In her new book, Loux applies her whole-foods philosophy to our homes, gardens, and beauty routines, including lots of “5 Step” lists which make it easy to implement changes easily. Without being condescending or preachy, Loux conveys her philosophy about what it really means to live a “green” life, and how each little change we make contributes to a higher quality of life in every aspect. It’s inspiring as well as instructive.

The 416-page book is available at Amazon.com and you can read more from (and about) Renee Loux at her website, reneeloux.com.

Jennifer Lance has done just that, and it was a pleasure talking with this school teacher-mother, who walks her talk. When she writes about family values in Eco Child’s Play, you can rest assured it comes from her own life experience.

So settle back, and have a listen:

jennifer-lance-final.mp3

Before going, I want to call your attention to an earlier podcast interview with the Sundance Channel’s Simran Sethi. She is documenting the rebuilding of Greensburg, Kansas, devastated by a massive tornado last May, and also promoting a fund raiser for the rebuilding project.

And while I’m on the subject, check out my podcast interview with Beth Bader, lead writer for Eat.Drink.Better, and contributor to Eco Child’s Play.

Declaring the emerging economy of India to be the future of the world, Mr. Gore asked for greater participation by all Indians in the efforts to combat climate change and secure a safer tomorrow. He also called for raising global consciousness to a higher level to address several of the so-called political challenges being faced in different parts of the world today. Developing the capacity for a vision and building a moral authority are essential to taking action together as a civilization. That according to Mr. Gore, is also the need of the hour.

The presence of the dual climate crusaders - Al Gore and Dr. R.K. Pachauri throughout the training Program left a lasting impression on many, including myself.

The Climate Project - India (TCP-India) is being setup as an independent organization. It presently enjoys deep support from the JSW Foundation and is actively seeking support from a broad base of Indian Business and Philanthropic organizations.

Barely a month later on April 3rd 2008, the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the U.S. announced the establishing of a Center for Green Livelihoods in India for partnering with civil society organizations to explore ways of creating a robust dialogue towards developing a green economy. Mr. Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club also announced a new $100,000 “Green Energy and Green Livelihoods Achievement Award” to recognize “outstanding environmental success in India” by civil society organizations – non-governmental organizations, cooperatives, small businesses and labor unions working at the grassroots level in India.

Stephen Mills, Director, International Programs at Sierra Club, who was also a facilitator at the TCP/Al Gore Climate Change leadership Program mentioned above, had emphasized the need to encourage the green work being done in India during the leadership program itself. In a press release announcing the launch of the Sierra Club’s India chapter, he clarified that the new India initiative will in no way lessen the vigor of the Sierra Club’s U.S. campaigning to push both the American public and the government to drastically reduce America’s over consumption of natural resources,”

Sierra Club’s ‘I’m here to save the planet’ batches distributed by Stephen Mills during the Climate Change program gained much popularity and were worn by young and old alike!

Dwell on that quote for a minute. Dwell on it because we, as a society, are hopelessly, recklessly addicted to plastics. According to Charles Moore, every year, about 250 billion pounds of plastic pellets are produced for use in the manufacture of plastic products. After taking a tour around my house, I was dismayed to discover that I could not even count the number of items in my house that are made, at least in part, of plastic, because there were just so many. Just sitting here at my laptop, I can touch a dozen plastic items in close range: Laptop keyboard parts, plate for my toast, rims for a wagon wheel, spoon handle, air conditioner exterior, backing of rug, cordless phone, bin in which I keep my mail, power strip, shredder, vacuum cleaner, slippers, fake apples in centerpiece…. need I go on?

I think we’ve all been hearing it for years: plastics are not biodegradable. In fact, they only photodegrade, which means that the sun breaks them down into smaller and smaller bits, until they are only one molecule large… but then there is no voracious bacteria, no known organism, that can then act on that molecule. We have created, in essence, an ecological invasive “species” that no organism native to our planet can deal with.

I can remember growing up in school in the 80s and learning about the problems with plastics. That was over 20 years ago, and our plastic consumption is only increasing. The use of disposable plastic water bottles has significantly increased the vast extent of our plastic waste.

I just came across an article that scared me. It was published a few years ago, and so does not even contain the most recent statistics, which have probably worsened significantly, and it is still terrifying. Charles Moore was on a research vessel in the North Pacific Gyre, between California and Japan, when they came across a vast wasteland of ocean covered as far as the eye can see in floating plastic debris. Because a gyre is an area that has little wind and current action, once garbage floats there, it tends to stick around. I had trouble comprehending the sheer enormity of the possibility of an area the size of Texas covered in plastic garbage. It made me stop and think: I HAVE to stop using so much plastic, and we HAVE to come up with a more ecologically sound alternative to PET plastic.

Please read Charles Moore article Trashed. I think you will find it eye-opening. Then try to come up with one way you can reduce your consumption of plastic. Here are some possibilities:

* Don’t take a to-go lid or a straw when you buy a drink somewhere. If you are going to a Starbucks or similar coffee shop, they will most likely allow you to bring your own resusable coffee mug and fill that (when my husband does this at Starbucks, he even gets more coffee than he would for the same price in a to-go cup, they knock off 10 cents from the total cost, and they steam-wash your cup for you before they fill it!)
* If you or your child often take sandwiches to work or school, look into a reusable sandwich bag like the Wrap-n-Mat from Resusablebags.com.
* Buy glass (Pyrex work great!) containers for left-overs instead of plastic. I hear a lot of complaints that it’s hard to take glass in a packed lunch, but as long as you buy a sturdy lunchbox/bag, and are mindful of the fact you have glass, it is totally possible, and you eliminate the possibility of toxins leaching into your food from microwaved plastics!
* Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles!
* Instead of plastic disposable water bottles, check out the newcorn-resin PLA refillable water bottles with filters from TheGreaterGreen.com. And while you’re at it, check out my blog post on PLA plastics, which reveals both the positives and the negatives of this new plastic.
* When you can’t avoid plastics, be sure to recycle them. The most easily-recycled plastics are those with a 1 or a 2 inside the recycling triangle on the bottom of the container.
* Look for alternatives to plastic bottles and packaging for common food items like ketchup. It might not be easy!! The only mustard that came in a glass jar at my local grocery store was Grey Poupon…. so guess what we are spreading on our sandwiches these days!

The most important thing is that we simply start becoming more aware of our plastic consumption. When I started looking around my surroundings and in my cupboards, I realized we were using a lot more plastic than we needed to. It’s not realistic to stop using plastics altogether- they are very useful for many purposes! But cutting down on plastic consumption significantly will help us solve our impending plastic crisis, as will creating recycling systems that recycle a larger percentage of plastics than are currently being recycled.

Seriously, though, this is a great opportunity to make your voice heard on green living. If you don’t think you’re doing some eco-unique things in your own life (and I’ll bet you’re wrong), you’ve certainly got questions about the barrage of information out there on green living. Juntoventure’s contest stands out in that it’s asking you not to simply make a video, but to join a conversation… and we can all do that. Get those cameras a’rollin’…

Also keep in mind that Juntoventure has pulled together a pretty impressive list of prize sponsors for the contest: Sierra Designs, Timberland, Pacific Outdoors, Buck Knives, Burt’s Bees, Mountainsmith, Mission Playground, and Lonely Planet. Certainly you’d like a shot at some of the swag they’re offering…

Of course, you may just have videographer’s block: that’s cool. My advice: start shooting! You’re not entering Sundance; you’re making your voice heard in a forum of eco-conscious and eco-curious folks just like yourself. Need some pointers for things that you might already be doing: check out Stop Global Warmings list of home-related action items to get those creative juices flowing. And, of course, there’s always GO’s archive of tips to get you motivated.

How simple could your video be? Well, take a look at this one from last week:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/vV0bGCFF5aU" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Yep, that’s it… and that one works well! So take a minute (literally), get the camera out (even if it’s just a cell phone video camera), and let ‘er roll… you’ve got something to add to the conversation!

Environmentally friendly scuba diving, a new kind of courier bicycle service, the “scrapmobile” and more. A thoroughly positive and refreshing report as we head into the weekend.

Despite the fact that we run Inn Serendipity B&B and “breakfast” is part of our business, we find the average American breakfast is, well, boring. With the same old, same old about everywhere you go, we wanted to give breakfast a makeover with a dash of serendipity: spinach and egg stuffed burritos; fried green tomatoes; a side of beets and root crops roasted with thyme. The delighted look on B&B guests’ faces when served a plate of the unexpected inspires us to keep experimenting creatively with the most important meal of the day using a smorgasbord of seasonal produce.

Breaking the rules a bit and leaving room for the unexpected proves to be Inn Serendipity’s appeal. Most of our guests are experienced foodies, flavor and health-conscious sleuths who appreciate the difference between heirloom tomatoes and those found on supermarket shelves wrapped in plastic. We’re eager to savor cuisine prepared in unique ways, or combinations. Foodie travelers don’t want a cookie-cutter motel room, cable TV and continental-style doughnuts for breakfast. They seek out places like our B&B, where a homemade cordial and chocolate greets them for a bedtime nightcap and our young son leads enthusiastic s’more making sessions around the campfire. They smile when roasted turnips and rutabagas appear at the breakfast table from the fall harvest. Authenticity drives culinary travelers off the Interstate and a few of them through our doors. Our tastebuds and our souls crave the real thing.

Wisconsin leads the nation in recognizing this growing market of travelers seeking authentic experiences that don’t ruin the planet in their process of enjoying them. Spearheaded by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Travel Green Wisconsin (travelgreenwisconsin.com) invites tourism-related businesses to undergo a certification process based on a range of environmental and social criteria, from sourcing food locally to adopting energy conservation measures. Restaurants showcase local cheeses and lodging establishments like ours are powered by renewable energy. Travel Green Wisconsin leads travelers to places that offer unique experiences that may help sustain, restore or enhance the very features that attract visitors, be it natural or cultural.

The movement is also afoot in Minnesota, spearheaded by the non-profit organization Renewing the Countryside under the moniker Green Routes (greenroutes.org). Their website provides an easy-to-use tool to help you find one-of-a-kind places to eat, play, shop, sleep and learn in Minnesota (and soon, to a place near you).

This green travel movement, echoing that of the organic foods movement, revitalizes small family farms and fuels interest in real food and flavors. Local farms are the ones saving seeds and sowing the Cherokee Purple Tomato and Royal Burgundy Bush Green Beans. Taste some, and you will be a believer in God’s true intentions. The real thing doesn’t come in the form of a dark-colored soft drink.

By stripping away packaging, processing and predictability, authenticity shines through. Jump-start your day with a dose of something different and smile when a turnip turns up on your breakfast plate. This flavorful, unusual recipe from our cookbook, Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity, prompts folks to rethink their assumptions about rutabagas. Be sure to boil turnips and rutabagas first till they are tender yet firm since they don’t cook as fast as the other root vegetables.

Roasted Root Vegetables (Vegan)
Ingredients:
8 c. beets, turnips, rutabagas and potatoes, cleaned, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
2 ¼ t. garlic salt
2 ¼ t. dried oregano
1 ½ t. sugar
1 ½ t. dried thyme

Directions:
* Mix spices and oil in a glass jar and let set for about an hour or more.
* Place veggies in a 9-in. x 13-in. baking pan. Drizzle spice and oil mixture over veggies and toss to coat.
* Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

Serves 8.

As environmental stewards, we're used to taking the path less traveled to make a difference: pulling out the canvas bag in the check-out aisle, installing solar thermal panels on our roof, driving a hybrid before they became hip in Hollywood. Same theory works for food: by embracing new seasonal flavors, harking back to a more agrarian, land-based diet that evolves with the seasons, we eat nutritionally-dense foods that readily grow locally.

Fall ushers in the perfect time of year to explore some of these unusual vegetables as they tend to be hardy crops that grow well past the first frost, and will still appear at farmers' markets. Root crops such as rutabagas and turnips formed winter diet staples for centuries. In fact, rutabagas were among the first vegetables planted by colonists in America when they began farming, as the large and strong rutabaga roots helped break up poor soil. Some tips on experimenting with some unusual produce offerings:

For those of us trying to eat both healthy and earth-friendly, stereotypical "processed" food can be a double-edged sword: we may not want the additives, the packaging, the lack of nutrition, but we're still lured by the fact that we crave easy-to-serve-up comfort food like mac and cheese or pizza. Instead of trying to rationalize your guilty purchases with "it was on sale," or "this is the only stuff my kids will eat," think out of the expected blue box and take an un-processed approach to processed food. Some tips to get started:

• Focus on your favorite. What's the processed food you eat the most? Focus on creating healthy alternatives to that one dish. For us, mac and cheese motivated our out-of-the-Kraft box thinking as Liam kept requesting it on a daily basis. That is what led to our recipe below, now in our cookbook, Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity. Surprisingly, healthy unprocessed alternatives to processed foods are simple to make and don't have nearly the long ingredient list as you'll find on the back of the blue box — and you can identify all of them.

Interested in diversifying your seasonal diet? Give leeks a try for the following reasons:

• Mild, sweet flavor. Classified as alliums, leeks prove to be the milder, sweeter version of their more popular poignant counterparts, garlic and onions. A delicate, graceful vegetable with broad, flat green leaves around a contrasting white base, leeks produce a pleasing aroma and sweeten as they cook. Trying using leeks wherever you typically use onions and notice the subtle flavor changes. Experiment with adding cooked leeks to mashed potatoes or lightly sauté chopped leeks alone or with another sautéed vegetable

For most parts of the country living in four-season climates, these last weeks of October mark the final farmers' markets of the year. For the local, seasonal food groupies, this marks a bittersweet time, reminiscent of the last days of summer camp: while we promise to see each other next year, we desperately hug each other for a long goodbye, trying to hang to the fleeting magic of summer.

So rather than mourn over the loss of fresh abundance, celebrate the Fall abundance and stock up on autumn produce. If carefully stored, these goodies can tide you over into the new year — when Spring asparagus and spinach greens will be abundant once again.

Some tips on celebrating the last farmers' market:

Potluck gatherings

Here are some tips on what to do when the host says "bring a dish to pass":

• Non-cooks think fresh. Don’t panic if you're not a cook. Instead, think of yourself as the fresh and seasonal produce provider. A simple bowl of fresh, plain produce – from apples to baby carrots – adds a nice touch to any buffet. This strategy also works well if you're riding a bike or taking public transportation to a potluck: fresh and raw food are easier to transport.
• Educate on ingredients. Add a note card by your dish explaining where your ingredients came from. This not only helps guests with food allergies, but it educates on sources of local food sources. "Easy Oat Apple Pie" takes on deeper flavor and meaning when folks know the apples came from Turkey Ridge Organic Apple Orchard in Gays Mills, Wisconsin (which just happens to be cooperatively run), and the butter from Organic Valley Family of Farms, another cooperatively run, farmer-owned business based in Wisconsin.

While potlucks are inherently a simple concept, in our ten years of hosting such gatherings on our Wisconsin farm, we've realized that a dash of thoughtful planning can green the event and make it educational fun through food for everyone. Here are some thought-starters:

• Create a seasonal food theme. Give guests a general menu theme like "savoring the local flavors of the season." With food on average racking 1,500 frequent flyer miles from growing field to our plate, eating local and seasonal saves fossil fuel. If you have culinary friends up for a challenge, host a seasonal theme in the dead of winter and get creative with root crops such as rutabaga, turnips and potatoes.
• Ditch the disposables. Environmental issues aside, who wants to eat a plate of delicious food off a floppy disposable plate? Don't have enough serving ware? One trip to your local Goodwill store will garner a load of inexpensive plates, silverware and cups for years of gatherings to come. The more mismatched the set, the more character.

While stocking up and buying bulk can help both the pocketbook and planet, having too much food at home can do the opposite by generating waste. The average American throws out about 1.28 pounds of food a day, adding up to over 467 pounds of food a year. Worse yet, this statistic doesn’t include items that end up in the compost. Whether that wasted food is a wilted salad or graham crackers years past expiration code, by managing and eating our stockpile of food at home, we don’t contribute to this waste.

Some thoughts on using up the food you have:

* Be leery of sales. Couscous on special? All of a sudden you buy five boxes and forget the fact that you’ve never made couscous before. Unless something is on the top of your “foods I adore” list, be leery of purchasing more than one, even if the price is right.

Think of your kitchen pantry — whether it's an cabinet or deluxe walk-in closet model — as your own private mini-convenience store, a place readily stocked with the basics that give you options from making dinner tonight to whipping up dessert for friends serendipitously stopping by. Being stocked with cooking staples at home saves both time and money while helping the planet, since no last-minute car trips are needed to the supermarket for missing ingredients, and there's no pricey take-out temptations because you know you can quickly pull together a healthier, cheaper meal at home.

A dash of thoughtful planning helps in stocking up and buying bulk:

• Shop bulk for key staples. Find a local store that has a bulk food aisle, such as a food cooperative or health food store. Buying in bulk will not only save cash, particularly with organic options (while prices vary, bulk foods are often one third cheaper), you’ll save all that unnecessary extra food packaging. Some key staples we always have on hand and buy in bulk include all-purpose flour, sugar, cocoa, rice, pasta and powdered milk.

Yes? No? Maybe so?

The conversations all start the same.

I'd really like to be green but I don't see myself with a compost pile at my back door a la Ed Begley.

Well either do I, what about using the green bin that the city of Los Angeles provides?

It's not just that. There's just so much to do.

There sure is and that's why so many of us aren't greener. Because you can't do it all. You sure can want to do it all but in real life we're juggling families and kids and deadlines and dogs and someone wants to run on the lawn so really you've got to have one and GoshIt'sAllSoOverwhelming I'm going to throw in the towel before I begin.

But please don't.

Still, I know I can't shield my son from other lifestyle choices I find obnoxious. The best I can hope for is to establish, as early as possible, healthful and responsible — both personally and environmentally — habits that will set him on the right course over his lifetime. That, and finely-honed critical-thinking skills, will, I hope, guide him well over the years to come.

I try not to be overbearing about it, though. There are other parents, though, who insist their children follow a strictly vegan diet, no matter where they're visiting or with whom they're socializing. Other Moms and Dads prohibit gun toys, french fries, ice cream or any TV. I also remember once reading about a couple who kept the whole family, young children included, on a severely fat-restricted diet ... which many experts say is a dangerous experiment on developing minds and bodies.

When I was a young lad, my father sat me down for two minutes of the most awkward conversation I have ever had the misfortune to be a part of; in the end I was left with a shaky sense of fear, and a healthy dose of confusion. This isn’t that kind of talk.

If you have a parent, or grandparent (or for that matter brother, sister, or friend) that displays all the outward signs of intelligence, but doesn’t seem to be doing any of the many simple things to make this world a better place, it is up to you to help them understand why they should start. My advice: start small.

It's that time again already - a new issue of Body+Soul magazine is on sale and it's time for me to give you the rundown of what's good. If you happened to miss the first B+S review, or want to know more about the background of this publication, check out my June 16th review. For the July/August issue, Body+Soul's official website offers up the following blurb:

Energize your life! Our newest issue is the ultimate guide to feeling your best -- inside and out. Cool off and stay healthy with recipes for healthy lemonades and get the latest news on SPF protection from the experts. Plus, fresh, delicious, power-packed summer recipes, our definitive recycling guide, and three easy moves to give you strong, beautiful arms.

As usual, I am impressed with how much information can be squeezed into just four sentences. Summing up a whole 144-page magazine issue can't be easy, but the Omnimedia crew does a good job of hyping up their hard work (and I mean that in the best possible way). The "Letters" section has been returned, while the "Reader to Reader" section is still intact. This month's RtR is all about recycling, where ideas for "ditching waste, buying less, saving water, and making the most of everything" are shared openly.

While only a small part of the "Whole Living" section, the "What Is ..." segment grabs my attention in each issue. Explaining the dangers of certain chemicals in common products, it is great to see such a large media force taking a stand on what should and shouldn't be tolerated in everyday items. On the same page, Al Gore's Live Earth concert is mentioned, as well as a taste test of organic ketchup and mustard. Last but not least, UsedCardboardBoxes.com is mentioned as a tip for those planning to move (tis the season). I must say that when I moved across town last month, I ordered my boxes from their website and have nothing but good things to say.