Blog Posts by OneGreenPlanet.Org

Gia's EcoShop Picks: Recycled and Upcycled Products

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All our products below carry third party certifications, equivalent eco labels or are made from upcycled and recycled material. So, let's start there - with some of the great upcycled and recycled products we've found.

If you're unfamiliar with upcycling, the process takes used materials and creates new items of equal or greater value. The opposite of downcycling, which produces lesser quality items, upcycling can be as simple as creating higher quality items from trash and used goods. With all of those plastic bottles laying around, new products are just waiting to be created. With a little ingenuity, the possibilities are endless.

Eco-chic handbags

One company that finds new uses for discarded juice boxes, magazines, newspapers and phone books is Urthbags. These eco-chic handbags come in many different styles and are all handmade from recycled and salvaged materials. Founder Monica Ralli's plan for UrthBags is "…to

Nourishment

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The role of nutrition has become severely diminished in most of our lives.

Pressures and stresses - social, work-related, family and otherwise - have taken precedence, reducing the importance of food quality. When pondering the role nutrients play in the maintenance and preservation of humankind, it becomes abundantly evident that without uniformly prudent choices we suffer as a whole. When an individual goes many weeks without consuming proper fare, they actually die. The critical nature of nutrition is crystallized in this scenario. If we halfheartedly choose things to chew and swallow, we enter a mode of partial starvation, making us vulnerable to a wide variety of diseases.

Malnourishment is notorious for manifesting everything from scurvy to pellagra, but it can cause even greater damage. There have long been many reports from renowned universities and government organizations stating: "Malnutrition is a major cause of

3 Easy Raw Food Tips for Busy People

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Eating a vegan, plant-based and planet-friendly diet is important for our health, but I take it a step further by consuming mostly raw foods because I feel more energy and pizzazz when I'm eating high raw (that means that my diet is about 75%+ raw). Some people think eating raw takes more work, but I'm here to tell you, it doesn't have to. Quite the opposite! If you have a busy lifestyle and you'd like to eat more high-energy raw foods, follow the three tips I share below to get started.

1. Fresh fruit & veggies are perfect simplicity! I know, this seems obvious, right? But, guess what? It works! This is one of my favorite tips because it's truly eco-friendly nutrition, especially if you can buy some of these items from your local farmers' market. My favorite grab-n-go foods: bananas, apples, pears, cucumbers (I eat it just like I'd eat a carrot stick… just bite in!), and red (orange and yellow) bell peppers (I eat these just

Beautiful and Animal-Free Sandals for Summer

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Summer is almost here and it's time to pick up some cute sandals to keep your feet pretty and cool. So give yourself a pedicure (Zoya makes vegan polish) and go shopping. In my first article, I touched upon the basics of being vegan and fashionable - many of those rules also apply when you're shopping for vegan footwear, but things can get a bit tricky, so read on!

When shopping for vegan shoes that are not from a vegan shoe designer like olsenHaus, Cri de Coeur, Novacas, or Melissa make sure to contact the manufacturer if you are unsure of the materials. Not only can the glue in shoes contain animal products, but "mad-made materials" and "imitation leather" can still, in fact, contain leather. The Federal Trade Commission does not require that manufacturers disclose that a product contains leather. In fact, their regulations protect the leather-seeking consumer, in that they don't want designers saying that something is leather

Distance Running on Vegan Fuel

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Running a long way requires a lot of energy. We get energy from the food and drinks we consume. So far, this is not exactly complicated science. It's a simple equation: the number of calories we take on board needs to balance the number of calories burned (which is likely to be upwards of 2500 for events of marathon distance and beyond). But an important question for those who choose to run in long events while following a cruelty-free lifestyle arises: if one is going to participate in an ultra distance race, or even "just" a marathon, how can sufficient plant-based energy be taken in, to sustain an effort that may last for hours or even days?

The answer is that it's actually not too difficult, but it does take a bit of forethought and some practice! (Yes, part of training is practicing eating on-the-run). For a marathon, most runners won't want solid food, but will get energy from sports drinks and/or energy gels. These are

The Problem with Abundance

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Abundance is grand and is celebrated as a symbol of all that is good about industrialized western society: free will, individual expression and of course, the freedom to choose! The more money we accumulate, the wider our spectrum of consumption choices and the greater the possibilities to live life to the fullest…or so it may seem.

In modern society, a trivial task like walking into a grocery store to buy a box of cereal turns into a mind-numbing mental exercise involving navigating through a maze of sugar free, sugary, whole grain, whole wheat, low fat, high-fat, low cholesterol options. Where we come out at the end of the ordeal depends partly on what we actually wanted to begin with and how well we manage to tune out the distracting options that are presented. Our experience shopping for clothes, shoes, personal care products, gadgets and other everyday items are not so different. With the exception of choices that address

Top 5 Vegan Diet Myths Debunked

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Although plant-based diets are seeing a surge in popularity, they're still outside of the mainstream; it's no wonder that there is so much misinformation about what happens when you drop meat, eggs, and dairy from your meals. Unfortunately, many of the myths about this way of eating could deter people from giving veganism a try, especially if they fear that plant-based diets fall short on nutrition or are unappealing and restrictive. Here are five issues that no one should worry about when they start eating vegan-style.

Myth #1: You'll feel awful when you first go vegan because your body will be detoxing.

Fact: It doesn't matter what you eat; your body is constantly producing harmful compounds and working hard to neutralize or excrete them. Complex systems involving the liver, kidneys and other organs are part of a very effective detoxification system that operates continuously in both vegans and meat-eaters. Although

Tune Out And Relax With These Vegan Bath Goodies!

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One of my favorite things in life is treating myself to a much-needed, relaxing bath with a slew of vegan pampering products, a good book, scented candles and some pretty ambient music. OoOo, I can already feel tension and stress melting away just thinkin' about it.

Since there are a kazillion bunzillion amazing vegan bath products to choose from, it was pretty hard to narrow down my list of faves, but here goes:

• LUSH's Sex Bomb, $6.45 - Nothing says sexy time like a good ol' LUSH Sex Bomb! It's an aphrodisiac fizzy ball scented with jasmine, clary sage and ylang ylang essential oils to help get you in the mood (ooh la la). Icing on the cake: Enjoy the hidden rose petals, an intense floral scent and hot pink bath water as you sink into a state of sensual bliss.
• Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castile Soap, $6.39 - When it comes to scrubbin' my grimy bits for squeaky cleanliness, I always go to Dr. Bronner's Peppermint liquid