Lifestyle

Although friendship might not be included in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I think we can all agree that a lot of our survival requisites could not be met without the help of our dearest friends, if only because we would be too sad to roll out of bed and get that vital glass of water. Food on the other hand is necessary by anyone’s standards. Just a few hours without eating, and I quickly regress from a twenty-one year old human into something more closely resembling an ogre. However, when we take the wonders of food and add that very special additive called best friends, the result is longer lasting than any typical meal.

By: Lorri Laird, LuxEco Editorial Assistant “Healthy Child Healthy World has gone above and beyond in creating a real-life example of how to create a healthier home,” said Victoria Di Iorio, Project Director for the Healthy Child Healthy World Healthy Home 2010 Designer Showcase and Tour. Di Iorio, who also serves as the Education & Outreach Coordinator for the non-profit charity Healthy Child Healthy World, recently spoke with LuxEco Living regarding the Healthy Home 2010 project and also shared her passion for green and healthy living.

By Bernadette Bowman, Comedienne and LuxEco Advocate who writes the LIFE GOES RETROGRADE series. Since Father’s Day is this weekend, I thought that it would be a great...

By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant First up on our journey through Lotusland is the Lotus Garden: a center for spirituality. Lotus flowers are significant to many eastern cultures, such as the Buddhist and Hindu religions. This beautiful flower emerges from the murky depths of mud and contrasts the dark water with its vibrant petals.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Step into the world of Suzanne LaCock Browning and...

By Penelope Jagessar Chaffer, LuxEco Advocate and producer of Toxic Baby When Nancy and Jim Chuda founders of LuxEco Living and Healthy Child Healthy World graciously suggested hosting a screening for Toxic Baby, I was thrilled yet curious. The select audience would be comprised of a group of young people, the demographic mostly female and only one who was a mom. It was the first viewing to a group of people who were not scientists, environmental advocates, or those involved in film and television. How would it play out?

By: Linsley Oaks, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant Running across a field might seem like the last thing anyone should do after slinging $12 dixie cups...

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant What says Fourth of July better than friends, fireworks, and good food? For a traditional celebration, not one of those three can be sacrificed. However, you can make healthier food choices without sacrificing flavor. Believe it or not, there are healthy alternatives to the yearly cheeseburgers and hotdogs dripping with grease, and that fattening potato salad. CBS News has shared with us some great recipes that will leave you and your friends satisfied and guilt-free to enjoy the fireworks.

Introduction by Nancy Chuda Founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and Co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World. If you haven't had a chance to...

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant (originally published on eHow.com) In the month of April 2010, the United States spent $25.5 billion on electricity, using a total of 266.3 billion kilowatthours. While those numbers include retail sales to residential, industrial and commercial sectors, household owners have the power to drastically decrease electricity use overall by dropping the residential portion. Home dwellers have many options for reducing their monthly electric bill while simultaneously helping the environment.

By Bernadette Bowman, Comedienne and LuxEco Advocate who writes the LIFE GOES RETROGRADE series. It all started when I updated my Facebook status this past week. Bernadette Bowman thinks that children should be carded at Starbucks. This bold statement after witnessing an nine-year old boy, who I honestly mistook as a “little person” speaking in tongues, spouting the following in rapid-fire speed: “Venti half-white-mocha-half-caff-vanilla, easy ice, with 3 shots, pour affogato (this means: to drown) with extra whip, and caramel drizzle frappuccino.” Parents, it’s three o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon: DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE??

By James and Nancy Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World "One of the most beautiful experiences of our lives! The Dorchester Collection's...

By Nancy and James Chuda founder of LuxEcoLiving and co-founders of Healthy Child Healthy World The Best Cheese in the World Series LuxEcoLiving caught these cheese...

By: Linsley Oaks, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant My Nana is very important to me, and with good reason.  She has taught me so many valuable...

By Lush Huxley, Editorial Assistant Beth Nielsen Chapman is one such songwriter who has succeeded in the competitive field of modern music. You may not have heard of her, but her resume is stacked (as they say). She’s written for the likes of Willie Nelson, Elton John, and Mary Carpenter, and performed with country crooners Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt. Remember the Faith Hill song “This Kiss?” Yeah, she wrote that too. Beth’s very well respected and established among the songwriting community in Nashville, TN, where she makes her home. Her story is an unconventional one. In the 70s, Beth was being lauded among record company big shots as one of the songwriting world’s up-and-comers. Around 1979, her song “If I’d Only Known” appeared next to Bob Dylan’s “Slow Train” in the “Singles to Watch” section of industry magazines across the country. However, when her record failed to meet the expectations of the label, the big money people pulled the plug on her publishing deal. Perceiving her musical career as virtually terminated, Chapman entered a new chapter of her life as domesticated mother and housewife. But the songwriting bug stayed with her.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant You are terrified and frantic. You cram yourself, with six other women, into a three-foot by four-foot bathroom in...

American Olympian Charlotte Bredahl had to euthanize her 1992 Olympic dressage partner Monsieur on Saturday 17 October 2015. The chestnut gelding was 34 years...

By Nancy Chuda Founder of LuxEco Living and Healthy Child Healthy World For those of you who have never been to the land down under, Australia, why not consider visiting Olivia Newton-John's homeland in 2011. I have been blessed with Olivia's friendship for nearly forty years and have traveled with her throughout this magnificent country many times. We gave birth to our daughters, Chloe and Colette in 1986, (six weeks apart) it wasn't too long after that we boarded Qantas Airlines loaded down with car seats, bottles and prams, hoping sleep would be a safe refuge while in flight. Thirteen hours. No way!

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Menopause is not inherited it's a fact of...

LIB Festival: Celebrating over 10 years, Greenest Festival in America covers celebratory spectacles of art, music, fashion, and design.   Who: Presented by The Do...

By Nancy Chuda, Co-Founder of Healthy Child Healthy World and Founder of LuxEco Living Seth Godin is my hero. His book, Tribes has become my...

Sweet Charity for a Mom with a Mission: Health Child Healthy World Arms Parents with Information about Environmental and Chemical Pollutants By Nancy Chuda Founder...

By Nancy Chuda, co-founder of LuxEcoLiving.com and Healthy Child Healthy World A divine inspiration. A remarkable event. An outstanding evening. Jim and I were treated to one of the most memorable moments in our lives—at Coleman Farm’s annual dinner. Their mission is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it.

Washington's Fiscal Policy This Year Takes Aim At the EPA By Slashing a Great Deal of Support By Derin Richardson, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant President Obama signed,...

by Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Approximately one billion Valentine cards are sent worldwide each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. One billion. How many trees does that represent? Perhaps you ought to reconsider. By LuxEco Editorial Assistant Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano

By: Janelle Sorensen, courtesy of Healthy Child Healthy World Looking for a pediatrician is no easy task, especially if your concerns and parenting methods aren’t exactly the same as mainstream America. My husband and I scoured the city for a full year before finding the right one for our daughters. But, it totally paid off. We found an amazingly supportive and brilliant pediatrician whose philosophy was to tell us everything she knew and then let us choose what to do. She had only one provision; if she ever thought the results of a treatment were sub-par, then she would intervene with an alternate recommendation. That never happened and I was always overwhelmed with how much she knew. She could rattle off statistics about best practices in the EU, pertinent studies regarding alternative remedies, and recent outbreaks that could put my children at risk. She was a dream come true. But, alas, we moved. Now we are on the hunt again.

By Basil Vernon, LuxEco Editorial Assistant As we all know it, summer finally came to an ended, and going back to school was in the wind. For some students the end of summer means leaving the nest and venturing off to new lives in college. Going green in a college environment not only makes life a little more comfortable, it also allows for trends to be set for a mass group of people to follow, which ultimately impacts the ecosystem on a grander scale. Here are some green friendly products that are essential to a college students life. Before moving on to your campus, you made a good choice by stopping at your local Target and picked the Schwinn Gateway City Bike. This bike is unique in that it is made out of 93% recyclable material. Honestly, having a bike on campus makes a great impact, it gets you to class on time, takes you into town with ease, and its an amazing way to exercise. At the end of the day a bikes’ main contribution are is gas emissions, and not paying the cost of having a car oncampus.

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, c. 1511, fresco, 480 cm~ 230 cm (189.0 in ~ 90.6 in) By Zhenya Gershman, artist, educator and LuxEco...

Forrest Gump may have been on to something when he compared life to chocolates. You really never know what you’re gonna get in a box of chocolates, do you? The truth behind chocolate is more bitter than sweet. The Ivory Coast produces 40% of the world's chocolate, and it just so happens to also be notorious for this little thing called child slavery. Children, both local and from other third world countries, are sold to farms in this area where they are physically abused while working in risky and inhumane conditions. Some children are sold into the trade by parents who are tricked into believing their children will have better lives at the farm. Others are trafficked, stolen from their families, lured by the promise of…chocolate. In these farms they are forced to work 60 hour weeks with little or no food (depending on their performance on the field). These children lose their fundamental human rights when they enter these farms and “modern” society turns a blind eye to the atrocities. Every time we buy a box of chocolate that is not fair trade stamped, we (often unknowingly) endorse child slavery.

Candice Held dresses have inspired us at LuxEco Living to think outside the box when it comes to sourcing eco-conscious materials. Saving the environment is not just about finding rare and exotic eco-friendly materials. In fact, sometimes it can be as simple as extending the life of the clothing already in our closets.

We thought this was a funny yet poignant video, written and sung by The Capitol Steps, about knowing and having confidence in the source...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World Solvang California, Buttonwood Farm Winery and Vineyard Step out of...

By Nancy Chuda, Co-Founder of LuxEcoLiving.com and Healthy Child Healthy World. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke predicted that America's worst recession in decades would likely...

By: Florence Ross, author, poet and LuxEcoLiving contributor August August ends the summer season But we celebrate it for another reason We have a more important view It...

What a dream vacation! Ultra luxury, magnificent ocean views, incredible service, fab food and the best part is your pets are welcome too.