„The obesity crisis is one of the biggest challenges of our time and it is more important than ever that there is strong and unified global action to tackle it“. In the United States alone there are an estimated 225 million visitors to conventions, conferences, congresses, exhibitions, incentives or corporate meetings. Even if these events are organised around health issues: sadly, they often are unwholesome affairs caused by an unwise choice of food types. Aggravated by a lack of physical activities to compensate the caloric intake, subtle weight-gain is sowing the seeds for obesity-related diseases. In order to promote and secure health and well-being within conference venues, the Healthy Venues Award was conceived as part of World Obesity Federation’s Action Initiative. The organisation represents professional members of the scientific, medical and research communities from over 50 regional and national obesity associations, whose mission it is to reduce, prevent and treat obesity on a global scale.
Posts in category: Article
Saving China’s Heritage
Preservation and Technology
A guest post by Brian Yin
Throughout China, with the massive increase in tourist traffic both international and domestic, there are artifacts and sacred sites that are being damaged, often irreparably so by the sheer numbers of visitors. There is always a balancing act between access and preservation: If access is too limited, sites lose their draw card, but if it is too open, then there will be a finite lifespan to them. The Terracotta Warriors in X’ian are an example of how this problem was approached decades ago – when China was just opening up. When the excavated warriors were exposed to the environment, the paint rapidly deteriorated, leaving the clay soldiers “plain earth” as we see them today. The response was to re-bury the majority of the army, to preserve it for future generations.
Powered by the people: Britain’s first Bio-Bus
How many facets there really are to sustainability respectively to the options of a new raison d’ être for recycled waste of varyingly appetising origin, is being demonstrated by a treatment plant located in the South-West of England. The company’s core objective is to „develop environmentally sustainable waste treatment processes and to increase the production of renewable energy“ in an „innovative and cost-effective“ fashion. Should your argument be that most treatment plants offer similar solutions, perhaps you are right. But this one has been awarded an ‘outstanding’ status in the Times Top 100 UK Companies listings. And it is taking its environmental efforts to new realms – by providing the first public biogas bus with fuel derived from food waste and human sewage.
Germany: 25 years of Reunification
The young boy holding on to the concrete steel bars that reinforced The Wall, was nine years old when the Iron Curtain fell in 1989. The lady next to him became one of the innumerable so-called „Mauerspechte“, „wall peckers“, who secured themselves a morsel of the unholy structure to bring home a grisly souvenir. The „antifascist protective wall“, as the German Democratic Republic had chosen to name it, not only separated West from East Berlin and barbariously split the German nation, but symbolised the rift that divided the entire world in two political camps. Erected in August of 1961, The Wall finally came down after decade-long diplomatic efforts and a peaceful revolution during which not a single shot was fired. Hacked apart piece by piece by citizens and visitors flocking in from all over the globe, The Wall ceased to exist and with it the Cold War.
Germs: Invisible intruders infesting airports and aircraft
Under the microscope, microorganisms offer a fascinating picture. Bacteria, viruses, fungi or protozoa come in pretty, bright colours and interesting shapes: green balls with or red ones without handsome spikes, orange spirals, blue spheres, yellow rods, violet blotches or grey furry polka-dots. Luckily, the majority of bacteria are considered harmless to helpful. Other lifeforms invade our immune system and cause tremendous havoc in our bodies. Against some, no approved and/or effective pharmaceuticals are available on the market as of yet.
The more populated or frequented a place is, the more germ-infested it becomes. Being of the travelling kind and a member of the cosmopolitan crowd: Have you ever wondered about the degree of cleanliness while at an airport or aboard an aeroplane? If you have, what comes next won’t be surprising news to you. If you haven’t, you better brace yourselves. Travelmath, an online trip calculator, conducted a study on the hygiene on site and sent out a microbiologist to take samples from five airports and four flights – with disconcerting results. Albeit, the most unappetising surface is not the lavatory’s door handle, as is often anticipated. Here’s the hit list of the ugliest bacteria spins: