Here's a question for you: Are smoking bans a good for our planet? Your first response, assuming you're not a smoker, is uh - of course! Well, not so fast.Indoor smoking bans are actually wreaking havoc on our environment. Smokers are flocking outdoors and leaving cigarette buts on sidewalks. The filter of the cigarette is made out of condensed cellulose acetate that is thinner than sewing Read Full Story

I got ill this weekend - terribly, horribly, knock you on your back ill. It's an interesting phenomena that any ailment seems to arrive immediately following my Saturday morning chiropractic adjustment, my chiropractor calls it "release care" ...meaning releasing of whatever it is that is already in your system. I suppose that it didn't (or did, depending how you look at it) help that I decided Read Full Story

WHO today urged governments to require that all tobacco packages include pictorial warnings to show the sickness and suffering caused by tobacco use.WHO's call to action comes on the eve of World No Tobacco Day, 31 May. This year’s campaign focuses on decreasing tobacco use by increasing public awareness of its dangers.Studies reveal that even among people who believe tobacco is harmful, few Read Full Story

Today is my birthday - again. It's a funny event filled with dichotomies; it comes every year marking an end to one year and a beginning to another. On the one hand the "big day" begs for reflection, while on the other demands new benchmarks...it's "a whole lot" while ultimately being a day no different then any other (equally as precious and no more divine).Days of playing "pin the tail on the Read Full Story

In August of 2008 year my then two and a half year old son was admitted to the hospital in respiratory distress. Horror is the only word to describe the experience of watching ones own child gasping for breath. The day started innocently enough; breakfast, laughter, playtime, mom leaves to run errands as dad stays on to play with kids in the August sun. By late afternoon, upon my return, my Read Full Story

--Feature Column: "Sustainable Soul w/Rebecca Hecking"--Note to the reader: 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Last Friday was Endangered Species Day, and it seems appropriate to mark that occasion by reflecting on the man who helped us envision ourselves as one branch on the greater tree of all life.
"There is grandeur in this view of life...from so simple a Read Full Story

The Climate Project (TCP), an international non-profit founded by former Vice President Al Gore with a mission to increase public awareness of the climate crisis at a grassroots level worldwide. The TCP opened its North American Summit in Nashville yesterday.During the three day event, Gore is addressing more than 500 attendees as well as conducting a three hour training workshop. Dr. Rajendra K Read Full Story

With Africa’s population set to rise by an additional one billion people over the next four decades, the continent risks being plunged into a deepening food crisis without urgent changes to the management of its natural resources, warned a new United Nations UNEP report.Agricultural yields in Africa have already fallen in some cases by up to 50 per cent as a result of invasive pests, land Read Full Story

Ahead of World Environment Day, celebrated globally on 5 June, the United Nations today announced an ambitious tree-planting target in a bid to push governments into reaching agreement on a climate change pact in Copenhagen this December.The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has appealed to the world to help its effort to plant seven billion trees by the end of the year, coinciding with the UN Read Full Story

You know times are changing when giants like Coke are creating vitamin infused soda and now developing plant derived bottles (that is 30% plant derived). The company announced today that it has developed a new plastic bottle that is partly made from sugar cane and molasses," raising the bar in the battle for the most environmentally friendly packaging." Coke will test the new bottle in North Read Full Story