The Future Is Social, Multigenerational – Not “Gated” – Communities

MONTHLY BAROMETER – WELLNESS EDITION For all the talk about technology and how it risks making our lives lonelier, there are also many initiatives that focus on measures and policies susceptible to creating a more connected and friendly community life. Psychologists and social scientists contend that three conditions are necessary to form close bonds and real friendships: (1) proximity, (2) repeated unplanned interactions, and (3)…

Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of August 27, 2019)

This is the beginning of the end of the beef industry – Outside Online, July 31, 2019 This article makes the case that “alt meat” isn’t going to stay alt for long, and that cattle are looking more and more like stranded assets. Its argument: “Beef is the most wasteful food on the planet,” and part of the appeal of the new burgers is their…

Wellness Invades the Car: From Aromatherapy to Spa-Like Warning Chimes

A new article at Quartz looks at how a growing number of carmakers are rushing to put health and wellness-enhancing features into their vehicles, transforming them into Zen-like cocoons. Think sensors that monitor and react to a driver’s physical health and emotional state, triggering bursts of aromatherapy, mood lighting and music; radically noise-canceling cabins; seats that track your heart rate to improve your blood circulation;…

New UN Report: Agriculture & Deforestation Is Dramatically Worsening Climate Change

A new UN report (from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has some scary findings. It focuses exclusively on the world’s land use and how modern agriculture and deforestation is radically boosting climate change. One finding: Human land use is responsible for 23 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions—half from carbon dioxide emitted through deforestation and half from agriculture. Their warning: We simply can’t…

Japan Can Be Wellness Market Leader in These 5 Areas

In anticipation of the Global Wellness Summit heading to Asia this October 15–17, its researchers have just released a report on five wellness markets where Japan could be the future leader. They include Japan’s powerful assets to drive an inbound wellness tourism boom to J-Beauty being back in the limelight to the country being in a pole position to help innovate the smart, healthy cities…