We live in a plastic world. It’s hard to believe the substance only came on the scene about 150 years ago when Alexander Parkes, an Englishman, mixed collodion, camphor, and ethanol together. He exhibited his invention at the 1862 Great International Exhibit in London. Then in 1907 Leo Baekeland created an entirely synthetic plastic from…
My mom was no stranger to home remedies. She treated my sore throats with hydrogen peroxide and salt-water rinses, soothed my burns with ice packs, and she had a PhD in when to pop an acetaminophen or decongestant. But slathering aloe vera on my sunburns was about the extent of her herbal know-how. Likewise, in…
If you’re trying to simplify and go green, you have a magic helper – baking soda. It’s almost too good to be true – cheap, natural, non-toxic, with a legion of uses. If you’re not using baking soda daily, you may be surprised at how many expensive products you can replace with this one simple…
(The first in a series highlighting U.S. Movements to celebrate, support, and spread the word about.) Americans, along with Australians and Japanese, lead the industrialized world when it comes to the number of hours we log on the job. We work a full nine weeks more per year than most Western Europeans. And we’re guaranteed no paid sick,…
When you type the phrase “American consumers” into Google, you get 976,000 results. That two-word phrase is mentioned 1,494 times in Google News stories just today. I don’t know about you, but I’m a little tired of hearing about American consumers. I’m all for supporting farmers, booksellers, manufacturers, craftsmen, bakers, and artisans with my dollars…
In honor of TV turn-off week, I moved the TV to the closet on Monday morning. I like the room so much better without it, and I love that we can’t just mindlessly switch it on. I think we might have found a new home-base for it. My real challenge wasn’t dumping the TV though,…
