(Photo: Brand X Pictures / Getty Images)By Lori Bongiorno
More from The Conscious Consumer blog

With Internet directories and cell-phone lookups, many people consider the printed yellow pages a relic of the past. But the books keep showing up on their doorsteps, year after year. Finally, there's good news for those who want to prevent stacks of unwanted phone directories from being delivered to their front doors.

A new, national opt-out Internet site from the Yellow Pages Association and Association of Directory Publishers lets you control which yellow pages (if any) you receive.

In less than five minutes, I opted-out of the 10 phone directories (both white and yellow pages) I was scheduled to receive this year. In the past, you had to contact each phone book publisher directly, and it wasn't always easy to find the publisher's contact information. But this new site lets consumers make all the requests at once.

Here's how it works:

1. Go to yellowpagesoptout.com. Enter your ZIP code. You'll see a list of the

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By Eric Steinman
More from Care2 Green Living blog

Blueberries have long been touted as a superfood, high in antioxidants, vitamin C, and manganese. And unlike other superfoods like acai berries, bee pollen, and wakame seaweed, blueberries are accessible and attractive, so they're an easy sell to anyone skeptical of health food.

So this reputation could be why blueberries are in so many packaged foods, from muffin mixes to salad dressings. They appear to add nutrition and deliciousness that might otherwise be lacking. Nevermind that actual, fresh blueberries are only in season about 2 to 3 months out of the year -- the blueberry harvest goes on all year at the grocery store.

But have you actually read the labels on those supposedly blueberry-filled products?

Some of them, like Target Blueberry Bagels and General Mills Total Pomegranate Blueberry Cereal, might be fooling consumers into thinking the food has something it doesn't. While manufacturers state they're still

Read More »from Blueberry imposters: Fake blueberries may be in your packaged foods

(Photo: Ben Bloom / Getty Images)By Jeff Yeager
More from The Green Cheapskate blog

The average American family plans to spend about $1,650 on summer vacation, according to a study by Visa. That's more than chump-change, particularly in these hard economic times.

Here are some simple ways to pump up your piggy bank so that your vacation is paid for before you ever leave home.

1. Choose tap water at restaurants
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most of us spend nearly 45% of our food budget on meals prepared outside the home. Cooking more meals at home can save you about 80% compared to restaurant meals, but -- even if you still want to eat out -- just by ordering tap water instead of overpriced beverages with your restaurant meals the average family of four can save about $800 a year ... nearly half of your vacation budget. I'll drink to that.

2. Turn down the hot water heater
Heating domestic hot water -- the water you use to bathe, wash dishes, etc. -- accounts for about 15% of

Read More »from 10 painless ways to save for vacation

By Mel, selected from DivineCaroline
More from Care2 Green Living blog

By Therese J. Borchard, DivineCaroline

I dance the Macarena whenever I come across an article that argues against extreme healthy living. I laughed while reading research about dark chocolate firing up the happy brain. And I high-fived the doctors who warn folks against too much sunscreen--because it blocks the vitamin D that all of us need. I hate that stuff and was looking long and hard for an excuse not to look like a clown this summer. Thank you! I've even performed the opposite of an intervention with one of my friends last week who was trying to give up alcohol and nicotine at the same time.

And now, I bring you one more doctor you will like: Dr. Erika Schwartz, Medical Director of Cinergy Health. She's here to tell us not to get too carried away with our healthy habits. Thanks, Erika!

As a society, we are constantly striving to lead healthier, happier lives. But with these efforts, we

Read More »from 6 healthy habits that can make you sick

(Photo: Adrian Nakic/Getty Images)By Dan Shapley
More from The Daily Green News blog

Ellen DeGeneres talks to guests about how she does it. Actress Alicia Silverstone wrote a book about how she does it. A slimmer Bill Clinton made news for talking about doing it, and all Chelsea's friends do it -- at least they did on her wedding day. Ed Begely Jr., the 61-year-old activist and actor, has been doing it for longer than any of them.

They eat a vegan diet, as more and more Americans are doing, trend-watchers and cookbook publishers tell us. But what does that mean, exactly?

Vegans, like vegetarians, never eat meat. But vegans are stricter, shunning not only meat, but fish and shellfish (which some vegetarians will eat), eggs, milk and other dairy products -- any food with an ingredient derived from an animal, from a cow down to an insect. (Insects? Yes. For example, cochineal, which makes many red food dyes red, has only recently been required to be listed on ingredient labels, but it's always been made from

Read More »from 10 foods that vegans can't eat

By Melissa Breyer
More from Care2 Green Living blog

If you've ever wondered why the cuisine in hot climates is often distinguished by a high degree of spiciness, the answer may come in the guise of a nifty little trick known in some circles as diet-induced thermogenesis -- also known as: the generation of body heat that occurs from eating. Through normal digestion, absorption, and metabolization of food, the body converts food calories to heat. Burning calories can literally warm you up.

In hot weather, the increase in body temperature makes you feel cooler by decreasing the temperature difference between you and the air around you, as well as by inducing the body to sweat, which cools the body when the perspiration evaporates. In cold weather, though, the increase in body temperature can make you feel plain old warm and cozy.

Other foods have similar thermogenic effects, resulting in increased feelings of warmth. Here are five foods that have been found to turn up the body

Read More »from 5 foods that warm you up

By Health Watch Center via DivineCaroline via Care2
More from Care2 Green Living blog

Emergencies don't come with warning bells. They strike at unexpected moments and your response, or lack thereof, could determine how things come out in the end.

How much do you think you know about first aid and proper emergency response? Most people think they know quite a lot, but most of what they have learned consists of myths that could actually do more harm than good. Put yourself to the test and seriously ask yourself: What would I do in these situations?

1. A child pulls a pot of boiling water off the stove or sticks their hand on a hot burner.

Do you put butter or mayonnaise on the burn? Hurriedly remove the child's clothing because it is stuck to the burn? Do you get out the ice? Those are the common reactions in the case of a burn, but all of them are myths. Butter, mayo, or other types of grease may cause even more damage to tender skin. Pulling clothing or other

Read More »from 8 first-aid myths and facts

By Alex Davies, TreeHugger
More from Guest Bloggers blog

(Images courtesy of NYC the Blog via Facebook)

As New York continues to get hit by blizzards, city dwellers longing for a picnic without the risk of frostbite can head downtown to the OpenHouse Gallery at 201 Mulberry Street, where a pop-up park opened on January 8. The gallery has been converted into an indoor park with fake grass, rocks, trees, a pond, and bird sounds.

While there's not enough room to toss around a frisbee, park-goers can play bocce ball and croquet or attend a daily yoga session from 12-1 ($15 suggested donation). There's also a seesaw for the kids.

[ Stranded by the Blizzard? Six Tips for Weathering the Storm ]

Open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. until the end of the month, the Pop-Up Park is the latest development in New York City's ever-evolving park system. From the famous High Line to a park to be built on shipping containers, New York is making sure its residents have cool green spaces to take a time out.

Via NYC the Blog

More from

Read More »from New Yorkers take shelter from winter in a downtown pop-up park