We love bees.

Two years ago we told you how vandals had attacked bee hives at Hayes Valley Farm, San Francisco, resulting in the loss of over 60% of the resident bees. We’ve just heard it’s happened again, as part of a sustained campaign of vandalism over the last 2 weeks. If you want to show them a little support, you can reach them at the Facebook page for their nonprofit organization, SF Bee-Cause.

(Let’s hope they get a camera soon and catch these wretches before they do even more damage).

Bees, it barely needs to be said, are vital elements of the food cycle that keep us alive. Was Albert Einstein exaggerating when he said the end of bees would mean humanity had 4 years left before its own extinction? Let’s hope we never find out. In celebration of this incredible, species-saving creature, here are our best bee-related posts of the last 2 years, from beautifying honey therapy to the Chim Chimney backyard bee-keeping movement sweeping through London…

Check your local ordinances and if backyard beekeeping is legal in your area, determine where you’d put your hives. A sunny spot that’s not directly situated next to a recreational area like a picnic table or playground is ideal. It’s best to plant a hedge or put up some kind of barrier around your bee colonies to prevent vandalism, protect the hive from wind and induce the bees to fly upward when leaving the hive (rather than through your neighbor’s yard.) Speaking of neighbors, you’ll need to talk to them about your plans. As long as none of them are allergic to bees, a little bribery with some honey should put them at ease.

The Buzz On Backyard Beekeeping For Beginners

In the last two years, California’s crops were affected by a mysterious disappearance of bee hives. Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, the worker bees simply fly away and never return. Since October 2006, over 35% of the honey bee population in the United States has vanished. In some states, as many as 90% of bees have disappeared. Scientists don’t know what causes CCD, but theories range from stress due to travel (bees are trucked across thousands of miles, in some cases, to pollinate), or pesticide exposure. A case for local, organic food?

Mysterious Mass Deaths Redux

Recent history: Bees are dying all over the place, “colony collapse disorder” enters the national consciousness, a leaked EPA memo points to a particular pesticide, Army researchers enter the fray. In the midst of all of this news, just as it seems scientists might be closer to identifying the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, a new mysterious bee die-off is happening – right now – in San Francisco.

I discovered this entirely by chance when I met a fellow cookbook author named Penni Wisner at a professional gathering. The day we met, she had just learned that the beehive in her Lower Castro San Francisco backyard had collapsed, practically overnight.  As she told the story of how the process unfolded, everyone in the room was swept away by the heartbreaking mystery of the hive’s demise.

Exclusive: EPA Ignores Its Own Science And Approves Bee-Killing Pesticide: Mysterious New Die-Off Unfolds

Brightly colored clothing might be fun for summer, but certain hues can bring bees buzzing. If you’re worried about yellow jackets don’t wear bright yellow, orange, florescent red or light blue.

How To ‘B’ At One With Backyard Bees

Conventional beekeepers place sheets made of plastic or wax in their hives for their honeybees to build upon, but the problem is, bees aren’t too fond of plastic and the wax is contaminated by chemicals and pesticides. The hexagonal cell pattern on the sheets is often too large, encouraging the growth of oversized bees that may gather more pollen and make more honey, but are also more susceptible to mites and thus require chemical treatment.

The Backwards Beekeepers – made up of Kirk Anderson, Charles Martin Simon and Michael Bush – believe that this just plain unnatural system is adding unnecessary stress to bee populations. Their own system relies on wood strips painted with chemical-free beeswax taken from their own previous harvests.

Backwards Beekeeping: Natural Care Of Feral Bees

It really started at age five when my grandmother slathered honey on my morning waffle. I distinctly remember my senses awakening. The scent of the honey mixed with the melting butter on the crisp waffle and then the flavor exploding in my mouth. I was hooked at that moment and somehow knew that bees would play an important role in my life. However, it wasn’t until about five years ago when a colony of bees built their home in my garden wall. When I learned that my landlord was set to exterminate them because he was told they were “killer bees,” I called a local beekeeper to help me move them from the garden wall to my newly purchased house. Many exterminators use the term “killer bees” as a scare tactic.

Q & A with Los Angeles beekeeper, Staci Valentine

According to the British Beekeepers Association, the number of registered Chim Chimney Beekeepers in central London has more than doubled within the past couple of years. There are over 2,500 hives and more than 700 beekeepers. The posh are in on it (the queen’s bees are kept at Buckingham Palace) as well as the middle class, who keep bees in allotments and on rooftops. The enthusiasm for London beekeeping and the resulting honey (considered to be among the best in the world) has prompted annual festivals, international beehive design competitions,eco products, and amendments to the school curriculum.

The Chim Chimney swarm has become so avid that last year the North London Beekeepers Association had to start turning away members. The Guardian calls it the latest environmental movement; we’re calling it the new chicken coop.

Chim Chimney Beekeeping: The New Homesteading

Want a centuries-old beauty trick? Tie on your sunbonnets and lean in. (Yes, now I am whispering.) Honey is the secret to everything. Okay, maybe not everything, but it comes pretty darn close. It’s the multi-tasker of natural beauty. Cleopatra made milk and honey baths infamous. Poppea, wife of Rome’s Emperor Nero, used milk and honey to maintain a youthful appearance. And best of all? It is everywhere and it is relatively cheap.

5 Reasons Why Honey Is The Ultimate Beauty Must-Have

Among its clearly outlined beliefs and commitments, Burt’s Bees believes that natural products should be 100 percent natural. Together with the Natural Products Association and other leading Natural Personal Care Companies, Burt’s pioneered The Natural Standard for Personal Care Products, a set of guidelines that helps to define what a “natural” personal care product is and what it is not. Products that fill the bill are branded with a Natural Seal, which indicates that the product has met guidelines related to natural ingredients, safety, animal testing, and packaging. While only half of Burt’s Bees’ existing products qualify as 100 percent natural, the company is open about working toward complicity across the entire product line, and each product’s “percent natural” is clearly indicated on its packaging.

Burt’s Bees also works to ensure safe working conditions in the sourcing of its ingredients, maintain a strong stand against animal testing, and use packaging made with high levels of post consumer recycled materials. The company also pledges at least 10 percent of all burtsbees.com sales revenue to partners through The Burt’s Bees Greater Good Foundation.

Behind The Label: Burt’s Bees

Images: Don Hankins, aussiegal, gregav, hr.icio, Mike Baird, Staci Valentine, vickyb, and alsjhc.

The post From The Vault: Let It Bee appeared first on EcoSalon.

The trials and tribulations of being in a relationship.

It’s been a week of relationship inspiration at EcoSalon, from these famous quotes to these enticing-looking wedding suggestions, and naturally our thoughts have turned to our complicated life’s work of finding a mate. From the influence of Facebook to the growing popularity of mail-order brides, here are 7 aspects of modern human relationships that continue to fascinate (and baffle) us…

How Facebook Affects You and Your Relationships: We’re probably all familiar with Facebook’s meddling effect on relationships, but this infographic breaks down exactly how.

10 Infographics Exploring Love, Sex & Relationships

You should never find yourself believing that you’re not good enough due to your partner’s words or actions. Even if it’s said in a joking way, a jibe about your looks, your job, your intelligence or any matter that relates to self-esteem can really hurt. Don’t just sit back and take it when the “jokes” keep adding up, or your partner doesn’t even bother to cloak his or her constant criticism. There’s a difference between constructive feedback or advice and comments that are meant to tear you down.

10 Signs It’s Time To Leave Your Relationship

We humans aren’t all that special, sharing between 95-99% functional DNA with our close cousin the Bonobo. If you think people can be merciless when it comes to harnessing sex as a tool for manipulation, why don’t you go visit your evolutionary kin for the day? For Bonobos, sexual contact is used for everything from same-sex conflict-resolution to calming infants. They have sex to release tension, sex to leaven antagonism, and sex to have fun and socialize. A promiscuous bunch, Bonobos have multiple partners, and because the women are sleeping around, the males aren’t sure which children belong to them. Obscure paternity goes a long way toward the prevention of infanticide. Doesn’t it all smack of a Shakespearean tragedy?

Sex By Numbers: Modern Day Romance And Breeding

Clinging to the old picture is what typically keeps us in a dysfunctional dying marriage. The romantic courtship, the impressive wedding pageantry, the happy family holiday greeting mailed out on December 20th each year. While validating, they keep you living in the past. Visualize a new picture, one in which you are loving your body and treating it right with good, fresh organic food, exercise and massage, thriving at work and in your relationships and giving unselfishly of yourself to your community. You’ve learned the hard way you can’t control your partners or your outcomes, but you can work on being the best you.

The Green Divorce: 10 Tips For An Eco-Friendlier Finale

Is there a darker, anti-feminist side to mail order bride operations? As FOX News reports, “Men who seek wives abroad often explicitly state those women here are not worth marrying because they are too independent, ruined by feminism or fill in the pejorative blank.” Feminism is the alleged boogeyman behind these marriages. American women are too empowered, so men must go to countries where women are willing to trade a bit of their power for their own idea of a better life.

Of course, some would argue that men and women who enter into these arrangements are equal opportunity seekers. And as long as no one is harmed, then what’s the problem? If a lonely man who wants a young, pretty wife from another country, and a young, pretty wife wants an American husband, then who are we to judge? They would have a valid point…

Mail-Order Brides Are More Popular Than Ever – But Are They Anti-Feminist?

The study reports that if you’re shacked up and sharing a bed, you experience 50% more sleep troubles than singletons. Sleeping together is downright unhealthy. So weird – I’m not married for this exact reason! Strategic brilliance from Ost, yet again.

My properly chilled Scandinavian grandparents may have been onto something with their separate sleeping arrangements. As a child, I remember thinking it was sort of weird that Grandpa and Grandma had a bedroom like Lucy and Ricky’s since we weren’t living in black and white anymore, but then being glad for it because it made jumping on the bed(s) twice as fun!

Just ponder the upside of hitting the hay in different stables. You’re fast asleep when a handsome stranger steals into your bed and has his way with you (so it’s actually your hubs and he has a spare tire, but work with me here). Absence makes the heart grow hornier, as it were. Sleeping apart makes sleeping together an extra special thing. Also, you get the eternal thrill of doing it in someone else’s room. Aside from making sex just like college all over again, there’s the benefit of never again having to argue over how many pillows ought to be embellishing the duvet. Oh, and the health thing.

From The Marriage Sucks File: Scientists Say Sleeping Together Ruins Your Health

A surname is about identity, and what’s more personal than that? While some might see the act of keeping a maiden name as an indication of a woman’s independence or a play for personal power, the choice is an issue that can cause unwanted criticism for wanting to retain a lifelong identity whether from family, co-workers or the society at large. Plenty of contemporary influential women have changed their name without anyone questioning their feminism. Lady Margaret Thatcher (nee Roberts) is a name changer, as is First Lady Michelle Obama. Hillary Rodham reversed her decision after her husband’s gubernatorial loss in 1980, becoming Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While this decision is personalized on many different levels, there can be some common ground. In the end, what are some of the reasons married women keep their maiden name?

7 Reasons Married Women Keep Their Last Names

Images: illusive photography, bobosh_t,  rbowen, j9, Peacemaker Voices and Meredith_Farmer.

The post From The Vault: We’re In This Together appeared first on EcoSalon.

Let’s get social.

As we said in our recent Friday 5, drinks bring out the sociable sides in our personalities. In historical times feasts brought us together – nowadays it’s more likely to be an array of coffee flavors, or a bottle of something rich and cheeky. In celebration of the great bring-people-together power of beverages, we uncork our archives, take a sip and toast your good health.

Coffee reduces muscle pain. After a hard workout, a cup or two of coffee has been shown to reduce muscle soreness (in women, anyway) more effectively than naproxen, aspirin and ibuprofen. (But don’t replace your water thermos with coffee).

20 Surprising Facts About Coffee

Now hitting the shelves is ZICO pure coconut water. An all natural, 60-calorie alternative. ZICO contains the five essential electrolytes, magnesium, and more. One box of ZICO has more potassium than a banana (15 times more than most sports drinks) to prevent cramping and promote recovery.

A Natural Fitness Drink: Coconut Water

“You could consider me the goddess of organic wine because of my longevity,” says a tres enthusiastic Veronique Raskin of The Organic Wine Company in San Rafael, Calif. “I’ve been at it for 30 years so I should know a couple of things.”

The French native and head cheerleader for the benefits of organic helped uncork the notion of drinking naturally-farmed grape back in 1979. That’s when she brought the first shipment to the U.S. from her family’s 200 year-old vineyard, Bousquette, located in the Languedoc region which borders Provence in the south and produces one-third of France’s grapes.

The Trail to the Tastiest Organic Red Wines from a Certified Grape Goddess

It’s the future, a greener, more enlightened time. You drop in on your local coffee vendor – let’s call it McStarMart – ready for a cup of exquisitely roasted bean-juice to kick start your day. You’re standing quietly in the queue, and – something odd is going on.

People are reaching into their pockets and bags and briefcases, and they’re pulling out mugs of all shapes and kinds. When they reach the counter, they pass them to the barista, who fills them up with their beverage of choice.

There are no disposable cups.

In The Future, We All Carry Mugs

Not only does red wine make steak extra-flavorful, it may reduce cancer-causing compounds naturally found in meats. Frying and grilling meat at high temperatures turns sugars and amino acids of muscle tissue into carcinogenic compounds, but marinating steak in red wine for at least six hours before cooking can reduce two types of carcinogens by up to 90 percent. Use about a cup of red wine, a cup of olive oil and the seasonings of your choice like garlic, parsley and peppercorns.

20 Unusual Uses For Wine

I’m convinced mulled wine was invented as a handwarmer in the depths of winter. It first pops up in the history books around 400 CE, although its European medieval name of Hipocris harks back to Hippocrates, the Ancient Greek “father of medicine” – and it’s not hard to imagine Celtic Mead being dangled over the fire for an extra-warming kick. Nowadays, mulled wine is a popular winter drink across much of northern Europe. For example, in Sweden it goes by the splendid name of glögg.

Hot Wine? Mull It Over

Like other Swedes I’m used to buying glögg already spiced at the Systembolaget, which is the one and only company that can sell liquor in Sweden. Systembolaget has an impressive selection of wine from all around the world and they have over 40 different kinds of glögg, both with and without alcohol. There is even a white glögg which is commonly served cold as an apertif at parties around Christmas. With a selection that great it’s hard to even think of making your own unless you’re a Swede living abroad. Being one of those people, I started making my own and can’t ever imagine going back. At Christmas I want my own glögg. And the glögg has to be done with some drama by caramelizing the sugar.

Glogg: Swedish Traditional Mulled Wine

Images: PoYang, Vegan Feast Catering, Sarah Jane, Johanna Kindvall, photoskate and delphaber.

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It’s free, it’s fun, it helps you see the world, and the only thing stopping you doing it is your own front door.

America has a problem with walking. Its inhabitants walk the least steps per day of all the industrialized nations of the world – and a victim of its own ingenuity, as walking has been, in the words of Tom Vanderbilt, “engineered out of existence.” For all the inspiring quotes out there, people still have a problem taking to the streets without using wheels (not so surprising when those streets are often walker-unfriendly). This week in From The Vault, we take a brisk stroll through 6 walking-related posts from our archives, in the hope they make you leap our of your chair…

Our feet are amazing. Let’s use them wisely. 

…it’s easy to argue for and against flip-flops. On the one hand, they’re light, they allow air between the toes, they’re fun and of course they’re very cheap. And on the other? In today’s world, “cheap” equates to “disposable” – and flip-flops are usually made of eco-unfriendly plastics. And that ache in my ankles? It wasn’t in my head. A recent study by Auburn University (viaMoms Speak Up)  concluded that wearing toe-thonged footwear permanently altered the way you walk, putting unnatural strain on feet and ankles and resulting in the “flip-flop shuffle.“

Flip-Flops: Walking On Shaky Ground?

More alpha men and women seem to be answering the call of the wild, signing on as leader of the pack for several hours each day. For herders able to command six-to-ten furry friends at a time in a neighborhood park or at the beach, dog walking can rake in as much as $200 a day (minus the truck fuel). Scooping poop just got a lot more enticing!

But you should know it isn’t all fun and games, warns Emy Sakai, 29, owner and founder of The Urban Paw dog walking service in San Francisco. The consummate animal lover has been pet sitting and dog walking since the age of 12, starting her career working part time while working in office settings and then branching off to launch her own service, which she likens to running a daycare program.

7 Reasons Not To Diss A Career In Dog Walking

Easy tools like Google’s pedometer will help you track how far you will be walking. Plan realistically; if you’re going with a group of friends, you’ll go at a slower pace than you expect. Assume you’ll cover about one or two miles per hour. A great day trip could be 5 or 6 miles with several stopping points incorporated, keeping you active but also ensuring that the day is enjoyable.

The City Girl’s Guide To Urban Hiking

Make your urban hike a girl’s day out. Plan a shorter itinerary to allow for a slower pace – more talking equals less walking – but that hits a few key hot spots: cute cafe for lunch, a local bakery for afternoon coffee and a corner bar for evening cocktails. If you’re having trouble thinking about where to go, pick a theme for the day: Boutique Shopping, Urban Parks, Undiscovered Food Carts, etc.

Take A Hike: 5 More Great Tips For The Urban Explorer

Every wonder how many crunches it takes to burn off a Big Mac from McDonald’s? Or how many miles you have to run to burn off a large French fries from Wendy’s?

First, everyone burns calories in a different way. In other words, a 120 pound woman with 17% body fat isn’t going to burn the same amount of calories as a 250 pound man with 30% body fat. It all varies according to weight, size and metabolism. So for the purposes of this article, we figured in statistics for the average sized American woman – which is 5’4″, 140 pounds, and a size 14.

Here’s a look at our average Jane eating our favorite fast food wonders, and how she pays for them. (Not that we green Janes ever eat fast food…)

What It Takes To Burn Off 5 Fast Food Meals (And A Latte)

For some reason, human beings seem designed to really dig walking barefoot on grass. Seeing a corner of the market, Krispy Kreme (of all things) have now unveiled…the living grass flip-flop.

The world is momentarily speechless. Yes, it’s surely just a bit of fun. But you wouldn’t think it if you read the press release, which equates walking in these shoes to a healthful, one-with-nature stroll in the park. It’s a little too straight-faced to be comfortable with. (So let’s not forget what flip-flops – and doughnuts – can do).

The Living Flip-Flop: A Step Too Far?

Images: JAIRO BD, Moyan Brenn, Steve-h, revolution cycle, brartist, Let Ideas Compete, Krispy Kreme and mikebaird.

The post From The Vault: Walking The Walk appeared first on EcoSalon.

Don’t believe the hype.

These days, big brands are falling over themselves to prove they are toeing the planet-friendly line and sticking to wholesome products – and that’s good for everyone (when it’s not a lie, of course). Over the last 4 years we’ve been keen to champion the companies choosing the natural and sustainable over the artificial & toxic. Here are 6 posts from our archives where we ask – is it natural?

I purposely put all of the prominent, still-independent brands in this list because I want to tell their stories. But this isn’t a story about small vs. big, small being good and big being bad.

All the independents listed below are big companies, but they have the ability to uphold higher standards and work within their missions because they aren’t beholden to the intense scrutiny of the money managers.

Just for fun, can you guess which ones they are?

The Stories (And Money) Behind 10 Of Your Favorite Organic And Natural Brands

We use conditioners to keep our hair healthy, sleek and shiny. Or just to avoid looking like the Scarecrow from Oz.  Whether you’re a daily conditionista or someone who simply smooths it on once or twice a week, you’re going to want to keep it organic.

Why? To avoid the common ingredient in conventional conditioners called Lauramide DEA. It strips away important amino acids like serine, histamine and other hair and skin proteins. This can leave hair feeling dry and unmanageable – creating the need to use more conditioner. Who knew hair conditioner could be so conspiracy-theory! While the debate continues to rage about how conditioners will eventually destroy us all, we’ve got you covered with products that won’t.

6 Best Organic Hair Conditioners

Greenpeace recently reported that clothing items bearing the logos of 14 global brands – including Adidas, H&M, Calvin Klein and Abercrombie & Fitch – have been found to contain nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), chemicals that can break down to form the hormone-disrupting substance nonylphenol (NP). Just this morning, Reuters released the news that Nearly 300 Cambodian workers fell sick this week at a garment factory producing goods for Swedish fashion brand H&M.

14 Fashion Brands Test Positive For Hormone Disrupting Chemicals

A Perfume Organic offers four scents, each for $65: Green, Urban Organic, Perfumed Wine-Rose and White Magik. Green is rose with hint of chamomile; Urban Organic is lemon with ginger and grapefruit; White Magik has white flowers with spearmint; and Perfumed Wine-Rose is berry, crisp apple and peppers. I have to be honest – with my history of fragrance headaches, I approached these perfumes as one might approach a root canal. You know you gotta do it, but you just want it to be over with. Commence crushing headache, right?

Cue the ringing of church bells and throwing of confetti! Nary a headache did I have with these scents. They smelled fresh and botanical. If you want to smell like fruit, you smell like fruit. If you want a hint of floral, it’s there. My favorite was White Magik for its sage and spearmint “aftersmell.”

A Fragrance Without The Fragrance: Organic Perfume Review

There are a lot of eyeliners on the market, with pencil, liquid and cake eyeliners being the most popular. The only true skill you need is a steady hand, and what I mean by that is the steadiness it takes to make your eyes look superbly lined and cat-like, without appearing like something The Joker may have applied!

The trick to lining your eyes is to start small. Do little dashes along your lid and then blend with a brush to avoid that weird eyeliner strip of flesh – you know, when there is a space of flesh between your eyeliner and your actual eye. Start from the middle and do small strokes, front to back. Short strokes, small dots even, can help you look more Catwoman than Scary Makeup Clown.

Five Of The Best Natural And Organic Eyeliners

Take a stroll through the cereal aisle and you’ll see box after box of sugary confections that look more like desserts than breakfast. Of course, all of those glazed mini cinna-buns and marshmallows are clearly not healthy, but what about the whole grain oats, shredded wheat and flax flakes? General Mills’ Oatmeal Crisp Crunchy Almond is “whole grain guaranteed,” but the ingredients include brown sugar, sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and honey, making it 27% sugar. Kellogg’s Raisin Bran may be mostly wheat flakes, but it still has just as much sugar as Lucky Charms at 19 grams. In contrast, Kashi 7 Grain Whole Puffs has zero grams of sugar, and Cheerios have just 1. Check out this chart at Harvard School of Public Health to compare dozens of varieties.

10 Health Foods With More Sugar Than A Coke

Images: stublog, kaibara, kaibara87 and

The post From The Vault: The Whole(some) Truth appeared first on EcoSalon.

Two wheeled and ready for speed.

This week we celebrated both National Bike To Work Day, and the week before, National Bike Month (as we’ve done for years). We admit it – when it comes to the human-powered, pedal-driven single-track marvel known as the bicycle, we’re biased. But it’s not just about machine-worship. As these 6 stories from our archives demonstrate, bicycles can make our world a better place…

The goal for Asha 2012 is to provide bicycles to girls who have endured and transcended similar situations of slavery and abuse, in turn empowering them to take part in their communities, attend school and grow as strong women.

“We’ve found that girls tend to appreciate the bikes more and demonstrate greater maturity [owning the bicycles]. Women and girls deal endure and transcend tremendous abuse and unequal rights, especially in the developing world. We believe focusing on girls has the greatest overall impact on the community. We want to do everything we can to foster leadership and healing among heroic girls who’ve risen above challenging circumstances beyond their control,” says 88bikes co-founder Dan Austin.

88Bikes’ Asha 2012 Program: Empowering Girls With Bicycles

So why aren’t more of us riding? In many places, cycling for women is affected by a serious gender gap. But women have been riding through the ages, changing gender stereotypes along the way.

As Susan B. Anthony once said, “I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.”

From the first woman to bicycle around the world, to using the bicycle to promote cultural change, biking has been an empowering tool for women throughout the ages. In honor of female cyclists, here’s a visual look at women on two wheels from the last century.

Cycle Chic: Female Cyclists Through The Ages

One way you’ve broken barriers is by mountain biking across dangerous regions of Afghanistan. Can you talk a bit about the cultural implications of an act like that?

Well, Afghanistan is one of the few places in the world where women are not allowed to ride bikes. Around the world the bike is used as an effective vehicle for social justice and it was frustrating to realize that it just wasn’t something we could utilize in rural communities for school transportation, or for midwives and teachers. After working in Afghanistan for a couple of years I realized that I was constantly challenging gender barriers as part of my daily routine. When I’m in Kabul I like to walk as much as I can and interact with the Afghans I met in a more natural way. I ride a motorcycle which I bought in Kabul to avoid the traffic snarls that congest the city at rush hour, thanks to the lawlessness that permeates the country it means that you can ride on the sidewalk, or weave backwards through oncoming traffic, it’s all about the shortcuts. Being a foreign woman means that I find myself in a unique position as a hybrid gender. Men that still treat Afghan women as second class citizens will treat me as an equal and let me challenge gender barriers like riding my mountain bike because they are curious or intrigued but not threatened. It’s a little thing, but I also wanted to show another side of Afghanistan, the beauty, the adventure, and the possibility that what was once a tourist destination, could perhaps be again in the future if peace was ever achieved.

We Heart Our Readers: Shannon Galpin, Mountain2Mountain

The new Google feature delivers information about bike trails that have no motor vehicles, and the streets and routes recommended for cyclists, avoiding motor vehicle traffic, and steep hills. So far, the green and bike loving blogosphere has reacted with mixed reviews, deeming Google Maps for Bikes a good start, but not quite there yet.

We hope that Google’s Bike Maps feature will encourage car commuters to go green and get fit. Biking where you might have driven before can prevent tons of carbon emissions each year, while burning hundreds of calories an hour.

Ecomeme: Cyclists Get Google Maps Love

…bikes tend to appendage themselves to the foyer – hopefully,one with exposed brick. If you fit the demographics jimmied above, your bike has prolly become as elemental to your décor as that aviator chair from Restoration Hardware. Speaking of prolly, the hub of bicycle porn Prolly Is Not Probably takes an optimistic view of the bicycle cum purse rack: “[there’s] nothing like pristine track bikes in pristine apartments.”

Correction: that is, if – and only if – your track bike is sexy. That goes for your dirt bike, too. Here are 20 hot wheels that could be for display only.

Fashionable Bikes You Can Also Use For Home Decor

In early October, 10 miles of roads in East Hollywood, Downtown L.A., East L.A. and in between were closed down for regular traffic. Instead of cars and SUVs, cyclists, skateboarders and pedestrians took over the streets for a day of clean, fossil fuel-free fun. An estimated 130,000 people hit the streets for this third edition of CicLAvia, which has become a day of celebration for Angelenos from all walks of life. Even the city’s Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, put on his helmet and pedaled along, calling the event a good break for a city that’s “addicted to the single-passenger automobile.” All along the now-expanded course was music, food and games, like dodge ball and street chess. That certainly sounds like more fun than being stuck in traffic behind an angry SUV driver, don’t you think?

CicLAvia Gives Bikes & People The Right Of Way For A Day

Images: ClickFlashPhotos/Nicki Varkevisser, 88bikes, Mountain2Mountain, Toronto History, Knife & Saw, CicLAvia and Pixel Addict.

The post From The Vault: Getting The World To Change Gear appeared first on EcoSalon.

The pros and cons of being vegan.

Veganism – it’s increasingly vocal, increasingly celebrity-endorsed and a hefty lifestyle commitment. So why do people do it? Are they sacrificing gastronomic excellence for their ethical beliefs? (We say no). Are they showing the way everyone else should eat? That’s everyone else’s decision. But in the interests of opening that dialogue, why not tuck into this vegan-friendly portion of the EcoSalon archives and see if it agrees with you?

Backyard, Egg-Laying Chickens: Flax seeds and fresh bugs, a nice plot of green grass for scratching and pecking, room to roost, and cruelty-free living in a halcyon idyll. Wouldn’t it be tragic to deny a chicken such luxury? That she happens to lay eggs only solidifies the relationship as mutual, reciprocal, and equal. Plus, a fried egg on whole-wheat toast with a side of steamed collard greens is a heaven unto itself – just don’t forget the hot sauce!

The Conscious Case Against Veganism

Backyard egg production: the trump card for every Slow Foodie worth their weight in bathtub-fermented kombucha.

Chicken hatcheries, where most people can access chicks, are the avian equivalent of puppy mills. Males who don’t produce eggs are often buried alive in dumpsters. Lucky ladies who survive are thrown in boxes and shipped via USPS to their new homes, often packed with extra chicks as “packing peanuts,” since it’s assumed a few will die in transit.

And if you do have all the resources to give hens a safe haven (which is no easy task), they only lay eggs for a few of the ten or so years they live. Would most people continue to expend the effort and resources to keep them as revered pets? Considering the cost-benefit analysis of owning chickens who don’t lay, we’re guessing they’d end up in a coq au vin with a side of quinoa and local kale.

Compound this with the fact that unwanted male chickens are often abandoned at animal shelters, and raising one’s own chickens suddenly seems a lot less ethical.

The Conscious Case Against Veganism: A Reader Rebuttal

Originating in South America, this plump red herbaceous perennial is rich in nutrients like niacin, potassium and phosphorous, antioxidants like lycopene, anthocyanin and carotene, and vitamins A, C and E. Tomatoes can add a juicy shot of flavor to a variety of dishes, such as salads, sandwiches and pasta.

After the last frost of winter has thawed, pick a spot in your yard that receives ample sunlight and test the soil’s pH level – you want between 6 and 7. (To increase the Ph level, add lime. To decrease it, add sulfur.) Spread compost over this area and mix it with the soil. Dig a hole for each seed, leaving at least a foot in between for growth, cover them and firmly pat down the soil. Water them with a spray bottle a couple times per week.

The 10 Easiest Vegetables To Grow At Home

Watercress: This pungent perennial potherb typically grows near bodies of water, so make sure the water source is clean before consuming it. Since watercress can be eaten raw, all you have to do is cut the stem off and rinse it with cold water.

Just as there are political and religious divisions, there are opposing groups in the world of sustainability. Each believes they are more logical and justified than the other. I experienced an unexpectedly unpleasant exchange recently that made this reality plain as day. On the phone with a friend and animal rights activist, I hazarded a casual question: “Vegan isn’t really sustainable, is it?”

Her response was chilly to say the least.

And here I thought I was simply stating what we all know. Perhaps foolishly, I went on to share that I’d had a revelation just that morning that vegan fashion, comprised of mostly man-made materials, couldn’t possibly be eco – at least not exclusively so. How many of these vegan companies truly pay attention to good earth stewardship and use non-petroleum based materials, organic cottons and non-toxic dyes?

Is Vegan Fashion Sustainable?

Today, there is a cornucopia of websites, such as Vegan Nutrionista, which can walk you through the food pyramid for maintaining good a good intake of grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and oils  – and staying fit as a result. When we talk to teens about their bodies, we focus on health and not weight to prevent eating disorders. We do this for a reason.

Are Women Becoming Vegan Just To Lose Weight?

As a no-turning-back vegetarian since my teenage years, I’ve never taken a long-term lover whose moral and philosophical compass regarding animal rights and welfare didn’t approximate my own. Were any of these shy and smiling boys so inclined from the outset of our relationship? No, absolutely not. But they were uniformly intelligent, curious creatures with the good sense to reexamine their ethical presuppositions and accordingly recalibrate their practical, day-to-day affairs to reflect an evolving value system.

My mission to change the hearts and minds of carnivores one-guy-at-a-time? Accomplished. Well, perhaps not quite. After breaking up, all but one, lone ex-boyfriend shortly, summarily abandoned his conscientious ways in favor of fried chicken. Gross. Hey, what better way to work out some breakup angst than to stick a fork in it? Revenge, for some, may be a dish best served medium-rare.

Can A Vegan Woman Love A Meat-Eating Man?

Images:  Nick Smarto, Valerie Everett, Manjith Kainickara,  Mosieur J. JelleS’, Celebrity Diets, Bolshakov and Pink Sherbet Photography.

The post From The Vault: Vegan This, Vegan That appeared first on EcoSalon.

7 stops to give you a small portrait of the world we live in.

We hope you enjoyed Libby Lowe’s gorgeous glimpse of Vietnam this week! However much smaller the internet makes the world feel, it’s still just as vast and diverse as it ever was. Here’s a 7-stop trip round the globe, courtesy of our archives – a portrait of a world where easy answers just won’t cut it.

While a degree of mistrust is certainly appropriate, for the most part media reports about China’s greening efforts are reporting the truth. In 2009, China’s state council ambitiously stated that it plans on reducing its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 (from 2005 levels). Its newly released 12th, five-year plan  (China’s centrally-designed map toward continued progress in 2011 to 2015), clearly indicates a continuing commitment to reducing its environmental issues, including big investments in green energy aimed at kicking its carbon habit and expanding what’s now in place. For example, China has not only overtaken the U.S. in carbon emissions, but according to the Guardian, it has also left the U.S. in the dust with its wind-power generating capacity.

7 Things You Should Know About China’s Pollution Problem

DMZ 2km is South Korea’s newest brand of bottled water, selling water from a spring that runs under the Demilitarized Zone, the 4 kilometer-wide buffer zone South and North Korea. What benefits does DMZ 2km water have over the competition? Apparently it’s all about branding, or as some might call it, greenwashing.

“We decided on water from the DMZ because it’s different and the environment there is untouched, so many people think it’s clean,” says Lee Sang-hyo, a spokesman for the company, quoted in the Guardian.

Bottled Water Mania: South Korea Sells H2O From Demilitarized Zone

Currently, Haiti is a nation of low-tech human and animal powered farming. It could be the perfect laboratory, much like Cuba was, for developing an ecological agricultural system capable of feeding the people of Haiti. Think about it: unlike our own firmly entrenched system, Haiti is not currently dependent on fossil fuels for fertilizers, pesticides, or power. Since fossil fuels aren’t going to be around forever, I hope some of the progressive people at the USDA and USAID prevail and help Haiti to develop agriculture appropriate to its needs, not the needs of Cargill and ADM.

Haiti’s Future: Food Insecurity And Agricultural Capacity In The Aftermath

…let’s imagine that the U.S. decides to follow the example of Amsterdam, which has just announced that by 2040, no petrol-powered cars will be allowed in the city. It’s electric or nothing. That gives the Netherlands 30 years to get its electric vehicle servicing infrastructure up to scratch, which probably isn’t as long as it sounds – and it leaves the door open for other municipal and national governments to peer through, wondering if that way lies popularity or condemnation.

If internally-combusting automobiles went the way of incandescent lightbulbs and plastic bags, how would America react?

Fueling Nobody: Amsterdam Sets A Brave Example

According to Ecotextile News, Lothar Kruse, a director of the independent testing laboratory Impetus in Bremerhaven, Germany examined the cotton fabrics that came from Indian farms and claimed roughly “30% of the tested samples” contained genetically modified(GM) cotton.

The head of the Indian agricultural authority Apeda, Sanjay Dave, told the newspaper they were dealing with fraud on “a gigantic scale.”

The Ripple Effect Of India’s Organic Cotton Scandal

Although local love for the national cuisine may be failing, an appreciation for good food in France has never diminished, and the commitment to keeping the tie between eating and feeling good is alive and strong. Take Le Fooding for example. Deemed “A taste of the times,” it’s a restaurant guide/food festival/food news site, and one that’s committed more to putting the “feeling” back into food.

“We are about having food with fun, and with a smile,” Le Fooding’s founder Alexandre Cammas told the Los Angeles Times. And herein lies the French paradox: food is directly tied to emotional well being. French people don’t eat because they have to, they eat because it’s a valued part of their day and their culture.

Foodie Underground: Why the French Aren’t Fat

In the environmental movement, there have been many leaders. Names like Bill McKibben, Al Gore, Carl Pope, Rachel Carson, and Annie Leonard come to mind. But few are as personally impacted by the negative effects of climate change as Mohamed Nasheed, elected president of the Maldives in 2008. As one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of merely three feet of sea level would submerge the 1200 islands of the nation that lie to the southeast of India and Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. That makes for a political agenda fueled by a sense of urgency.

The impending disaster led much of Nasheed’s policy, both nationally and internationally, and is the subject of the documentary film, The Island President, which has its U.S. release this week. The film takes a very close look at the politics of climate change, following Nasheed during his first year in office and through the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009.

The Island President: Mohamed Nasheed’s Personal Fight With Climate Change

Images: Lance Webel, Guardian, Lucas the Experience, Sammmm, Le Xav, Chiara Goia and DonkeyHotey.

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You are what you wear.

“You are what you eat,” goes the favorite saying of nutritionists – and it’s equally true that you are what you put on your skin (that living, breathing, semi-permeable defense against the world that you bounce around in). Beauty is as much a matter of finding the right products as applying them artfully, and we’re big believers in the power of organic, sustainable and naturally-sourced cosmetics and skin care products.

Here are five examples of our commitment to that philosophy.

Of all the ingredients, fragrance is perhaps the sneakiest. The beauty industry has enacted so-called “trade-secret laws” allowing manufacturers to create synthetic chemical mixtures to contain as many as five hundred chemicals at a time. And what do they call these chemicals? Fragrance. In other words, you’re not just getting a delightful whiff of pleasant smell; you’re also likely getting a ton of masked, potentially-dangerous chemicals. And these chemicals may expose you to allergens, neurotoxins, hormone disruptors and more.

Listed as fragrance, perfume or parfume, they are in (yes) perfume, makeup, deodorant, body lotions, shampoo, soap and basically any beauty product that has a scent. Fragrance can also stand in for natural essential oils, which can be irritating to the skin. Basically, you just don’t know what you’re getting unless it is from a reputable brand or you run it through the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database.

7 Beauty Ingredients To Avoid

You’ve probably heard a lot of marketing hype about powders that are mineral-based. Mineral makeup is generally made from all natural, finely ground minerals from the earth (which is good!). Most of the time, it doesn’t contain any of the chemicals, dyes, and preservatives found in traditional makeup. But in order for a makeup to call itself mineral, it has to do”exactly nothing. Like many “green” industries, there is no regulation as to what ingredients make a mineral cosmetic. You’ll want to do your homework. Here, we put several leading brands to the test.

Dust Yourself Off With 6 Great Organic & Natural Finishing Powders

Blemishes: Apply a touch of toothpaste overnight and dab blemishes with lemon juice before putting on makeup in the morning.

Simple Solutions to 8 Common Beauty Dilemmas

If you have dry skin – or live in the Arctic – this is a great cleanser for you. It is very thick and felt a bit like washing with a moisturizer. I had to scrub to get it all off. (And then scrub an hour later when I discovered it caked around my ears.) But if you have dry skin, this could be a positive. The scent was a bit intense. It was supposed to be vanilla and tangerine, but it smelled more like vitamins to me. It contains natural and certified organic ingredients and no artificial colors or unnecessary chemicals.

Best Organic Face Cleansers: 5 Reasons To Green Your Suds

There’s a lot of sunscreen out there, and there’s very little about it that makes sense. Between the sunscreens and the sun blocks, the UVA and the UBV, it’s easier to become more confused than a tourist during Mardi Gras. How confused is that? Let’s just say it involves a level of confusion that may cause someone to bolt across the parade route from one cop to another while that certain someone is just trying to catch the last bus back to Baton Rouge or is it Ponchatoula? Yeah, that confused.

At the center of this sunscreen spaz attack comes the seminal sun protection question – what the heck is in my sunscreen?

Best Organic Sunscreens For Your Face

Images: Chicago Magazine; xshamethestrongx; wei li graphic designer, clickflashphotos and RenderDonkey.

The post From The Vault: You’re Beautiful, Naturally appeared first on EcoSalon.

Who are the big corporations really looking out for?

In an increasingly consumer-aware world, it’s a necessity for the big labels and corporations to be participating in sustainable as well as ethical initiatives. But when you look behind the scenes (as we did with The Body Shop this week), how clean is their act? Here are 7 posts from our archives that peek behind the curtain to ask what the big names are really up to.

Eating your politics isn’t for everyone and it’s easy to go overboard with the food thing (see the Portlandia episode featuring Colin, the chicken), but there are some companies with politics so against everything I believe in that I simply can’t give them my money. Remember back in the day when Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan started donating to Operation Rescue and a bunch of doctors who provided abortions were killed? Chick-fil-A is one of these companies for me.

Jesus, Enough With The Chicken

Mega packaged food companies and investor groups buy successful organic brands that were started by visionaries who began the companies with a commitment to the organic ideal of family farms, a clean environment, and simple food without additives. But often, when the big companies buy in, this ideal flies out the window.

I’ve chosen ten of the more prominent organic and natural brands to survey. I’m comparing the stories they tell their customers to the likely (and often proven) reality, based on who owns them. Most of the company websites don’t clearly state that a huge global conglomerate runs them, but that’s when the chart above comes in handy.

The Stories (And Money) Behind 10 Of Your Favorite Organic Brands

Brazil had a ban on planting of GM seeds in effect since 1998, but it was one of the only holdouts in South America. Brazil’s neighbor, Argentina, was a large producer of GM soy. Monsanto encouraged farmers in Brazil to plant its “roundup ready” GM soybeans that were illegally imported from Argentina in defiance of the ban. Monsanto knew that once its seeds were in the ground they would be able to make a case for intellectual property rights. Armed with their patents, the company’s lawyers went to the courts to solidify its new Brazilian market.

By arguing that Brazil was impeding its legal right to collect royalties on its intellectual property (the seeds), Monsanto made its case and GM soy was legalized in Brazil in 2003. Still, the essential companion to Monsanto’s Roundup-ready GM soy, the herbicide Roundup, was not legal yet. In 2004, a congressman from southern Brazil pushed through a series of federal amendments legalizing the herbicide. This same congressman purchased a large farm from Monsanto for one-third of the market price. The Brazilian government is investigating the congressman for corruption.

Soy Powerful: How Monsanto Pushes Genetically Modified Soybeans On Unwilling Consumers

KFC vs. PETA: Flaming Silly to Monumentally Daft

As we’ve noted before, there’s nothing that PETA enjoys more than the smell of roasting Kentucky Fried Chicken – the company, that is. Their latest attempts to haul this fast food corporation over the coals? Firstly, PETA wants Indianapolis fire trucks to sign an advertising deal, the same way the fire department has with the finger-lickin’ folk – and secondly, a 5.5 foot tall statue of a gory chicken on crutches, artfully monikered “KFC Cripples Chickens.”

In both cases, local officials denied the requests, citing inappropriate context and legislation and, in the former case, the fact that “advertising on a fire truck could even lead motorists to believe a truck heading for an emergency was just performing a stunt.” Quite.

Oh For PETA’s Sake: 7 (More) Crazy Stunts

After putting its less well-capitalized and often more quirkily authentic brethren out of business, sucking the soul out of the neighborhood coffee house, and commoditizing coffee to the point where consumers couldn’t see the difference between a $4.00 latte at Starbucks and a $2.00 latte from McDonalds, Starbucks was hurting. The company’s latest strategy involves “Unbranding” a few select stores by taking away the Starbuck’s look and logo and instead naming the stores after the neighborhoods that surround them. They are also sending spotters into independently owned shops and copying the look and feel, as well as sourcing the décor items locally. If it works, they’ll roll it out all over the country. Oh Goody. This one makes me want to choke on my home-brewed, fair trade, organic blend.

Marketing Authenticity: 7 Corporations Riding On The Coattails Of A Movement

According to Change.org, opening Walmarts in areas known as “food deserts” is really just a band-aid that masks the underlying causes of poverty and inequality. This is true and there’s no doubt it is a complicated issue. Similarly, many commenters pointed out in this article by Marc Gunther that the entire model of how Walmart builds and spreads across the landscape is flawed. Again, indisputably true.

But Walmart isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. Is it possible to look at some of their initiatives in a positive light?

The Mixed Grocery Bag That Is Walmart

It is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. -Henry Ford

25 Quotes On Who Really Runs America

Images: stublog, iheartmacaroni, Nicola Romagna, Monochrome, ginnerobot, SqueakyMarmot and Mike138.

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