This is why I am proud to be American. American innovation is what is going to get us out of the hot mess we’re mired in today. 

A new company called Nikola just announced that they will be building a Class 8 hydrogen electric Semi Truck.  To power these trucks, which are ZERO EMISSION, they are creating a hydrogen fuel cell and battery infrastructure that will span coast to coast.

The hydrogen will be produced using solar energy so it will be 100% clean, unlike hydrogen produced by steam methane reformation (oil companies).  This announcement is a huge surprise, and I bet the oil companies are flipping out!  Yes! 

We needed to hear some good news, and the Nikola One Hydrogen Fuel Cell Semi-truck sounds like a bold step towards energy independence and CO2 reduction.  

What does it take to make climate deniers believe that we are in crisis? Over 100 MILLION trees have died in California as a result of our 5-year drought.  This is unprecedented.  Most of these trees are in southern and central Sierra Nevada but moving north as the drought continues.

Besides the obvious: we need our trees to produce the oxygen we breathe, and dead trees cause wildfire hazards, which contributes to escalation in CO2 in our atmosphere.  HELLO! This is a wakeup call!

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Just read an interesting article about teaching your child emotional agility. Sorry helicopter parents!  I’ve found more evidence that proves that providing that protective bubble around your child actually harms them in the long run!  According to psychologist Dr. Susan David, “How children navigate their emotional world is critical to lifelong success.”  When given these opportunities, toddlers become better problem solvers and teens have better self esteem.  On the other end of the spectrum, those who don’t acquire this “emotional intelligence” may develop depression and anxiety.

So Dr. David suggests 4 steps to help your child manage their emotions.

1. Feel It: Validate your child’s feelings.
2. Show It: Make it okay for your child to show their feelings.
3. Label It: Help your child understand what they are feeling and name it.
4. Watch It (Go): Remind your child about how the most painful emotions go away.

I find it interesting that Dr. David says that children feel stronger when they learn that it’s not about how they feel, but how they respond to their feelings, that counts. It seems to me that it’s really about communicating their “perception” of interactions and moving on from there.

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So I thought CO2 was the biggest contributor to climate change but now I’m terrified about methane. According to Robert Ballard of the Ocean Exploration Trust, “It appears that the entire coast off Washington, Oregon and California is a giant methane seep.” They have found over 500 new methane seeps. 

Check out this video: https://youtu.be/LajZxIQmZzs

Did you know that methane traps heat 40 times more effectively than CO2? Yup.  So global warming is accellerating even more than we thought, which makes it even more important than ever to reduce CO2 as much as we possibly can RIGHT NOW.  Yikes.

It’s time to do everything we can to stop the destruction we’re setting up for ourselves.  We can’t plug holes in the ocean floor, but we CAN control our own CO2 emissions!

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Back in the ‘70s as a psychology major, I remember working in a psych ward with people who had “difficult” personalities or behaviors and had undergone frontal lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).  It was considered barbaric and a desperate attempt to calm patients who were impossible to control.  So when I first heard about ECT being used to help severely autistic patients, a red flag went up.

My first thoughts took me back to the scene with Jack Nicholson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” when Nurse Ratchet managed patient care by using ECT or lobotomies.  Apparently, ECT today doesn’t involve convulsing patients tied to gurneys while electrical pulses “shock” them into subduction.  The new ECT is underwhelming because the patient is sedated and relaxed (not awake) and there is no pain associated with the treatment.

While the public immediately thinks “Cuckoo’s Nest” when they hear about ECT, over a million people EACH YEAR receive ECT and have benefitted from the treatment.  Psychiatrists recommend ECT for bipolar disorder and depression when patients haven’t responded well to anything else.  It’s kind of a last resort.  But recently, a few psychiatrists have found that ECT can calm the brains of severely autistic children – those who would hurt themselves if not restrained. So for now, ECT is a lifesaver for those children who might injure or kill themselves.

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Today’s the official start of the Christmas, or winter holiday, season.  Although I don’t practice Christianity, I do enjoy partaking in the Christmas festivities. 

Twenty-five years ago I built my first Eco-Xmas tree and as tradition has it, we built it on the day after Thanksgiving. 

Read about how to build an Eco Xmas tree here [Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 4], and check out the book I wrote laying out all of the steps to building one!

With all the terrible things that have happened so far in 2016, I am still thankful. 

No matter how grim the future looks when you consider the climate change nay-sayers and the incoming Trump administration, I believe that because we are descendants of pioneers and risk takers we will continue to lead the world as a superpower. Every one of our families at some point were immigrants (except Native Americans) and all of them weathered the discrimination of being “outsiders” to become successful here in the United States of America. 

We are leaders and innovators. Let us not forget our roots and appreciate the diversity that has made us a great country.  Today, I am thankful to have my family, my health, and my future.  Tomorrow, I will fight like hell to make sure that we ward off climate change by getting America, and the world, on board to save civilization as we know it today. 

With Thanksgiving around the corner and Christmas and winter holidays next month, every college-bound senior is stressed out as they scramble through piles of college applications and make important decisions about which colleges they should apply to.

Don’t waste your precious time, and your parents’ precious money, applying to colleges to which you are not be eligible.  Don’t forget these 5 important factors before applying to colleges.

1.  MAJORS: Make sure that the colleges you are considering all offer your top three majors.  You don’t want to change your mind about your #1 major and find that you have to drop out of your college, reapply (YIKES! Anything but that!), move back home, and waste a year in the process!

2.  HIGH SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS: Make sure you’ve taken all of the high school coursework required.  If you haven’t, you still have time to satisfy most requirements.  Many colleges will not accept grades lower than a C-; check your transcript to determine which classes you may need to repeat.

3.  REQUIREMENTS for MAJOR: Make sure that your particular major doesn’t require additional high school classes.  Some majors like finance, for instance, require trigonometry, even when the college itself requires only Algebra II. 

4.  ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS for the ARTS: Most colleges require an additional application and auditions for music, theater, film and/or art majors.  Some of these applications are due earlier than the regular application so check for these deadlines ahead of time. You should be ready to set up audition dates and prepared to send electronic portfolios.

5.  SAT/ACT/SAT 2/TOEFL REQUIREMENTS: Most selective colleges require either the SAT I or the ACT with Writing AND the SAT 2.  International students need to also take the TOEFL.  Check with each of your colleges to determine what exams are required for admissions.  Most colleges will still accept SAT/ACT/TOEFL scores from December test dates.  Check deadlines online and sign up if you haven’t already done so.

Understanding what is required and what you’ve taken can be confusing. Read college websites or call admissions officers to get accurate information.  Don’t rely on online information that is gathered by third parties because I have found many mistakes and omissions that could be problematic for applicants. 

I just read an interesting study about how obesity is linked to memory loss (University of Cambridge). While the verdict is still out, they’ve found that there is a clear relationship between your Body Mass Index (BMI) and apparent memory deficits.  In other words, the larger your waistline, the smaller your hippocampus (responsible for learning and memory in the brain).

Another study found that people who focused on what they ate during a meal would eat nearly one-third less than those who were distracted by listening to an audio book (University of Liverpool). So these researchers have developed a smartphone app that encourages people to eat more attentively.  Apparently, people who take photos of what they’re eating and answer questions about their meals create vivid memories, which makes them less likely to overeat throughout the day. Hmm. So all those people who post photos of their food on FB were really engaging with their food and losing weight? Guess I should start posting my meals on FB!

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Here are several ways you can get tax relief for college tuition without giving those savings to a CPA! 

American Opportunity Tax Credit
If your child is enrolled in college half-time or full-time for a bachelor’s degree, you may be eligible for $2,500 credit for the first $4,000 you spend on educational expenses as long as your adjusted gross income is less than $80,000 (or $160,000 for married joint filers).

Lifetime Learning Credit
If you make less than $65,000 (or $110,000 for married joint filers), you can get $2,000 off your first $10,000 in tuition expenses.

Tax Deductions for Tuition and Fees
If you don’t qualify for the 2 tax credits above, you may still get a tax break of up to $4,000 for tuition and fees if you make less than $80,000 (of $160,000 for married joint filers). As long as someone else isn’t claiming the student as a dependent, you may qualify for this, and you can claim this even if you don’t itemized your taxes.

Student Loan Interest Deduction
If you earn less than $65,000 (or $160,000 for married joint filers), you may be able to deduct up to $2,500 in student loan interest from your taxable income. And, you don’t have to itemize this on your tax returns.

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