It’s going to be the big word of 2010. Remember it, boys and girls. Because sustainability has never mattered more.

Here’s the definition. Read:

Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which in turn depends on the well-being of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.

Sustainability has become a wide-ranging term that can be applied to almost every facet of life on Earth, from a local to a global scale and over various time periods. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. Invisible chemical cycles redistribute water, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon through the world’s living and non-living systems, and have sustained life for millions of years.

As the earth’s human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the balance of natural cycles has had a negative impact on both humans and other living systems.

I was reading a Newsweek article a while back that spoke of the growing need for positive news. Apparently, it’s a real commodity. Go ahead - do a search for “positive news stories.” You’ll be surprised how little you find, relatively speaking.

But guess what? It’s gradually increasing. People can only take traditional, negative news for so long. Our minds and souls have a natural pull toward positivity. It’s good for us!

The best reason to get a healthy dose of good news is that it’s good for you. Studies show that a calm and optimistic mind can have health benefits, like lower blood pressure and deeper sleep.

Which explains why it’s not just me; good news is a pretty hot commodity these days. Of course it’s impossible to find a positive spin on every bit of depressing information that comes across on the cable-news crawl. But organizations that dish up unreported or unnoticed positive stories are becoming hot commodities.

Ode’s circulation (currently just above 100,000) has more than quadrupled in the past year, and Geri Weis-Corbley, who runs a Web site called the Good News Network on a pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth model, says people are definitely in the giving mood.

NBC recently got in the game when they began asking viewers for positive stories to feature on their evening broadcast, which had, like everything else, been thick with depressing recession stories since last fall. They got an overwhelming response.

Source: Newsweek

So it looks like we’re really on to something! Let’s “pay it forward” this 2010 and bring up the positivity level. Remember, it starts with you. A smile, a kind gesture, a hug, a gift, some time, listening, forgiveness, taking care of your environment, being kind to animals - making your own positive news!

Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath.  Today, we are a pious and exemplary community.  Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.  ~ Mark Twain

Yes, we’ve heard: New Year’s resolutions seem almost destined to fail. But does that mean we shouldn’t bother at all?

Figure it this way: whatever resolutions you come up with bear some relevance to your life. Consider them indicators: areas that you’d like to work on. You don’t have to nail them. This isn’t a win or lose situation. It’s a time to evaluate and make some smart and possibly subtle changes.

If losing weight is your goal for the New Year, try to make the changes manageable. Instead of losing 50 pounds and fitting into that bathing suit by summer, why not simply include walking into your workout regimen? Instead of every day, maybe 2 - 3 days a week? You see the difference? One sets you up for failure where the other gives you some breathing room!

And if you “fail” at your goal, no self-recrimination. It’s a tough concept to master, but its that very self-recrimination that fosters and feeds the bad habit you’re trying to change! Go easy on yourself. Remember: we are all flawed human beings trying to do the best we can.

In short, walk don’t run this New Year!

Every year, there are many things to be grateful for, if we take a bit of time to review. Even during economically trying times, there are lights at the end of all of our tunnels.

Thanks to the Good News Network for naming some of the best, most uplifting stories of this last year.

Here are GNN’s number 9 & 10:

10) Humpback Whales to Leap off Endangered Species List

Even more heartening than the 6,000 rare dolphins discovered in South Asia (prior to this, the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less), or the discovery this year of a new population of orangutans in a remote, mountainous corner of Indonesia - perhaps as many as 2,000, or the “spectacular” finding that rare mountain gorilla populations have grown by 13 percent over the last 16 months in the Congo, is the news that humpback whales may soon be graduating from the endangered species list. Despite almost hunting these beautiful creatures to extinction, conservation efforts have led to steady population growth of 4-7 percent annually, to an estimated 19,000 animals, from fewer than 1,400 before the 1960’s ban on whaling. (physorg.com)

9) Researcher’s Love for Wife Leads to MS Breakthrough

Dr. Zamboni’s studies began when his beloved wife developed MS in 1995 at the age of 37. He undertook a massive in-depth review of the literature, and modern imaging techniques such as ultrasound and MRI. His findings led him to believe that Multiple Sclerosis is not an autoimmune issue, but a vascular disease, a radical departure from current thinking. He performed experimental surgery on his wife using a simple catheter / angioplasty / balloon operation, getting blood flowing normally again. Many of her MS symptoms disappeared. She had the surgery three years ago and has not had an attack since. In Italy where the doctor works, 65 patients have since had the MS surgery, and in the two years since the operation, 73 percent of subjects are symptom-free. (Good News Network)

Take some time this week to look at some of your personal highlights. And remember, it doesn’t have to be collassal! Here’s a few we collected from our staff:

“I learned to swim! I never knew how and this summer, I actually took lessons.”

“I bought myself a new computer. I know. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but its been a tough time for me financially. I needed it, took the plunge and I feel like its helped my business.”

“Writing for Only Positive News was one of my best “stories” of 2009! It’s interesting, when you write about positive things, it slowly but surely changes your own attitude.”

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.  ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.  ~Charles Dickens

The use of stem cells for medical conditions is often needlessly controversial and highly misunderstood. Take a look at this story to see the miraculous ways in which it can help:

Chloe Levine was born seemingly perfect — she was the happy and healthy baby her parents had dreamed of.

But by the time she was 9 months old, Chloe was not reaching the milestones her older sister Shayla had met at that age.

Chloe’s right hand was constantly clenched in a tight fist – she couldn’t even hold her bottle. And she wasn’t able to crawl; she would “shuffle” her body across the floor in a seated position, her mother, Jenny, recalls.

Soon after Chloe’s first birthday, the Levines, who live in Denver, learned their daughter had suffered a stroke in utero and had become afflicted with cerebral palsy.

“A part of me just died,” Jenny Levine said. “At that point there was no cure for her, no treatment other than therapies – speech, physical and occupational therapy for the next 18 years. As parents, that was not fine. We wanted her to have as normal a life as possible; we didn’t want her to face a life of disability.”

The Levines remembered they had banked stem cells from Chloe’s umbilical cord at her birth, and wondered if they could be used to help treat her.

Stem cells from bone marrow have been used in medicine for about 40 years, primarily in the treatment of blood diseases, cancers and immune disorders, said David Zitlow, vice president of corporate communications at Cord Blood Registry, the world’s largest cord blood bank. Stem cells have been known to jumpstart a person’s immune system, especially after an intense round of chemotherapy.

But there are advantages to using stem cells from your own umbilical cord – the cells are younger, they have not been exposed to environmental factors like viruses or chemicals, which can alter the cell’s structure and function – and if you are using your own cord blood cells, your body can’t reject them, Zitlow said.

The collection process at birth is simple: Once the baby is born, the blood is drawn from the umbilical cord with a syringe, placed in a special bag and sent to the parents’ blood bank of choice to be stored indefinitely. It’s not painful, unlike collecting cells from the bone marrow.

Zitlow said that science has shown the umbilical cord cells are smart – once they are reinfused into the body, they migrate to the exact spot of injury and help the damaged cells or tissue repair itself.

The Levines were in luck: Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, a professor of pediatrics and pathology at Duke University, was conducting a study where children with cerebral palsy were injected with their own cord blood cells.

On May 28, 2008, at the age of 2, Chloe received a 15-minute re-infusion of her stem cells.

“The doctor is really cautious about what she tells patients,” Jenny Levine said. “She didn’t have a whole lot of results coming in. The best case scenario, we’d see signs of improvement in six months to a year.”

Within four days, her parents saw a noticeable difference, although Kurtzberg said most kids show benefits three to nine months later.

The rigidity on Chloe’s right side loosened up and her speech started to improve. She was able to ride her toy tractor, which in the past had been too difficult for her to pedal.

“Her life is completely normal, she doesn’t drag her right foot, she can use her right hand,” Jenny Levine said. “She rides a bike, a scooter…we’re taking her skiing this year. She’s fabulous.”

At this time, Kurtzberg said she does not know how long the effects of cord blood will last on kids like Chloe, but if there is a good chance it will be “durable and last indefinitely.” This is essential, since most babies have enough cells for only one infusion.

Doctors are currently researching the effects of umbilical cord cells and their effects on brain injuries, type I diabetes, neurology and cardiology. Kurtzberg is also studying cord blood infusions on babies with birth asphyxis (hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, which is damage to the central nervous system due to a lack of oxygen. It often leads to developmental delays) and babies with congenital hydrocephalus (an excess of cerebrospinal fluid on the brain at birth).

In the near future, Kurtzberg will conduct a randomized trial to objectively determine if cord blood cell infusions are beneficial to kids like Chloe, or if other factors play a role in their success.

Dr. Charles Cox, from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, has been studying cord blood cells for the past 2 1/2 years.

“Umbilical cord blood cell therapy for traumatic brain injury has a lot of pre-clinical work that has been done, suggesting that it’s beneficial,” Cox said. “I believe that cord blood is equivalent or better than bone marrow-derived cells.”

Cox said if the parents do not choose to save the cord blood, it is considered medical waste and thrown away.

“Really, the issue of cord blood banking today comes down to trying to understand what the future holds in terms of regenerative medicine as a field,” Cox said. “So, the long-term look is, and even the intermediate-term look is that it’s not science-fiction. I see it expanding and accelerating over the next two to five years.”

Source: Fox News

It’s like two worlds exist during the holidays: the one portrayed by the media and the “other” one. The one portrayed by the media is picture perfect: every family is happy, healthy and singing carols and sipping eggnog by their perfectly decorated Christmas tree.

The “other” holiday is one more common to many of us. It’s the unspoken holiday - the one you’re not supposed to have, according to the barrage of commercials and adverts. If you’re family is far from perfect or you’re worried about your finances or you’ve endured some hardship this year or you’ve experienced loss or you simply don’t like the holidays - then you understand.

It’s hard to enjoy the holidays when the pressure is on. No one wants to be forced to enjoy themselves. No one likes to compare themselves to holiday perfection! But is there a way to eke out a holiday that is yours - one that includes the good, the bad and the ugly?

Here are a few pointers:

1. Ask yourself what you’d really like to do for the holidays - minus the influence of others. And include that in your day. If you have a day plan that is packed with your family, maybe you’d like to go for a quiet walk in the morning before the madness ensues. Maybe you’d like to write in your journal and review your year. Whatever it is, take whatever time you can grab and make some time about you!

2. If you’re alone, celebrate it. This is a tough one but guess what? There are many people out there who don’t have family over the holidays. It almost seems like some social crime but it doesn’t have to be. Being alone allows you to celebrate the holiday the way you see fit. The important part? Celebrate it in one way or the other. Make yourself a special meal, buy yourself a gift, wrap it and open it, watch a special movie. It’s not a crime to be alone on the holidays. (Considering what some people go through with their families, consider it an honor!)

3. Remember the old adages about the holidays. It’s NOT all about mass gift-giving and commercial-generated fantasy. It’s about reflecting, giving and getting in touch with your spiritual side during the heart of winter. It’s about being grateful for WHAT YOU HAVE, not bemoaning what you don’t.

4. Quiet holidays are fine. If you’re holiday seems simple and quiet, that’s alright. Perhaps you are afforded the opportunity to connect with the holidays that many others can’t seem to find. Maximize that time. Make the most of the quietude.

You never know where you’ll find love. It comes in strange places and unpredictable times. It comes when you’ve lost all hope. It comes when you’re barely even looking for it. It comes and it goes and it comes back again.

This story reminds us of all the wonderful intricacies of love:

On January 15th, 2009, a flight took off from New York City’s LaGuardia airport—but it didn’t get very far. As you probably know by now, a flock of geese jammed up the plane’s engines, stalling it in mid-air. The plane seemed destined for a fatal crash, but the pilot, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger kept a cool head and steered the aircraft down for a smooth landing in the Hudson River. Everyone on board survived the crash.

Minutes later, the passengers and crew were loaded onto rescue boats, leaving the sinking plane behind. Ben Bostic was on one boat; Laura Zych was on board another. Though Bostic had noticed Zych before they’d boarded the fateful flight, he never spoke with her that day, too rattled by their mutual near-death experience.

But months later, the survivors of Flight 1549 reunited to share their story on 60 Minutes, and many became friends. Then, in July, one of the passengers arranged another get-together at her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bostic and Zych were both in attendance, and Zych, who lived in the area, offered to let Bostic spend the night on her couch. Instead, they ended up talking until 6 in the morning. They’ve been a couple ever since.

Having come so close to death, the happy couple never takes their luck for granted. Every evening, they dance together to their favorite songs. “We do that as part of our decompressing and loving life,” Zych told New York Magazine. “Just so that your day ends on a good note.”

Next month, the couple plans to attend yet another reunion for Flight 1549 passengers and crew, this time in New York City. Though all of the survivors agree that the experience was traumatic, their meetings are always joyous occasions. “Even the first time you meet someone from that flight, it’s like you’re instantly bonded,” said Zych. “You can’t be around this group of people and not feel good.”

Source: Gimundo

You could guess that it’s easy to identify telltale signs of genius fairly early in one’s development. But at two? This amazing toddler in England is already proving to give Einstein a run for his money:

Most kids his age are just learning the names of their favorite cartoon characters. But 2-year-old Oscar Wrigley of Berkshire, England is devouring encyclopedias, history books, and nature guides.  When he rides in the car with his parents, he amuses himself by identifying all of the instruments in a classical music recording. Though his body may be small, his brain never rests.

Oscar’s parents knew he was different from an early age: at four months old, he could point to the outfit that he wanted to wear. He began talking at nine months old, and by a year and a half, he could recite the entire alphabet. He began reading soon after, and now knows thousands of words—and is happy to correct others when they don’t get something quite right, as in a recent incident when a neighbor spotted a bird in the Wrigley family’s garden, and asked Oscar, ““Is that a tweet-tweet?”

“No,” the toddler replied. “It’s a blue tit.”

While Oscar’s parents have long known that their son is precocious, they’ve just found out how far above the curve he is: Oscar recently took a IQ test, and got the highest possible score. He was judged to have an IQ of at least 160, putting him in the ranks of Albert Einstein and modern visionaries like Stephen Hawking. He’s been accepted as Britain’s youngest boy to join MENSA, the club for the extremely gifted.

Oscar’s parents are eager to get him enrolled in school two years early, but in the meantime, he’s content to amuse himself reading books, conducting backseat symphonies, and, of course, correcting the neighbors—and possibly soon, his parents.

“I’m fully expecting the day to come when he turns around and tells me I’m an idiot.” Oscar’s father, Joe, told The Daily Mail.

Source: Gimundo

Here’s an amazing story from the New York Times about an orchestra that has triumphed amidst troubled times, economic hardship and war:

BAGHDAD – It was achievement enough that the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra managed to survive the darkest days of the war, when it struggled for supplies and electricity, when its members fled for safety abroad and those who remained practiced in secret for fear of offending militants who considered music un-Islamic.

“We were fighting against the impending doom simply by functioning,” the orchestra’s charismatic director and chief conductor, Karim Wasfi, said the other day.

Now the orchestra finds itself “out of the bottleneck,” as Mr. Wasfi put it, facing challenges in a post-conflict society that are no less daunting for being less immediately life-threatening.

The orchestra is fighting for its budget, only now beginning to solicit corporate sponsorship in a country where the state once controlled all (and still does, if chaotically). Mr. Wasfi is lobbying to build an opera house in a country where electricity, clean water and garbage removal remain scarce services.

Hardest of all, the orchestra is trying to recreate a shared cultural life – “the concept of Iraq,” he said – that decades of isolation, international sanctions, war and sectarianism have thoroughly shattered.

“Iraq has achieved a lot, but it’s not yet on a solid, concrete foundation,” Mr. Wasfi said. “Stability is not related just to people not killing each other.”

The New York Times’s Edward Wong wrote movingly about the orchestra nearly three years ago , a time when sectarian bloodshed seemed to threaten its very mission: to give a troubled nation succor through music.

Iraq remains a troubled place, but the orchestra should be a bridge to a better future, as he explained, “when we have an opera house, when attending a performance and opening a gallery is part of your normal life, when political leaders fight in the parliament and not in the streets, when they set aside their differences and attend a concert.”

Source: New York Times