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Sarah Smarsh and Simran Sethi are writing a series on the impacts of everyday things. They will be posting previews on Green Options before launching the posts on Huffington Post. Here’s a sneak peek on sneakers.
With ye olde cobbler long dead (re-soling Jesus’s Birkenstocks in forgotten profession heaven) and cheap production methods shortening the lives of shoes, Americans have gotten into the habit of pitching worn out (or simply undesired) kicks and buying new ones. Shoe-shopping has become something of a fetish, a joke, an emblem of the spoiled housewife who fills her emotional void with Italian suede.
We could go into Manolos, but we’ll focus here on sporty treads, not just to stay on-topic but because they account for a third of the U.S. shoes market.
The production of athletic shoes is infamously shady, from a human rights perspective. Historically, manufacturing giants such as Nike have followed cheap labor, exploiting workers in developing countries so that they might enjoy enormous profit margins. (Nike has really turned itself around in recent years, however, and is now one of the greener players on the field.)
By Deb Hiett •
May 15, 2008
…and Calls In Sore Tomorrow
Helmet? Check. Water bottle? Got it. Metro bus pass when we poop out halfway to work? You bet your aching glutes. Today’s the day many Californians bike the walk and not just talk the talk. It’s Bike to Work Week 2008, and boy, do we need it.
In its thirteenth year, California’s Bike to Work Week officially encourages bicycling as the best form of transportation to decrease [...]
Exercise is a green approach to health care. Yes, a green pregnancy means making the most of what you take into your body, through what you eat, drink, and breathe, and also absorb through your skin, hair, and nails. But how you move your body is another powerful green way to make a difference.
There are many benefits of exercise during pregnancy, including improved physical conditioning, strength, flexibility, and stamina. It builds endurance for labor and delivery and a quicker postnatal recovery. By exercising regularly, you may be able to reduce some of the common discomforts of pregnancy such as backache, swelling, and constipation. Most of all, you feel great about yourself when you exercise.
How Exercise Can Help More Than Medication
Let’s take a look at the effects of exercise versus medications for two of the most important complications of pregnancy.
Gestational Diabetes
As many as one in eight women will develop gestational diabetes sometime during their pregnancies, increasing health risks for themselves and their babies. Researchers at the University of Southern California School of Medicine studied a group of women who had already developed gestational diabetes and who had fasting blood glucose levels high enough to require insulin. Half of the women in the study received the recommended insulin. The other half got personal trainers instead. The trainers supervised the women while they did simple twenty-minute stints on exercise bikes. The results were startling: moderate aerobic exercise was equally effective to insulin! Blood glucose levels were statistically the same in both groups.
You'd be hard pressed to pick up a magazine on the newsstand that doesn't mention yoga within its pages. With 6,000 years of dedicated followers, there is no denying the power or pleasure of a yogic transformation. Whether you are sweating it out with Bikram or concentrating in Iyengar, you need something to practice on - a yoga mat, to be specific. Unfortunately, your "average" mat is made from PVC, a type
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Editor's note: We're sorry to announce that today's Tip o' the Day will be the last from Rebecca. As one of our founding writers, Rebecca's work for GO has been integral to building the blog. We wish her well as focuses her attention on Ecorazzi and Greener Miami. We'll miss you, Rebecca!
Do you work in an office park? Sit in a cubicle all day long? These "parks" are often filled
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