WATCH: Bel Canto Pop!
By Amanda Nisenson, Opera Singer and LuxEco Advocate
The night before I was born, my mother was reading an article about Beverly Sills, (May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007) the famous opera singer who performed for huge audiences around the world. My Great Aunt used to brag about how she knew Beverly Sills growing up in Brooklyn, and how much she enjoyed being friends with “Bubbles,” as Ms. Sills was called then. The article continued to explain that this nickname was given to her because she was born with Bubbles in her mouth.
The next day, June 17th was the day that I came into the world, and to my mother’s great surprise, I was born with Bubbles in my mouth. She could not believe the coincidence, and announced to the doctor that I would become a singer! Years later, shortly before Beverly Sills died, my mother had the great fortune to meet the legendary singer, and actually got the opportunity to ask in person, if she did indeed know my Great Aunt. After a questionable pause, Ms. Sills burst out laughing in recollection of this zany character from her childhood.
How Facial Hair Is Helping Cure My Depression
I’m a white hipster in his late twenties with a strong political opinion suffering from depression. You know, the antichrist. I’ve spent a good deal of my life finding ways to deal with my depression.
New China Bus Drives Over Cars
By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Designers and scientists have been working on different approaches to transportation issues as they become a greater concern with the ever-growing population. China has begun to address their own issues of overcrowding and transportation with their new concept busses that will drive above cars. Imagine driving through a tunnel that is moving above you!
The Lead Carpet: Who’s going to lose?
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Health World
Lead in her Lipstick? Not Meryl! Not in real life. But...
Dear You, Who Harbor Hatred and Ignorance November 7, 2016
No matter how different we all may be, as humans, we are all we have. We must stop hating each other. We must stop refusing to see each other. We must decide to love each other.
President Obama’s Plea for Hope: To Protect our Children from Unthinkable Acts of Violence
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
An Essay
Like you, I am stupefied. It is unconscionable to...
Seasonal Eating: The Best Nature Has to Offer
By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Seasonal Cooking with Kerin
Before the advent of refrigeration, seasonal living wasn’t an aspiration,...
Fishing Closures and Seafood Sniffing: Addressing Gulf Seafood Safety
by Elizabeth Grossman, Author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
via The...
First Lady Michelle Obama Sends Green Message with Vintage Black Dress
By Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEcoLiving Editorial Assistant
"In donning this well-preserved classic dress, I believe the First Lady is not merely paying homage to a long-forgotten American designer. She's accessorized this exquisite black lace cocktail dress with an understated Green brooch."
Robot Trash Cans Do The Dirty Work For A Clean Environment
By Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
We can all thank the sun for making trash disposal a more eco-friendly task; and while we’re at it, we can also thank the creators of BigBelly Solar Trash Cans. These solar powered beefy looking trash cans are sprouting up on street corners in several metropolitan areas with goals of being more cost, time and energy efficient.
Where can you find some of the best cheese in the world? The Cheese...
By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
I was craving cheese. Not just that typical stinky cheese you find...
Mary Nohr is one of a kind: A mechanic and artist who broke through...
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Artist Mary Nohr Courtesy of LuxEcoLiving
"She's got your back...
90210 Salutes the Brave and Remembers 9/11
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
90210 erects monument to honor 9/11 victims and...
George Clooney Travels to Southern Sudan
Actor, director, producer, and social activist George Clooney has been journeying throughout Southern Sudan this past week in an attempt to bring attention to the war-torn area. The region is three months away from an independence vote which could possibly see the largest country in Africa split into two sovereign nations.
Curb Your Consumerism
Yay if you recycle!!! But there is more to the story!
Annie Leonard's "Story of Stuff" is pure genius! Take 20 minutes out and think...
Poetic License
By Florence “Flip” Ross a LuxEcoLiving Contributor
I never thought I could disclose
My deepest feelings, held inside
To put them down in honest prose
Would...
Michelle Obama Urges Restaurant Industry To Change For Kids
By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Seasonal Cooking with Kerin
Did you know that most kids’ meals in restaurants have twice as many calories as the meal you’d serve them at home? Not only are the majority of these meals laden with saturated fat and salt, but some even reach a whopping 1,000 calories! Such a meal is high in calories for an adult, and for a child that’s just ridiculous.
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
By Bernadette Bowman, Comedienne and LuxEco Advocate who writes the LIFE GOES RETROGRADE series.
Gosh, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to write this letter. I...
Gershman Acupuncture: a True Gem in the Heart of Beverly Hills
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...
Toxicity and Babies: Penelope Jagessar Chaffer’s ‘Toxic Baby’ Debuts at TED
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?
Last Thursday
By Bernadette Bowman, Comedienne and LuxEco Advocate who writes the LIFE GOES RETROGRADE series.
I said “goodbye” to my best pal last Thursday.
As you may recall from my...
The One, The Many, and the Balance
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...
Chemicals Are Stealing Our Children’s Future
By Nancy Chuda, Co-Founder of LuxEcoLiving.com and Healthy Child Healthy World.
This Earth Day, April 22, 2010, marks the 19th anniversary of the passing of...
As TSCA Collapses, Penelope Jagessar Chaffer and Her “Toxic Baby” Fight Back
By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
"Isn't it wonderful that none of us need wait a moment before starting to change the world," Penelope Jagessar Chaffer quoted from the Diary of Anne Frank after Nancy Chuda (Healthy Child Healthy World and LuxEco co-founder) presented her with the HCHW Moms-on-a-Mission honor for inspiration Wednesday night. Penelope is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and the first black female director to receive a BAFTA award nomination. Above all, however, she is a mother, proven by her dedication to complete her most recent documentary, Toxic Baby, despite the adversity that arose in the process. In accord with Anne Frank’s legacy, she waited not a moment before embarking on her five-year journey to make this film and thus start to change the world, one mother at a time.
The Great Green Wall vs. the Great Sahara Desert
By Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
Move over Great Wall of China, the Great Green Wall is coming and it’s much more colorful and eco-friendly. In an effort to subdue the advancing Sahara Desert and lessen drought in Africa, the Great Green Wall will consist of a band of trees over 4,000 miles long and nine miles wide.
Is Antimatter Real?
By DENNIS OVERBYE
Physics; somewhere over the rainbow.
What in the World Is a Higgs Boson?
Peter Higgs, an Edinburgh University professor, discussed the particle that bears...
Hambleton Hall one of the Great Houses of England: LuxEcoLiving’s Best Relais & Châteaux...
If your looking for an experience that encapsulates the beauty and serenity of the English countryside in a part of the world that is known for the origins of fox hunting, do explore one of the places where the famous British playwright Noel Coward resided and wrote. Hambleton Hall ranks as our top choice for 2016
Joan Didion Plays Herself: The Center Will Not Hold
Having watched Griffin Dunne's (Joan's nephew and actor) brilliant new documentary, Netflix, "The Center Will Not Hold" I began craving salted almonds and ice cold cokes; the magical combo that supposedly got her literary motor running everyday of her life.
A Street Car Named Inspire: Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine Goes South
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Oh! How I miss the "eggs!"
I'm so blue...
Mary’s 8 Holiday Tips for Green-Gifting the Senior on Your List
By: Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEco Editorial Assistant for Resplendent Repurposing series
If you have seniors on your gift list, you may be struggling with what to buy them. The best, and greenest answer may be: Nothing, as in no-thing.
It’s the old story: What to get the person who has everything? Most older people have more junk than they’ll ever need – and are trying to get rid of it. Very often they’re downscaling, going from a multi-bedroom house to a smaller one, an apartment or into assisted living. The last thing they want is one more dust-catcher. So don’t buy them any, unless they’ve specifically requested it. (Ever wonder what percentage of landfill contents are made up of unwanted gifts? I’ll bet the number is staggering.)
Save Electricity at Home
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.
Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos embraces timeless history but fuels creative cullinary change
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Emily and Robbie Wilson pay homage to the...
Part 3: Every California Community College Campus and Student Gets a “Helping Hand”
By Merry Elkins, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Ken Kragen knows what it’s like to accomplish the impossible. He’s done it time and time, again. This time every California College Campus and Student is his beneficiary with his Hands Across California campaign on April 17th, 2011.
Right Downstream
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.
Are Your “Organic” Eggs All They’re Cracked Up To Be?
By Lorri Ballance Laird, LuxEco Advocate
For many consumers, eggs are a staple in their diet. What’s better than a yummy omelet or frittata on a Sunday morning? While many food-conscious consumers make an attempt to buy products that are produced organically and/or sustainably, they may be getting duped when reaching for that carton of eggs labeled “organic” or “free-range.”