View recorded webinar archive at: http://healthpromotionlive.com

1. Earth Day
and
Positive Health
April 22, 2010
Webinar for HEDIR
Craig M. Becker, PhD, CWP
East Carolina University
beckerc@ecu.edu

2. Overview
Need Clean Energy Policy
Review health & Earth Day relationship
How can positively impact on both!
Show how helping self benefits all!

3. Positive Health = Wellness
Positive Health = physical mental & social well-being
Halbert Dunn!Father of Wellness
Coined Word - Wellness
1959, 1961 - High Level Wellness for Man & Society
Wellness = state more than simple “Unsickness”

4. Dunn & Earth Day
Originally Dr. Dunn defined wellness as, “… a
direction in progress forward and upward,
toward a higher potential of functioning...which
involves the integration of the whole ...” (Dunn,
1961).
Wellness & Earth Day
What would Dunn say?

5. Dunn’s Wellness Quadrant Matrix
Suggested Need Positive
Favorable Health Quadrant
Environment
E Said area:
n Undifferentiated
Protected v
i
High Level Darkly Seen
Health r
o Wellness
n
m
Premature e Peak
Health Axis n Health Axis
Death t Wellness
a
Poor l Low Level
Health A Wellness
x
i
s
Very Unfavorable
Environment

6. Why Earth day is Important
to Positive Health
Environments
Relationship to
Action in all
Areas
©Craig M. Becker
©Craig M.Becker

7. Relationships
Pat Love - on Relationships
3 in a relationship (party 1, party 2, relationship)
Do things for relationship - then all win!
Relationships built on positive Interactions
We need positive Relationship with Environment
Want both us and environment to win

8. Beneficial Relationships
Need relationship with environment
Makes Positive Health possible
Better environment means = Better Life for self
Be Selfish?

9. Creating Benefits for Self?
Selfish? Yes - WIFM
That way all benefit
Huh?

10. Selfish Selfless Synergy
Pan=all eu=Good,well genic=creating
Action Needed: Paneugenic
Actions, by individuals, groups or
organizations that create the best
outcomes for all parties, with a byproduct
of pervasive reciprocal positive benefits
Application of Systems Appreciation

11. W. Edwards Deming
Check out information at
Deming Institute
One of Greatest
20th Century Thinkers

12. Guiding Principles
Continuous Profound Knowledge
Never Ending
Improvement 1. Systems Appreciation
2. Understanding of Variance
3. Theory of Knowledge
4. Psychology
Leadership

13. Systems Appreciation
• Everything is a System
• You are part of the system
• Our environment is the system
• If you serve it well - Everybody Wins!
• Its Paneugenic!

14. Another Connection
Dunn & Wellness!
Spirituality - Missing Integrated Dimension
To me - Spirituality about:
Connections - 1 Source
Greater Good
Environmentalism

15. Basic Assumptions
We all want to be good
Connect to something larger than self
Want to be part of solution
Can we make a difference?

16. THE STARFISH STORY
(Based on the original, by Loren Eiseley)
A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he
walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew
closer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something
up, and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things
out into the ocean. As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the
man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one
at a time, he was throwing them back into the water. Our friend was puzzled.
He approached the man and said "Good evening, Friend. I was wondering
what you are doing."
"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right
now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't
throw them back into the sea, they'll die up here from lack of oxygen."
"I understand," our friend replied, "but there must be thousands of starfish
on this beach. You can't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too
many. And don't you realize it is probably happening on hundreds of other
beaches all up and down the coast. Can't you see that you can't possibly make
a difference?"
The local native smiled, bent down, and picked up yet another starfish, and as
he threw it back into the sea, he replied, "Made a difference to that one!"
from Chicken Soup for the Soul

17. Can we make a difference?
Cynicism is not realistic
and tough. It's unrealistic
and kind of cowardly
because it means you
don't have to try.
- Peggy Noonan, 1950-present

18. Can we make a difference?
“ I have always thought the
actions of men the best
interpreters of their
thoughts.”
- John Locke

19. Can we make a difference?
“Economics is a value
system masquerading as
mathematics.”
-From Green Certificate Preconference:

20. Why be part of solution?
Most people have reasonable self-image
Believe self competent, moral, smart
Cognitive Dissonance
If violate own values, feel bad
Being part of solution
Enhances self-image
Helps you feel good!
Meet Innate Needs

21. Quest to Meet Needs
•Need meaning from multiple sources
•Environmental Opportunity
•Meaning necessary but insufficient for happiness
•No meaning - happiness elusive
•➜ Meaning prerequisite for happiness

22. Being part of Solution Meets Needs
From Positive Psychology Handbook
How Make Sense of Life - Hardwired to find meaning!
1. Need for Purpose - connection to future
2. Need for Values - justifies course of action
3. Need for Sense of Efficacy - can make a difference
4. Need or Basis of Self-Worth - reason believe good

23. What Can we do?
Some ideas to attend to needs
Transportation
Yard-Work
Food Choices
Daily Actions

24. Transportation
• Cars and pollution
• Hybrids, driving habits - Impact
• My habits - hybrid, bike
• Connects actions and benefits
• WIFM, WIFT - win-win-win!
• Its Paneugenic

25. Yard-work
• Everything need already there - use it!
• Conversation with God about lawns

26. Conversation with Creator, Lawn Care
Imagine the conversation The Creator might have had with St. Francis about lawns:......................
GOD: Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on
the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a per-
fect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and mul-
tiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and
flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green
rectangles.
ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord: The Suburbanites. They started calling your
flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass?? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only
grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass
growing there?
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin
each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the
Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a
week.
GOD: They cut it? Do they then bail it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS: No Sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD: Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they
cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS: Yes, sir.
continue

28. Yard-work
• Lawn & Green Grass Theory
• WIFM, WIFT - Win-Win-Win
• Its Paneugenic!

29. Earth Day & Food
• Relationship of diet to other aspects of life
• Environment
• Animal treatment
• Resources: Land use, water, fossil
• Control well-being, weight, energy, moods etc.
• Animal based diets and kind world?
• Review at www.Meatrix.com

30. Food Choices
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase
the chances of survival on earth as much as the
evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
-Albert Einstein
• The connections are everywhere…
• WIFM, WIFT?
Suggested Readings:
Jon Robbins; Food Revolution & Diet for a New America
• Our Food Choices can be Paneugenic!

31. Water Consumption Connection
½ of all water used here is for our
Livestock production
Gallons Needed for 1lb of Food
Tomatoes, 23 – Milk, 130
Lettuce, 23 – Eggs, 544
Potatoes, 24 – Chicken, 815
Wheat, 25 – Pork, 1630
Carrots, 33 – Beef, 5214
Apples, 49
Oranges, 65
Grapes, 70

32. Land Use Connections
lbs of food from Acre of
Energy Consumption
Land:
Fossil Fuels used to create Cherries 5000
- 1 calorie from beef – 78 Green Beans 10,000
from soybeans – 2 Apples 20,000
Carrots 30,000
½ of all Total energy
Potatoes 40,000
expended by agriculture is Tomatoes 50,000
for livestock production Celery 60,000
Beef 250
Land Utilization
Landmass Grazed for Livestock = 1/2

33. Claim: Vegetarianism 'could help climate'
Alan Calverd argues, "I am not a vegetarian or an
animal-rights advocate. But...ditching meaty meals
could do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions than
burning less oil and gas.”
• If everyone had a primarily plant-based diet
•Cut greenhouse gas emissions by 21%
•From animal to food production
•In addition - Vegetarianism has health benefits.

34. Food Choice Benefits
• CONTRIBUTE TO: Cleaner water, Air, more energy,
clearer thinking, better skin, feeling of well-being,
less waste, less rainforest deforested, less water
consumption
• Kinder World = Better Health Status
• Overall, choosing more plant based foods contributes
to Positive Health & Healthier Plant for self and all

35. What can you Do to Help, Daily?
Also Refer to: www.everydayactivist.com
Things You can do:
• Go Green - Renewable Energy
• **Buy Better Bulbs -Energy Star Site
• Solar Option???
• Run appliances when Full **Car Options
• **2 Degree Change
• Greener Car/Driving Style
• Water Heater <=120
• **Keep car tuned and pumped
• Double-Pane Windows
• **Combine Trips
• Keep Clean A/C Filter - Lifetime
• **Carpool - social wellness
• Upgrade to Energy Star Appliances
• Be Light - Empty Trunk
• Be Unplugged - turn off strip-save $$
• Don’t be Idle (Hybrid benefit)
• Power Showers
• Use A/C sparingly - watch drag Be An
• Low Flow Appliances Shop at Our Impact Advocate
• Push Mower Farmers Footprint Calculator Sierra Club
• **Plant a Tree
Market • Advocate Regularly and with Group
• Buy Local
• Sign Sierra Club Energy Petition
• **Practice 3 R’s - Reduce/Reuse/Recycle

37. More Simple Things...
Add:
•Compost
•OptOut of Junk Mail
•Cloth Bags
Too much to do?

38. Remember as Jana
Stanfield suggests….we
can’t do it all, but the
world needs all the good
we can do…
www.janastanfield.com

39. Earth Day & Positive Health
• Helping environment
• Helps others and self!
• Celebrate Earth Day daily
• Its Paneugenic
• Enables positive health