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...
Peace: War Is Not Healthy For Children and Other Living Things
In a times of great tumult, we are reminded of the calls for peace echoed by 1960's activists: War Is Not Healthy For Children and Other Living Things
AMP founders with two Congressional Representatives, from left: Gloria Vanderbilt, Lenore Breslauer, Felica Bernstein, Joanne Woodward and Barbara Avedon
By Nancy Chuda, Co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World and Co-Fouder and Editor in Chief LuxEco Living
On March 19, 2011, my mother, Lenore Breslauer would have been 88 years of age. She passed on the eve President Bush declared war on Iraq, March 20, 2003. US military invasion of Iraq, "Operation Iraqi Freedom" was a coalition forces cooperative. Approximately forty other governments, participated by providing troops, equipment, services, security, and special forces, with 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers. Additionally, 70,000 Kurdish military troops joined forces.
PART 1: Laura Turner Seydel Visits the Green Home Under the H
Nancy Chuda, co-founder of LuxEcoLiving.com and Healthy Child Healthy World, proudly introduces LuxEco Living TV! Our first guest is Laura Turner Seydel, a wonderful mother, eco-advocate and the daughter of CNN's Ted Turner. Check out the interview to hear Laura share her insight and passion for an eco-conscious world, free from chemicals and toxins.
In the Spice Cabinet: Healing Through Home Remedies
The story of sage is truly one that has come full circle. From being a prized herb for its healing and cosmetic qualities, to a useful culinary seasoning, to being relegated to holiday cuisine, then fading into obscurity only to be brought back to the forefront of alternative medicine. Find out more about this robust herb in the latest installment of "In the Spice Cabinet"
Honeybees Living Atop Denver Hotel
By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel takes a step towards sustainability by housing a new species of guests. The plan called the...
Unhealthy America
By Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com
America today is seeing more people being isolated into a world of junk food and unhealthy foods. The U.S is rapidly turning into an unhealthy America with something called a "food desert". What's a food desert? According to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a food desert is a “place where there is not easy access, affordable access, reasonable access to fresh fruits and vegetables — to a grocery store.”
It could be an inner city or a rural town but what they both have in common, besides the low income economy, is their lack of access to fresh produce and to healthy food alternatives. Instead, convenience stores and fast foods with their highly processed foods, packed with refined sugars, trans fats and preservatives are ubiquitous and commonplace. As a result, families are left with few options to serving nutritious foods and their children suffer the consequences. With new generations being fed these types of foods, it is only a matter of time before this growing unhealthy America can see any change whatsoever.
Gross National Happiness: The 10 Principles
By Nancy Chuda Founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEco Living and Healthy Child Healthy World
President Obama's State of the Union address did not include what I consider the essential principles for living a vibrant and healthy life... Nine objectives for sustainable living which nurture and foster human happiness, more importantly, make time to enjoy life.
1. psychological well-being
2. physical health
3. time or work-life balance
4. social connection and community vitality
5. education
6. access to arts, culture and recreation
7. environmental quality and access to nature
8. good governance
9. material well-being
Michelle Obama and Childhood Obesity
By Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com
According to the US government, One third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives; many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. A recent study put the health care costs of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion per year. With rates having tripled over the last three decades and with millions effected and the percentage of obese or overweight children at or above 30% in 30 states, the childhood obesity epidemic shows no slowing in site... YET.
Enter First Lady Michelle Obama.
The Goal: Through nutrition education, healthy food alternatives, physical fitness and a coordinated effort between public, private and non-private sector, the challenge of childhood obesity will be solved within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight.
Grotesques and a Clock: Lotusland’s Treasures
By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
Among Madame Gana Walska’s collection in the theatre garden are grotesque figures, which she hid in the ground to protect during the world war. She also had a garden clock with the different star signs. Her actual birthday is unknown but Lotusland believes that she was born in June, making her a Cancer. Join Nancy Chuda and Gwen Stauffer as they journey through these two lovely gardens.
14 Reasons to Never Doubt Yourself
By Alanna Rosette Brown, a writer/filmmaker, LuxEcoLiving Advocate, and author of Moonpennies. Follow her blog at alannarosette.com
Self-doubt is one of our biggest gremlins, as...
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.
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...
Home is not where you live but where you LOVE
By Zhenya Gershman artist, art historian, educator and contributing author to LuxEcoLiving
I “met” my parents not long after they first fell in love. I...
Sexy and Sustainable Seasons for Fashion:Candice Held dresses inspire an eco-conscious style
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.
Sebelius: Champion of Health AND Wellness
The historic passage of last night's health care reform bill will positively effect millions of American's with immediate benefits as outlined in the House...
The Best Cheese and Wine in the World: Bridlewood Winery hosts Mons Fromager- Affineur...
By Nancy and James Chuda founders LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
Santa Ynez California, twilight time
It's a marriage of two of the most celebrated...
The Oyster Box Hotel In Durban South Africa Is Your Dream Vacation: LuxEcoLiving’s Best...
Standing proud on Umhlanga’s beachfront, directly on the beach and overlooking the Indian Ocean, the 86-room Oyster Box, a Member of Red Carnation Hotel Collection, is one of South Africa’s best-loved hotels
Graco Commits to Banning Toxic Flame Retardants from Children’s Products
Introduction by Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Step back in time. Over twenty years ago when...
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...
Victory For Organic Dairy Standards
New USDA regulations for organic milk have just been adopted earlier this month on February 12, 2010. Family farmers, animal rights activists and organic...
An Eco Home: A Living Sactuary
By: Leslie Harris, Interior Designer, Leslie Harris Interior Design and LuxEco Advocate
I believe that every home should be a sanctuary and that upon entering it one should immediately feel physically and emotionally protected. What I first noticed upon entering Jim and Nancy Chudas Green Home to select a room to design for an upcoming feature in Los Angeles Magazine was that it had all of those qualities even in the construction phase.
How Do You Rock?
From the incomparable Seth Godin
You rock
This is deceptive.
You don't rock all the time. No one does. No one is a rock star, superstar, world-changing...
INSIDE LOOK: Lisa Gautier, of Matter of Trust, ‘Raises Hair’ on the BP Oil...
By Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com
We are in a hairy situation indeed!!!
Tens of millions of gallons of oil have gushed into the Gulf...
Solar Tube Lights: A Great Way To Bring Natural Light into a Windowless Room!
By Trish Holder
Courtesy of Greenspiration Home
One of two solar tube in kids’ bonus room.
“Is that a solar tube light or have tiny flying saucers...
Environmental Sustainability: Why Hipsters Should Get Over Themselves and Save the Planet
By Lush Huxley, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
Are you a junkie for culture? Feel an aching nostalgia for a time you’ve never known? Are the...
Whole Foods To Ensure Organic Claims Of Non-Food Products
By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
For those who spend the extra dough to shop organically, it is fair to expect that a market touting the sale of only organic goods should supply consumers with fodder and non-fodder products on an even keel. One such market, the well-known and widely shopped Whole Foods, is making sure those expectations are met. As of June 1, 2011, the organic grocery chain will require that all personal care products and cosmetics making an “organic” claim can prove it.
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.
Whatever Baby Wants…
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??
The Fess Parker Wine Country Inn and Spa in Los Olivos California is the...
By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Step into paradise. Once you enter the Fess Parker Inn...
Living LuxEco: More is More Green
By Christopher David Kaufman, Internet Entrepreneur and LuxEco Advocate
Those of us interested in clean energy, healthy and non-toxic environments have, depending on our age, been told that we need to do more with less. That we as a “Consumer Society” need to buy less, create less, just stop making a human imprint on the face of the earth. Humans are bad for the earth, our corporations are destroying everything and why bring anyone into this world where polar ice caps are melting, CO2 is rising, and landfills are out of control.
Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve & Wellness Retreat: LuxEcoLiving’s # 1 Choice for South Africa’s...
Bushmans Kloof is Stunning! Spectacular! A haven for culinary delights! A once in a lifetime experience... nothing can compare to this Relais & Châteaux property part of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection
Are we Connecting?
Connected: Looking at love, death and technology in the 21st century
Courtesy of Marketplace
Listen to this Story
Tiffany Shlain, technophile and filmmaker, discusses her new...
Africa’s Development: How We Can Help
By Galen Crawley's, author of A Path To Survival Against All Odds and LuxEco Advocate
In 1979, the British colonization of Zimbabwe came to an end under Ian Smith. After sustained social unrest, the ZANU party, led by Robert Mugabe, came to power. Initially, there was a pervading sense of optimism as this charismatic, highly intelligent individual began to educate the country. In the 1980’s, the economy was growing and Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa.
Unfortunately, what began as a democracy became a dictatorship. During the 90’s the Zimbabwe spiraled into decline. At the beginning of the millennium, the Land Reform Programme was initiated. The white farmers, who fueled the economy with their tobacco and food production, were brutally kicked out. It was the beginning of mass starvation, hyper-inflation, and when the diamond fields were found, murder and torture.
Another Chernobyl? Explaining Japan’s Nuclear Disaster From Gamma Rays To Fallout
Nuclear reactors aren't generally accident-prone, though when something does goes awry, it's devastating.
By Derin Richardson, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
If you’ve been following the tsunami disaster in Japan lately, you’re probably somewhat confused about the dynamics of the situation. While we’re no experts on nuclear physics here at LuxEco Living, here’s a basic, tentative guide on the radiation involved and current events.
Liquid in a Carafe: Christian Frere brings new meaning to the world of French...
Introduction by Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Christian Frere and I met by chance...