Nature Even Sc-Fi Couldn’t Out-Bizarre

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...

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,...

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...

Organic Produce, Sustainable Farming and Earthbound Cooking: Myra Goodman

Leader in the organic produce business and in sustainable farming practices, Myra Goodman inspires us with eco-tips and organic recipes with her new book The Earthbound Cook. organic produce sustainable farm earthbound cooking By Sahar Ghaffari, LuxEco Editorial Assistant Sustainable farming business woman, Myra Goodman is a popular cookbook author and co-founder of the organic Earthbound Farm, which she started in 1984 with her husband Drew. Her passion for organic foods has catapulted Earthbound Farm into the country's largest grower of organic produce. Myra and Drew's organic and sustainability initiatives have garnered them numerous awards and honors including Global Green USA’s Corporate Environmental Leadership Award and the Organic Trade Association’s Organic Leadership Award. As the author of two successful cookbooks, Food to Live By, and now The Earthbound Cook, Myra is spreading the message that fresh organic foods and produce are not only healthy and delicious, but vital to the sustainability of the environment.

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.

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.

Chemical Creepers: Toxic Textiles

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant These days, any given suited politician, uniformed worker, outfitted student, or swaddled infant wears a garment no far cry from that of Iron Man. Synthesized and industrialized just like the incredible transforming suit, our clothing comes with all sorts of modern finishes. We purchase the wrinkle-free, stain resistant, flame retardant, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-static, odor-resistant, permanent-press, non-shrink fabric, smoothed-to-boot with softening agents. But the irony in this is that these resistant retardant protectants end up doing more harm than good. Every anti-fill-in-the-blank means more chemicals in your clothing.

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.

Green Lightning. Go, Green Lightning, 2011.

Green Lighting: Lightning in a Bottle Festival covers celebratory spectacles of art, music, fashion, and design. By Lush Huxley, Editorial Assistant LuxEco Living On a bright...

Vegetarian Once a Week? Flexitarians Enjoy Just Another Meatless Monday

By Hannah Canvasser LuxEco Editorial Assistant Vegetarians can receive the proper proteins and nutrients they need with many health benefits. The trick? Eating meat, occasionally. Obesity is a current main health topic because it is unfortunately a growing one. With obesity rates rising in America many studies have aimed their focus to find the root of the problem, narrowing in on eating trends in the United States. It was typical of my grandparent’s generation to sit down to red meat three times a day. Maybe some sausage and eggs for breakfast, a beef casserole for lunch, and meatloaf and french bread for dinner; sound a little excessive on the arteries? In 1971, Vegetarians and Vegans became popular with Frances Moore Lappé's publication of Diet for a Small Planet- revealing the waste build up behind grain-fed meat production, and arguing that a plant diet is best for one’s body and the earth. Though Lappe was one of the first to come out with valid arguments against grain-fed meat production, being a Vegetarian does have its set-backs, and receiving proper proteins and nutrients wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

If I Could

Hands by Guido Daniele Hands by Guido Daniele By Florence "Flip" Ross, LuxEcoLiving Advocate and Contributor If I could bring the planet Earth, back to its natural beauty If I could sing its praise, and make the world assume its duty If I could make the industries clean up their foul pollution Our air, our water, would be clean, and would be the solution If I could force our corporations to help clean up our planet

Dear Mainstream Authors, Stop Bashing Independent Publishing and Get a Clue

By Alanna Brown, a LuxEcoLiving Advocate, creator of Brown House Online, and author of Moonpennies They're like the bullies on the playground. Those snot-nosed, mainstream-published...

The Farm Effect: Are you allergic to nature?

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World Get outdoors and enjoy the breeze it's good for you   I...

Nick Gentry & the Modern Life Cycle

Technological advancement is phenomenon that both delights and baffles us as we try to keep up with changes that evolve at lightening speeds.  Billions...

Fire and Ice: Jim Whittaker, 83, revisits Everest and shares memories from beyond

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World "If you aren't living on the edge, you're taking up...

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...

A Time for Prevention: Safer Chemicals for Healthier Children

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World and contributing author Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc Dean...

My 10 Re-Commandments

By Zhenya Gershman, Artist, Educator and LuxEco Advocate 1. The true deadly sin is not to make art 2. The only taboo in art is bad art 3....

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.

Zulu Camp Shambala Private Game Reserve in South Africa: LuxEcoLiving’s Best Wildlife Experience

"It will awaken your senses not only to the beauty of nature but to the plight of South Africa's wildlife, many of which are teetering on a thin line for survival.

Got Legs? Get LifeSpan!

By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World Why Your Health Matters Most Walk don't run while searching Google for the...

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...

Bravo Betty!

By Nancy Chuda, Founder of LuxEcoLiving.com Betty White makes 88 look like a new-aged hippie whose secret is more than just getting good dietary fiber....

Apple Needs Customer Care Repair

Pope Francis, called the unfettered pursuit of money "the dung of the devil." Capitalism is key when it comes to Apple.

How Green are E-Books and E-Book Readers?

By Alanna Brown, a LuxEco Living Advocate, creator of Brown House Online, and author of Moonpennies   We all love the feel of a new paperback...

The Lorax Movie Denies Children A Universal Truth

By Nancy Chuda Founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful...
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The New Waldorf Astoria Welcomes Travels with Journey: 8 Paws and Counting

If you think Beverly Hills has lost it's elegance and classic history step into the lobby of the new Waldorf Astoria and dream again. This remarkable hotel has brought new meaning to "life at the top". It is A-listed beyond a doubt. And best dog-friendly hotel in the world.

Travels with Journey to San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel: A Sweet Spot Stay In The...

Journey left his heart in San Francisco and was thrilled to be invited back to the one and only Fairmont Hotel. This time our boy wonder got to stay in the Tower Suite named after the Spreckels family. What a treat!

How Fit Are You?

The holidays are coming. You just spent a fortune on that special cream that is meant to reduce stretch marks but did you ever...

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.

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...

Lanvin is timeless and elegant thanks to Alber Elbaz

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World.   In Paris, fashion takes on new heights when it comes...

Community Gardening With Common Ground

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” In the 1970s, several senators began to recognize a literal truth behind this Chinese proverb. They realized the importance of teaching the man how to provide his own food source. When the government grasped the self-sufficiency and power of being able to fish, or in this case garden, they began granting $100,000 per year to gardening programs. This evolved to $100,000 to each of 20 metro areas around the United States, one of them being Los Angeles.

A Review: The Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara is in a class all...

By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World To B or not to B at the Four Seasons...

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