The environment and the economy are really both two sides of the same coin. If we cannot sustain the environment, we cannot sustain ourselves. You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them. — Wangari Maathai

Natural environment

The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses the interaction of all living species, climate, weather and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity. The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished as components:

• Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries and their nature.
• Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human actions.

In contrast to the natural environment is the built environment. In such areas where humans have fundamentally transformed landscapes such as urban settings and agricultural land conversion, the natural environment is greatly changed into a simplified human environment. Even acts which seem less extreme, such as building a mud hut or a photovoltaic system in the desert, the modified environment becomes an artificial one. Though many animals build things to provide a better environment for themselves, they are not human , hence beaver dams, and the works of mound-building termites, are thought of as natural.

People seldom find absolutely natural environments on Earth, and naturalness usually varies in a continuum, from 100% natural in one extreme to 0% natural in the other. More precisely, we can consider the different aspects or components of an environment, and see that their degree of naturalness is not uniform. If, for instance, in an agricultural field, the mineralogic composition and the structure of its soil are similar to those of an undisturbed forest soil, but the structure is quite different.

Source: Wikipedia

Sharing really is caring. If you want to be a more caring person, then you should be willing to share your things. This means sharing things you actually care about, like clothes you like, or half of your favorite sandwich, not sharing something that means nothing to you, like a book you didn’t like much anyway. Be on the lookout for opportunities to share things, whether it’s a material object or a piece of advice. People who are caring are unselfish, and sharing is a key trait of a person who is selfless.

Source: wikiHow

Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt

Most people dislike facing the true facts of life and prefer to lull themselves into a false sense of security by sweet dreaming and imagining. They mistake the shadow for the substance. They fail to realise that life is uncertain, but that death is certain. One way of understanding life is to face and understand death which is nothing more than a temporary end to a temporary existence. But many people do not like even to hear of the word ‘ death’. They forget that death will come, whether they like it or not. Recollections on death with the right mental attitude can give a person courage and calmness as well as an insight into the nature of existence.

Besides understanding death, we need a better understanding of our life. We are living a life that does not always proceed as smoothly as we would like it to. Very often, we face problems and difficulties. We should not be afraid of them because the penetration into the very nature of these problems and difficulties can provide us with a deeper insight into life. The worldly happiness in wealth, luxury, respectable positions in life which most people seek is an illusion. The fact that the sale of sleeping pills and tranquillizers, admissions to mental hospitals and suicide rates have increased in relation to modern material progress is enough testimony that we have to go beyond worldly, material pleasure to seek for real happiness. ~By Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda

by 17th Karmapa

The wish to pull in or push away what we perceive around us is a big force in our relationships. Rather than relaxing and appreciating the other person, we engage in a constant struggle to get what we want from them, and to avoid getting what we do not want. For that reason, in order to build healthy relationships we need to deal with our attachment as well as our aversion.

It might be useful to start by looking at our assumptions about attachment and also about non attachment. Conventional wisdom leads many people to question whether or not relationships are even possible without attachment. I have heard people say that if there were no attachment, they would have no close relationships. People try to induce attachment in others as a basis for starting a relationship with them. They wield a attachment like a hook, trying to pull people towards them and literally get them hooked.

If you find it hard to imagine how a warm and healthy relationship could exist in the absence of attachment, this indicates confusion between being detached and being free of attachment. Detachment is very different from non attachment. Detachment suggests an unfeeling indifference. By contrast, when there is an absence of attachment, healthy feelings have ample room to blossom. This is because attachment causes you to be totally consumed by something or someone.

Vitamins and Minerals

Chili peppers are rich in various vitamins and minerals.

However, since they are only eaten in small amounts, their contribution to the daily intake is very small.

Vitamin C: Chili peppers are very high in vitamin C. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, important for wound healing and immune function.

Vitamin B6: A family of B-vitamins, some of which have important functions in energy metabolism.

Vitamin K1: Also known as phylloquinone, vitamin K1 is essential for blood clotting and healthy bones and kidneys.

Potassium: An essential dietary mineral that serves a variety of functions in the body. Adequate intake of potassium may reduce the risk of heart disease (2).

Copper: Often lacking in the Western diet, copper is an essential antioxidant trace element, important for strong bones and healthy neurons.

Vitamin A: Red chili peppers are high in beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the body.

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Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt

Author: Melanie Dearringer

1. The genus Orchis comes from an Ancient Greek word meaning “testicle”; because of the shape of the bulbous roots. The term “orchid”, which is just a shortened form of the family Orchidaceae, was not introduced until 1845.

2. Orchidaceae is one of the two largest families of flowering plants with over 25,000 naturally occurring species in the world. The number of orchid species is almost five times the number of mammal species.

3. The smallest orchid in the world features flowers that measure in at a little over 2mm wide. The flower petals are transparent and are only one cell thick. This teeny tiny orchid belongs to the Platystele genus.

4. While orchids are commonly thought to be tropical plants, you can find orchids growing on every continent…except Antarctica.

5. Orchid seeds are the smallest seeds in the world and are comparable to the size of a particle of dust. Each orchid seedpod can contain millions of orchid seeds. The minuscule size of the seeds make it incredibly difficult to propagate orchids in this manner.

6. Some orchids strangely resemble creatures from the animal kingdom. Ophrys apifera, better known as the Bee Orchid, lures male bees with its enticing smell and bee like appearance. When a male bee approaches the flower to mate, it becomes covered in pollen and is sent off to pollinate the next orchid it visits. Check out 7 Orchids that Could be Mistaken for Animals to learn more about orchids that look like animals.

7. The vanilla flavoring we use in our homes actually comes from the orchid, Vanilla planifolia. The flavoring is made from a combination of the orchid’s seed pods and seeds within.

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Small rivers often have different names which include creek, stream and brook.

Rivers normally contain freshwater.

The word upriver (or upstream) refers to the direction of the river’s water source, while downriver (or downstream) refers to the direction in which the water flows, i.e. towards the end of the river.

Source: Science Kids

A human mind is like oceanic waves,
sometimes calm, sometimes rough,
and sometimes in a turmoil,
just like the cyclonic bursts.

Worries make a hell out of human life,
triggering the mind’s painful nerves,
just like the oceans waves,
lashing widly at the sandy shores.

A human mind is in a turmoil,
when thoughts are not clear,
just like the cyclonic waters,
twirling and swirling out of control.

But when a human mind is at peace and rest,
it is just like the occean,
with it’s calmness blessed.

~Suparna Subhash Pai, India

1.  Move on without them.
2.  Stop pretending their toxic behavior is OK.
3.  Speak up!
4.  Put your foot down.
5.  Don’t take their toxic behavior personally.
6.  Practice practical compassion.
7.  Take time for yourself.

By Marc and Angel

1. Inner beauty makes you a beautiful person

2. Inner beauty is long lasting

3. Inner beauty makes people fall in love with you

4. Inner beauty gives you peace

5. Inner beauty helps you connect emotionally

6. Inner beauty helps you connect with God / ‘supreme’ entity

7. Inner beauty will never die

8. Inner beauty makes you confident

9. Inner beauty doesn’t need money or cosmetics

10. Inner beauty helps you judge right from wrong

Source: Mag for Women