Ebola Outbreak: Need for your prayers

"It's a serious outbreak," says US Center for Disease Control

I don't know about you, but there is nothing as scary to me as the Ebola virus. Perhaps it was the long discussions in biology class about what it does to the human, or the fact that no cure exists and between 50-90% of those who contract it die. Then there is also the gruesome hemorrhaging that's common, and the insane easy of transmission.

Well, its broken out again in the Congo, and it's bad. Keep this in your prayers, remembering to pray for both the victims and the brave medical volunteers who are trying to control the outbreak. In previous outbreaks, caretakers and those involved in burying victims were particularly susceptible.........

Congo's Ebola Outbreak Could Be Worst in Years
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 19, 2007; Page A19

International medical personnel and supplies are being airlifted to a remote region of central Congo to combat what threatens to become the world's most serious outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in years.

Only nine cases of the disease have been confirmed by laboratory tests. But medical authorities suspect the virus has killed 168 people and sickened 375 others across a heavily forested region where villages are linked only by deeply rutted dirt roads. Health officials said it is possible that new cases will continue to emerge over the coming months.

Diary from DR Congo's Ebola frontline
Zoe Young of the medical NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), shares her diary from the Democratic Republic of Congo where she is dealing with an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. Read her experiences here

Zoe is a water and sanitation specialist with MSF

Simply irresistable

A one-month-old leopard cub at Jordan Zoo:

Vatican to become first carbon-neutral state

Vatican Penance: Forgive us our carbon output

The Vatican is to plant trees on a 37-acre tract of land that will be renamed the Vatican climate forest, which will in theory absorb as much carbon dioxide as the Vatican will produce in 2007. In so doing, the Vatican announced, it would become the world's first carbon-neutral state.

"The Book of Genesis tells us of a beginning in which God placed man as guardian over the earth to make it fruitful."

Good ole fashioned perspective:
"After the Vatican agreement was announced, Msgr. Melchor Sánchez de Toca Alameda, an official at the Council for Culture at the Vatican, told the Catholic News Service that buying credits was like doing penance. "One can emit less CO2 by not using heating and not driving a car, or one can do penance by intervening to offset emissions, in this case by planting trees," he said."

Abandoned Monkey finds love.........

How cute!!

They're an odd couple in every sense but a monkey and a pigeon have become inseparable at an animal sanctuary in China.

The 12-week-old macaque - who was abandoned by his mother - was close to death when it was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province.

After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless - until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon.

The macaque nestles his head against his feathered friend

The blossoming relationship helped to revive the macaque who has developed a new lease of life, say staff at the sanctuary.

Now the unlikely duo are never far from each other's side, but they aren't the only ones to strike up an unusual friendship.

Earlier this year a pig adopted a tiger cub and raised him along with her piglets because his mother couldn't feed him.

And in 2005 a baby dear named Mi-Lu befriended lurcher Geoffrey at the Knowsley Animal Park in Merseyside after she was rejected by her mother.

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Less Meat, Less Heat

Fewer steaks may save the planet

Reuters Photo: A sous chef grills a filet mignon steak in a file photo. Eating too much...

LONDON (Reuters) - Eating too much red meat is not only bad for your health -- it is also bad for the planet, according to scientists.

Worldwide, agricultural activity accounts for about a fifth of total greenhouse-gas emissions and livestock production has a particularly big impact because of the large amount of methane emitted from belching cattle.

Tony McMichael of the Australian National University in Canberra and John Powles of the University of Cambridge, writing in the Lancet journal, said worldwide average meat consumption could be realistically reduced by 10 percent.

This would help in the battle against global warming and also reduce health risks associated with excessive consumption of red meat, they said.

Global average meat consumption is currently 100 grams per person a day but there is a tenfold variation between high-consuming and low-consuming populations.

China Bans Reincarnation........

Absurdities

In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission.

Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP

The Next Lama: The Dalai Lama says he won't reincarnate in Tibet

read the full article

Treat your pets to a massage!

In my massage school, we are currently exploring all different sorts of modalities. We have done some fascinating things like cranio-sacral therapy (working with the cerebral spinal fluid), qi gong (exercises to harness chi), and trauma touch therapy (to release trauma-damage in tissues). But yesterday we did a most interesting one that can be applied to all you pet lovers out there! We learned dog massage! Turns out its really easy and anyone can learn it. And the same basic moves can be applied to other pets, like cats and even horses.

 

Check it out for yourself!   http://dogs.suite101.com/article.cfm/homemassagefordogs

Food Karma Alert blog

my friend Cory is impassioned about the ethical issues of food and has started a blog exploring the various elements. He knows what he is talking about - he has a PhD in it! What you read will astound you......check it out!

 

Food Karma Alert Blog

 

Hello my fellow yogis (and anyone else whose interested). My name is Cory and I am a PhD food scientist/chemist. Thanks to our wonderful, loving teachers, David Life and Sharon Gannon (Jivamukti Yoga School founders) and to my friend and teacher, Jill Abelson, I've come to gain a growing understanding and appreciation for Mother Earth. Because of this I am working to use my science background for good. Currently, I work for a non-profit in Washington, DC – a good place for me to impact mainstream food science and the food industry. This newsletter is an attempt to funnel information to you in hopes that it will enable you to have a positive impact on food policy related issues.

Okay, so it's like this, in the interest of space I'm going to attempt to briefly summarize the specific issue at hand and provide references in order that we may be proactive and respond in whatever way is afforded us. Over time I will put together more extensive summary articles on each of the issues. If you have questions feel free to contact me at FoodSciYogi@gmail.com and I'll do my best to answer. Also, if you have comments on how I might improve the blog or issues you'd like info on, let me know, I'm happy to hear from you!

Peace in Oneself; Peace in the World

Jivamukti Focus For September - " PRAYER FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE "

"If we truly want world peace we must begin by embodying that peace ourselves. Peace will come when we have given up hateful thoughts, cruel words, and violent actions in our own daily lives." Cultivate hopeful thoughts, sweet speech, and kind actions. Don't wait for a better world. Start now to create a universe of harmony and peace. It is up to you. It always has been!" --Sharon Gannon

September is turning out to be a jam-packed month. We have JivaDiva Alanna coming to FLOW Yoga Center for a workshop this weekend, the Global Mala Project happening, and my new Sunday yoga class debuting. September's Jivamukti focus of the month is also incredibly powerful and perfect fits in with the scheduled events: Prayer for Universal Peace.

Check out my class at Flow Yoga Center: Open Flow Jivamukti @ Sundays, 5-6:15pm. It starts this Sunday, Sept 16th, and we will be exploring the Jivamukti Focus of the month. Hope to see you in class!


"Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others." - Thich Nhat Han

Action:
Commit this month to do one thing daily, however small, that will bring peace to yourself, another person, and Mother nature. This can be through thoughts, words, and/or deeds. For example:

1. Self - before going to bed, I did a mini five minute meditation and visualized myself being enveloped in a warm circle of light
2. Others - while driving to work, I got angry in traffic but instead of cultivating anger, I sent out peaceful thoughts to all those similarly fighting traffic on the roads that morning.
3. Mother Earth - I bought a coffee tumbler at Starbucks and started using it instead of always getting the disposable paper cups for my drinks.

Your turn!