The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

What’s in your bright, green future?

Alex Steffen, executive editor and cofounder of Worldchanging.com, is a big, green idea guy.

Steffen tracks what’s going on in green innovations and writes essays on the possibilities for the future. The popular book he edited, “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century,” is a 600-page tome of writings from more than 60 leaders around the world.

Tall, dressed in jeans and a dark blazer with his white shirt untucked, he addressed his audience at the Seattle Green Festival and flung ideas out at them – one after the other.

Steffen sees the possibility of the world becoming choked with people, with the demographic tilting to the old and young.

Four billion people in poverty have seen the American lifestyle on television, and they want to climb up into the middle class. The most watched TV program in the world is “Bay Watch,” and the world’s poor are saying, “I’ll take my version of that.”

Educational opportunities need to be extended to women throughout the world, he said, because when women have choices they have fewer children. If education is provided to every woman, population could see peak this century.

While the poor are “getting rich,” our job is to reinvent what “rich” means, Steffen said. Americans need to consume less of the world’s resources, reduce their impact on the earth, and develop a restorative economy.

“We can do that,” he said, adding “It’s not going to be easy.”

Changes are needed in how:

• Infrastructure is constructed.

• Transportation is provided.

• Minerals are used.

• Waste is handled.

• People live in cities.

Some things that are working:

• Mountain Dwellings near Copenhagen, where livable, suburban apartments are stepping up the “mountain” above the car parking space.

• Huge flowerboxes added to buildings that provide shade and food to eat.

• Yard sharing where people garden in your yard and share the produce with you.

• Street lights that turn off when moonlight reaches a certain intensity.

• Meters in the home so people reduce usage when they see the dial spinning fast.

• Car sharing.

• Bicycle sharing programs such as Bicing in Barcelona.

• Tool sharing through tool banks where you can checkout tools.

• High-end purses and jewelry rentals, such as Seattle’s Bag, Borrow, and Steal.

Things that are operational but need to be improved:

• Google walking maps.

• An iPhone program that will tell you when the next bus is coming.

Ideas for the future:

• A smart grid that can take inputs from electric car batteries and other sources which have extra energy.

• An iPhone readout of how much energy and materials are imbedded in a product you can receive after taking a picture of the product.

• Cell phones that pop into components when heated so all the parts can be recycled.

Steffen said the economy of the future is a high quality of life at a low ecological impact.

“We can do it,” he said, adding a better place can be created than what’s happening now with the destruction of the planet.

“We’re all in this together,” Steffen said. People in balance with the planet will make a life everyone can enjoy.

The Seattle Green Festival is sponsored by the Global Exchange and Green America, formerly Co-op America.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

100 ways baby boomers can improve their lives in 2009

It’s often difficult to remain cheerful in these turbulent economic times. News of more job layoffs. Banks and other financial institutions continuing to have problems. Businesses closing.

Although the news can be discouraging, it’s important to think through what’s positive in your life and how to get more joy and satisfaction.

Here are 50 ways to improve your life this year:

 

Health

• Read novels to reduce stress.

• Walk, walk, walk.

• Use less toxic products, especially for cleaning your home and on your body.

• Eat more vegetarian meals.

• Plant fruit trees.

• Buy organic food.

• Talk honestly to your doctor about your health needs.

• Try yoga.

Community

• Talk to your neighbors.

• Find a rewarding volunteer activity.

• Move to a walkable neighborhood.

• Contribute to your city or county government.

• Take a walk in a park once a week.

Finances

• Compare prices before you buy.

• Pay off your credit cards.

• Complain when something you buy or a service isn’t right.

• Figure out ways to simplify your life.

• Read Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan: Keeping Your Money Safe and Sound.”

 

Joy

• Read “Finding Joy: 101 Ways to Free Your Spirit and Dance With Life” by Charlotte Davis Kasl.

• Sign up for the lessons you’ve always wanted to take.

• Say “I love you” to someone you love every day.

• Have coffee or lunch with a friend you haven’t seen in a while.

• Relax by soaking in the bathtub.

• Laugh out loud.

• Sleep in once a week.

• Hold a baby.

• Remember to get as much joy as you can from the present, rather than worrying about the past or future.

• Visit a farm.

• Watch movies that are fun.

• Stop being a perfectionist.

• Visualize daily what you’d like your life to be like.

• Surround yourself with people who are positive.

• Spend a realistic amount of time using the computer.

• Don’t think about work when you leave for the day.

• Pursue your dreams.

• Enjoy the wonders of nature.

• Give up nagging.

• Figure out ways to enjoy your children more.

• Reduce the amount of television you watch.

• Take care of yourself.

• Don’t dwell on your mistakes.

• Pace yourself.

• Be open to new ideas and activities.

• Let go of disappointments and negative people from the past.

Home

• Turn on your favorite music when you clean house.

• Organize one spot or cupboard in your house weekly.

• Use lights and plants to make your home more enjoyable.

• Remodel a room.

• Buy a pretty new bedspread.

• Organize your photos.

• Recycle.

Here are additional suggestions from the article “50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2009” in U.S. News and Reports:

Money

• Recycle old gadgets for cash.

• Choose “Obama” stocks.

• Advance your career online.

• Put your cash in safe accounts.

• Start your own nonprofit.

• Drink screw-topped wines.

• Lose the ‘microwave’ mentality.

• Make friends at work.

• Watch television free online.

• Try that home before buying.

Health

• Bike to work.

• Use glass to store food.

• Take an afternoon nap.

• Get paid for good health.

• Walk the cravings away.

• Get a new toothbrush.

• Move to Vermont.

• Get your eyes checked.

• Add obstacles to your jog.

• Get fit as you get older.

The brain

• Read Edgar Allan Poe

• Publish your book yourself.
  

• Go back to school for new skills.

• Study philosophy.

• Save that November 5 newspaper.

• Silence noise pollution.

• Finish a crossword puzzle.

• Start using Twitter.

• Learn Russian

• Keep a “clothes hanger” journal.

The world around you

• Learn about Abraham Lincoln.

• Plant a square-foot garden.

• Hypermile when you drive.

• Help those hit by the recession.

• Switch to a push mower.

• Air dry your laundry.

• Practice spreading tolerance.

• Ditch the phone while driving.

• Get your news online.

• Buy laptops for kids.

 

Play

• Learn to play bridge.

•  Visit Alaska.

• Celebrate the life of Miles Davis.

• Take a “staycation.”

• “Geotag” your digital photos.

• Watch the Beatles “Let It Be.”

• Teach your kids to cook.

• Play a fake musical instrument.

• Read the book before you see the movie.

• Try your hand at pottery.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Martin Luther King advocated for a guaranteed income for all to eliminate poverty

When I was doing research on what Martin Luther King had to say about consumers, I was surprised to learn that he supported a guaranteed income for all Americans in his last book, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” written in 1967.

King said programs to improve housing and education and to offer counseling to families were sporadically funded and uncoordinated. And, in addition, he said such programs are indirect. Each seeks to solve poverty by first solving something else.

King, pointing out that at the time there were twice as many whites as blacks living in poverty, said dislocations in the market operation of our economy and the prevalence of discrimination thrust people into idleness and bind them in constant or frequent unemployment against their will.

“We also know that no matter how dynamically the economy develops and expands it does not eliminate all poverty,” he added.

“The curse of poverty has no justification in our age,” King said. “The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct, and immediate abolition of poverty.”

King was right about the expansion of economy not eliminating poverty. It’s been more than 40 years since he wrote his book, and poverty in America and its social consequences are worsening.

Citizens Dividend, the Web site where I found the information on King’s book, describes how a guaranteed income for all would work.

It suggests funding guaranteed incomes not by getting money from producers and taxpayers, but by using revenue that wasn’t produced in the free-market portion of the economy – from monopolies, which are government-granted privileges.

An example from Citizens Dividend: When the federal government allows private broadcasters access to a new set of airwaves, instead of giving away the airwave rights to a few big radio or TV station owners, leases for the airwave rights should be auctioned off and the revenue from the auction of leases should go to citizens.

In Alaska, oil-drilling companies operating on state-owned sites pay a royalty to the state, which divides the money among Alaska citizens. It’s called a Permanent Fund Dividend check. I lived in Alaska for four years. It was great to receive the checks.

The guaranteed income certainly is worth considering, although I haven’t heard much about it in recent years.

In 2007, 5.8 percent of all people in married families lived in poverty, as did 26.6 percent of all persons in single-parent households, and 19.1 percent of all persons living alone, according to the U.S. Census.

In 2007, the following lived in poverty: 12.5 percent of all people, 10.5 percent of whites, 24.5 percent of blacks, and 21.5 percent of all Hispanics.

Some argue these government figures are understated.

In 2007, 37 million people lived in poverty, with 10 million of those being black, according to The New York Times.

In 2007, a task force organized by the Center for American Progress prepared a report called “From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half.”

The 12 recommends of the task force are:

1. Raise and index the minimum wage to half the average hourly wage.
2. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.
3. Promote unionization by enacting the Employee Free Choice Act.
4. Guarantee child care assistance to low-income families and promote early education for all.
5. Create two million new “opportunity” housing vouchers, and promote equitable development in and around central cities.
6. Connect disadvantaged and disconnected youth with school and work.
7. Simplify and expand Pell Grants and make higher education accessible to residents of each state.
8. Help former prisoners find stable employment and reintegrate into their communities.
9. Ensure equity for low-wage workers in the Unemployment Insurance system.
10. Modernize means-tested benefits programs to develop a coordinated system that helps workers and families.
11. Reduce the high costs of being poor and increase access to financial services.
12. Expand and simplify the Saver’s Credit to encourage saving for education, home ownership, and retirement.

The guaranteed income wasn’t included in the recommendations of the task force.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Orman’s 2009 action plan offers great tips for baby boomers

When I was at the drug store, I couldn’t resist. I bought a copy of “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan: Keeping Your Money Safe and Sound.”

Although the book offers many of the recommendations you see Orman make on her TV appearances, the book is a small, 209-page, easy to read guide with a question-and-answer format on what to do in these complex, stressful financial times.

She begins the book with a brief history on the financial crisis, saying it was caused by greed. I certainly agree with that.

Orman’s first recommendation is to pay off your credit cards. Then she recommends investment strategies, including her familiar warnings about not using your investments to pay off credit card debts or a mortgage.

Orman also repeats her familiar mantra about saving money. Make a budget and do it.

Her action plan also includes tips on what to do about your home, college costs, and a job loss.

I love Suze Orman. She emphasizes the basics of financial planning that I’ve written about for years. And she does it with passion and a great deal of caring about people.

Orman’s action plan book is one I recommend strongly.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Vegetarian cookbook offers great information, recipes on eating foods low on the glycemic index

I was lucky to get a great new cookbook as a Christmas present from my daughter. It’s called “The New Glucose Revolution Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook” by Jennie Brand-Miller, Ph.D., Kaye Foster-Powell, R.D., and Kate Marsh, R.D.

The thing that sets the book apart from other vegetarian books and cookbooks is information on foods as rated by the glycemic index. The index is a system that ranks foods by the speeds at which their carbohydrates are converted into glucose in the body.

Why is this important? Vegetarians eat a lot of carbohydrates. That’s even truer for vegans, who don’t eat dairy products or eggs. When you eat too many high GI foods, they’re digested rapidly and cause a quick rise in blood glucose. Insulin, a hormone that takes glucose from blood to be stored in cells, pours out of the pancreas.

 

If people eat high GI meals frequently, they could develop high insulin levels, which leads to insulin resistance, according to the authors of the book. With insulin resistance, cells that normally respond to insulin become resistant to it. The body thinks it needs to make more insulin to do its work. When the pancreas is worn out and doesn’t produce enough insulin to normalize blood glucose levels, type 2 diabetes occurs.

Eating more low GI carbohydrates, according to the authors of the book, will:

• Reduce your insulin levels.
• Lower your cholesterol levels.
• Help control your appetite.
• Half your risk of heart disease and diabetes.

What are some examples of high and low GI foods offered in the book? Instead of biscuits, eat whole grain bread. Replace cakes and pastries with whole grain raisin toast, fruit buns, yogurt, or low-fat mousses. Don’t eat French fries. Try a salad or extra vegetable serving instead. For rice, use basmati rice, Japanese koshirari rice, pearl barley, cracked wheat (bulgur), quinoa, pasta, or noodles.

Some recipes offered in the book for vegan adults include: Chickpea and Vegetable Curry With Cumin-Flavored Rice; Vegetarian Pad Thai; Three-Bean Chili With Spicy Tortilla Crisps; Spaghetti With Steamed Greens and White Beans; and Lentil and Sunflower-Seed Burgers.

I became a vegan in August and have been concerned about eating so many carbohydrates. This cookbook is that what I needed to eat lower GI foods.

 

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Books for baby boomers

AARP The Magazine and Publishers Weekly are teaming up in "Books for Grownups" to let baby boomers know about the latest fiction, nonfiction, and lifestyle/self-help books of interest to the Boomer Nation.

Among the current offerings are:

Fiction

• "Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me" by Martin Millar –Millar's trip back to the Sixties tells the story of a mildly fictitious young Millar whose life is forever changed by a Led Zeppelin concert.

• "Man in the Dark" by Paul Auster – This tale features an aging book critic whose imagined characters come to life and set out to assassinate him.

 Nonfiction

• "Hippocrates' Shadow: Secrets from the House of Medicine" by David H. Newman, M.D. -- An emergency-room physician reveals some of the less savory parts of medical care – the little time physicians spend observing their patients; the dubious benefits of certain treatments; the imprecision of X-rays, EKGs, and symptom interpretation; and how little physicians are trained – or inclined – to communicate honestly with patients.

• "The Letters of Allen Ginsberg" Edited by Bill Morgan – The Beat icon's life – from literary efforts to LSD experiments – is revealed in more than 3,700 letters to fellow poets, journalists, and politicians, ranging from Jack Kerouac to Ezra Pound to Bill Clinton.

Life style/self-help

• "Energy Medicine: Balancing Your Body's Energies for Optimal Health, Joy, and Vitality" by Donna Eden with David Feinstein – Eden conducts workshops and offers lectures on the ancient practice of healing the body using its own energy systems. She explains that by keeping these energy systems balanced and flowing people can help prevent illness, promote well-being, aid the body in self-healing, and receive better results from traditional medicine.

• "Branding Only Works on Cattle: The New Way to Get Known" by Jonathan Salem Baskin – Baskin believes branding is an outmoded marketing strategy, and he presents arguments for new techniques that influence consumer choices.

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What happened to regulations on investment banks?

It’s going to take time for any bailout of the financial markets to have an effect, Nomi Prins, former investment banker and author of “Other People’s Money: The Corporate Mugging of America,” said today on National Public Radio.
 
That’s not good news. We’d all like this financial crisis to be over and behind us so we could move to a brighter financial future.

In recent news reports, the lack of the willingness of the Bush administration to regulate the banking industry has been covered.
 
Prins also talks about the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which separated riskier, speculative investment banks from the more consumer-oriented commercial banks. And, it provided safeguards to the entire financial system.

Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999, in a bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The new law was called the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act. U.S. Senator Phil Graham, R-Texas, introduced the bill in the Senate. The banking industry had been seeking the repeal of Glass-Steagall since at the 1980s.

Does Prins think the proposed bailout, with provisions similar to the savings and loan bailout, will solve the financial crisis?
 
Not really, she said in an article on the Mother Jones Web site, “Will the Government Bailout Work?”

The packaged mortgage assets today are much more complicated than they were 20 years ago, and the entangled credit default products less transparent. Plus, S&Ls were regulated by the government, whereas the institutions that could benefit from such a fund today, like investment banks and hedge funds and insurance companies, are not.

Prins also said in the article that Washington is using the regulations that it didn't destroy to attempt to deal with the financial crisis. "It would be much better if they were discussing how to resurrect the ones they did."

Check out Prins’ article for further details.

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

If you're discouraged, here's a guide for boomer living

Amy Sherman, a mental health counselor, believes boomers can get what they want in mid-life if they take charge and reshape their vision for the future.

In Sherman's e-book, "Distress-Free Aging: A Boomer's Guide to Creating a Fulfilled and Purposeful Life," she sets out 10 strategies boomers can use to explore what they want to do as they grow older.

The strategies include looking at:

1. Your belief system.
2. Your outlook.
3. Your flexibility.
4. Your self-esteem and self-love.
5. Your self-motivation.
6. Your sense of control.
7. How to see problems as challenges.
8. How you release emotions.
9. Your sense of humor.
10. How to apply what you know.

Exercises are included at the end of the discussion of each strategy.

Sherman says her e-book is for boomers who are concerned about their future or who are discouraged or disappointed about where they are in their lives.

For more information, see Sherman's Web site www.bummedoutboomer.com.

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Who’s driving you crazy?

Are boomers busy, busy, busy because they’re filled with anxiety and don’t know how to enjoy down time?

That’s what Jennifer Nicholson Graham contends in her article “American Idle: Never Before Has an Entire Generation Had So Much Time in Which to Do So Little,” which appeared in The Boston Globe

When I read the article, it didn’t ring true for me. There’s so much to do these days: run the household, work, cook, clean, help with the grandchildren, take care of the yard, blog, visit friends, buy clothes, exercise, file articles, pay bills, wash the car, take care of my health, do the laundry, help relatives, help friends, participate in community activities, go to church, be an informed voter, and many other tasks.

Life is busy, busy, busy because we have so many things that need to be done.

To me, it doesn’t seem that boomers run from one task to the other because they feel uneasy with nothing to do.

I decided not to blog about Graham’s article, because, although it was cleverly written, I didn’t think she didn’t come to a conclusion that offered a big truth.

But her article came to mind when I listened to a National Public Radio program in which Stephen Bezruchka, M.D., discussed his book “Is America Driving You Crazy?”  Bezruchka teaches at the University of Washington and works as an emergency room physician in Seattle, Wash.

Mental illness rate high in U.S.

America has the highest rate of mental illness in the world, he said in his talk. The number of Americans suffering from mental illness has nearly doubled since 1987. That's when Prozac, the first of the "wonder drugs," was introduced.

Mental disorders are reported in more than 25 percent of returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. More than one in four college students are now on anti-depressants. The number of children taking drugs for behavior disorders and depression increased six fold between 1993 and 2002.

Depression and anxiety increasing despite new drugs for treatment

Even with all the new drugs available for treatment, depression and anxiety disorders continue to rise.

Bezruchka believes our drug-based system of care is fueling this epidemic. The drugs used to treat depression and mental illness cause problems when used long term.

Public policy changes needed

He would like to see public policies changed on how mental illness is treated and how children are cared for.

In the first two years of life, children form attachments to the two main figures in their lives. In Sweden, both parents are given a year of mandatory maternity leave with full pay. They have an option for a second year at 80 percent pay. Then government-sponsored day care is available operated by teachers who must have a master’s degree.

In America, neo-economic theory, where money trickles down from the rich to the working people, makes it difficult for people to make ends meet, causing stress in their lives.

Before America’s total reliance on drugs to treat mental illness, the people with mental illnesses received treatment in therapeutic communities.

Bezruchka would like to see America develop a therapeutic society where people have real, stable, face-to-face encounters. People need community, respect, friendship, and support. This is less likely to happen when a big gap between occurs the rich and poor.

He urges people to work together to being about changes that will improve America’s support systems and mental health.

I think Bezruchka has done some good thinking about why Americans live stressful lives.

Click on the link above to hear his talk.

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Is your household too fat and bursting at the seams with clutter? These clutter tips help put your house on a diet

When I attended the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference recently, I met Rita Rosenkranz, one of the authors of the book “Put Your House on a Diet: Declutter Your Home and Reclaim Your Life.” The co-authors of the book are Ed Morrow and Sheree Bykofsky.

Ed Morrow agreed to do an e-mail interview about the book. My questions and his answers follow:

Rita: How did you and your co-authors get the idea to write a clutter book called ‘Put Your House on a Diet?’

Ed: Rita Rosenkranz was moving and wasn’t sure she wanted to keep everything she’d acquired over the years. While having lunch with Sheree, they joked about how Rita should put her household on a diet. Both women are successful literary agents, and they realized that there was a book in the concept of ‘clutter dieting.’ They approached me with their idea. Sitting in my office, surrounded by books stacked to the ceiling, I was intrigued.

Rita: Your book is filled with helpful tips for reducing clutter. What techniques are especially helpful to baby boomers?

Ed: Like many of your readers, I had parents who grew up during the Great Depression. They wanted to pass on what they had learned about thrift. Mom said, ‘Clean your plate; there are kids in (insert name of an impoverished nation) who would love to have that (liver, Brussels sprouts, or some other unpleasant food).’ I would offer to stick a stamp on my leftovers and mail them overseas, but Mom never relented. Depression-influenced parents insisted their kids ‘waste not, want not.’

Boomers learned to feel guilty if they threw out something that was ‘still good.’ While thrift is virtuous, it can fill your home with clutter if you confuse discarding excess possessions with being wasteful.

You can avoid guilt by donating possessions that aren’t used up. Unlike the food that I, with youthful callousness, offered to mail to the needy, your extra raincoat or spare china can be given to someone in need.

Rita: You say in ‘Put Your House on a Diet’ that a house with too much stuff is physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining. Why is that?

Ed: Clutter can blight your life by simply getting in the way. Cooking, for example, can be difficult and frustrating when you can’t find an implement you need because it’s lost in a drawer it shares with old pizza coupons. A well-ordered home lets you work efficiently which is calming to the mind and soothing to the soul.

Rita: What is the best way for people to decide what to keep when they begin decluttering? I've seen an organizer on television whip a family into shape by giving them 20 minutes to clean up each room. That seems harsh. What do you recommend?

Ed: ‘Tough love’ approaches encourage hard choices. You don’t, however, have to use a timer; you can use your imagination. One of the decluttering gambits we suggest in ‘Put Your Home on a Diet’ is that you imagine you’re moving to an outpost in the Yukon. All your stuff will have to go by dog sled. Do you really want some poor huskies sweating themselves silly hauling your Elvis plate collection across the frozen wastes? Think of the imploring eyes of the puppies as you choose what to keep.

Any device that encourages you to declutter is useful, but we need to develop good habits to provide lasting results.

Rita: What are the three best storage items people can buy to help them be organized?

Ed: Good shelves invite you to store your stuff well. Plastic shelves, available for about $50 at your hardware store, are sturdy, simple to assemble, and don’t rust.  Rickety steel shelves or haphazardly banged together wooden shelves may be dangerous when piled high with clutter.

Good boxes are also important. Clear plastic storage boxes allow you to see what they contain but are expensive. An ordinary cardboard box, labeled well, can be nearly as useful.

Another useful storage item, which you create rather than buy, is a ‘treasure map.’ This is a drawing of your storage area describing what is stored where. It can be extremely useful in finding items when they are needed.

Rita: What else do boomers need to know for their home “diet’ to be successful?

Ed: We need to understand that decluttering is an ongoing activity, a bit like the war on crime. The police may bust up a racket or jail the head of a crime family but other rackets and other mob bosses replace them. You can tidy up your sock drawer or clean out a closet but clutter returns. Don’t confuse this recurrence with failure. Like the police, we will never eradicate our foe but we can keep clutter in check. Just don’t quit trying.

Rita: Thanks, Ed. My readers and I appreciate your clutter tips.

Copyright 2008, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist