To the Future ::Current Events::

I was reading through some Scientific America entries and I ran across this.

Turning Pollution into DVDs

Carbon dioxide captured from the smokestacks of power plants could one day provide the raw material for plastics

By David Biello

"Researchers announced this week that they are perfecting a procedure designed to turn pollution into a type of plastic used to make everything from DVDs to eyeglass lenses. The effort is being touted as a way to capture and use climate change–causing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources instead of releasing it into the atmosphere or burying it underground.

"One is producing a material from CO₂ instead of just discarding it," chemist Thomas Müller of the Center for Catalysis Research at RWTH Aachen University in Germany said yesterday at a press conference at the semiannual meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans. "It can be a contribution to solving the CO₂ problem."

Plastics such as polycarbonates are long chains of carbon atoms bonded to such elements as oxygen. The tough plastic is currently constructed from the long carbon chains, or polymers, made from fossil fuels. But Müller says that chemists could convert the nearly 10 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired power plants—if captured—into such plastics by applying pressure and using energy to trigger the necessary chemical reaction."

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=turning-pollution-into-dvds&sc=rss
this is the link if you wish to continue reading


This is absolutely fascinating to me. In essence we would be recycling the very thing that has been causing the problems all along. I know this isn't the answer to all our problems but its a start.

I think that a lot of people put way to much attention on whats going on in the now! "Now there is a hole in the O-Zone!" "Now the ice caps are melting!" "Now the temperature of the Earth is rising more and more every year!"
Just for the record I wanted everyone to know that there is as much hope in the future as there has ever been in history. There is attention being given to our problems. There are theories being written on how to best prepare for everything that we can so far perceive and believe could happen to us. We're going to be all right, are children are going to be all right, our children's children will be all right.

Here's to the Future
-Markus

Happiness and its price

Does everyone deserve happiness? Can I or anyone else put a price on happiness?

Happiness is an emotional state. Scientifically it is the brains reaction to stimuli in the environment which cause certain chemicals to be released, certain neurons to fire and consequently feelings to be felt. Spiritually it is one of the emotions also associated to Love which is one of the binding emotions of nature. Focusing ones thoughts on things which make a person happy easily allows them to live a happy life by taking the focus off the things that make a person sad or upset. Happiness can also lead you to better things, by avoiding things that make you sad or stress you find yourself in situations that are more healthy for you as well as more pleasurable. There are many people that will put themselves through very difficult and stressful circumstances to have happiness and they are driven by that end result. (take into consideration that somethings which are hard for you and I may be considered easy to other people)

Most people will answer the first question with a "Yes" for many it is a no brainer and still here you are asking the question. So lets start from the stand point of: "People don't deserve happiness" the point of this argument is to help you understand that happiness sometimes comes in packages that aren't so happy.

• If I have a friend who cheats with her friends boy friend because she is happy with him and he is happy with her does that friend deserve to be happy?
• If you have a friend that compromises other peoples relationships do they deserve happiness?
• If your family doesn't approve of your way of life, do you deserve to be happy?
• If you know someone who is going around to people he doesn't like and telling them how he feels about them, do they deserve to be happy?

Being on the receiving end of any of those questions your answer may vary. How would you really feel if you friend and you boyfriend were going at it behind your back? Would you wish her happiness?

There are unfortunate grey areas. Everyone deserves happiness but happiness comes in many different varieties. We must also take into consideration the psychology of the matter. A person who goes around starting trouble are doing it because they are thinking they are enjoying themselves but this feeling of enjoyment is not so much happiness but rather a mask for a more inner problem that is being dealt with and therefore is being portrayed in the wrong manor. Not only does this have to do with inner turmoil but also with a lack of understanding. If you want to avoid losing potential friends in your life or avoiding losing the ones that you already have then try to understand them.

A persons attitude towards life says a lot about them, and it wont necessarily match your own but thats okay. If you are drawn to that person perhaps there is something there that you are meant to take with you as you continue on this journey through life. A lesson or enlightening thought. But you have to understand or get to know them, ask them questions, course it always when you're sincerely interested.

I meet people all the time that are sometimes on completely different journeys then me. They have what I would consider a very unfortunate way or looking at life. Everything is pointless and there nothing to look forward to. I've tried my best to turn them around but despite my best efforts we have learned to accept one another's views and opinions; meaning that I have argued my part and made my point and they have made theirs. At no point was I trying to overrun them with my ideas and beliefs I was simply putting my thoughts out on the table for them to look at and examine while they did the same. In the end if I had chosen to take one of those ideas (which happens on ) and make it my own I would have but it wasn't to be but rather than come out of it empty handed I still took what I learned and what I saw and put it into the general perspective on life. So that the next person that I meet that has that same outlook on life I can converse with and understand why they look at it that way or not speak to them at all but still understand why it is they aren't acting like everyone else in the room.
This is where your next question come in. "Can I or anyone else put a price on happiness?"

Society, as it is, likes to and is forced to but labels on things. Morality is not based on what is fair and what is good or bad- if good and bad are distinguished on how any one particular individual is feeling it would but it can't work like that. So we are left standing with these set of moral rules.
"When you break up with somebody you have to wait at least 2 weeks before dating someone else"
Ask why and you will get a barrage of answers
"Never ever ever under any circumstance date one of your friends exs"
That ones a bit more obvious but the reason constantly changes and yet so have the people and the circumstances around the situation. Happiness is universal everyone knows what it is to be happy and there is no price that is to high to experience it and as soon as you believe that there is is when you will get stuck. When you believe that the happiness you deserve is out of reach it always will be and you will either be to scared or to lazy to ever really achieve it.

People sit days on end thinking about what they would do with their life if they did this, or if they could do that. They are depressed and miserable and lost and they don't know why. Some may even have everything they've ever wanted and yet they still aren't happy.

Well Happiness is not a place you get to or the amount of things you get it is a feeling, as is success and Love and you can't start feeling like that whenever you decide to accept your fears get over them and move on! Be the creator of your own life, I've been told you only have one- So tell me are you just going to sit there a stay inside or are you going to get out and enjoy it?

Be Inspired
-M

Stress of Life

Bid Sheets, they are the blood of an auction. The block that everything is built on. With the bid sheet a bidder places their name and in a silent auction hundreds of items can be sold through this information exchanging. It is my company's job to help non-profit organizations to raise money by helping them auction donated items off. To do that you need to have bid sheets. There was something wrong; as soon as I got to the Woodland Hills Hilton I knew something was wrong. There was a room filled with baskets and a cart rimmed with Gift Certificates which had all been donated to the cause and here I was with an envelope carrying 8 Bid sheets for their items...Thats 105 items next to my 8 bid sheets?

So many thoughts hit me like a barrage of bullets each one causing more and more horror. Where did all those bid sheets go? I thought I had all the bid sheets! I'm 35 minutes away from the office! Would I have enough to make them all and get them back? What if the bid sheet program doesn't work! Should I hand write them? If I didn't get these bid sheets this whole event could come to a crashing halt and it would all be my fault, because I didn't print them!! There is so much to do, I was so overwhelmed. I needed to arrange the items, I needed to make sure that the the bid sheets matched up to their items, and I didn't have those. I needed to answer questions from my crew as well as the organization. I had to change, get the Mic ready, find out about live auction items....At this point I was on my way back to the office; my stomach was cramping, my breathing had become sporadic and shallow and with each bump in the road came an insatiable need to vomit.

It was 3:08 when I finally got back to the office. I had been given a 5:30pm deadline to get back to the hotel with all the bid sheets and set them up before the event started at 6 o'clock. I had attempted to calm myself down for the most part but it was so hard to get a positive thought in or to really listen to what I was trying to tell myself "Its okay, it'll be fine" So many thoughts about getting away from this whole situation ran through my head, "What if I ran for it, just took off?" "What if I knock out because I'm hyperventilating?! I do feel kind of dizzy!" But I knew I had to get this done and I had to do the best that I could. I knew that even if this didn't work out it wasn't the end of the world...It took me an hour and a half to finish printing all their items out but I was already on by 5:15 giving me and my team more than enough time to set everything up.

I have never been so stressed in my life, never been so scared of not making a deadline, not even at school or with my parents. But it worked out just like I thought it would when I told myself that it would be okay, what was funny was that I still couldn't get over the feelings I was having, couldn't stop myself from acting the way I did- as calm as I may have looked I remember feeling the chemical processes that were taking place to cause my close to metal break down!

Stress is the response to physical and mental experiences that come from the environment around you. In many instances it gives animals the ability to react in milliseconds to dangerous encounters, allowing them to move into an appropriate position to avoid harm. Its interesting to observe that humans for the most part are different then animals for this very reason. While animals will use stress to avoid situations, humans will use stress to focus on a situation. It has become a hallmark of this generation to take advantage of the benefits of stress, while at the same time dooming ourselves by being over dependent on a dose that should be taken moderately....

So how is it that we are supposed to take care of business without overwhelming ourselves with stress? I say ask yourself this: What would you say that the most common reason for stress in your life is? What about that thing or person or situation makes you stress out?

I've learned through my own meditation and understanding of metaphysical as well as psychological healing that releaving any kind of negative force in your life starts with identifying the source of the negativity. "You can't ask someone to leave unless you know their name". Now this can be harder than its sounds. For instance lets answer these questions in a hypothetical:
"The most common reason for stress in my life is my job; I work hard and don't get any recognition for it, bending over backwards to try an accommodate my co-workers and get a promotion but nothings working. Whats stressing my out is that I'm not getting anywhere and I'm run down tired and depressed!"
You should be fully honest with yourself about the situation and what it is that bothers you. Many people will say "I work hard and bend over backwards, but thats just what you have to do" NO IT ISN'T! If you want to become the person who wakes up one day and says "I haven't done anything with my life" then by all means continue on with your miserable or even semi- miserable existence. I know that if I was not happy with where I am I wouldn't be where I am. I would quit and find something better, already I can hear people saying "Well thats not realistic, what about finances, what about bills?" and I will answer What about your happiness? Does that mean nothing to you? I would rather be happy to pay my bills than paying my bills and not be happy. Being miserable about work or school because I was stressing out about it all the time. Which brings us back to stress.

Stress can be very useful but it is also very inhibiting. I love my life and I appreciate even the little things so the stress that I experience is rather healthy in comparison to the guy that cuts me off every day of the week because he is constantly in a rush. I hope he really likes his job and is not actually stressing because he's late, but nine out of ten times thats the case.

Appreciation is the key to a stress free life. There is always something about a situation to appreciate and be grateful for. "Well, what about making the dead line of a report due in less than 12 hours" Well, how about being grateful for being given the opportunity to be able to participate in the project in the first place! The smallest things is all it takes, if you can scuff at an idea instead of really considering it and pondering it you future is dim, miserable and lifeless. Its speaks of a stagnant order one that may last for years but will end in mutiny and anger :-D

Inspiration comes from many places, and the heart is the most sacred of them
-Markus

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