Have you gone vintage with your produce yet? You may have spotted a colorful array of heirloom tomatoes at the farmers’ market but wondered what sets them apart from regular tomatoes, which are hybrids. While their name may sound fancy, heirloom vegetables are simply a throwback to the type of produce everyone used to eat before mass production intervened. These vintage varieties have been around for at least 50 years and are often passed down through several generations of a family because of their desirable characteristics. Plucked straight from the vine, heirloom produce has become a staple at local farmers’ markets because its thin, ripe skin makes it tricky to transport. In addition to tasting fresher and sweeter, heirlooms also boast health and environmental benefits:

Nutrient-rich

Recent research shows that heirlooms actually contain more nutrients than hybrids. It appears that irrigation and fertilization techniques used by commercial farmers to get high yields have an unwanted side effect: the concentration of minerals in these plants decreases. Heirlooms also outshine hybrids because they don’t suffer from what scientists call the “genetic dilution effect.” Plant breeders often cross varieties without giving much thought to maintaining nutritional value. High-yield plants are usually rich in carbohydrates but lack an abundance of vitamins and minerals.

Friendly to the environment

Heirloom farmers usually grow organically, so you’re supporting sustainable agriculture when you choose heirlooms over hybrids. Heirlooms also help maintain biodiversity in our food supply. By keeping different varieties of a crop in existence, we are lessening our dependency on monoculture farming. When farmers use these older varieties, they’re able to breed resistance to pests and diseases into modern crops without resorting to the use of dangerous pesticides.

Image: clayirving

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Melissa Lum. Melissa is a freelance lifestyle writer. She blogs about health and wellness topics at The Good Goji.

The post Guest Post: Melissa Lum of the Good Goji on Heirloom Appeal appeared first on EcoSalon.

Citizen journalism, open government, status updates, community building, information sharing, crowdsourcing, and the election of a President.

Our children will inherit a world profoundly changed by the combination of technology and humanity that is social media. They’ll take for granted that their voices can be heard and that a social movement can be launched from their laptop. They’ll take for granted that they are connected and interconnected with hundreds of millions of people at any given moment. And they’ll take for granted that a black man is or was President of the United States.

What’s most profound is that these represent parts of a greater whole. They represent a shift in power from centralized institutions and organizations to the People they represent. It is the evolution of democracy by way of technology, and we are all better for it.

For most of us, social media has changed our lives in some meaningful way. Collectively it is changing the world for good. Given the pace of innovation and adoption, change has become a constant. Every so often we find the need to stop and reflect on its most recent and noteworthy developments, hence the following list.

Please note this is not a top-10 list, nor are these listed in any particular order. It’s also incomplete. So we ask that you add to this conversation in the comments. If you’d like to Retweet this post or take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Take Social Actions: The nonprofit organization Social Actions aggregates “opportunities to make a difference from over 50 online platforms” through its unique API. It recently held the Change the Web Challenge contest in order to inspire the most innovative applications for that API. The Social Actions Interactive Map won the $5,000 first prize. The result is a virtual tour of the world through the lens of social action. “People are volunteering, donating, signing petitions, making loans and doing other social actions as we speak – all over the world. To capture the context of the where, this project uses sophisticated techniques to extract location information from full text paragraphs.” You can also join the Social Actions Community, which is powered by Ning“¦which now boasts more than one million individual social networks.

2. Twitter with a Purpose: This list could be exclusive to Twitter. The micro-blogging sensation was featured on our first two lists (a three-tweet), and it’s certain to be a fixture. From Tweetsgiving, the virtual Thanksgiving feast, to the Twestival, which organized 202 off-line events around the world to benefit charity: water, it’s become the de facto tool for organizing and taking action. Tweet Congress won the SXSW activism award, and celebrity Tweeps Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Rose Tweeted their two million followers about ending malaria. Max Gladwell recently initiated the #EcoMonday follow meme as a way to connect and organize the Green Twittersphere.

3. Visit White House 2.0: Inside of its first 100 days, the Obama administration has managed to set the historic benchmark for government transparency and accountability. The President’s virtual town hall meeting used WhiteHouse.gov to crowdsource questions from his 300 million constituents, complete with voting to determine the ones he’d have to answer. All told, 97,937 people submitted 103,978 questions and cast 1,782,650 votes. The White House continues to raise the bar with its official Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter channels. In so doing President Obama is not just setting the standard for state and local government in the U.S. He’s establishing the world standard. The Obama administration is spreading democracy not by force but through example. Because you don’t have to be an American citizen to be a friend or follower of White House 2.0.

4. Claim your Zumbox: What happens when all mail can be sent and delivered online to any street address in a paperless form? That’s the big question for Zumbox, which has created an online mail system with a digital mailbox for every U.S. street address. And while the answer to that question remains to be seen, it promises to be as liberating as it is disruptive. A key quality for Zumbox is that it’s closed system much like that of Facebook, only instead of true identity it’s true address. This will enable people to better connect with their communities including their neighbors, local businesses, and the mayor’s office. The primary agent of change, though, might not be that this uses street addresses but that it enables direct and potentially viral feedback, which is a virtue that e-mail and the USPS do not offer. The first methods are to request exclusive paperless delivery and to block a sender, but others are certain to evolve such as real-time commenting and ways to share mail with friends, family, and colleagues. Welcome to Mail 2.0. (Disclosure: Zumbox is a client of Rob Reed, the founder of Max Gladwell.)

5. Host a Social Media Event: This is the year of the social media event. No meaningful gathering of people is complete without an interactive online audience, especially when it’s so easy and cost effective to pull off. Essential tools include a broadband connection, laptop, video camera, projector, and screen. Add people and a purpose, such as entrepreneurship. Promote it through social media channels, and you have a social media event. A recent example in the green world is the Evolution of Green, which was hosted by Creative Citizen, a green wiki community. It celebrated the launch of a new Web property, EcoMatters, while also establishing a new Twitter tag. By posing the question, “How can we go from green hype to green habit?” and including the #GreenQ hashtag, it sparked a conversation between attendees and the Twittersphere in real time. Thus was born a new mechanism for getting answers to green questions via Twitter.

6. Travel the World: More than anyone else, Tim O’Reilly knows the potential for social media to change the world. In his opening keynote at this year’s Web 2.0 Expo, he called for a new ethic in which we do more with less and create more value than we capture. This provided the context for SalaamGarage founder Amanda Koster, whose presentation followed O’Reilly’s. The idea is that social media has enabled each of us to have an audience. Whether through Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, or a personal blog, each of us can have influence and reach. What’s more, it can be used for good. SalaamGarage coordinates trips for citizen journalists (that means you) to places like India and Vietnam in conjunction with non-government organizations like Seattle-based Peace Trees. The destination is the story, as these humanitarian journalists report on the people they meet and discoveries they make. Their words, images, and video are posted to the social web to gain exposure and because these stories just need to be told.

7. Build It on Drupal: You may not have noticed, but the open-source Drupal content management system (CMS) has quickly become the dominant player on the social web. While we still prefer WordPress as a strict blogging application, Drupal has emerged as the go-to platform for building scalable, community-driven Web sites. It powers Recovery.gov, a key part of President Obama’s commitment to transparency and accountability. PopRule uses it as a social news platform for politics. And Drupal will soon become the platform for Causecast, a site where “media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose.” This is especially significant because Causecast CEO Ryan Scott is transitioning the site off of Ruby on Rails because Drupal has proved more efficient, user friendly, and cost effective. (Disclosure: Max Gladwell founder Rob Reed is co-founder of PopRule.)

8. Green Your iPhone: Looking for an organic diner within biking distance that has a three-star green rating? There’s a app for that. It’s called 3rd Whale, and you can download it for free. (Except that the star rating is actually a whale rating.) Complete with Facebook Connect, this iPhone app locates green products and businesses in 30 major North American cities. It uses the iPhone’s dial function to select a category (food), sub-category (restaurants), and distance (walking, biking, or driving). In Santa Monica, this might give you Swingers diner for its selection of veggie and vegan fare. You could then get directions from your current location using the iPhone’s built-in Google map, rate your experience on the three-whale scale, and write up a quick review. 3rd Whale recently released a new feature that integrates green-living tips, which can show how much energy or waste you’ll save by taking a given action.

9. Unite the World Through Video: Matt’s dancing around the world video inspired many to tears. Today, more than 20 million people have viewed his YouTube masterpiece, where he performs a kooky dance with the citizens of planet earth. The most recent example of this approach is Playing for Change, which connects the world through song. The project started in Santa Monica with a street performance of the classic Stand By Me and expanded to New Orleans, New Mexico, France, Brazil, Italy, Venezuela, South Africa, Spain, and The Netherlands. The project was superbly executed via social media, complete with a YouTube channel, MySpace, Facebook, and Blog. It’s received tremendous mainstream media exposure and also benefits a foundation of the same name.

10. Rate a Company: The conversation about corporate social responsibility (CSR) takes place across the social web on blogs, Twitter, and YouTube, but a central hub for this information and opinion is still to be determined. SocialYell seeks to address this by building an online community around the CSR conversation, where users can submit reviews of companies together with nonprofit organizations and even public figures like Michelle Obama. The major topics are the Environment, Health, Social Equity, Consumer Advocacy, and Charity. The reviews are voted and commented on by the community in a Reddit-like fashion with both up (Yell) and down (shhh) voting. The site is relatively new and still gaining traction, but there’s no question that a resource like this is needed to shine a bright light on CSR and and other related issues.

11. Publish a collective, simultaneous blog post on a universal topic: As Nigel Tufnel might say, this list goes to eleven. Let the #10Ways conversation begin”¦

Final note: This is Max Gladwell’s third list of “10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media.” The first was posted a year ago today on Sustainablog.org, and the sequel followed five months later. If a single headline can capture the Max Gladwell raison d’etre, this is it.

The post Guest Post: Max Gladwell on 10 Ways to Change the World Through Social Media appeared first on EcoSalon.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Victoria Everman.

Having a sustainable wedding is as easy as locally-grown, organic pie. In the midst of planning my own event, I’ve found that being planet- and money-conscious is not only feasible – it is fun.

It is so easy to get overwhelmed by the wide world of weddings that you might forget about your green goals. Even I’m guilty of it. That’s where my eco-wedding blog comes in, where I catalog my visual inspirations and favorite sustainable wedding companies.

Ready to save some time and a nice chunk of change? Just check out my list of eco-conscious wedding-related companies and creative ideas that are a click away!

Ink and Wit

There are a number of wonderful eco-friendly wedding invitation companies out there, but Tara Hogan’s Ink+Wit has a special place in my heart. I’ve been a long-time fan of her letterpress art and stationary, so when the time came to began planning my own wedding, I knew she was the designer for me.

Just recently, Tara launched a pre-designed line of wedding invitations that can be easily customized and come in any Pantone color you can imagine. Working with her on my custom invitations has been a fantastic collaborative process; I couldn’t ask for anything better.

Earthly Affair

For those who like more traditional invitation designs, Jen Stambolsky’s Earthly Affair collections are just the thing. With
18 designs to choose from, you can choose the type and colors on all the styles. Though she doesn’t do custom work, she does stick firmly to her sustainable manifesto. A small, eco-friendly, affordable business – Earthly Affair is a triple treat!

Sarah Seven

Choosing a dress is one of the toughest tasks when planning an eco-friendly wedding. For the non-traditional bride, my favorite handmade gowns come from Sarah Seven. Handmade in Portland, Ore. with recycled bustiers and fabrics, Sarah’s designs are mostly above-the-knee, but she will happily customize them to any length (and color) you choose. She has also developed her first bridal line that will make any bride stand out … sustainably.

PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com

If you like traditional styles but can’t bring yourself to pay $6,000 for a dress, check out PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com. The site features over 2,000 gowns by any and all major designers you can name, all of which have been either never worn or worn only once. I’ve found over 20 gowns that fit my style, budget, and body. Of course, most gowns will need to be tailored after you receive them, but is a small price to pay compared to how much you can save!

Krikawa Rings

Sustainable rings are another difficult task for a green wedding. There are a number of great companies out there for ethical diamonds and recycled metals, but that is all too traditional for me. Instead, I prefer lab-created color “diamonds” and gems set in palladium – the lesser-known (and more affordable) sibling of platinum. Krikawa Rings specializes in both and makes some beautiful custom bands in varying prices.

Snippet & Ink Budget Tips

Saving money can easily be connected with saving the planet. Snippet & Ink, one of my all-time favorite wedding blogs because of their constant source of inspiration, has a full category of real and idea weddings based on budgets. I’ve found money-saving ideas in their posts that I’ve never seen elsewhere. Inventive and thrifty – that’s a winning combination in my book.

Martha Stewart’s Free Templates

No one can deny the mastery of Martha Stewart and her Weddings magazine is always fantastic. Add a bit of her crafty world to your wedding, thanks to her free downloadable templates. Available in a host of patterns and colors, she offers up options for everything from favor bags and seating cards to centerpieces and thank-you postcards. Who ever said you can’t get anything good for free?

Laurie Cinotto + OnceWed’s DIY Projects

Creatively-endowed or not, you can easily pull off one of Laurie Cinotto’s spectacular DIY wedding projects. Flower arranging, ring pillows, vases, boutonnieres, garlands – there are six pages of simple projects that will create a big impact for your special day. Each project has clear step-by-step instruction and pictures, including an item-by-item cost roundup to help budget. These are not to be missed!

The Small Object Cake Toppers

Be prepared to say awwww, because these cute creations are incredibly swoon-worthy. Handmade by The Small Object’s founder, Sarah Neuburger, these wooden cake toppers are made specifically for each couple and can be customized right down to their wardrobe and flower colors. Sarah recently added cupcake toppers to her list of creations, perfect for anyone with a smaller budget or quirky sense of humor.

Have your own favorite green wedding vendors? Share their website links with us in the comments section.

Victoria Everman is an eco writer, consultant, model, photographer, crafter and yogi. You can check out her process of planning a local,
eco-friendly, independent wedding at Planning an Eco-Indie Wedding. For more eco inspirations, visit her main blog at victoria-e.com.

Images: Fevi in Cayman, Victoria Everman

The post Guest Post: Victoria Everman on 9 Eco Wedding Tips appeared first on EcoSalon.

Of all the things I’ve come across as we near an increasingly greenwashy Earth Day, one stands out because of its simplicity and transparency. The founders of Energy Circle, a home-energy efficiency ally whose staff all test and use the products they sell in their own homes, will make their home energy use public, broadcasting it both through their website and live on Twitter at EnergyCircleKW.

They’ve hacked their best-selling device, The Energy Detective, a “real-time home electricity monitor that is the equivalent of a digital stethoscope,” so that the data can be sent out, with information about what the data means – giving it real world relevance to you and me.

The Energy Detective is a device that monitors energy use down to each appliance, and doesn’t cost much, making it more likely to be used by a broader segment of the population. Rather than promoting some perfect uber-green house out of reach of the everyday person, the founders’ house is your average American home – built in the 80s, with an addition in the 90s. It’s got lots of air leaks and other flaws in the design.

They’ve had an energy audit done (check this great piece to learn more). Like many people, they’ve made progress with CFL and LED lights and low-flow shower heads. But they still have lots to do and they intend to make their house an example.

While things like Google Power Meter are coming at some point, perhaps even this year, Energy Circle is interested in bringing the public several “right now” options to be able to take an active hand in making better choices when it comes to their home energy use.

A 49-second customer service credo clip, featured on Energy Circle’s store page, is an unusual move, emblematic of their personal, accessible approach. If you’re looking for concrete, easy to do things for Earth Day and beyond, Energy Circle is a solid start.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Paul Smith. Follow Paul on Twitter!

The post Guest Post: Paul Smith on Energy Circle Makes Their Home Energy Use Public via Twitter appeared first on EcoSalon.

Note: this is a guest post by Kathryn Hawkins.

Locally-grown veggies and free-range chicken may be de rigeur on your own dinner plate each day – but not so for poor Fido, who has to settle for the mystery-meat sludge in his Alpo can (which looks suspiciously like what your cafeteria lunch lady doled out back in the day).

While it may not be too cheap or practical to set up your pet with his own platter of goodies direct from the farmers’ market, there are plenty of ways to make your companion’s life as environmentally sound as your own. Whether you spend your days with a Jack Russell terrier, a Siamese cat, or even a cockatiel, it’s easy to reduce your pet’s carbon footprint (or pawprint, as the case may be).

Here are ten ideas for greening your pets:

Get a recycled pet. Avoid approaching an animal breeder, and by all means, steer clear of pet shops, which have kept the sickening puppy mill trade in business for decades. If you’re going to adopt a pet, the most ethical and eco-friendly way is to pick up an animal from your local shelter. Visit Petfinder to find your new best friend.

Spay or neuter your pet. Conservative estimates have found that at least 8 million cats and dogs enter animal shelters each year; half of those are put to sleep. Don’t contribute to the tragic statistic – as cute as he may be, there’s no need to turn your pug into a stud.

To avoid another nasty surprise like last year’s poisoned dog food debacle, stick with organic, all-natural pet food. My Shih Tzus love their Dr. Harvey’s Miracle Food so much that they’ve literally gone on hunger strikes when we’ve run out. The company also makes food for cats, birds, and horses.

Picking up dog poo is never pleasant, but try not to make an even bigger mess of the earth in the process. If you have plastic bags lying around the house, use them for clean-up duties before purchasing anything new. If not, try a degradable product like Mutt Mitts (which comes in pink, if you’re in the mood to color coordinate).

When it comes to cats, stay away from clay litter. More than 2 million tons of the stuff ends up in landfills every year. Instead, choose an eco-friendly biodegradable alternative, such as the natural wheat-made Swheat Scoop.

As you may have noticed, pets make messes. Instead of using toxic chemical sprays, try all-natural cleaning solutions like Nature’s Miracle.

Don’t force your pet to wear a flea collar, which contains chemicals and pesticides. To keep the bugs at bay, create your own flea spray from a mixture of lemon juice and water.

Typical grooming products are also laden with toxic cleaning agents. Keep things clean with all-natural shampoos and cleansers, like the organic sprays, shampoos, and gift sets from Spot Organics.

Give your pet a good night’s sleep on an eco-friendly bed, like the Organic Bumper Bed from West Paw Designs, made from recycled plastic bottles with an organic cotton lining.

Toy-wise, avoid the sketchy “Made in China” stuff, which may contain harmful toxins or lead. Pick up a few fun recycled goodies, like Planet Dog’s RecycleBone, made from the company’s leftover waste material, or West Paw Design’s Eco-Friendly Turtle, a squeaky toy with a unique recycled soda bottle shell. Or, just don’t buy toys: An old sock is always a winner around my house.

More green pet tips for: cats
More green pet tips for: dogs

Image: christopher.woo

The post Guest Post: Kathryn Hawkins of A Greener Pet: 10 Great Tips for Reducing Carbon Pawprints appeared first on EcoSalon.

Bugs who bite think I’m imported chocolate. I found this out during one of my recent outdoor adventures when I went hurdling through a cloud of black, wingy things, and the little buggers latched on for dear, sweet bloodsucking life. Unfortunately, my body thinks bugs are the devil incarnate, and tells me so through a solid week of welts and fevers.

Thank goodness I had read about homemade detox baths –  scathing pools of tub water filled with cabinet magic that pull toxins straight out of your skin. If you’re really full of junk, these baths are even known to change color as you soak! It sounded promising, so I gave it a go.

Trial: Two cups of Epsom salts, 1 cup of baking soda, some ground ginger and me went into the hottest bath water I could possibly handle. Then, I stayed put for 30 minutes. It sounds relaxing – a nice homeopathic soak pulling out the poison – but it was a sweatshop.

Verdict: I emerged from my soak woozy, and the bath didn’t deal with the situation in its entirety, just sped up the healing process. (Plus, my water didn’t change color – boo.) However, I was able to keep my mind off of the itch during my meeting the next day, and for that reason, I’d do it again. A few days later, my bites are much smaller and less irritable.

Word To The Wise: Passing out is a firm possibility during your soak. I only saw a few stars, but I should’ve chugged more water during the whole process.

Editor’s note: Sara here. This is the third post in an ongoing guest series from our sassy pals over at BeThree. (Read posts #1 and #2.)

The post Guest Post: BeThree on Soakin’ It Up: a Detox Bath to Remember appeared first on EcoSalon.

I’m all for living la vida verde and being a good global citizen, but I have to say, most of the eco friendly plates I’ve come across are just so…homely. And they don’t stand up to anything beyond a light
salad without wilting, for the most part.

That is, until I came across the plates made by Verterra. They’re made from palm leaves, in intriguing shapes, and look like wood. And they’re no compromise: you can cook with them! Halibut without a problem, on a platter that impresses. What else do you need? Compostability, yes. That’s no problem, as these plates compost in 3 months or less. Perfect for the eco-friendly picnic! (Prices vary but the cost isn’t much more than standard disposables.)

Editor’s note: this is a guest post from Paul Smith of GreenSmith Consulting. Thanks, Paul!

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Forget fueling up. At over $4 a gallon, gas prices today are forcing us to take to the streets the old fashioned way: By bike or foot. And since some 54% of Americans live less than 5 miles from their jobs, there’s no excuse not to turn this unholy oil-boil into a calorie-burning, enviro-friendly, social fiesta.

Here are four tips from Tim Grahl, founder of CommuteByBike.com:

Baby Pedals: Tim cautions new commuters: “Don’t start out trying to be hardcore, riding 40 miles roundtrip five days a week. Instead, try biking one or two days a week, or drive halfway to work and bike the rest.” And it doesn’t have to be work related, says Tim. “Maybe try cycling a mile or two to the grocery before trying longer trips.”

Strength In Numbers: Fact: 12 bikes can be parked in the space required for one automobile. “So, if you’re nervous about riding to work, consider finding someone in your area to ride with you, especially if he/she is an experienced commuter,” advises Tim. “Also, before you do the big commute on a hectic Monday, test out your route on a weekend when traffic will be lighter.”

Primp Post Pedal: Worried your bike commute will muck-up your beauty routine? If your employer doesn’t offer shower facilities, toss some Shady Day cleaning wipes with SPF into Live With Love’s organic cotton Balance Bird Map Messenger Bag.

What To Wear: Check out Zoic who makes stylish duds specifically designed for ladies who bike. Our favorite is their sexy Streetside Damsel Skirt that comes with a removable short liner, so you can bike to work, but still look hot for your lunch date.

Image: tanakawho

The post Guest Post: BeThree on Cruel Fuel Prices Breaking The Bank? It’s the Perfect Time to Ride A Bike! appeared first on EcoSalon.

Safe Summer Sunscreen Review

This year, have fun in the summer sun without ending up looking like a lobster or being driven to bitter madness by swarms of West-Nile carrying mosquitoes (or ticks with Lyme disease, the gift that keeps on giving). You can’t just stay indoors, because then you’re assaulted by poor indoor air quality – besides, summer is supposed to be spent outdoors! So, what to do?

Block the Burn

One in five Americans is now diagnosed with skin cancer, so there is real reason to pay heed to solar rays. Of course, the best way to stay safe is to stay in the shade or cover up (light, loose-fitting clothing works particularly well). But how sexy is that? There’s always sunscreen, which is never perfect, but it can help reduce burns and damage from UV light. Unfortunately, many sunscreens also contain undesirable chemicals. The CDC found the sunscreen component oxybenzone in 97% of Americans tested. That’s worrisome, since oxybenzone has been implicated in allergies, hormone disruption, cellular damage and low birth weight. The Environmental Working Group found oxybenzone in 600 U.S. sunscreens. In fact, when the EWG took an in-depth look at 783 sunscreens available in the U.S., it determined that only 16% of sunscreens on the market are both safe and effective! Only 125 blocked both UVA and UVB radiation, remained stable in sunlight and contained few if any ingredients that are known or suspected of being health hazards.

Luckily, safer sunscreens are becoming widely available from such natural products companies as UV Natural, California Baby, Aubrey Organics and many more. Check out these 13 great natural sunscreens. Products that serve as physical barriers are also good, because the ingredients stay on top of your skin, instead of absorbing into it.

Get Some Skin Relief

Of course, if you are burnt to a crisp, you need some relief. Aubrey Organics, among others, makes an organic, 100% aloe vera gel. What you don’t need are a bunch of petroleum fillers and synthetic preservatives like you’d find with drugstore brands.

Beat the Bugs

Sick of regular old smelly bug spray? Why not try out a natural, herbal insect repellent? The active ingredient in most conventional bug sprays, N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, or DEET, has come under fire in recent years, since it has been found to impede cognition in some animal studies. A study conducted in the late 1980s on National Park employees found that one-quarter of the subjects experienced negative health effects, including rashes, numb or burning lips, nausea, headaches, dizziness and difficulty concentrating. Plus, some people just don’t like the smell or feel of DEET repellents.

Generally, natural bug sprays don’t last as long as DEET, and they may not be quite as potent, though they are getting better all the time. Many are made from plant oils like citronella, lemongrass, peppermint and cedar wood, which are known to deter fleas, mosquitoes, ticks and biting flies. Oil of lemon eucalyptus has been listed by the CDC as effective protection against mosquitoes that may carry West Nile virus. Check out this list of 7 natural bug sprays.

Editor’s note: this is a guest post from Brian Clark Howard of The Daily Green, a source for environmental news, green lifestyle tips, blogs, features, photos and more.

Image: Patrick Dentler

The post Guest Post: Brian Clark Howard of The Daily Green on Easy, Healthy Protection with Natural Summer Skincare appeared first on EcoSalon.

You love it in your cocktails, your lotion, and your macaroons. You’re cuckoo for coconuts. But in your butter and oil? Well, according to Bruce Fife , Director of The Coconut Research Center, and author of The Coconut Oil Miracle and Coconut Cures, coconut oil and coconut butter are as rich and creamy as the cow kind, but unlike animal fats, they’re actually good for you. Why? Fife gave us the 411:

The Fat Facts: Traditional butter has the dangerous long-chain fats that clog arteries. The coconut variety has medium chain fatty acids (or MCFA’s) that our bodies burn more easily for energy. They also reduce cholesterol and heart disease (the number one killer of women).

Bacteria Killer: What would you rather ingest: Animal fats that ooze nasty toxins or coconut oils that are rich in lauric acid, known as the destroyer of viruses and bad bacteria? According to Dr. Fife, “Coconut oil is perhaps the strongest antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal dietary supplement you can get without a doctor’s prescription.”

It kills the bad stuff that causes “ulcers, sinus infections, bladder infections, gum disease and cavities, pneumonia, gonorrhea, and many other illnesses,” says Dr. Fife. Did we mention yeast infections? There is a god!

Breast Is Best: If that doesn’t get you, this will: Coconut oil is one of the closest foods on the planet to breast milk given its immunity-boosting properties. Mama mia!

Sub It All: Substitute your butters and oils you use for cooking and baking with coconut oil. Our faves…

To see recommended products, visit our friends at BeThree, your health-savvy confidante delivering the uncut truth on the latest in nutrition, fitness, soulful travel, healthy lifestyles, and the coolest conscious products (and sweet deals on ’em).

Image: bionicteaching

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