Center for Structural Wellness

CO2 Emission Labels On Food

Center for Structural Wellness

CO2 Emission Labels On Food

28th October 2009

sweed food by ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Shopping for oatmeal, Helena Bergstrom, 37, admitted that she was flummoxed by the label on the blue box reading, “Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product.”

“Right now, I don’t know what this means,” said Ms. Bergstrom, a pharmaceutical company employee. 

But if a new experiment here succeeds, she and millions of other Swedes will soon find out. New labels listing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of foods, from whole wheat pasta to fast food burgers, are appearing on some grocery items and restaurant menus around the country.

People who live to eat might dismiss this as silly. But changing one’s diet can be as effective in reducing emissions of climate-changing gases as changing the car one drives or doing away with the clothes dryer, scientific experts say.

“We’re the first to do it, and it’s a new way of thinking for us,” said Ulf Bohman, head of the Nutrition Department at the Swedish National Food Administration, which was given the task last year of creating new food guidelines giving equal weight to climate and health. “We’re used to thinking about safety and nutrition as one thing and environmental as another.”

Some of the proposed new dietary guidelines, released over the summer, may seem startling to the uninitiated. They recommend that Swedes favor carrots over cucumbers and tomatoes, for example. (Unlike carrots, the latter two must be grown in heated greenhouses here, consuming energy.)

They are not counseled to eat more fish, despite the health benefits, because Europe’s stocks are depleted.

And somewhat less surprisingly, they are advised to substitute beans or chicken for red meat, in view of the heavy greenhouse gas emissions associated with raising cattle. .

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Different Therapies of the Arts

28th October 2009

Art therapy involves helping those with emotional and psychological difficulties to deal with their problems through a cooperative process of discovery. Clients are encouraged to come to their own understanding of what their art reveals, facilitated by the therapist, who helps to negotiate interpretations of the client’s drawings, which are created through a therapeutically oriented art-making process. Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy that uses art materials, such as paints, chalk and markers. Art therapy combines traditional psychotherapeutic theories and techniques with an understanding of the psychological aspects of the creative process, especially the affective properties of the different art materials.

 

Dance therapy is offered as a health promotion service for healthy people, and as a complementary method of reducing the stress of caregivers and people with cancer and other chronic illness. Physically, dance therapy can provide exercise, improve mobility and muscle coordination, and reduce muscle tension. Emotionally, dance therapy is reported to improve self-awareness, self-c Dance therapy is founded on the premise that the body and mind are an interrelated continuum that the state of the body may affect mental and emotional wellbeing in manifold ways. In contrast to artistic dance, which is usually concerned with the aesthetic appearance of movement, dance therapy explores the nature of all movement. Through observing and altering the kinesthetic movements of a client, dance movement therapists diagnose and help solve various psychological problems. Confidence, and interpersonal interaction, and is an outlet for communicating feelings.

 

Music Therapy is an allied health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, psychological, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music. Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, the client’s abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of his or her life. Music Therapy is an established healthcare profession that uses music to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals of all ages. Music is a significant mood-changer and reliever of stress, working on many levels at once. Music Therapy is the unique application of music to enhance personal lives by creating positive changes in human behavior. It is an allied health profession utilizing music as a tool to encourage development in social/ emotional, cognitive/learning, and perceptual-motor areas. Music Therapy has a wide variety of functions with the exceptional child, adolescent and adult in medical, institutional and educational settings.

 

Drama therapy explores new approaches to old problems, integrating the methods of drama and theatre to assist clients in attaining goals which may include personal and emotional growth thus improving the quality of life Exploration of real life relationships and social situation through the mode of drama/creative arts To foster development of positive communication, cooperative sharing and social skills Drama therapy evolved from the experience and research of psychotherapists, teachers, and theater professionals who recognized that sometimes traditional verbal therapies were too rigid to permit clients to confront and work through individual disturbances. The balanced verbal and non-verbal components of drama therapy with its language of metaphor allow clients to work productively within a therapeutic alliance.

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