Climate and Weather

‘Forest bathing’ takes tree hugging to new extremes
By Steve Rubenstein

April 18, 2018 Updated: April 18, 2018 3:10pm
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There’s a revolutionary new way to walk through the forest. V-e-r-y slowly.


  • Take a few steps. That’s far enough. Now sit down and talk it over with the person next to you, for a long time.

It’s a New Age thing in Sonoma County. Walking very slowly through the forest — while thinking about walking very slowly through the forest — is a full-blown movement. It could be a paradigm. The people who do this call it “forest bathing.” It doesn’t involve actual bathing, the kind with water. It’s figurative bathing. You soak in the wonders of the forest. Take your time, a whole lot of it. And bring a cushion.


About a dozen of us forest bathers were sitting on the ground the other morning at Quarryhill Botanical Garden, in Glen Ellen (Sonoma County), to find out what it was all about. We had taken an hour to meander from the parking area 50 yards down a manicured garden trail overlooking a vineyard. The idea was to look closely at absolutely everything. Examine all twigs. Inspect all leaves. If you see an ant, stop and take it in. Get up close and personal with your ant.

At a half dozen steps per excruciating minute, covering 50 yards takes some doing.
 
‘Forest bathing’ takes tree hugging to new extremes
By Steve Rubenstein

April 18, 2018 Updated: April 18, 2018 3:10pm
  • 920x920.jpg
  • 1024x1024.jpg
  • 1024x1024.jpg

‘Forest bathing’ takes tree hugging to new extremes
1 / 3
Back to Gallery
The Chronicle has launched a new weekly Travel newsletter! Sign up here. Enter your email at the top and check the box marked “Travel.”

There’s a revolutionary new way to walk through the forest. V-e-r-y slowly.


  • Take a few steps. That’s far enough. Now sit down and talk it over with the person next to you, for a long time.

It’s a New Age thing in Sonoma County. Walking very slowly through the forest — while thinking about walking very slowly through the forest — is a full-blown movement. It could be a paradigm. The people who do this call it “forest bathing.” It doesn’t involve actual bathing, the kind with water. It’s figurative bathing. You soak in the wonders of the forest. Take your time, a whole lot of it. And bring a cushion.


About a dozen of us forest bathers were sitting on the ground the other morning at Quarryhill Botanical Garden, in Glen Ellen (Sonoma County), to find out what it was all about. We had taken an hour to meander from the parking area 50 yards down a manicured garden trail overlooking a vineyard. The idea was to look closely at absolutely everything. Examine all twigs. Inspect all leaves. If you see an ant, stop and take it in. Get up close and personal with your ant.

At a half dozen steps per excruciating minute, covering 50 yards takes some doing.
Why do you concern yourself so much, with others people's business?
 
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), a former Navy pilot with no scientific credentials and who doesn’t believe humans are primarily to blame for the global climate crisis, to lead NASA.

Bridenstine will become the first elected official to hold the NASA administrator job. He joins a Cabinet already loaded with people who question the near-universal scientific consensus that climate change is real and that human activity is the primary cause.

The final vote ― which was 50-49 along party lines ― came one day after the Senate narrowly advanced Bridenstine’s nomination, thanks to an about-face from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and a key vote from Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Rubio, who in September told Politico that he worried about Bridenstine’s nomination “could be devastating for the space program,” said in a statement Wednesday that he decided to support the nominee in order to avoid “a gaping leadership void” at NASA.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said before Thursday’s vote that it is “downright dangerous” to put someone without the appropriate expertise in charge of NASA.

“And quite frankly it is even more frightening to have a leader who has made a career out of ignoring scientific expertise,” he said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-confirms-climate-change-denier-184241292.html
 
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), a former Navy pilot with no scientific credentials and who doesn’t believe humans are primarily to blame for the global climate crisis, to lead NASA.

Bridenstine will become the first elected official to hold the NASA administrator job. He joins a Cabinet already loaded with people who question the near-universal scientific consensus that climate change is real and that human activity is the primary cause.

The final vote ― which was 50-49 along party lines ― came one day after the Senate narrowly advanced Bridenstine’s nomination, thanks to an about-face from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and a key vote from Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Rubio, who in September told Politico that he worried about Bridenstine’s nomination “could be devastating for the space program,” said in a statement Wednesday that he decided to support the nominee in order to avoid “a gaping leadership void” at NASA.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said before Thursday’s vote that it is “downright dangerous” to put someone without the appropriate expertise in charge of NASA.

“And quite frankly it is even more frightening to have a leader who has made a career out of ignoring scientific expertise,” he said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-confirms-climate-change-denier-184241292.html
We got a 3%er in.
Will the winning never end?
 
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