Designing With Feng Shui in Mind

Designing With Feng Shui in Mind Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) is a learned and intuitive art of understanding the energy of elements. The goal of this Chinese philosophy is harmony and balance, which some people have compared with the Western Classical ideals of symmetry and proportion. Feng is wind and shui is water. Danish architect Jà ¸rn Utzon combined these two forces of wind (feng) and water (shui) in his Australian masterpiece, the Sydney Opera House. Seen from this angle,  says Feng Shui Master Lam Kam Chuen, the whole structure has the quality of a craft with full sails: when the energy of the Wind and Water move together in certain directions, this ingenious structure draws that power to itself and to the city that surrounds it. Designers and decorators claim that they can feel the surrounding, universal energy called chi. But architects who incorporate the Eastern philosophy are not guided by intuition alone. The ancient art prescribes lengthy and complex rules that may strike modern homeowners as quirky. For example, your home should not be built at the end of a dead-end road. Round pillars are better than square. Ceilings should be high and well-lit. To further confuse the uninitiated, there are several different ways to practice feng shui: Use a compass or Lo-Pan to establish the most beneficial placement of roomsDraw on information from the Chinese horoscopeExamine the surrounding land forms, streets, streams and buildingsUse high-tech equipment to examine environmental health hazards, such as electromagnetic radiation and toxic materialsUse feng shui principles to help sell your houseUse some variation of a tool called the Ba-Gua an octagonal chart outlining the most favorable placement for roomsManipulate surrounding chi with appropriate colors or objects like a spherical sculpture Yet even the most baffling practices have a basis in common sense. For example, feng shui principles warn that a kitchen door should not face the stove. The reason? A person working at the stove may instinctively want to glance back at the door. This creates a feeling of unease, which can lead to accidents. Feng Shui and Architecture: Feng Shui teaches us how to create healthy harmonious environments, says Stanley Bartlett, who has used the centuries-old art to design homes and businesses. The ideas date back at least 3,000 years, yet a growing number of architects and decorators are integrating feng shui ideas with contemporary building design. For new construction, feng shui can be integrated into the design, but what about remodeling? The solution is the creative placement of objects, colors, and reflective materials. When the Trump International Hotel in New York City was remodeled in 1997, feng shui masters Pun-Yin and her father Tin-Sun installed a giant globe sculpture to divert the roundabout traffic energy from Columbus Circle away from the building. In fact, many architects and developers have enlisted the expertise of feng shui masters to add value to their properties. Everything in nature expresses its own energetic force, says Master Lam Kam Chuen. Recognizing this is essential to creating a living environment in which Yin and Yang are balanced. Despite the numerous complicated rules, feng shui adapts to many architectural styles. Indeed, the clean, uncluttered appearance may be your only clue that a home or office building was designed according to feng shui principles. Think of the shape of your house. If its square, a feng shui master may call it Earth, child of Fire and controller of Water. The shape itself expresses the supportive, secure, and stable quality of Earth, says Lam Kam Chuen. Warm tones of yellow and brown are ideal. Fire Shapes Master Lam Kam Chuen describes the famous triangular design of the Sydney Opera House in Australia as a Fire Shape. The irregular triangles of the Sydney Opera House lick the sky like flames, observes Maser Lam. Master Lam also calls St. Basils Cathedral in Moscow a Fire building, filled with an energy that could be as protective as your mother or as fierce as a mighty enemy. Another Fire structure is The Louvre Pyramid designed by Chinese-born architect I.M. Pei. It is a superb Fire structure, writes Master Lam, drawing down intense energy from the heavens- and making this site a prodigious attraction for visitors. It is perfectly balanced with the Water structure of the Louvre. Fire buildings are generally triangular in shape, like flames, while Water buildings are horizontal, like flowing water. Metal and Wood Shapes The architect shapes space with materials. Feng shui integrates and balances both shapes and materials. Round structures, like geodesic domes, have the energetic quality of Metal moving consistently and safely inward- the ideal design for shelters, according to Feng Shui Master Lam Kam Chuen. Rectangular buildings, like most skyscrapers, express growth, expansiveness, and power typical of Wood. Wood energy expands in all directions. In the vocabulary of feng shui, the word wood refers to the shape of the structure, not the building material. The tall, linear  Washington Monument may be described as a wood structure, with energy moving every which way.   Master Lam offers this assessment of the monument: Its spear-like power emanates in all direction, affecting the Capitol building of the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White house. Like a mighty sword raised in the air, it is a constant, silent presence: those who live and work within its reach will often find themselves subject to internal disturbance and their ability to make decisions blocked. Earth Shapes and the Smudgers The American Southwest is an exciting juxtaposition of historic pueblo architecture and what many people consider tree-hugging modern ideas about ecology. A vibrant, local community of ecothinkers- people whose environmental thoughts direct their behaviors- have been associated with the area for decades. Frank Lloyd Wrights Experiment in Desert Living is perhaps the most famous example. It seems that this region has an unusual number of architects, builders, and designers committed to ecoversity- energy-efficient, earth-friendly, organic, sustainable design. What we call Southwest Desert Design today is known to combine futuristic thinking with a profound respect for ancient Native American concepts- not only building materials, like adobe, but also feng shui-like Native American activities such as smudging being incorporated into everyday life. Bottom Line on Feng Shui: So, if you are stuck in your career or have trouble in your love life, the root of your problems may be in the design of your home and the misguided energy that surrounds you. Professional feng shui design suggestions can only help, say practitioners of this ancient Chinese philosophy. One way to get your life in balance is to get your architecture in balance. Learn More: Feng Shui Handbook: How to Create a Healthier Living and Working Environment by Master Lam Kam Chuen, Holt, 1996The Architecture of Happiness by Alain De Botton, 2006Understanding Architcture by Robert McCarter and Juhani Pallasmaa, Phaidon, 2012 Sources: Feng Shui Handbook by Master Lam Kam Chuen, Holt, 1996, pp. 70-71, 33-37, 79, 90; Meet Donald Trumps feng shui master by Sasha von Oldershausen, The Guardian, September 13, 2016 [accessed January 14, 2017]

Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essay

Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essay Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essay Heathly Eating, Obesity and Food Industry essayObesity is one of the major health problems nowadays. In general, obesity is defined as the excessive accumulation of fat and obesity is defined as abnormal accumulation of fat. According to the norms of WHO, the measure for the relationship of weight and height is body mass index (BMI) which is calculated as the relation of weight (in kg) divided by the square of height (in sq.  m.) (White 100). According to WHO, persons who have BMI of 25 and more are considered to be overweight and persons whose BMI is 30 or more are obese (White 100). Excess weight and obesity have multiple negative consequences such as cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, etc.Scientists started speaking about the epidemics of obesity when the number of obese and overweight people started rapidly increasing. Since 1980, the rate of obese and overweight people in the world almost doubled (White 99). In 2008, approximately 35% of all adults w ere overweight (Rigby 4207). Furthermore, the majority of people (65%) live in the regions where excess weight and obesity cause more deaths than malnutrition and underweight (Rigby 4207). There are many factors contributing to obesity, but the main causes of it are the decrease in physical activity and the increase of high-calorie foods. An important role in preventing obesity belongs to healthy eating and the choice of the right products. However, modern food industry offers many preprocessed, high-calorie and carbohydrate-rich foods. The purpose of this essay is to discuss three essays devoted to the problems of obesity, healthy eating and food industry and to illustrate that food industry is one of the major causes of the obesity epidemics in the modern world.The first essay explored in this paper is the study Food access and obesity by Martin White. According to White, one of the important causes of obesity is the availability of retailed foods and their accessibility (p.99). W hite reviews the studies devoted to social patterns of dietary intake and their relationships with retailing. It is notable that obesity correlates with low socioeconomic status. There might be different reasons of such correlation: the impact of local food choice on the diet, the impact of prices on the diet, the availability of healthier products, etc. White emphasizes the results confirmed by several studies: the availability of healthier products in supermarkets is higher than in convenience stores and local stores (White 101). This fact might partially explain the relationship between poor dietary habits and low socioeconomic status. Indeed, traveling to supermarkets and stores with better choice of products requires a car, and low-income households might not have a car or find it too expensive to travel such distances to purchase products.One more factor which influences dietary habits is eating ready-prepared food. It was determined that there were more fast-food restaurants that restaurants with healthier options in low-income areas (White 103). Furthermore, low-income households are likely to choose less expensive ready meals, which are commonly less healthy (White 103). Therefore, White claims that although there are no studies directly showing the relationship between food industry, food retailing and obesity, the combination of socioeconomic factors and retail patterns contributes to the development of obesity, especially in low-income areas.The second essay by Charles Marwick is named Food industry obfuscates healthy eating message. In this essay, Marwick shows how food companies erode the key idea of the health messages promoted by the U.S. government eating less. While the key to healthy weight is eating less (taking in less calories), food companies encourage customers to make their choice. The slogans in advertisements of food companies are modified in such a way that the message to eat less is removed, and instead the message to choose other foods is promoted. For example, the call of healthcare professionals to reduce the intake of sugar was transformed into the message choose beverages and foods that limit your intake of sugar under the pressure of sugar industry companies (Marwick 121). Marwick illustrates how the pressure of business lobbyists affects the information exchange and media coverage of important food-related questions. He argues that the contact between regulatory agencies, researchers and the society should not be mediated by businesses, since the latter tend to obfuscate certain messages in order to avoid losses. Due to the conflicts of interest between food industry and healthcare institutions, the protection of health of U.S. citizens might be under threat.The author of the third essay, Eating and obesity the new world disorder, Neville Rigby, explores the onset of obesity epidemic and various factors contributing to the increase of obesity. Among the major factors mentioned by Rigby there are fund amental shifts in the nature of a typical human diet, the dominance of agribusiness corporations, new paradigms of consumption centered around foods combining sugars and fats. Rigby also points out that less evident factors might be the major causes of the obesity epidemic epigenetics, environmental pollutants which mimic hormones and other biological causes.Rigby, like Marwick, also criticizes the advertising used by food companies which encourages consumers to choose a balanced diet (while still eating non-healthy products). Furthermore, Rigby emphasizes that the interests of food companies are against public health, obesity prevention and other disease prevention. What is clear is that the failure to implement effective measures to improve dietary health makes it certain that the obesity epidemic will remain one of the biggest threats to health in the 21st century (Rigby 4209).The key thesis of this paper is the following: food industry is one of the major causes of the obesity epidemics, and it is necessary to undertake actions at the international level in order to prevent further damage to public health and to stop the worldwide increase of obesity. Human brain evolved during the time when foods rich with fat and sugar were rare and when food was not so readily available. As a result, human beings tended to label foods with high concentration of fat and/or sugar as tasty. Currently the lifestyle of human beings has changed, and it is possible to get access to food when needed. However, a large number of foods is not healthy in the sense that these foods are very high-calorie. The instincts claim that these foods should be eaten first, and the sales of high-calorie foods soar. In reality, food companies are readily exploiting the associations of human brain to increase profits regardless of the impact of such food choice on public health.Furthermore, food companies tend to erode the messages of healthcare institutions (Marwick 121) and disrupt the releva nce of research studies by funding research studies with the results favorable for food companies. In this way, food companies are discrediting the scientific community and affect the mechanisms of protecting public health. Food and agricultural corporations tend to crowd out independent farmers who do not use aggressive agricultural technologies from the market; as a result, consumers are forced to purchase genetically modified foods, foods with nitrates and other chemical compounds. In addition, the expansion of fast-food companies and the limited choice of healthy food products in smaller retail stores leads to further deterioration of dietary choices, especially among low-income people.Therefore, it is possible to conclude that food and agricultural companies have a negative impact on public health and significantly contribute to the epidemics of obesity which is taking place worldwide. It is necessary to adopt international regulations preventing food companies from aggressive practices and to combine these regulations with educating consumers about healthy dietary habits and the dangers of obesity.

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 19

Summary - Essay Example The wages these companies give workers cannot be compared to the revenues they make in their financial years. However, this trend was created by local investors who created a very low wage margin for local workers. Comparing the wages given by local companies and international compared there is about 50 percent difference. This shows how much disregard local companies treat local human resources. On a brighter side, international investments have been of great importance to the economy on India. The country’s infrastructure has greatly improved and many SMEs have been cropping up creating imitations of the international brands (Selzer & Faigley, 395). Regardless of the lack of originality, analysts have argued that this is a good thing since there is creation of jobs (Selzer & Faigley, 393). This whole perspective begs the questions; should there be rules of trade that govern international exploration of local companies? If the rules are created, who will be the least benefici ary? In my opinion globalization should not be governed by financial insecurities. This is because globalization has made the international corporate world effective and much competitive and this leads to growth of the global economy. The article on America’s place on the world is based on the recent global view on the nation. After the Second World War, America assumed the position of super power. A position it effectively exploited with its colonization of European and Asian markets (Selzer & Faigley 379). Its mandate to safeguard the globe has also been effectively executed as the nation is always in fight against terrorism in any part of the globe. However, recent events such the September 11 attacks have made many nations question the capabilities of the United States in ensuring a safe globe (Selzer & Faigley 379). American citizens also feel that the nation has too much on its plate and this is creating a