Healthy Living
How To Fight Coronawashing
The EPA’s latest move exempting corporations from environmental oversight is just one in a string of waiver requests from petrochemical, mining, plastic, and shipping industries. Are these reasonable requests – or coronawashing?
Can You Avoid Plastic Pollution In A Pandemic?
Last week, my husband unloaded eight paper shopping bags filled with plastic-wrapped food. After decades working on sustainability – and the last four years focused on single-use plastic, including a TEDx talk last year and another in 2017 – the sight made me physically ill. This is the third week of shelter in place for most of the country, including Los Angeles, where I live. And while most of us spent the time battling alternating bouts of terror and boredom, the plastics industry was in attack mode. As the New York Times described, “The plastic bag industry, battered by a wave of bans nationwide, is using the coronavirus crisis to try…
How To Rock A Zoom or Videoconference
So much business gets done online—here’s how to not look like an idiot.
Mommy Greenest TED Talk, Too
I was so nervous stepping into the TED red circle to take on recycling. Because I was about to share a solution that was at odds with the plastic pollution activism movement that I am a part of.
Plastic: 4 Facts You Should Know
Have you heard the stats on plastic? One million plastic bags used every minute around the globe. Three million water bottles used every hour in the United States. Five million straws used every day in America. Plastic production increased 2,000 percent from 1964 to 2014. More than 300 million tons of new plastic produced annually and less than 10% recycled. Plastic overconsumption is affecting our environment—and our health. Reports show that eight million tons go into the ocean each year (the equivalent of a garbage truck full every minute) and that if we don’t do something about it, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. In the last two…
Watch My TEDx Talk!
I feel so honored to have been chosen by TEDxSantaBarbara to share my vision of how one straw can change the world. What are you doing to fight plastic pollution? I’d love to hear about it. Thanks!
Turmeric for Health
Everyone seems to be mentioning turmeric for health, these days. And it’s not just about a spice that you put in your curry. A proud member of the ginger family, turmeric is said to be an immune system builder and powerful antioxidant. I got the scoop from Randi Ragan, holistic well-being expert, founder of GreenBliss EcoSpa and author of the brand-new book A Year of Living Mindfully: Seasonal Practices to Nourish Body, Mind and Spirit. This beautifully-illustrated book is chock full of recipes, teas, tonics, exercises and daily practices—including instructions on how to make an easy turmeric for health tonic, which I’ve included below. All are designed to reduce stress, avoid…
What’s Made Safe? Amy Ziff Explains
What an honor! I grabbed Amy Ziff in the press room of Expo West for this quick interview about her brand-new endeavor, Made Safe. The organization’s goal is to “ensure that goods are made entirely from ingredients that are not known or suspected to cause human health harm as determined by scientifically recognized lists from around the world.” Pretty cool, right? Because we all know that what’s listed on–or left off of–a product label doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story about the ingredients that are in it. Made Safe vets those ingredients and actually tests products (in some cases), so you know that a cleaning, beauty or household product that features…
