Eco Issues

By Joe Hickman
First published here on July 1st, 2005

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concludes that indoor air quality is one of the top five environmental health risks in the United States today. They say indoor levels of pollutants can be two to five times as high as outdoor levels and sometimes more. (more…)

By Susy Parker Goins

“I just washed my cell phone and can’t do a thing with it.”

I haven’t really washed my cell phone, but I have almost washed my son’s hand held game player. What if I had washed it? What about my grandmother’s lovely avocado green kitchen appliances and her “mod” console TV? And that old out-of-date computer from a couple of years ago? (more…)

By Tara Bzdok

Eco-Friendly Gifts for Significant Others

• Flowers sold in traditional flower shops are covered in pesticides and are grown in South America where workers are not paid a decent wage and are exposed to toxic levels of pesticides, so this year try an organic bouquet (more…)

Review by C. Delia Scarpitti

During this darkest time of year, burning candles can be a practice of bringing light into our homes and our lives. With recent EPA studies showing how harsh chemically laden candles can significantly deteriorate air quality in our personal spaces, we, as consumers, need to be more judicious than ever before in opting to use non-toxic clean-burning candles. (more…)

GET FRESH WITH SARA SNOW
Discovery Health Channel
When to Watch: Thursdays at 8 PM ET/PT

Editor’s note: We’ve had a chance to view this show twice and we approve! Sara Snow is charming and the topics and tips are great. Let your obsession with Ugly Betty go for a while and watch the show on The Discovery Health Channel, Thursdays at 8PM ET/PT.

In the new primetime series, GET FRESH WITH SARA SNOW, Discovery Health introduces its resident natural living expert, Sara Snow, who shows accessible ways to make healthy living everyday living by focusing on the small things you can do to create a healthier life for you, your family and for generations to come. (more…)

Written by Linda Breen Pierce
ISBN: 0-9672067-1-5
Buy now on Powells or Amazon.
Review by C. Delia Scarpitti

Many families inclined toward natural-lifestyles also find themselves in the process of simplifying both their day-to-day existence and the deeper philosophical framework of their lives. A variety of practical and insightful how-to books for the voluntary simplicity movement have appeared on bookstore shelves in recent years. However, the voices of the personal stories behind why people choose to live beyond the frenetic, consumer-based, “normal” culture were largely silent until the publication of Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World (Gallagher Press) by Linda Breen Pierce. (more…)

Review by C. Delia Scarpitti

The popularity of knitting as a pastime continues to grow, especially during these long winter months. But, many current chemical processes used during the production of yarn and its cultivation leave knitters facing an ecological-dilemma even far more pressing than the color-selections at the local fabric supply store. (more…)