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Picture of the week   A Lions Mane Jellyfish, the largest jellyfish in the world! They have been swimming in arctic waters since before...

By Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant There is so much joy in bringing home a Christmas tree each year to mark the beginning of the holiday season. But there is a distinct sadness that comes with the sight of those trees discarded on sidewalks after the New Year begins. What if there was a way to enjoy having a live Christmas tree that you didn’t have to throw out only weeks later?

By Alanna Rosette Brown, a writer/filmmaker, LuxEcoLiving Advocate, and author of Moonpennies. Follow her blog at alannarosette.com Make a New Years Resolution: Stand-Up and Walk...

Someone sent me an amazing article from WebEcoist who presented some of the most moving and beautiful photographs of nature's awesome phenomenons that have...

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.

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."

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World How walking can add years to your life What...

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 Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEco Editorial Assistant "And unlike the mindless, wasteful consumerism that our culture celebrates, it's a conscious, conscientious, sustainable lifestyle that is eco-responsible. If you've been looking for a way to live your values, here's a rebellious, joyous way to do just that."

By F.R.E.E. Will, LuxEco Editorial Assistant, Author of In The Spice Cabinet series The purpose of this article and the series as a whole is to examine the ingredients that go into some of your favorite dishes, particularly the benefits some of the more familiar (and some not so familiar) herbs and spices contain.

By Grace Robertson, LuxEco Advocate Keeping Austin Weird With…South Congress Trailers! Austin is a great place to live because of its’ fun people, great music, and uniqueness. Its’ motto is Keep Austin Weird, which is a perfect name for this individualistic place. In my opinion, walking in downtown Austin is a whole different experience from walking in any other city.

Introduction by Nancy Chuda Founder of LuxEcoLiving and Editor in Chief and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World I am proud to say that my charity, Healthy Child Healthy World, earned early recognition when I was a journalist and reporter for ABC news. Our first grant was an Apple computer. The irony in all this is that we lost Steve to cancer. He was a hero. A person with a rare intelligence. Steve Job's brain was wired for success. He had a synaptic response to create just about everything Apple. We lost a legend but we gained a universe that in its totality has created a new religion: Interconnectedness. Life goes on for Apple and I will be true to the core.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant At the March 2010 CeBIT, the world’s leading tradeshow in the digital industry, Global eSustainability Initiative (GESI) announced an important new member. Research in Motion, which makes Blackberry, will be joining the organization. That’s right, Blackberry is changing its color…to Green. The widely popular smart-phone maker has come under recent scrutiny for its practices, or lack thereof, regarding sustainability. One Greenpeace report stated, “the Blackberry Pearl, which lost a lot of points in the life cycle criteria and for poor energy efficiency, and did not even meet the Energy Star standard.”

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.

Are you wondering what to eat this spring so you can be bikini ready by summer? Try these light quinoa recipes to stay healthy and trim down. By: Lauren O'Neill, LuxEco Editorial Assistant With summer quickly approaching, the thought of baring it all and playing beach volleyball in a bikini can quickly become daunting. However, by learning what to eat this spring to shed the pounds and get fit, there will be no reason to feel mortified in your bathing suit. Quinoa is my absolute favorite ingredient to cook with and a staple in my daily diet. It is versatile, delicious, and loaded with nutrients that will keep you healthy, happy, and slim. Not only is it a complete protein, containing all nine essential amino acids, but it is also gluten-free and easy to digest. From improving cardiovascular health to reducing migraines, quinoa has a number of health benefits. It's incredibly easy to incorporate into your diet. When cooked, its light and fluffy texture makes it the perfect healthy substitute for rice or couscous. Below, I have shared my top three personal quinoa recipes that will make you feel great.

  Hatha Yoga in America By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant What do you know about your local history? What stories lay within the paths you...

How do you take the fame and publicity of a recent Oscar win and parlay that momentum for a good cause? Well, how about...

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Imagine if the very thing you used and depended on to protect you from skin cancer was capable of exacerbating the growth of epidermal lesions and tumors. Well that’s what the Environmental Working Group claims may be the case. A recent study shows that retinyl palmitate, a synthetic form of vitamin A, is carcinogenic on skin exposed to the sun.

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 Jason Wachob, Founder of MindBodyGreen.com and LuxEco Advocate Many foodies don't equate the word vegan with delicious, as a lot of recipes don't translate well without butter, eggs, and other animal products. But not when we're talking cupcakes... One of the most popular stories at the NY Times focuses on vegan chef, Chloe Coscarelli, whose vegan cupcakes beat out traditional cupcakes on the Food Network show, "Cupcake Wars."

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.”

By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World Sunstone Winery Santa Ynez California Life happens! Even in the best laid plans...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World "All that is authentic and true to one’s...

By Brooke Rewa, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Being vegan can be a chore; constantly checking labels, feeling left out at gatherings, salivating over things you can't have. However, at the Natural Products Expo I found some exciting vegan products that will make even the biggest meat and dairy lovers drool.

You might think that the greatest political, cultural, economic shock of our lifetimes, right here in the USA, would unleash a torrent of salient and incisive commentary. There's been some good, some confused, some angry. But mostly what I've seen is a kind of mouth-open shocked.

By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and co-founders of Healthy Child Healthy World Las Vegas Nevada, City Center, Vdara/ Travels with Journey Our...

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...

By Florence “Flip” Ross, LuxEco Advocate Since I was fortunate to have just celebrated my 88th birthday, I assume I am the oldest person writing for LuxEco Living. Therefore, allow me to tell you what life was like back in my day, and how we treated the environment. We didn't. We simply accepted things as they were, and I did not become aware of our world and how to keep it clean. It was just sufficient to live it.

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Grown in the sun and kissed by a babies breath I live...

By: Lewis Perkins, Founder of Women Are Saving The World Now and LuxEco Advocate In recent months, I find my messages on sustainability to be...

In its first year, HSUS has started a program called Pets for Life (PFL) which is addressing this and other major concerns.By reaching out to the communities and offering assistance with service needs free of charge their mission is to not only change the face of poverty for pets but infuse optimism and inspiration for their owners.

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Come fall of 2010, Washington state will begin construction on the U.S.’s first-ever electric highway. All being made possible by a $1.32 million federal grant, 10 level-3 charging stations will line the Interstate-5 at 80-mile intervals, from Oregon to Canada. Electric car commuters—now behind the wheel of newer versions, such as the Leaf and the Volt—will have plenty of leeway along the I-5 before the 100-mile charging range of their vehicle runs out.

By Rachel Sarnoff, Interim Executive Director, Healthy Child Healthy World, Founder of EcoStiletto and LuxEco Living Advocate Steep yourself in information about rates spiking to epidemic proportions in childhood autism, asthma, cancer and more, and you’re bound to become a maternal hypochondriac.....At this point, I must sound like a broken record. But believe me when I tell you that the more I learn about the connection between a child’s environment and his or her health, the more I understand how incredibly high the stakes have come to be. This is about our children. It’s about their right to breathe. It’s about their right to live. It’s about doing everything that we can to prevent the nightmares that Nancy, Jim and Christine endured. If this is what we’re fighting for, I’m all in.

By Lacey Szczepanik, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant It only requires around 60 seconds of listening to the news to conclude that it’s pretty bad out...

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