Slavery, Chocolate-Coated Slavery

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.

WATCH: Breast Cancer: The Path of Wellness and Healing

By: Nina Montée Karp, Executive Producer & Director, The Path of Wellness & Healing and LuxEco Advocate The reality is harsh: 1 in 8 of our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends will hear the words “You have breast cancer” at some time in their lives. In fact, every 3 minutes in the US, a new woman is given this frightening diagnosis and as many as 25% of these women will ultimately die of that disease. The figures are startling, but here is, perhaps, the most surprising number of all: Only 10% of women with breast cancer have a family predisposition to get it. In other words, 90% of all breast cancers are provoked not by inherited genes, but by environmental triggers. This is critically important because it means that in up to 90% of cases, breast cancer may be preventable!

Olympic Dressage Winner “Monsieur” Leaves A Historic Legacy Behind For Charlotte Bredahl

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

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.

How to increase your life expectancy: Walk to work

By Nancy Chuda founder of LuxEcoLiving and Editor in Chief co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Courtesy CBS This Morning Norah O'Donnell, Gayle King, and...

The Poilane Bakery Rises to the Top

By Emily Lynne Ion, LuxEco Advocate A recent email from a friend boasted the discovery of the “best bread in all of Paris”. For someone who prefers a baguette for dessert over a piece of chocolate cake, I was intrigued. Most curiously, there was a link included. Yes, a link to a website for a French boulangerie. I had envisioned a corner bakery, tucked away on an old street, that my friend discovered by accident on a rainy day (this is always how cuisine stories in Europe go, do they not?). Instead what she’s discovered was The Poilane Bakery, an international brand and premier Parisian bakery.

California, A Cage-Free State For Hens

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed landmark bill AB 1437, which requires that all shell (whole) eggs sold in the state of California be laid by cage-free hens as of 2015. This means farmers have five years to get hens out of the over-stuffed henhouses and into a space where they can stand and spread their wings without constriction.

Hay! Get a Handle

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Here's a LuxEcoLiving4U time saver. It's called Hay Handle.           Time...

High Speed Rail in California’s Future

By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Imagine a world without fossil fuel powered cars! This is what the Los Angeles chapters of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects teamed up to do when they created Rail LA, a group dedicated to "healing the wounds of past infrastructure projects" and helping transition from "an automobile based society to a transit based one." They seek to raise awareness about the myriad of benefits that high speed rail can have for Southern California, such as a reduction in emissions, mitigation of traffic congestion, and countless other environmental concerns related to society’s daily reliance on fossil-fuel-powered transit.

A Review: And So It Goes… Is As Good As It Gets

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World "Reiner's new flick reaps a pot of gold...

Oil Rig Catches on Fire in Gulf of Mexico near Louisiana Coast

By Tatyana Rocha, LuxEco Marketing Assistant At around 8:30 am PST on September 2, 2010, an oil rig caught on fire approximately 90 miles south of Vermilion Bay near the Louisiana coast. No one was killed during the explosion and all 13 crew members are accounted for, with one minor injury.

The London West Hollywood hosts Travels with Journey and Friends for a great cause

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World LuxEcoLiving's founders Nancy and James Chuda with Journey   It's...

epOxyGreen Interiors: Form, Function and Fabulous

Green interiors are now innovative, elegant and easily available in every pricing category.  epOxyGreen, a 5,000-square foot showroom featuring sustainable flooring, carpeting, recycled decorative...

Moms on a Mission Protect Children’s Health

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...

Nancy’s Organic Kitchen: Lazy Days of Summer for the Best Burgers

Heats on. Temperatures are soaring. Dinner time is a challenge and so is the clean up. But what's easy, delicious and always a favorite? In our home it's a good old American burger with melted cheddar cheese.

Interview with Sophie Uliano of “Gorgeously Green”

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Sophie Uliano is the guru of all things green that coincide with feeling and looking gorgeous. An advocate of eco-friendly living without the sacrifice of beauty and glamour, she is the New York Times best-selling author of “Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life,” “The Gorgeously Green Diet,” and “Do It Gorgeously: How to Make Less Toxic, Less Expensive, and More Beautiful Products.” Her breadth of knowledge is tremendous, ranging from non-toxic skin care, to gardening, to eco-friendly home restoration.

La Bomba Vintage in Long Beach

By Dow-Yung Kou, LuxEco Editorial Assistant If you are looking to explore your eco-friendly sense of style, look no further than La Bomba Vintage clothing in Long Beach, CA! La Bomba is a vintage store located on an urbanizing block that meshes a little bit of new with a lotta bit of vintage. The up and coming area is full of vintage inspired salon’s, restaurants, and clothing stores, but hands down, the jewel of this block goes to a little shop by the name of La Bomba.

Who Says It’s Good For You? The Truth About “Non-Toxic” Nail Polish

By: Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, www.EcoStiletto.com and LuxEco Advocate Can nail polish be “natural?” Let’s get real: No matter how many eco-friendly labels get slapped on...

Hats off to history on Derby Day

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World What's a hat got to do with it? The Kentucky...

Travels with Journey to the Montage: Dogue in Vogue 90210 Style

By Nancy Chuda and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and co-founders of Healthy Child Healthy World   Experience ultimate green luxury, fine dining, the spa...

Oil Spill Kills Gulf Coast Shrimp Season; A Culture Hangs in the Balance

By Elizabeth Grossman, Author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden...

The Royal Wedding April 29, 2011: Are Those Green Wedding Bells We Hear?

By Hannah Canvasser LuxEco Editorial Assistant With Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding rapidly approaching, and the highlight to this week in Tivo, many are curious to know if Prince William will carry out green standards throughout his celebration. With the Royal Family’s interest in reducing energy and their environmentally friendly practices in and around the Palace, it is expected that the Prince and his bride will hold the same in their celebration. Although the ever so famous rhyme still holds true to weddings of every nation, it is rumored that Kate Middleton’s “something blue” may actually be tinted a little green this Friday.

Elementary School Garden Inspires Health and Nutrition with an Organic Garden

By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Season Cooking with Kerin In a country where childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the last thirty years, it is refreshing to see teachers like Mark Wagner combat that statistical nightmare. As head of the Organic Garden Club at Palmquist Elementary School in Oceanside, Calif., he’s getting kids excited about gardening and eating right. “I really wanted to promote nutrition awareness. That was my main goal,” Wagner says. When he arrived at Palmquist four years ago, the school garden was a fenced-in patch of waist-high weeds. Now it’s filled with ground crops and fruit trees that the students are not just excited to grow, but to eat as well.

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