Global Citizenry

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.

Just last month marks the fifth year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the catastrophic natural disaster that claimed more than 1,800 lives in the Gulf coast region with damages totaling $80 billion. After the devastation of the hurricane and consequent flooding, it seemed to its residents and many around the world that New Orleans, specifically, was making a painstakingly slow recovery. Frustrated by the sluggish progress, actor Brad Pitt founded the Make It Right Foundation in 2007 to help rebuild the hardest hit region of New Orleans, the Lower 9th ward.

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

By Jessica Borges, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant Move over Great Wall of China, the Great Green Wall is coming and it’s much more colorful and eco-friendly. In an effort to subdue the advancing Sahara Desert and lessen drought in Africa, the Great Green Wall will consist of a band of trees over 4,000 miles long and nine miles wide.

by Elizabeth Grossman, Author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and...

By Elizabeth Grossman, Author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden...

By: Bethany Colson, Managing Editor of LuxEco Living. In Part I of my interview with Lisa Gautier, Founder of  Matter of Trust, she helped us...

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...

By Alanna Brown, LuxEco Living Editorial Assistant A five-day, four-night trek on the Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu is more, in many ways, than...

Michael Bernard Beckwith, Founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, has galvanized a community of thousands of followers in his trans-denominational movement. Beckwith's ability to...

Did you know that: We are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14%...

Traveling is a look into culture, tradition and history.  Learning about Médici's Renaissance Florence might give you a more profound appreciation of art, religious...

Imagine trekking on foot through the rhododendron forests of the Sherpa homeland of Nepal's Khumbu Valley that lies below the ice-capped Mount Everest where...