This ground-breaking study offers new challenges to those teaching, studying or developing strategies and policies in health and the environment.Bringing together a variety of approaches from different perspectives and different locations, the contributors examine the various dimensions of health ecology in a human ecology framework, examining how local, regional and global factors impinge upon the health and environment of individuals, communities and the globe.
<p>An analysis of the effect of recent socio-economic changes among the Sherpa society on livestock husbandry. (Mark Turin 2004-06-10)</p>
Thomas L. Friedman's No. 1 bestseller The World Is Flat has helped millions of readers to see globalization in a new way. Now Friedman brings a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy-both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively. His argument speaks to all of us who are concerned about the state of America in the global future. Friedman proposes that an ambitious national strategy- which he calls "Geo-Greenism"-is not only what we need to save the planet from overheating; it is what we need to make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure. As in The World Is Flat, he explains a new era-the Energy-Climate era-through an illuminating account of recent events. He shows how 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the flattening of the world by the Internet (which brought 3 billion new consumers onto the world stage) have combined to bring climate and energy issues to Main Street. But they have not gone very far down Main Street; the much-touted "green revolution" has hardly begun. With all that in mind, Friedman sets out the clean-technology breakthroughs we, and the world, will need; he shows that the ET (Energy Technology) revolution will be both transformative and disruptive; and he explains why America must lead this revolution-with the first Green President and a Green New Deal, spurred by the Greenest Generation. Hot, Flat, and Crowded is classic Thomas L. Friedman-fearless, incisive, forward-looking, and rich in surprising common sense about the world we live in today.
Water is one of the most important physical, aesthetic landscape elements and possesses importance e.g. in environmental psychology, landscape design, and tourism research, but the relationship between water and health in current literature is only investigated in the field of environmental toxicology and microbiology, not explicitly in the research field of blue space and human well-being. Due to the lack of a systematic review of blue space and well-being in the various fields of research, the aim of this review is to provide a systematic, qualitative meta-analysis of existing studies that are relevant to this issue. Benefits for health and well-being clearly related to blue space can be identified with regard to perception and preference, landscape design, emotions, and restoration and recreation. Additionally, direct health benefits have already been stated. The studies included in the review are mostly experimental studies or cross-sectional surveys, focusing on students as the subject group. There is a need for more qualitative and multi-faceted, interdisciplinary studies, using triangulation as a method to achieve a resilient image of reality. A broader study design considering all age groups would contribute to identifying benefits for the whole of society. The inattentiveness to blue space makes it difficult to measure long-term effects of blue space on well-being. There is still little respect for water and health in planning issues, although salutogenetic health benefits can be identified. To close the gap regarding missing systematic concepts, a concept for assessing salutogenetic health effects in blue space is provided. Blue space is considered therein as a multi-dimensional term including four dimensions of appropriation, as well as at least five ontological dimensions of substantiality. The aim of the concept is to support researchers and practitioners analysing health effects in blue space.
Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world’s vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species.Though the threat of extinction is increasing, overall declines would have been worse in the absence of conservation.
Though the threat of extinction is increasing, overall declines would have been worse in the absence of conservation.
The present study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence, academic achievement and school climate among primary school students. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of social and emotional learning programs on the emotional intelligence and the academic achievement of 143 students in the 5th and 6th grade of primary school, who attended relevant programs compared with the corresponding number of students (163) in the same grades, who did not attend such educational programs. Students completed the TEIQue-CSF and a questionnaire with demographic data; in addition, the scores they received in the last quarter (April-June) of the academic year 2011-2012 were taken into account. Combined with the above, a questionnaire was constructed based on the "Checklist for the assessment of the quality of classroom and school climate", in order to investigate the views of the respective teachers on the impact of school climate on the emotional competence of students. The comparative results of the present study showed that there is a positive relationship among the variances. The findings must be taken into account from the Ministry of Education in Greece when designing the curricula in order to create caring, responsible, emotionally and psychosocially balanced students.
Based on research associating mindfulness with improvements in well-being, attention, and memory processes, brief mindfulness exercises may be helpful in enhancing the encoding of novel semantic information. We used a Swahili-English word pair association task to examine whether engaging in a brief mindfulness exercise enhanced the encoding of Swahili-English word pairs, thus improving long-term recall. Female undergraduate students at a midwestern university (N = 136) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: engaging in a 20-min body scan meditation, a 45-min body scan meditation, or a no-treatment control group prior to learning Swahili-English word pairs. Analyses of variance showed significantly more words recalled by members of the 20-and 45-min groups compared to members of the control group. A separate analysis of variance showed no difference in the level of state mindfulness across groups. However, a follow-up analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) controlling for symptoms of depression and anxiety, attention problems, and trait mindfulness showed that compared to the control group, self-reported mean levels of state mindfulness were significantly higher after the meditation exercise for the 20-min group, with no difference between the control and 45-min group. No group differences were found across the three groups on changes in self-report ratings of state anxiety.
Yoga is known to induce beneficial effects on physiological, biochemical and mental functions in man. Its effects on blood coagulation are not known. A study was conducted in seven previously untrained male adults who underwent a combination of yogic exercises, daily for one hour, over a period of four months. Parameters of blood coagulation were estimated before and after the end of yoga training. The following changes were observed: Fibrinolytic activity increased significantly with a concomitant fall in fibrinogen; activated partial thromboplastin time and platelet aggregation time were prolonged; blood and plasma platelets showed a rise; and both haemoglobin and heamatocrit were raised at the end of the training. These findings suggest that yoga induces a state of blood hypocoagulability. The impact of yoga on prevention of cardiovascular and thrombotic disorders is obvious.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a mindfulness-based day care clinic group program for cancer survivors on health-related quality of life and mental health; and to investigate which psychological variables are associated with changes in health variables. One hundred seventeen cancer survivors (91.0 % female; mean age 53.9 +/- 10.7 years; 65.0 % breast cancer; mean time since diagnosis 27.2 +/- 46.5 months) participated in an 11-week mindfulness-based day care clinic group program, 6 h per week. The intervention incorporated mindfulness-based meditation, yoga, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and lifestyle modification. Outcome measures including health-related quality of life (EORTC QLQ-C30), depression and anxiety (HADS); and psychological variables including life satisfaction (BMLSS), mindfulness (FMI), adaptive coping styles (AKU), spiritual/religious attitudes in dealing with illness (SpREUK), and interpretation of illness (IIQ) were assessed before, after, and 3 months after the intervention. Using mixed linear models, significant improvements in global health status, physical functioning, role functioning, emotional functioning, cognitive functioning, and social functioning were found. Cancer-related symptoms, including fatigue, pain, insomnia, constipation, anxiety, and depression, also improved significantly. Mindfulness, life satisfaction, health satisfaction, all coping styles, all spiritual/religious attitudes, and interpretation of illness as something of value increased; interpretation of illness as punishment decreased significantly (all p < 0.05). Improved outcomes were associated with increases in psychological variables, mainly life satisfaction, health satisfaction, and trust in medical help (R (2) = 7.3-43.6 %). Supportive mindfulness-based interventions can be considered as an effective means to improve cancer survivors' physical and mental health. Functional improvements are associated with improved satisfaction and coping styles.
Using a schema-theoretical perspective in the field of moral cognition, we assessed response behavior of adolescent (n = 15) and adult (n = 22) individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in comparison with adolescent (n = 22) and adult (n = 22) neurotypically developed controls. We conceptualized the Intuitive Moral Reasoning Test—in five moral dilemmas, participants had to choose between two alternative actions and assess their decision with respect to emotional valence, arousal, moral acceptability and permissibility from both the perspective of the acting person and then of the victim. Patients with ASD displayed a different decision and response behavior, particularly when the dilemmas were based on extreme life situations in combination with a social schema involving close social relationships.
This study aims to test the effects of yoga on health-related quality of life, life satisfaction, cancer-related fatigue, mindfulness, and spirituality compared to conventional therapeutic exercises during (neo)adjuvant cytotoxic and endocrine therapy in women with breast cancer. In a randomized controlled trial 92 women with breast cancer undergoing oncological treatment were randomly enrolled for a yoga intervention (YI) (n = 45) or for a physical exercise intervention (PEI) (n = 47). Measurements were obtained before (t 0) and after the intervention (t 1) as well as 3 months after finishing intervention (t 2) using standardized questionnaires. Life satisfaction and fatigue improved under PEI (p < 0.05) but not under YI (t 0 to t 2). Regarding quality of life (EORTC QLQ-C30) a direct effect (t 0 to t 1; p < 0.001) of YI was found on role and emotional functioning, while under PEI only emotional functioning improved. Significant improvements (p < 0.001) were observed at both t 1 and t 2 also for symptom scales in both groups: dyspnea, appetite loss, constipation, and diarrhea. There was no significant difference between therapies for none of the analyzed variables neither for t 1 nor for t 2. During chemotherapy, yoga was not seen as more helpful than conventional therapeutic exercises. This does not argue against its use in the recovery phase.
Study Objective
To assess feasibility, and collect preliminary data for a subsequent randomized, sham-controlled trial to evaluate Japanese-style acupuncture for reducing chronic pelvic pain and improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adolescents with endometriosis.
Design
Randomized, sham-controlled trial.
Settings
Tertiary-referral hospital.
Participants
Eighteen young women (13–22y) with laparoscopically-diagnosed endometriosis-related chronic pelvic pain.
Interventions
A Japanese style of acupuncture and a sham acupuncture control. Sixteen treatments were administered over 8 weeks.
Main Outcome Measures
Protocol feasibility, recruitment numbers, pain not associated with menses or intercourse, and multiple HRQOL instruments including Endometriosis Health Profile, Pediatric Quality of Life, Perceived Stress, and Activity Limitation.
Results
Fourteen participants (out of 18 randomized) completed the study per protocol. Participants in the active acupuncture group (n = 9) experienced an average 4.8 (SD = 2.4) point reduction on a 11 point scale (62%) in pain after 4 weeks, which differed significantly from the control group's (n = 5) average reduction of 1.4 (SD = 2.1) points (P = 0.004). Reduction in pain in the active group persisted through a 6-month assessment; however, after 4 weeks, differences between the active and control group decreased and were not statistically significant. All HRQOL measures indicated greater improvements in the active acupuncture group compared to the control; however, the majority of these trends were not statistically significant. No serious adverse events were reported.
Conclusion
Preliminary estimates indicate that Japanese-style acupuncture may be an effective, safe, and well-tolerated adjunct therapy for endometriosis-related pelvic pain in adolescents. A more definitive trial evaluating Japanese-style acupuncture in this population is both feasible and warranted.
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The present literature review conceptualises landscape as a health resource that promotes physical, mental, and social well-being. Different health-promoting landscape characteristics are discussed.
Land systems are the result of human interactions with the natural environment. Understanding the drivers, state, trends and impacts of different land systems on social and natural processes helps to reveal how changes in the land system affect the functioning of the socio-ecological system as a whole and the tradeoff these changes may represent. The Global Land Project has led advances by synthesizing land systems research across different scales and providing concepts to further understand the feedbacks between social-and environmental systems, between urban and rural environments and between distant world regions. Land system science has moved from a focus on observation of change and understanding the drivers of these changes to a focus on using this understanding to design sustainable transformations through stakeholder engagement and through the concept of land governance. As land use can be seen as the largest geo-engineering project in which mankind has engaged, land system science can act as a platform for integration of insights from different disciplines and for translation of knowledge into action.
<p>The article discusses Langtang Tibetans and their use of Hindu norms as political language in order to provide a critical perspective on Sanskritization theory. The article begins with a discussion of how certain Hindu norms, which have been sanctioned by Nepal's national political system, have affected the relationship between tribal peoples and the Nepali government. The second section describes the basic features of Langtang Tibetan society and ethnic identity. The third section focuses on the relationship between the Langtang Tibetan community and the Nepali state. The fourth section discuses the precise ways in which Langtang Tibetans use Hindu norms as a political resource in their interactions with Nepali government officials and examines the implications of this for theories of Sanskritization in Nepal. The two main purposes of the article are to show the ways in which members of the Langtang Tibetan community use Hindu norms as a political language to protect their interests in specific contexts of interaction with Hindu caste Nepalis and to demonstrate that the political use of Hindu norms is not a sign that Langtang Tibetans are becoming Sanskritized. (Rajeev Ranjan Singh 2007-02-12)</p>
Effects of two meditation and mindfulness-based spiritual interventions were examined in college undergraduates (N=44). Compared to a control group, both interventions decreased negative religious coping (d=−0.80, p<.01) and images of God as mainly controlling (d=−.73, p<.01). One intervention provided more training in tools for learning from community and tradition-based spiritual exemplars. It produced gains in famous or traditional spiritual exemplars’ perceived influence (d=+.81, p<.05) and availability (d=+.66, p<.10), in self-efficacy for learning from spiritual exemplars (d=+.92, p<.05), and in nonmaterialistic aspirations (d=+0.65, p<.05).
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