VictoriaKlein

Dedicated to the power of pictures, Inspiration thorough images is a new series of posts here on Ode Magazine. We all come to Ode looking for the positive, the inspirational, and the enjoyably optimistic. Each week, “Inspiration through Images” features a series of five pictures I discovered online - photos that give me that warm and fuzzy feeling; photos that make me smile - in the hopes that they bring some optimistic joy to your life too (even if just for a moment).   Read more...

I sure do love a good picture - and I bet you do too. No matter the day, no matter the time, the right image can make your spirit soar, your soul glow, and your energy jump through the roof. Sometimes, all it takes is one photo to make use feel humble, appreciated, needed, or loved.

Dedicated to the power of pictures, I’m starting a new series of posts here on Ode Magazine. We all come to Ode looking for the positive, the inspirational, and the enjoyably optimistic. Each week, I’ll post a series of five pictures I’ve discovered online - photos that give me that warm and fuzzy feeling; photos that make me smile - in the hopes that they bring some optimistic joy to your life too (even if just for a moment).   Read more...

You’ve probably already read the classic Peanuts comic included above this post. Charlie Brown is his usual melancholy self, seeking advice from the often aggressive and rude Lucy at her psychiatric booth.

“What can you do when you don’t fit in?”   Read more...

Today has been one of those days: no matter what you eat, drink or do, you just can’t get energized or motivated to do much of anything. I see you, to-do list, sitting there, mocking my lack of get-up-and-go (inanimate pieces of paper can be so cruel sometimes).

My normal reaction would be to just sit and wallow around until the feelings of apathy subside. Yet, in a completely uncharacteristic move, one word enters my mind: thankful. My inner voice begins to argue with the concept. “Thankful … what does that have to do with anything? I’m feeling detached and lonely - what should I be thankful for!?”   Read more...

Here’s a big shocker: men and women are different! Wait, we already knew that … but the differences among us have a continuous impact on how we perceive and interact with the world around us. Case-in-point: more women believe in the scientific consensus of climate change than men do.

This news comes from Aaron M. McCright, associate professor of sociology at Michigan State University. In a study published in the September 2010 issue of the Population and Environment journal, McCright shares the results of analyzing eight years of Gallup polling data.   Read more...

Chic and sexy; extreme and awesome! I’m not talking about the latest pair of jeans or bottle of hair gel - these are carrots, baby. Or, more specifically, baby carrots.

"A bunch of carrot farmers," (50, to be exact) have teamed up to launch the "Eat 'Em Like Junk Food" campaign. They have launched a strong online campaign, including accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and their own website at BabyCarrots.com. The group has also produced three separate TV ads - one sexy, one extreme, and one futuristic; coming soon: a smart phone video game app and junk-food-style packaging. Billboard ads are already abounding in their two starter markets: Cincinnati, Ohio and Syracuse, New York; they plan to go nationwide within a year.   Read more...

You may feel better in the short term, but avoiding arguments can zap your well-being in the long run. At the American Psychological Association’s recent annual meeting, an unparalleled study compared the physical impacts of arguing versus avoiding conflict. The results: go direct and don’t avoid.

Naturally, when you argue with someone, you feel a bit shaken up afterwards. Within an hour or so, you may even begin to feel relieved that the situation has been handled. What if you had avoided the argument? That "pent-up" feeling is actually physically happening, leading to physical stress and damage on your body and your mind.   Read more...

Historical and awe-inspiring, trains helped make the world what it is today. In India, trains are still a very popular mode of travel for all economic classes. There’s no better way to see the beauty and diversity of Europe than by train. For the United States, rapid expansion into the West wouldn’t have been possible without trains.

For many, the idea of traveling by train is a relic - something our grandparents did. Unless you live in a big city, electing train travel is rare when cars and air travel is so widely available. For regular folks, traveling by train is often done for the nostalgia factor.   Read more...

Decide quickly without thinking: where would you rather be - at church or the mall?

If you said the mall, you’re in good company, but you may not be as happy. A soon-to-be published study from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University compared three decades of shopping habits with rates of religious participation. Their findings: women are significantly happier at church versus when they spend money.   Read more...

How often do you think about your own mortality? For most of us, probably not very often because, you know, it can be depressing. On the flip side, contemplating the reality of our short human existence can help us refocus our lives on what really matters to us.

Artists Nicole Kenney and KS Rives encourage such introspective deliberation as part of their unique project entitled “Before I Die I Want To …” The interesting inspiration? The death of the Polaroid instant camera and its film. They travel around the world, take photos of people, and ask them, "What do you want to do before you die?"   Read more...

Corn is cancerous! OK, not quite - the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) that is made from corn is a cancer-lover, according a new study. Published in the Cancer Research journal, Dr. Anthony Heaney at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center found a link between fructose consumption and pancreatic cancer (one of the deadliest types).

A popular ingredient in countless processed foods, from cookies and fruit bars to sodas and ketchup, HFCS was created in the 1960s as a means of selling a less-popular corn product: corn starch. The starch is heated along with an acid or malt enzyme, which turns that natural glucose (a less-sweet type of sugar molecule) into fructose (the sweetest type of sugar molecule). HFCS has the same sweetness as table sugar, but it is a lot cheaper to make, especially on a large scale.   Read more...

Money is a popular subject around here. I’ve talked about the wide world of renting, shopping for quality over quantity, and today, inspired by a recent study, let’s talk about Ebenezer Scrooge.

Do you remember Ebenezer Scrooge, from the classic Charles Dickens tale A Christmas Carol? He was the old miser who treats other people like dirt and won’t spare a penny for anyone. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have uncovered some truth to the apply-named Scrooge Effect.   Read more...

I’m always delighted each time I see a “No Food, No Farms” bumper sticker because its 100% true. What we eat is directly linked to our personal health and well-being. Without farms, we wouldn’t have real food to eat - plain and simple. Even with the continuously expanding popularity of farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture (CSAs), small- and medium-sized farms still struggle daily to keep their businesses afloat.

Twenty-five years ago, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert. In 2001, Dave Mathews joined the non-profit. In their 25 years, Farm Aid has raised over $37 million for family farms to help them stay independent from major agriculture companies.   Read more...

Here at Ode, we’re no stranger to talking about the greatness of books. In the past month, I’ve personally written about the many benefits of public libraries, a non-profit building school libraries in needy countries, and books that teach kids valuable life lessons. What else could there be to talk about?

Let me ask you this: did your family have a collection of books at home, filling shelf after shelf? Now that you have that in your head, answer this: how did you do in school? Surprise, surprise – a new study finds the two are connected.   Read more...

From the day we are born, others tell us what life will be like when we get older. Toddlers are told about school, kids are told about college, college students are told about love and work, young adults are told about marriage and house payments … there’s always something else we’ve yet to experience.

There are many ways we can prepare for getting older: eating well, developing friendships, and confronting the realities of illness, just to name a few. No matter your personality, there are some things you just can’t plan for: heartbreak, loss of a loved one, childbirth … you get the idea.   Read more...

Sometimes, things need to be just so. Most of the time though, good (not great) is good enough. This doesn’t mean you are settling for second best or short-changing yourself – you’re being realistic, because people are imperfect.

The Association of Psychological Science Convention in Boston took place in May of 2010. Experts in the study of perfectionism got together to share and analyze their research. One of the most compelling studies came from Prem Fry, PhD, professor of psychology at Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada. Her study of older adults found a 51 percent reduced life expectancy for perfectionists over non-perfectionists … 51 percent! Along with the possibility of an early demise (you can’t perfect your way out of that), perfectionism has also been linked to other ailments: anxiety, substance abuse, binge eating, hoarding, and more.   Read more...

As the topic of the decade, climate change has been argued by countries of all sizes, people of all colors and financial means. So far, all this talking has gotten us very far. In a surprisingly bold move, one of America’s leading environmental agencies has taken a firm stand.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA for short) has 100% denied 10 submitted petitions, all of which challenge their 2009 conclusion that climate change is real and largely caused by human beings. The petitions sought to eliminate the EPA’s given ability to regular greenhouse gas emissions. EPA’s Administrator Lisa Jackson said, “These petitions — based as they are on selectively edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy — provide no evidence to undermine our determination.”   Read more...

Past the strip malls, highways, and shrinking public parks, there’s a side of the Earth you’ve never seen. At 4.5 billion years old, planet Earth has been around a lot longer than you or me (obvious, no?). Before some companies attempt to pave over all of our land masses, one woman is working to capture the ancient areas of our home.

Inspired by a trip to Japan in 2004, photographer Rachel Sussman has embarked on a project called The Oldest Living Things in the World. “I find myself researching far outside my field in areas such as mycology, dendrochronology and microbiology in order to travel around the world to make photographs of the oldest continuously living organisms on the planet,” she says on her website. “The work is generating a dialogue amongst scientists whose research is otherwise too specialized to provide a comprehensive picture of global species longevity.”   Read more...

The wired generation, the hope for the future, and the apple of our eye – they’re kids. Whether you have your own, adopt, or decided to be child-free, there will always be kids that need good role models to teach them the ways of the world.

In a quickly-transforming society, embracing the values diversity, environmental appreciation, and living in the moment can easily be lost. Sometimes, all you need is a good book to get these points across to children in ways they can understand.   Read more...

Wouldn’t we all like to make a bit more money? Maybe we could finally pay off those last few debts that hang over our heads or buy that new gadget we’ve really been wanting … or maybe we would give it all away.

In April, Hong Kong, China real estate mogul Yu Pengnian donated the last 3.2 billion yuan (roughly $500 million) to charity – every last penny that he had. Ironically, Mr. Yu began life as a poor man on the street. The money will be used for various purposes: operations for cataract suffers (like Mr. Yu himself), student scholarships, and reconstruction after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan.   Read more...

My daily confession: I like sugar. No, scratch that – I love sugar. I’d wager that few folks have a sweet tooth stronger than mine. As you might expect, being so drawn to sweets has caused me some weight issues in the past (i.e. 40 pounds). Today, I’m healthier than I was in high school and still enjoying the sweet life (pun intended). The answer is simple: quality versus quantity.

The secret as to how I gained 40 pounds is no secret at all: too many M&Ms and Reese cups. After eating one, I wanted another, and another, and another … you see a trend here, no? Studies show that after three bites of the same food, our taste buds become accustomed to its flavor and texture, no longer providing the same delight as the first bite. In turn, we keep eating to try and get that initial taste back.   Read more...

While sitting down to work or chatting with friends, you find mind utterly empty - whether trying to think of a certain names or facts, or drawing a blank when grasping for creative ideas. How often does this happen to you?

This first thing you might think is, “oh no, do I have Alzheimer’s disease!?” Relax – odds are you don’t. Instead, you’ve just got a case of brain fog. Also called a brain hiccup, brain fart, brain cramp, going blank, drawing a blank, or a mental block, these thought blips can be incredibly inconvenient and frustrating.   Read more...

“This is a story about a world obsessed with stuff. It’s a story about a system in crisis. We’re trashing the planet, we’re trashing each other, and we’re not even having fun. The good thing is that when we start to understand the system, we start to see lots of places to step in and turn these problems into solutions.”

The above text is the opening for Annie Leonard’s latest video, The Story of Cosmetics. This is just another installment in her ongoing The Story of Stuff project, a non-nonsense introduction to the system of over-consumption in our modern societies. The original 20-minute web film has been watched over 10 million times around the world, including at community centers, houses of worships, and schools.   Read more...

You might remember my post from last month about my new-found enjoyment of jogging. Fear not – the joy still remains. In fact, my clothes are already starting to fit better. Even with my noticeably results, I’ve missed my past 2 workouts.

It all started Saturday morning. Long story short, I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to get out of bed at 6 a.m. to jog … so I didn’t. Later that day, I got stung in the foot by a hornet. Yes, it was painful, but some quick acting and pasty baking soda relieved my strain. Monday rolls around and it’s time to get up at 6 a.m. and jog … but I didn’t. Why, you ask? Laziness again.   Read more...

From ages 2 to 92, there is no better time to enjoy the natural bounty of nature than today. Recent research from the BBSRC Centre for Integrated Systems Biology of Ageing and Nutrition (CISBAN) at Newcastle University shows that eating a low-calorie diet for even a short amount of time can slow the effects of age-related diseases. Like practicing an instrument, the longer you eat a low-calorie diet, the more positive effects it has on your body.

The key element in the CISBAN’s discovery is that, no matter your age, eating a low-calorie diet can have marked benefits on your health. If you’re still young – great! Eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, complex carbs, protein, and healthy fats is your ticket to a rich and vibrant life. Already showing your age? The same rules apply. CISBAN found that eating less processed foods and more fresh produce at any age can slow the development of age-related diseases.   Read more...

From magazines and newspapers to doctors’ offices and backyard barbeques, people are talking about life - more specifically, about how simple life used to be. Our modern conveniences and downright addiction to constant forward progress have made the idea of living a “simple life” nothing but a novelty … or so it would seem.

The opportunity to live a simple life is within the reach of all of us. Articles and books abound with details how to have a more streamlined, low-drama life. Of course, you know as well as I do that you don’t need that stuff. Living a simple life is simply living – cut out the rest. Too many social media websites? Delete your profiles. Too many electronics? Recycle them. Certain people bringing stress into your life? Sever your ties. I think you get the idea.   Read more...

Environmental tragedies, religious conflict, dead soldier tallies … when will some good news start making the headlines? Today would be good.

Started in California in 1984, TED began as a small conference covering three wide subjects: Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED). With phenomenal interest and support, TED has also launched a non-profit dedicated to spreading intelligent ideas and, in 2005, TEDGlobal was born.   Read more...

The next time to visit The Big Apple, be sure to partake in their world-renowned … tap water? You betcha – tap water. On the all-American date of July 4th, New York City major Michael Bloomberg and Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway announced their proactive campaign to promote the city’s tap water to locals and visitors alike.

The NYC water system supplies over 9 million people with over 1 billion gallons of water every day. “Our high-quality drinking water not only quenches New Yorkers’ thirst, but is the not-so-secret ingredient in the bagels, pizza, and thousands of other dishes that people come from around the world to get,” said Holloway.   Read more...

I was a strange kid: I didn’t make much noise, didn’t want to constantly play with my friends, and didn’t want all the latest toys. Instead, I liked to read. On the other hand, my older sister had lots of friends, who came over often. They watched TV and played video games while I tried to read. Sometimes, I had to retreat to my room for some peace and quiet. Other times, a bike ride to the library was necessary – all I needed was room to read.

In countries like India, Laos, or those in sub-Saharan Africa, room to read isn’t available – and neither are books. Asia and Africa have more children not enrolled in school that anywhere else on our planet (over 300 million to date). Too poor to afford education, how can these nations expect to pull themselves out of that poverty? Room to Read, a non-profit driven by literacy and children’s education, is dedicated to changing that.   Read more...

Author Quentin Crisp once said, “There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.” I hesitate to emphasize that much laziness, but one thing is clear: a little dirt and dust aren’t going to hurt you. In fact, they’ve got benefits.

Let’s start with dirt. We all know that dirt is a vital natural resource. We’ve walked on it and ate food grown in it for millions of years. Recently, the scientific community we’ve learned that playing in the dirt makes people happier and their immune systems’ stronger, thanks to safe bacteria that are only found in soil. Sounds like a good excuse to do some gardening.   Read more...

Today is a great day for the positives. A Dutch studied published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that the benefits of riding a bicycle in urban areas far outweigh the risks. They compared the potential increase of “inhaled air pollution” and traffic accidents to the obvious increased physical activity of 500,000 people in the Netherlands.

The result: “On average, the estimated health benefits of cycling were substantially larger than the risks relative to car driving for individuals shifting mode of transport.” Wahoo! Add in the reductions in overall air pollution and street congestion due to fewer cars on the road, and you’ve got a recipe for healthy people and a healthy city.   Read more...

Changing the nutritional quality of public school lunches has long been a hot-button topic. Highly processed and nutrient-sparse, what is found in school cafeterias does little to help our children’s physical and mental progress. Many parents are so busy that they don’t even talk to their kids about what they eat at school. Thankfully, professional chefs and diligent families have taken the job into their own hands, both packing lunches at home and pressing for healthier fare.

In India, monks help feed school children healthy lunches. In America, we have the Healthy School Lunches non-profit trying to make the same happen. Chef Ann Cooper has teamed up with Whole Foods to make healthy school lunches a reality. Drawing some controversy, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution program bring the reality of sad school lunch quality to TV.   Read more...

We live in a culture enamored with stuff. In turn, we also live in a world glutted with waste. The heart of our shopping mindset can be summed up in three words: quality versus quantity.

Getting a “great deal” has become an idolized hobby, making good people waste time clipping coupons and browsing online for discount codes to save every penny possible. Don’t get me wrong, no one wants to say that they overpaid for something, but our ingrained idea of what our everyday goods are really worth and the impact their production has on the environment. Packages of $5 t-shirts “cost” the planet a whole lot more than $5, and consumers should be willing to pay for those impacts. Realistically, a t-shirt should cost at least $15 (if not more) and should be made from organic materials and in a fair trade factory.   Read more...

When was the last time you did something for yourself? I’m not talking about cooking dinner or doing laundry. This post is about things you may not normally choose to do yourself, instead hiring someone else to do them.

For example, sewing a couch cushion, growing a food garden, painting walls, or unclogging a toilet -- have you ever done these things yourself? More often than not, the answer would be No. Don’t worry; it’s not a test, just an observation of our changing society. The spirit of do-it-yourself (a.k.a. DIY) waned drastically in the 1980s and 90s. The arrival of the 21st Century has seen a great shift in crafty, hands-on activities.   Read more...

The scientific community continues to announce that, each month, we have reached new heat records. Thankfully, humans have learned how to control their hot environments with air conditioning (AC) – at least, the wealthier humans. Surprisingly, even some well-to-do countries like Japan spend many of their summer days without air conditioning by choice.

For others, there is no choice. The infrastructure for electricity and economic prosperity just isn’t developed. Day in, day out: they battle the heat to the best of their ability … and are darn good at it! Able to adapt to various heat and humidity levels, people living regularly without AC have greater physical power to adjust to changes.   Read more...

They say you can learn a lot about a country by the way it treats its poorest citizens. How about the way a country treats its knowledge?

Already having emphasized the social and environmental impacts of borrowing, let’s narrow our focus to public libraries. Thanks to the faltering economy, libraries have become busier than ever. Rewind a few years and you’d find a very different story. Even today, public libraries suffer from dwindling budgets and lack of overall support. Is this how we plan on encouraging the ongoing curiosity of the general public?   Read more...

Staying fit is easy: eat less; move more – easier said than done, no?

Despite literally thousands of books on the subject, getting most humans to break a sweat is worse than pulling teeth. Many say that working out with another person can help you stay committed and motivated. Others suggest creating a financial obligation will help you lace up those sneakers more often.   Read more...

Whether direct or indirect, religion has a subtle yet significant impact on our daily lives: clothes, food choices, conflict resolution, government, education, job opportunities … etc. Religious groups are often known for their differences, but the similarities can’t be denied. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism all have one thing in common: environmental preservation.

It has long been thought that living sustainably was centered on facts and figures; scientific details for the analytical mind. Like the separation of church and state, environmentalism and religious leanings were two dogs to be kept in separate cages. Well, we were all wrong.   Read more...

You’ve probably heard of the slow food movement. Maybe you've read about the concept of slow money in Ode two years ago. Like bell bottom jeans and dietary fats, living a slower life has sailed its way back into our hearts.

It’s likely that we can trace our growing obsessive addiction to speed back to the Industrial Revolution. Thanks to efficient factories and the excitement of automobiles, the idea of making something by hand or riding a bicycle quickly fell out of the public’s taste.   Read more...

We all know about borrowing money from banks, or better yet, via peer-lending … but what about all the other things we could be borrowing? How did our obsession with ownership develop? When did the idea of renting something become passé?

Borrowing, loaning, renting – it’s all the same. The concept is simple: you don’t own something but someone else does. You get said thing from them and use it for a pre-determined amount of time. At the end of that time frame, you give it back to the owner. Simple? We’ve been going it for hundreds of years, so why not now?   Read more...

Yoga is nothing short of amazing. We’ve all heard of the numerous benefits of practicing yoga: personal strength for the homeless, and teenagers, prevention of Alzheimer’s, its delightful connection to the joys of laughter, and countless others. Here’s another for the list: yoga can encourage a more sustainable lifestyle.

Often considered a type of alternative medicine, yoga has deep connects to the health of the planet – just ask George and Brenda Feuerstein. Founders of Traditional Yoga Studies and co-authors of the book Green Yoga, the self-transformational qualities of yoga are intimately tied to how we care for planet Earth.   Read more...

Four years ago, TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie began his business with an exceptionally simple concept: one for one. For every pair of shoes that he sold, a pair would be given away to a child in need. In this short time, 600,000 pairs of shoes have been given to children in 28 countries. For many children, it is the first pair of shoes they’ve ever owned and they now can complete a school uniform, allowing them to get an education. TOMS is the newest generation of conscious capitalism.

Scott Harrison founded Charity: Water a year before TOMS became a business. The concept of his non-profit is also openly simple: 100% of donations will go towards building clean water wells in developing countries. How do they do this? “A group of private donors, foundations and sponsors help pay for the everyday costs of running the organization. Our flights to the field, our staff, our office, even paperclips and ink toner, are sponsored so every penny of your donation goes straight to water projects,” says the Charity: Water website. Many of us take our clean water for granted, but for nearly a billion people, the idea of clean water is just a dream. Since its founding, Charity: Water has been able to make that dream a reality for over 2,500 communities.   Read more...

“Don’t quote me on that.”

Why not? A few choices words have the power to enamor, enrage, inspire, and inform. We quote people in articles, books, and on posters. Websites are abounding with the words of geniuses past.   Read more...

Sometimes, you just don’t feel very much like socializing … but what if that happens more often than not. Are you sick? Are you inhuman? No – you may simply be an introvert. As another Ode blogger once discussed, just because you enjoy being alone doesn’t mean you are lonely. Many introverts are often quite good as socializing, they just choose not to. As Wikipedia so intelligently states, “Introversion does not describe social discomfort but rather social preference. An introvert may not be shy at all but may merely prefer non social or less social activities.”

Pick up your average thesaurus and find the word “introvert”. Accompanying it, you may see “brooder, egotist, loner, narcissist, self-observer” or “wallflower”. Though I am sure some introverts fall into a few of these categories, I’d have to say the most accurate synonym is “self-observer.” In fact, I dare say the world is lacking in introverts.   Read more...

The world of art has often dabbled in the realm of charitable fundraising. A fresh round-up of modern, visually-creative minds have embraced the power of the internet to make a conscious difference.

Seeking to promote “art and social responsibility”, Working Proof was established by Anna Corpron and Sean Auyeun, also known as Sub-Studio. The concept is simple: a new artist and print their artwork is introduced on Tuesdays at 1:30pm EST. From the sale of each print, 15% is donated to a charity of the artists’ choice, “creating what we believe to be a product with not just aesthetic, but social value,” says the website. Each print is a limited-edition creation, adding a collector-desiring element.   Read more...

What can a small clothing company teach us all about environmental consciousness? A lot, it turns out.

From the eco-mecca of Portland, Oregon, Nau (pronounced “now”; Maori for "welcome, come in") was established in 2005 by a small group of big dreamers whose previous jobs included positions at Nike and Patagonia. Their goal was to shift the nature of business, creating lasting professional & environmental change – simple, no?   Read more...

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, April 22nd is known worldwide simply as Earth Day. U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson founded the day to inspire year-round eco-awareness & appreciation. In our modern times, his message is still as vital as it was in 1970. Unfortunately, Earth Day’s meaning & depth are often lost on many of our planet’s citizens who see it as just one day to live a more conscious lifestyle, returning to damaging habits for the rest of the year.

Living with the Earth in mind is easier & more affordable than ever! Here are 10 simple, everyday things that have a powerful cumulative impact. The “go big or go home” mentality doesn’t apply here – any action is good action, as long as it’s consistent. Try your hand at integrating these eco-conscious habits into your daily life – you might be surprised by just how much money you save & fun you have.   Read more...