The Frightening Truth Behind Cosmetics
By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Have you ever wondered how your shampoo fulfills its magnificent claims to give you “shinier,” “sleeker,” “frizz freer,” “blonder,” “brunetter,” (…the list goes on) hair? Annie Leonard, author of The Story of Stuff and The Story of Bottled Water, wondered this of her personal favorite, Pantene Pro-V. She looked at the ingredients on the bottle post-lather and thought, “Sodium laureth sulfate? Tetrasodium EDTA? Methylisothiazolinone? What is this stuff?” After doing some research, she found the truth behind her shampoo was disheartening, to say the least. In her most recent short film installment, The Story of Cosmetics, Annie Leonard tells us how it’s not just shampoo, but many personal care products that contain toxic ingredients. From sunscreen to lipstick, there are disease-causing chemicals in our daily product regimen responsible for cancer, learning disabilities, and much more.
Olivia Newton-John on Oprah: LuxEco Advocate Represents!
By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
Our very own LuxEco advocate, Olivia Newton-John was a guest on the taping of Oprah's show Tuesday. Oprah, filming two shows at the Sydney Opera House this week, had a star studded line-up for her travels Down Under.
Where is the Real Beef? I’m mad as a cow and not going to...
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Cows have a voice too!
If you can stomach, actually bare...
Golf Courses: Polluting with Pesticides
After recently writing an article about Justin Timberlake’s newly reopened green golf course, Mirimichi, I began to dig deeper into the potential hazards that non-green golf courses pose and the ultimate cost that humankind and the environment will have to pay. One of the main and most talked about dangers of golf courses in recent years, has been the use of pesticides on golf course lawns.
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.
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...
A tribute to Nora Ephron: Why I don’t feel bad about my neck
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Health World
Getting older. It's not easy.
Nora always found a way to...
Hatha Yoga in America
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...
Luna Red offers Healthy Handcrafted Food: A Restaurant Review San Luis Obispo Style
By Nancy Chuda founder and editor-in-chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World.
Do drop in when in San Luis Obispo. Visit the...
The Compostable Toothbrush
by Heather Clisby Second Chance Ranch courtesy of BlogHer
The latest product to land on my radar is a computable toothbrush, apparently "the first of...
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...
Michelle Obama Urges Restaurant Industry To Change For Kids
By Kerin Van Hoosear, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of Seasonal Cooking with Kerin
Did you know that most kids’ meals in restaurants have twice as many calories as the meal you’d serve them at home? Not only are the majority of these meals laden with saturated fat and salt, but some even reach a whopping 1,000 calories! Such a meal is high in calories for an adult, and for a child that’s just ridiculous.
3 Yoga Poses to Help You Relax
By Jason Wachob, Founder of MindBodyGreen.com and LuxEco Advocate
A little yoga after a day at the office might be just what you need to...
Gershman Acupuncture: a True Gem in the Heart of Beverly Hills
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Menopause is not inherited it's a fact of...
‘What Would the World Be to Us, If the Children Were No More’: Cancer...
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Prevention through education is worth more than cure
In 1991, two...
Emot(o)-ing Good Vibes Is Scientific
Masura Emoto says that he thinks "music was meant to bring our vibrations back to our intrinsic state" and that before it is art,...
Nature is Art
By Florence "Flip" Ross a LuxEcoLiving contributor and advocate
It is such a beautiful world, have you noticed the various hues?
When I step out the...
Autism is America’s Fastest Growing Disability for Children
An introduction by Nancy Chuda Founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEco Living and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World.
In the last two decades, Healthy Child Healthy World has sounded many alarms to awaken parents to the prevailing problems of chemicals in our environment. With an influx of untested chemicals in commerce, coupled by a regulatory system that is stymied by scientific knowledge, the time is now for a complete overhaul of the laws which permit the inhumane testing of chemicals in our air, water and food which affect our most vulnerable citizens. Children are suffering due to these exposures and their health and life expectancy is being altered by an inept system of governance which supplies the demand for agriculture and consumer products without oversight. Years ago, many of us testified in Congress to prevail upon
Life Happened, Part II: How Do You Get Cancer?
By Michelle Dennis, LuxEcoLiving Marketing Assistant and author of "COLON TALK", a cancer survivor's blog.
The day I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, I asked...
Poetic License
By Florence “Flip” Ross a LuxEcoLiving Contributor
I never thought I could disclose
My deepest feelings, held inside
To put them down in honest prose
Would...
Losing Taste, Redefining Creative Process
Photography: Lara Kastner for Metropolis
In each of our lives, we are given a unique set of gifts, challenges and even obstacles. ...
Chemical Creepers: Don’t Wash Your Liver In The Sink!
By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant
The largest organ in, or should I say on, our bodies…the epidermis. It is defined by the Online...
To Own a Piece of History: The Old St. Angela Bed & Breakfast Monterey...
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World
You don't want to miss the breakfast or the bed...
How busy are you?
This article originally appeared in The New York Times
The ‘Busy’ Trap
By TIM KREIDER
If you live in America in the 21st century you've probably...
Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort is a Liquid Gold LuxEcoLiving4U Destination
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Travels without Journey...well sort of...
We traveled to this beautiful haven...
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...
New Advances in Microbiology Look Promising; Microbiologists Embark On a Microbe Mission
Scientists with the National Institutes of Health are on a mission—being called the Human Microbiome Project—to find out what these microbes do exactly. Which ones are fighting for or against us, and how might they have the potential to counteract disease?
Parenting for Peace by Marcy Axness, PhD: A Book Review
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World.
It...
We’re honestly thrilled to announce Walgreens “Ology™” Brand of Healthy Home Products
Introduction by Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World
Twenty two years ago Jim and I lost our...
Wellness: If You Can Conceive It, You Can Do It
Corporate guru, David H. Murdock, advocates disease prevention through wellness with a lifestyle makeover for longer, healthier lives.
By: Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEcoLiving.com
Son...
Anna Getty’s Tips For Eating Healthy With Organic Food
By Anna Getty, Author and LuxEco Adovcate
I have been addicted to organic food for almost 10 years. I know it is better for me, my kids and better for the planet. Studies have shown organic produce to be higher in anti-oxidants; vitamins and minerals (thank you to The Organic Center for your vigilant scientific research) and organic dairy, meat and eggs have fewer hormones, antibiotics and pesticide residues (yes, pesticides are found in meat because cattle are eating feed laden with them). It’s also true that organic farming is more sustainable; it uses fewer resources and encourages community. But above all else it tastes better. Try this experiment. Blindfold your kid and have him taste both a conventional and organic apple. You will see, he will pick the organic apple.
The Yoga Break
By: Joanna Bateman, Luxeco Editorial Assistant
I’m a mid-west girl who recently moved west to California to spread my wings and fly. And if it weren’t for this past August, I’d be one stressed-out-Sally in the big sea of crazy known as Los Angeles. I needed to ground myself so that I didn’t float away in La La land. I needed Yoga camp!
Beauty’s Big Secret: Hidden Toxins in Fragrance
By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Editorial Assistant
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article entitled “Fragrance Chemicals and the Scent of Suspicion,” the fragrance industry has been keeping vital chemical information from the public. The article says two recent reports, one by the EWG and one by Women’s Voices for the Earth, have caused a stir amongst researchers, environmental groups, consumers, and industry legislation. These reports reveal that on the label of any given personal care product, bottle of perfume, or cleaning agent the word “fragrance” is loaded with unknown meaning. Manufacturers have used this one word, a nondescript listing among the other ingredients, as a catch-all to legally mask the dozen-or-more chemicals not actually listed.
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.
















