United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

Delegates from 192 countries, including the leaders of Nunuvut, the Yukon and the NWT, started meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen today.  They are trying to craft a new deal to manage greenhouse gas emissions when the Kyoto Accord expires in 2012.  They will also develop funding mechanisms to help the poor and developing countries most vulnerable to climate change impact  to deal with rising sea levels, floods and drought.

People worldwide are beginningto take climate change seriously. In a surprise move, 56 newspapers from around the world ran the same editorial asking leaders to  limit the rise in temperature to two degrees centigrade to stop climate change from ravaging the planet.

A recent report from British Columbia showed that global warming is moving at a faster rate than expected in Northern Canada.  Air temperatures in the Arctic are rising  faster than in the rest of the world, and the summer sea-ice is expected to disappear within a decade, rather than by the end of the century as initially predicted. 

With carbon dioxide emissions 30 per cent higher than they were 17 years ago, one-and-a-half times as high as they were before the industrial revolution, glaciers retreating at an alarming rate, and sea-levels rising by 3-3.5 mm per year, it's obvious changes are needed, even though they may have a negative economic impact.  Climate change itself has already had such an impact in British Columbia where thousands of hectares of forest have been decimated by the mountain pine beetle, rendering these areas more susceptible to fire and flood as well as severely affecting the health of the forest industry.

Human health is also at risk from global warming.  In BC these will arise from a number of pathways.  A few of these are given below.

1. Resource-dependent communities (such as those reliant on forestry or fishing) are vulnerable to environmental and economic adversity arising from changes in their resource as a result of climate change.  They are also likely to be exposed an increased incidence of fire and floods.
2. The increase in forest fires, already noted in Western Canada, together with an increase in ozone from pollution as temperatures rise will lead to more respiratory ailments.  Rising temperatures will increase heat stress for urban dwellers, particularly those who are old or who have chronic diseases.
3. As temperatures rise, insects, animals and plants that carry disease will move into new areas or increase in number.  West Nile Virus, and possibly maleria, may become established in BC, while Hanta virus (from mice and rats) and the tick-borne Lyme disease are expected to expand northwards as winters get milder. 
4. As floods become more frequent, water-borne diseases and contamination of water will also increase.

These are just a few of the ways that climate change may impact health.  For more information, read the 2008 report Climate Change and Health in British Columbia.

Five Steps To Effective Natural Pain Relief: WHEE

WHEE (Whole Health - Easily and Effectively) tapping technique was developed by holistic psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Benor to provide quick and effective natural relief of pain, both physical and psychological.

Pain relievers are the most common over-the-counter and prescribed drugs and cause tens of thousands of deaths, and even more hospitalizations, in North America every year.  Effective natural pain relief that is free from side-effects is vital if the treatment for pain is not to be worse than the pain itself.  Luckily, WHEE not only fits these criteria, but it may also stop the pain permanently within a short space of time.

As the time that Dr Benor was given to treat patients under managed care got shorter and shorter, he looked for effective treatments that worked quickly and that patients could use safely at home between visits.  He started by treating patients with Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), then progressed to Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a tapping technique which got faster results, and which patients could do themselves, and then to a combination of these which he called  Wholistic Hybrid from EMDR and EFT.  The first WHEE was born, but was later renamed under the same acronym, and its use was extended to cover many different physical and emotional/psychological problems.

When possible it is best to learn the technique when you are not in severe pain or distress.

Step 1: The first step in using WHEE is to determine how severe the pain is on a scale of 0 (none)  to 10 (the worst it can possibly be).  This is known as the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS).

Step 2: Tap each side of your body with 3-5 rhythmic taps, alternating from one side to the other.  Places to tap can be: your eyebrows, generally at the end closes to the nose; or your arms (wrap them around the front of your body and tap the upper arms with the opposite hand).  If you wish to do it inconspicuously, tap your feet, by tapping the sole of each foot on the floor,  or your teeth, by using your tongue to tap them on the left and right sides.

Step 3: While alternately tapping the right and left sides of the body back-and-forth continuously, keep repeating an affirmation such as, "Even though I have this pain, I deeply and unconditionally love and accept myself."  If you cannot say that truthfully, then say whatever is most uplifting and true for you.  For example you could say "I know that... God Loves me...the Universe is on my side...I love nature...I love my children.." whichever of these fit.

Step 4:  After tapping for a few minutes, repeat the SUDS again.  It should have gone down.  Repeat the tapping and checking until it is down to zero.  However, in the case of long-standing chronic pain, you may not want to get down to zero immediately, since to suddenly be without any pain may actually make you uncomfortable in certain situations.   In this case reduce the pain to level where you feel comfortable, then reduce it gradually in subsequent sessions.

Step 5.  If the SUDS does not decrease, then gently massage the releasing point.  Feel around about an inch under the mid-point of one collar bone until you find a spot that is sore, then massage it for about 30 seconds without an affirmation, and repeat the WHEE process.

As well as being an effective natural pain relief, WHEE can also be used for many problems including anxiety, panic, fear or other negative feelings and thoughts.  Learn more about using WHEE for effective natural pain relief and other situations.

Improve Your Thinking Process By Avoiding Mental Traps: Amplification

Mental traps lead to unproductive thinking.  You can improve your thinking process by avoiding them, but first you need to know what types of mental traps there are.  A previous post discussed the mental trap of persistence.  You persist when you continue to work towards a goal that no longer has meaning for you.  You amplify when you work harder or longer than necessary to achieve a goal that you value.  Both persistence and amplification are unproductive thinking processes because they waste time that could be spent more productively.

Amplification is like using a sledge-hammer to swat a fly.  There are easier ways to do it.  People tend to amplify for two reasons.  Firstly, they over-prepare for things because they want to avoid possible outcomes they see as unacceptable.  Over-preparing for a speech, or continually re-packing for a trip fall into this category.  While it is possible that one more run-through of the speech  will lead to an improved presentation, or that one more re-pack will bring to light something that has been forgotten, the law of diminishing returns make these outcomes less and less likely. 

Repetition, as seen in the above examples, is more likely when it's difficult to tell when the goal has been attained.  How do you know when you are rich enough, or famous enough, or truly loved by your partner?  In the latter case, no evidence may be sufficient so looking for more is useless. This is the time to learn to trust that you are lovable..  

In the case of wealth, fame or power, achievement of a goal may lead to setting a higher goal because you now compare yourself to different people.  The question to ask yourself is if you want to spend your life chasing an ever-expanding goal of wealth, power or fame, or if there are other ways you prefer to spend your limited time on earth.  Is "I am the richest (most famous...most powerful...most...?) person on earth" going to be the thought that sustains you on your death-bed, or are there other things you might achieve that would have more meaning?

In his book Mental Traps: Stupid Things That Sane People Do To Mess Up Their Minds, Andre Kukla goes into a lot more detail about amplification and the 11 other mental traps. He suggests that by being attentive to the present moment, people can break away from habitual thinking processes that lead to mental traps.  Thinking is replaced by attention to the moment until the moment requires thinking. The compulsive need to always be working on things in order to stay on top of a future situation is thus allayed.