The Wonders of the Eco-friendly...Cork!

Today, I thought about cork. It’s the bark of the cork oak tree, and there's some pretty neat stuff it can do.

Cork is harvested every nine years, with harvesters only taking one-third of the bark off a tree. The tree is fine because the amount that the harvesters take grows back.

This lightweight and water resistant natural material can be used for things like flooring, bottle corks, laptop carriers, umbrellas, and rocket science (where fire resistance is required)! You can also use cork for building bricks. Portugal even made a stamp out of cork!

So next time you think about redoing your floors, or building a rocket, think cork! But, remember to use ‘green’ glue. You'll want your rocket to hold together, and have low carbon footprint.

Stress Be Gone!

The United Nations has done lots of studies and one of them has to do with stress. There is even a label for it, “The 20th Century Disease”. Of course this is nothing new, the report is from 1992. Does life seem less stressful to you now? When you consider how stress impacts health, when there is too much for too long, then calling it a disease makes sense.

Don’t think that it’s limited to just your neighborhood though. The World Health Organization labeled it a “World Wide Epidemic”. So, moving may not be the answer but a lifestyle change may be. Do you really want to stay in that job? Are you eating, exercising, and sleeping in ways that are good?

What can you do right now? You can laugh at a comic, joke, or funny movie. Spend time laughing each day? Laughter is a good stress reliever.