Take a deep breath.

The past few weeks were quite stressful for a lot of people. So stressful that I’ve noticed a bad trend surfacing among my friends: extreme sniping.

Stressing way out

Anyone knows that living with constant stress isn’t great for your health or relationships. That fact has presented itself via my social media news feeds, and in my “real” life more than a few times this past week.

Look, we’re all exhausted. Since the president was sworn in, America has witnessed two straight weekends of protests. Many Americans, myself included, wake up most mornings with a knot in their stomach wondering, “what happened since I went to sleep and how is it going to hurt my loved ones.”

So, how do we combat this fear? I’m going to present a few things that have helped me calm down.

Unplug from social media

I can’t tell you how much time I spent Saturday scrolling through Twitter, heartbroken, reading the various stories of immigrants coming to the United States only to be turned away. I basically fell into a clickhole of sadness and despair.

While I think it’s important to read about these experiences, spending more than an hour reading stories and skimming disparaging remarks about immigrants doesn’t help.

If you feel yourself falling into that sadness pit, get off Twitter, log off Facebook and go to the ACLU’s website to see what you can do.

Physical action can help ease frustration in a few ways. First, you feel like you’re actually doing something rather than reveling in the never-ending pit of pure sadness that is the Internet. Second, if you choose to physically do something, other like-minded people will work with you. Together, all of you can make change and that’s more satisfying than telling an Internet troll to go fuck himself.

Listen and pause

Every issue that’s coming to light in America right now—think racism, sexism and I can’t believe I’m saying this:Nazism—is incredibly emotional. And for good reason. People have lived through wars, holocausts, rapes, hate crimes and still—still!—there are people in this country who think certain ethnicities and religions are inherently less than, or evil.

Although all this emotion is warranted, it can cause people to get a little… grumpy. Mix that with fear, little sleep and anxiety, and you’ve got an optimal environment for fighting with friends.

It can be very easy to take conversational topics and opinions about politics personally when nerves are raw. I know I’ve taken a criticism personally at least once in the last two weeks. But if all of us who are on the same side—the side of equality—stop listening and start in-fighting, we are screwed.

Listen to your friends and allies opinions and pause before reacting. Digest information before you jump down their throats. It’s never easy to hear you could be a better ally, but feedback is necessary for growth. And so is listening.

Speak softly

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve yelled at my television this past week. Trump firing an attorney general, telling his press secretary to tell political objectors to shut up or get out and imposing a shoddy travel ban is enough to make any progressive scream. But it turns out that my yelling is freaking out everyone… even myself.

So, I’ve started to talk to the television like it’s a child. I keep a calm tone, try not the curse and by the time a news story about men carrying defund Planned Parenthood signs at a pro-life rally ends, I’m angry… but not infuriated.

This self-calming technique also is coming in handy whenever I engage in political debates. Don’t get me wrong—there’s a time and place for screaming “eat shit” at a Nazi, but more often than not, the casual protectionist is more apt to see reason during a conversation, not a yelling match.

Look for hope

People can surprise you. Although news cycles are currently focusing on the negative, you can run across a positive story every so often.

For example, this heartwarming story about how Detroit protestors loaned protest signs for Muslim protestors to use as prayer mats.

Or how Col. Ann Wright disrupted a Tuesday hearing concerning Jeff Sessions pending appointment as Attorney General.

“I say no to Jeff Sessions, no to hatred, not to racism, not to the ban on refugees,” Wright yelled before being grabbed by police, Jezebel reports.

“Oh, ow! I’ll go out but you don’t need to drag me. I’ve got a hip replacement. I’m 70 years old and I can make it out on my own,” she said.

As she was taken from the room, she continued to yell, “but no to racism, no to hate, no to Jeff Sessions, no to the ban on refugees.”

See, there is good in the world.

Now, it’s not like I’m always able to maintain a level of zen. Hell, last Friday I ruined an entire lunch with my parents because I was awaiting Trump’s next executive order. But having these mental remedies in my gray matter helps me react better more often than not.

So, when Mike Pence and Trump try to take away reproductive rights or refuse to speak out against religious intolerance and hate, I’ll turn off my phone, have a glass of wine and take a nap before making my protest sign.

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The post Self Care is Essential in Trump’s America: #NowWhat appeared first on EcoSalon.

Samantha Bee thinks the United States will be okay… if we vote.

Most of Bee’s Monday night show was about Brexit. One of her segments was about how, although America should pay attention to the vote overseas, we aren’t the United Kingdom. So, let’s prove that nationalism isn’t the American way and get out and vote.

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The post America: We Need to Vote [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

Grist has some answers, and all of their meaty research is in the below video!

Recently, Grist posted this interesting video about why America eats (and expects to eat) so much meat. The answer is a bit more complicated than you may think.

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The post What’s Up With America’s Meat Obsession? [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

As you probably know, paid family leave is pretty disgusting in America. But just how bad is it?

Well, we’ll let John Oliver give you a taste of just how bad it is. Watch this clip from “Last Week Tonight” to find out Oliver’s take on the often misguided practices companies that forgo giving paid family leave engage in.

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The post John Oliver Skewers Paid Family Leave [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnWhy we have to get past thinking about the Big O.

“I now feel completely vindicated for NOT buying organic foods.”

Well, great.

The internet was abuzz with the recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that found little evidence that organic foods are more nutritious than conventional grown food, and I found myself getting severely agitated by comments like the above posted in social media circles. Granted, I spend a lot of time thinking about food, but simple statements like the aforementioned prove to me that we are entirely removed from the food process and what we are eating. We are oversimplifying a complex issue.

We love it when studies prove to us that our decisions are right. Want to justify a habit? You can probably find a study that does just that. Coffee is good for you, no bad for you, no good for you.

In an information based society, there is no surprise that we’re drawn in by headlines. But if we are going to base our eating values on a headline and the first paragraph of an article, we should question the importance we are putting on our well-being and that of the planet.

Here’s the issue with a meta-study: it only focuses on one element. When it comes to organic food, this specific study, as with many others, doesn’t paint a full picture.

“This study disputes how significant the differences in antioxidant and nutrient levels are between organic and conventional food. But that’s not central to the discussion of why organic is important, which has a lot more to do with how the soil is managed and the exposure to pesticides, not just in the eater’s diet but to the farmworker,” said author Michael Pollan in an interview with KQED.

We have to take a step back and take a look at the bigger picture. The study did find that conventional produce has a 30% higher chance of pesticide contamination compared to organic foods, and as the Guardian pointed out, “it should be noted that there are currently no long-term studies of the health outcomes for people consuming organic versus conventionally produced food.”

Beyond that, as Pollan emphasizes, there is an environmental cost to everything that we put in our bodies. Food cannot be reduced to single elements. It’s not just about antioxidants or carbohydrates or omega 3s. Food is a process, a compilation of nutrition, environment and experience.

“Organic” has certainly become a buzz word. Slap the big O on anything and you’re sure to attract a certain demographic. In a controversial op-ed, The New York Times writer Roger Cohen called the organic ideology “an elitist, pseudoscientific indulgence shot through with hype.”

He is partly right.

There is a challenge to feeding the planet, and it’s not going to be solved by $4 organic asparagus from Whole Foods; that’s about the same as the average amount as a food stamp recipient is allotted per day. However, if we are talking about building sustainable food systems that solve hunger, we have to think about the whole approach. And if we’re in the socio-economic group that has the money and time to think about what we’re eating, we have no excuse not to be doing so.

In the modern age, if you are able to comfortably put food on the table, it is inexcusable to not think about what you are eating. This issue isn’t about organic vs. conventional, it is about building a food system that is focused on good food. A food system that puts a value on local small-scale businesses and not just agribusiness. A food system that normalizes appreciating good food instead of making it pretentious.

“Is it organic?” is only one of many questions that we should all be asking when we’re standing with a grocery basket in our hands. “Where does it come from?” “What pesticides were used?” “How are the people that produce it treated?” “What synthetic chemicals are part of this meal?” The list goes on.

There is not one simple solution to eating better. If you think that filling your basket with foods just because they have a specific label on them means you’re doing the right thing, think again. Take a holistic approach – one that thinks about food in a new way. How it affects you. How it affects your community. How it affects the planet.

If we are going to move the food system forward, in a progressive and sustainable manner, we have to be asking the hard questions, and that takes more than just reading a headline.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

The post Foodie Underground: Should We Care About Organic? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Is it easier to buy a gun or a bunch of carrots? 

When it comes to food we often talk about the necessity of access; those that don’t have easy access to healthy food don’t consume it. 23.5 million Americans don’t have a supermarket within one mile of their home. What do they have? Guns.

According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, there are 129,817 federally licensed firearms dealers in the United States. That’s more than three times the amount of grocery stores in the U.S. (36,569), meaning that simply factoring in the numbers, it’s easier to get a hold of a handgun than a bag of spinach.

Hunger is a serious issue; in 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure household (in the same year about 5.4 million new firearms were manufactured in the U.S.). Access to food alone won’t change that statistic, poverty has a lot to do with it, but we have to start somewhere, and in a world where a gun shop might be closer than a market, it’s time to question our priorities.

Which raises a good question to ponder: what kind of a society we would have if instead of food deserts we had gun deserts?

Image: Emily Stanchfield

The post An Issue of Access: The U.S. Has Three Times as Many Gun Dealers as Grocery Stores appeared first on EcoSalon.

It’s time to think about what you’re not eating. 

Your mother wasn’t kidding when she told you to finish your meal. It’s not that if you don’t finish your broccoli you won’t get dessert. If you don’t finish your broccoli you’re contributing to the huge problem of food waste.

In a culture where food is readily accesible to many of us, we’re busy throwing it away. In fact, according to a new report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council, 40% of our food supply goes to waste every year, accounting for $165 billion. That is at the same time as hunger and poverty are on the rise, with one in seven American households dealing with food insecurity, as well as significant issues of drought and skyrocketing food prices.

Although grocery stores and other food sellers lose as much as $15 billion annually in unsold fruits and vegetables, the majority of food waste occurs in restaurants and household kitchens. Why? One of the factors is size; we’re serving ourselves more than we can eat. Today, portion sizes are two to eight times larger than the government’s standard serving sizes. We’re throwing out about 20 pounds of food per person every single month.

A few facts about food waste:

• The average American family of four ends up throwing away an equivalent of up to $2,275 annually in food.
• Food waste is the single largest component of solid waste in U.S. landfills.
• Just a 15 percent reduction in losses in the U.S. food supply would save enough food to feed 25 million Americans annually.
• There has been a 50 percent jump in U.S. food waste since the 1970s.

How do we fix the problem?

We need a change in infrastructure. The NRDC recommends policy changes to deal with the issue of food waste, including action from federal and state governments to set targets for reducing food waste as well as implementing programs that help address the problem.

But personal responsibility is just as important. Know what you’re buying, plan your meals ahead and buy what you need, not what you think you need.

In other words, start eating consciously. And finish your broccoli.

Image: jbloom

The post Food Waste: The Average American Throws Out Every Other Piece of Food appeared first on EcoSalon.

50 of America’s most beautiful natural tourist attractions – one for each state.

If you could choose just one natural wonder to see in each of America’s fifty states, what would they be? Considering the astonishing beauty that can be found all across the United States, that would be a tough decision, but each of the following natural tourist attractions is a can’t-miss stop on any road trip. They’re not exactly off the beaten path, but these 50 scenic stops represent some of the best landscape features the nation has to offer.

Alabama – Noccalula Falls

Alaska – Hubbard Glacier

Arizona – North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Arkansas – Devil’s Den

California – McWay Falls, Big Sur

Colorado – Rocky Mountain National Park

Connecticut – Dinosaur State Park

Delaware – Lewes Beach

Florida – Spiegel Grove, Key Largo

Georgia – Stone Mountain

Hawaii – Diamond Head Crater

Idaho – City of Rocks

Illinois – Starved Rock

Indiana – Marengo Cave Formations

Iowa – Loess Hills

Kansas – Monument Rocks

Kentucky – Mammoth Cave

Louisiana -Finch Lake

Maine – Arcadia National Park

Maryland – Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park

Massachusetts – Natural Bridge

Michigan – Pictured Rocks

Minnesota – Shovel Point,  Lake Superior

Mississippi – Natchez Trace Parkway

Missouri – Big Spring

Montana – Glacier National Park

Nebraska – Sand Hills

Nevada – Lake Tahoe

New Hampshire – The Basin of Pemigewasset River

New Jersey – Great Falls, Paterson

New Mexico – Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks

New York – Niagara Falls

North Carolina – Outer Banks Wild Horses

North Dakota – Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Ohio – Brandywine Falls

Oklahoma – Elk Mountain

Oregon – Crater Lake

Pennsylvania – Presque Isle

Rhode Island – Cliff Walk, Newport

South Carolina – Table Rock State Park

South Dakota – Mount Rushmore

Tennessee – Smoky Mountains

Texas – Enchanted Rock

Utah – Bryce Canyon

Vermont – Champlain Valley from the Long Trail

Virginia – Natural Bridge

Washington – Cape Horn & The Columbia River Gorge

West Virginia -New River Gorge

Wisconsin – Apostle Islands

Wyoming – Yellowstone National Park

Top image: Nicholas_T

The post 50 Scenic Stops for Your End of Summer Road Trip appeared first on EcoSalon.

Explore a forest.

Remember the Lorax who spoke for the trees? As colorful as they may be,Truffula Trees have nothing on the ones in our own backyard. These six magnificent trees would leave even the Lorax speechless — and you don’t have to venture into a Dr. Suess book to find them.

1. The Banyan Tree; Lahaina, Maui. (Pictured above)

Don’t you just want to stretch out on one of these branches and read a book in the Hawaiian sun? Yeah, we do, too. Planted in 1873, this banyan tree was only eight feet tall. Today it stands 60 feet tall and has 11 more trunks than when it was first brought to Maui from India. It’s also a community center for the town of Lahaina, providing shade for almost an entire acre of land next to the beach.

2. The Lone Cypress; Monterey Peninsula, California.

The Lone Cypress earned its fame for its solitary cliffside location on the rocky California coast. We understand why — this tree is insanely photogenic! At 250 years old, this cypress is a landmark for California’s beautiful 17-mile drive on the Monterey Peninsula.

3. “Methuselah” Bristlecone Pine, California.

Gnarled and mangled, the Methuselah pine tree stands as the oldest living thing in the world. This tree has seen it all, and its twisted branches hold stories over 4,800 years old. No wonder it was named after the oldest person in the Hebrew Bible!

4. Pando Aspen Tree Grove; Utah.

Head to this grove of quaking aspen trees in southern Utah and you’ll find yourself face to face with the largest living organism in the world. Yeah, we’re talking about the trees. Turns out, these trees share a connected system of roots, making them all essentially one giant organism. Pretty neat, huh? The grove was named “Pando,” after the Latin word for “I spread.”

5. General Sherman Sequoia; Northern California.

Who is General Sherman? The person, William Tecumseh Sherman, was a general in the Civil War. But we mostly care about the tree named after him — the Sherman Tree, the biggest tree (by volume) in the world. With a circumference of 102 feet, it would take almost 20 people holding hands to circle its entire trunk!

6. Ancient Angel Oak Tree; Charleston, South Carolina.

The Ancient Angel loves to spread its wings, with a canopy reaching almost 17,000 square feet. Visitors have described this tree as elegant and enchanting, with a Southern charm all its own. Ancient Angel may also be the oldest tree east of the Mississippi at the age of 1,400 years.

Bonus: Hyperion coastal redwood; Humboldt, California.

Discovered in 2006, the Hyperion redwood is considered the tallest tree in the world at almost 380 feet. Scientists are insistent on keeping the Hyperion safe — the giant continues to tower over the forest in an undisclosed location.

READ MORE:

9 Must-See West Coast Waterfalls

How Does it Feel to Fly?

Bloke is Halfway to Cycling 6 Continents

This post originally appeared in Sierra magazine.

Image: Bevis Chin, Tim Pearce, Clinton Steeds, msn678, mikebaird, Charleston’s TheDigitel,

The post 6 of America’s Coolest Trees appeared first on EcoSalon.

VideoAmericans eat an average of three burgers a week. What is that habit costing us?

On average, Americans eat three times more meat than people in other countries. Not only that, but we also eat an average of three hamburgers per week. Yes, you read that correctly. Three hamburgers a week.

What is that eating habit costing society? The Center for Investigative Reporting put together a video to answer that question. Watch it and you’ll never look at a hamburger the same.

A few key numbers:

• It takes 1800 gallons of water to make a single pound of grain-fed beef.
• Because cows release methane gas when they digest food, they produce more greenhouse gas than 22 million cars per year.
• Slaughterhouses create about 30 million pounds of contaminants a year.
• One burger can contain the DNA of more than a thousand cows.
• If all Americans ate no meat or cheese one day a week, it would have the same climate change prevention effect as taking 7.6 million cars off the road for one year.

The post Video: The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers appeared first on EcoSalon.