WATCH: Inspiring Sustainability at Elon University
By Elaine Durr, Sustainability Coordinator of Elon University and LuxEco Advocate
Elon University’s mission statement says, in part, that “We integrate learning across the disciplines and put knowledge into practice, thus preparing students to be global citizens and informed leaders motivated by concern for the common good.” Elon believes that one of the most pressing issues facing students, indeed all citizens, today is global environmental change. In order to be true to that mission statement, it is imperative that Elon teach its students about environmental change, human interactions with the earth and how they can be good stewards of this planet so that the mission of producing “global citizens and informed leaders motivated by the common good” is accomplished.
Live Green with More Not Less: The New Urbanism
By James Chuda, Co-founder of LuxEco Living and Healthy Child Healthy World
With more knowledge, more consumer choices that allow us to support eco-friendly services and products and a better understanding of our interconnectedness to each other, the planet and the production processes of the things we buy, we could Live LuxEco! We could live truly sustainable. We could Live Green with More not Less!
What if we thought different about the way we live- we got out of our individual little cars and away from suburban sprawl? How about a New Urbanism that teaches us to be self-sufficient while still contributing to the benefit of all society?
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.
A BIG Win For The Wolves!! Federal Protections Restored For Northern Rockies’ Wolves
By Laura Turner Seydel, Chairman of the Captain Planet Foundation, Co-founder of Mothers & Others for Clean Air and LuxEco Advocate
Via Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders wins lawsuit; future of wolf recovery still uncertain
* U.S. district court overturns Interior Secretary Salazar’s action that removed wolves in the Northern Rockies from the endangered species list
* Ruling makes it clear that subdividing a wild population based on political boundaries rather than science violates the Endangered Species Act
* Defenders calls for update of science and regional stakeholder collaboration to ensure continued wolf recovery and proper removal of federal protections
Carbon Free Remodeling Projects: From Edible to Over the Top
By: Molly Rovero, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
The Carbon-Free Home by Stephen and Rebekah Hren boasts “36 Remodeling Projects to Help Kick the Fossil-Fuel Habit” as...
Billboards to Travel With
By: Leslie Harris, Interior Designer, Leslie Harris Interior Design and LuxEco Advocate.
I’ve never given much thought to where billboards went after they are taken down but luckily a product design and manufacturing team called Artecnica created The Billboard Project with 3 great looking and sustainable products. Impressed by Artecnica’s Designing With Conscious program, Media Arts Lab (MAL) part of TBWA Advertising Agency, requested the designers to recycle their large format billboards.
Pure Perfection:From Farm to Table Los Olivos Cafe Dishes it Up
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
The french may think they know it all or even have...
First Electric Highway In U.S.
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.
LOHAS – Lifestyles Of Health and Sustainability – Networking Event
LOHAS Second Annual Los Angeles Networking Event & Reception - Provides Forum for Green Business Leaders.
LOHAS, the producers of the annual LOHAS Forum is...
The Model Speaks! Mark Snyder Receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at LGBT Center
Image: Artist's Model Mark Snyder and Artist Zhenya Gershman, Franklin Londin 3-d Photography
On Friday May 15th, a historic event took place at the Los...
Gamma Rays, Radiation and Protecting Your Health
By Nancy Chuda, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEco Living and Co-Founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Last night, CNN reported that engineers are at higher risk of extreme levels of radiation due to a potential meltdown. In Japan's tsunami-crippled Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) power plant, nuclear authorities have reported that spikes of radiation have escaped from the facility at levels that can be dangerous to human health.
But what does this mean for Americans, especially those who live on the western coastline where the fallout may occur.
The War On Sean Penn
Kudos to Sean Penn because in some respects, this experience was the essence of what journalism should be. He wanted to write this story, and he went to great lengths to achieve it. The issue of the War on Drugs is ever-prevalent, Penn wanted to talk about it, and he did so with his own voice.
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!
Healthy, Green Design: Improve Indoor Air Quality with Plants
By Stephanie Nickolson, Healthy Green Interior Designer and LuxEco Advocate
Originally published at Natural Home & Garden
Air pollution abounds in our homes and businesses, but many air purification systems are not safe to use. A Key to Healthy Green Design in your home starts with purifying indoor air quality with plants.
Have you ever walked into a store, restaurant or other environment and couldn’t stand the heavily scented aroma that someone used to try and cover up another (worse) scent? Well, I have. It’s one of my favorite stores that I frequent and whenever I enter the washroom, I cannot wait to get out of there as the air is so heavily perfumed it makes me feel ill. This is not an effective remedy, nor is it healthy. Anything that exudes that much fragrance is certainly loaded with phthalates. Most commercial air fresheners mask odors but do nothing to remediate them.
The Rangeland Trust: Protecting the future of land and western heritage
By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
There are reasons why you should care and support the California Rangeland...
Beauty is skin deep at Sol Spa
By Nancy Chuda founder of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
"There is a fountain of youth; it is your mind, your talents, the creativity...
Travels with Journey: Hotel Cheval in Paso Robles is a Derby Winner
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Hotel Cheval celebrates the bold beauty and history of legendary 17th...
Do-It-Yourself vs Purchasing Name-Brand Products: Green Technology Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive
You can put more "green" into your pocket by taking advantage of do-it-yourself projects and making your own green technology.
By Derin Richardson, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
You really don’t have to sacrifice your arms and legs to be eco-conscious. Seriously.
Strangely, people still subscribe to the notion that they must maim themselves to obtain quality products--green technology solutions are certainly no exception to this nagging fallacy. Amid the venerable do-it-yourself methods, paying a fortune for novelties like solar panels is pretty silly.
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.
The Point: Reliving a Great Camp in the Adirondacks its Magic and History
Repurposing wealth for the preservation of natures most incredible gifts. An environmental habitat shared in perpetuity and the opportunity to connect with nature.
The Point...
Jewelry Paris style: La Suite 240 has it all
By Nancy and James Chuda founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
Luxury for Less. The most beautiful authentic jewelry, custom designed, one...
InhabitableSpaceFrames Create Affordable Cloud Center Communities
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Two architectural visionaries, James Chuda and David Noble...
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...
Carbon Neutral Travel
By Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, www.EcoStiletto.com and LuxEco Advocate
Everyone knows that air travel is bad, bad, bad for the environment. But according to IATA, the...
Flavorful News in Light of Kellogg Recall
By: Molly Cimikoski, Editorial Assistant
With the latest Kellogg recall virtually banning several of the sugary cereals that children (and the young at heart) have...
Makini Howell: Vegan Queen
By Rachel Sarnoff, Writer and Founder of EcoStiletto.com and MommyGreenest.com and LuxEco Advocate
Who can get Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix, Liv Tyler, Jenny McCarthy, Daryl...
What The National Children’s Study Means To You
By Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Executive Director/CEO, Healthy Child Healthy World and a LuxEcoLiving Advocate
Is there a link between the environment and illnesses such as...
What’s for Dinner?
It’s a question as old as campfire, and the answer is getting more and more difficult to produce: “Hey Ma (or Pa), What’s for dinner?”. The realities of mass food production in this modern age are out there, and perhaps the harshest light of all has been shed on the meat production industry in particular.
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...
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...
Restaurant Review: Get Your Locally Grown Kicks at Root 246
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEco Living and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Having just returned from Burgundy, France as...
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...
Environmental Nonprofit Sues FDA
By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
In 1978, the FDA proposed to ban over-the-counter ingredients triclosan and triclocarban, found predominantly in antimicrobial soaps. According to the National Resources Defense Council, these two common chemicals can cause damage to reproductive organs and production of thyroid and sex hormones. However, it has been more than 30 years and the FDA has done nothing beyond testing. One unnamed environmental nonprofit has had enough, and is suing the FDA for its alleged negligence.
Clear The Air With Houseplants: 6 Tips for Your Healthy Indoor Garden
By Lorri Ballance Laird, Luxeco Advocate
The holidays are over, and for many people in many parts of the U.S., winter has set in with a vengeance. One way to beat the winter blahs might be to try adding some houseplants to your indoor landscape. According to a plantsforlife.org report, not only can plants help boost your mood, reduce stress, and speed recovery from illness, they can also help improve indoor air quality.











