those people who want to lose weight, Dr. Simon advocates cutting back on calories and/or aiming for 300 CME points a day. By the way, CME stands for cardiometabolic exercise, which takes into account all physical activity, from raking leaves, mowing lawns, dusting, sexual activity, walking, playing golf, aerobics class and everything in between. The point system concept has been very successful in at least one well known commercial weight loss program. I am hopeful that Dr. Simon's system will take exercise off most folks' least favorites list and make this life saving activity into something fun. Think Simple Simon..

Now if only that other energy crisis could be solved so easily!

Stress Is for the Birds!

With the first major cold and snow of the season pounding the Eastern U.S. seaboard this weekend, many of us will choose to stay inside where it's warm, rather than venture out into the cold for a walk. The weather, which has been unseasonably warm over much of the country, is finally feeling like February.

Many people have not even bothered to put up a winter birdfeeder this year. But with the cold, plus a little encouragement from the National Bird Feeding Society, I finally got my feeder scrubbed and ready for its sunflower seed refill.

Feeding wild birds is an extremely popular activity, and for good reason. While there are many benefits to the birds of course, humans gain from this as well. Watching birds at the feeder is a wonderful way to reduce stress and is one of the best ways to help chidren learn about nature.

Some individuals have voiced concern over the Avian flu in wild birds and wonder if setting up a feeder will put themselves or their families at risk. According to Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology, "There is no need to stop watching, feeding or attracting birds to your yard because of the bird flu."

So get out there and hang a feeder. Then sit back and let these feathered jewels bring some joy into your life!

Fresh Eyes

What would it be like to see the world with the eyes of a child? To look at something as if seeing it for the first time? Most of us go through our days without paying particular attention to our surroundings, especially if we are at home or in a familiar place.

But just last week, my 83 year old mother got a second chance...a chance to see the world anew. Her doctor had told her months earlier that she needed cataract surgery, but she was nervous about getting it done. Finally, she had the procedure and what was dull and dim suddenly became vibrant with color and detail. Sitting in the doctor's office at her post-op checkup, she exclaimed, "Just look at the blue of those cabinets!" Later, on the drive home, even the bareness of the winter landscape caused her to stare out the window and exclaim again, "The pines are so green...I just didn't realize how much I was missing!"

Have our own eyes become fogged over with familarity or clouded by the mundane?

Do we have to wait until we need cataract surgery to have the experience of seeing the world with fresh eyes? Do we realize how much we are missing?

Fortunately, seeing anew doesn't require a surgical procedure...just a slight change in attention.

Take a moment, right now, to look around you. Then pick a color, red for example and quickly let your eyes go to all the red objects in your surroundings...that dark red vase on the table, the crimson binder on that book, the red car parked in the driveway that you can see from your window, the flashing red of the cardinal at the bird feeder. You get the idea.

Then pick another color and repeat the process. This is called color seeing. Try this next time you are outside as well. You will be surprised at how this simple exercise can renew your senses.

Take a look at your world with fresh eyes...and see the world anew!

An Eye on Nature

Get a real time look at sharks, penguins, otters and other fascinating animals at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This site has a variety of nature cams...live webcams set up in many of the exhibits so you can watch the animals real time.

Unlike the zoos and aquariums whose sole purpose is for human entertainment, the Monterey Aquarium is involved in a variety of conservation and research related activities that can help to save our declining oceans.

Other nature cams can be found at the National Park Service and the South Pole.

We are stardust...

Plunging through the atmosphere in a fiery re-entry over the Utah desert, the spacecraft made a perfect pre-dawn landing after seven years of traveling through the solar system on a 3 billion mile mission to collect particles from a comet.

Scientists are ecstatic over the safe return of the craft, as they believe that some of the particles gathered on the mission are older than the solar system itself, and that ultimately, the analysis of the particles will provide clues to the formation of the sun and the planets themselves. NASA spent a relatively low amount of money, approximately 200 million dollars, on the project.

Meanwhile, back here on Earth, as far as we know the only planet in our solar system with the ability to sustain life, frogs are dying as a result of global warming. A new study published in Nature, the British weekly journal of science, reports that climate change has wiped out two thirds of a unique species of frog that lives high in the cloud forests of Central America.

Scientists have long known that amphibians, such as frogs, can be seen as bell weather species for changing environmental conditions, as they depend on the integrity of their porous skin to survive.

Might not the 200 million dollars spent on collecting stardust have been put to better use? Our planet is in trouble and we still have our heads literally in the clouds.

Middle Earth Adventures

What would possess a middle aged woman, respectably employed as a university professor and by all outward appearances comfortably settled in life, to pack up her bags and move literally half way around the world to New Zealand?

That's exactly what a reporter from Time Magazine asked Jenn Wright, adventure coach extraordinaire, in May of last year, when she was featured in a cover article on women's mid-life crises.

As Jenn, a then divorced assistant professor of occupational therapy in Indianapolis, Indiana, explains, her breakthrough moment came several years ago at age 46. She was on a backbacking trip with her 21-year old son, hiking in the rugged backcountry of Nevada, when she suddenly realized that she had spent the majority of her life taking care of others. The confidence she took back home from that fateful trip with her son led her to give up her comfortable life and head for New Zealand.

From this land of simply awesome beauty, Jenn now leads women in mid-life adventures of their own.

This week, I had the honor to be invited to sit in on one of Jenn's free teleclasses, a virtual gathering of women in various stages of their mid-life journeys, as they explored with Jenn the idea of becoming their own mid-life heroines. As Jenn explains, mid-life can come at any any age: 40, 50, 60 or even 70. And for each woman, it's different.

But even though on the surface the journey is outward, along New Zealand's wildly scenic Banks Pennisula Track, Jenn emphasizes each woman's internal journey. "Women come here and step out of time. When they go home, they have changed their lives."

As Jenn asks, "Is your life on full but your Soul on empty? Are you longing to find your Wild Child? Do you stay awake at night wondering what's really next for you?"

If Jenn's questions speak to you, consider joining her in beautiful New Zealand this February for the Heroine's Journey, a 7 day adventure of a lifetime. For details go to MidLife Heroine.

Your life will be the better for it!