Anyway on a related note, you’re probably either already on your summer vacation or planning one (albeit on short notice) right now and if you’re the one who takes charge of your vacations, then you’ll know that one of the hassle is selecting the right accommodation. And with kids and pets involved this all the worse!

So there’s this new thing going around – well it’s not new but it certainly is getting more popular with time. It’s called “Home Exchange” or “House Swapping”!

Conventionally people choose to ‘swap homes’ over vacations because of the cost and flexibility. A home away from home is the idea that seals the deal. Now if you aren’t familiar with the concept behind home swapping then you’re probably thinking to yourself what if you end up swapping your pristine manor for a roach infested flat? Well that’s unlikely because the idea behind the swap is to exchange a like for like and you will have to consent to the swap. You will exchange details with the intended swapping party until both of you are comfortable to hand over the keys. There are specific rules and protocols to abide by – you can find out more here.

Now while cost and flexibility may be the driver for house exchange, there is another benefit that has long gone under ‘advertised’. House swapping if you can trust the system that runs it is actually beneficial to the sustainable lifestyle. Yes, house exchange is quite the green practice.
Let me explain.

If you are an avid fan of Mother Nature, chances are your lifestyle – habits and home included have been modeled in such a way as to have the least impact on the environment. This probably means you’ve got an organic diet,  a linen closet stuffed with organic materials, a fridge full of organic & local produce and a solar powered house constructed with ecorock walls. A lifestyle that is not exactly easy to uphold when you’re away from home…

And this is where House Swapping can help. While you may be probably the only one in your neighbourhood with such passion for nature, you certainly aren’t alone in the world. Instead of giving up your practices for a week or 3 weeks (depends on your vacation period) and feel guilty after your holidays for having fun at the expense of nature, you can swap homes with a fellow green lover and enjoy your holidays without having to give up on what you believe in.

I really wouldn’t recommend swapping on short notice (always research until you feel confident) but if you’re planning something for Christmas and the New Years then why not give Eco-Homes Swapping a chance. Who knows, you might find some new ideas of ways you can ‘green’ your home with after the swap!  Green Theme International is a good place to start your search (they are worldwide so great for international travel too).

So back to my original point. As precious as any child would be, women love having daughters because they can doll them up and do girly things together. Well there’s not standing in your way if you have a son and would like to do the same, but fact is boys grow up to be young men and young men tend to want to break away from their mother’s after a while. Girls on the other hand, never seem to ever want to let go of their parents. They have that strong bond- one between mother and daughter that is ageless – the fact that women even after marriage like to live near to their parents’ is already a sign!

Anyway growing up and even now I was always fond of the whimsical. My mother would read me stories about fairies, pixies, sprites, goblins, etc and I fell in love with the fairy world. Perhaps that’s what sparked the respect and love I have for nature – fairies…they are intricately involved in nature and without nature, there would be no fairies.

Now if you have young children, this is a great way to cultivate the ‘eco-warrior’ attitude in them. In general, girls love playing with dolls and a doll house is always going to be a part of her dream. But you’ve got to realize that doll houses aren’t always the greenest of toys. Most are made from toxic plastic and the sustainable wood ones are quite expensive.

So why don’t you get you kids to appreciate nature and deepen your bond with them by taking the weekend to build a fairy garden that they can then tend to daily.

Fairy gardens are fun for kids because it’s kind of like a building a doll house. You can make a simple one in a large pot or you have involve daddy and the boys to build an elaborate one in your garden.

Either way, your kids will learn to respect nature, nature their imagination and widen their points of view.

Now he once told me about meeting with a potential client – hardly anything/any one small and certainly not an individual, it was in fact a large Airlines company. The sales and marketing team was there to close the deal with them and just as they thought it was in the bag, someone from the client’s team asked a very peculiar question, “ Now I understand that you say your bags are eco-friendly but are they animal friendly?”.

The question I’m certain caught the Sales team by surprise and even though they clearly knew what the answer to that question was they weren’t sure if such a seemingly simple question was one of genuine ignorance or if it some form of trickery to test their integrity. In my opinion, either way they answered they would have lost the account but I suppose when they went, “ We’ll get back to you on that one” they practically sealed the deal as good as over.

So really as silly as that story was, it is a true account and that just goes to show consumers, bless their hearts although they care for the environment and animals, are unclear about how these two criteria meet in the world of leather goods. And nasty sales/ marketing people who won’t answer the question without bidding around the bush are doing the misunderstanding no better.

Well let us now clear that up.

Firstly, leather is not 100% eco friendly because the process of turning “skin” into leather involves tanning. And whilst you may say certain tannin process such as vegetable tannin has reduced impact on the environment, to say it is completely harmless is a blatant lie.

Secondly, leather is made from animal skin. That means an animal (or many animals) had to die to ‘contribute’ their skin to the leather industry. Since I have seen any animals actually volunteer to ‘donate’ their skin upon their natural deaths, it’s pretty clear they had to be murdered for it. You might hear some smart sales person say “Oh our leather is made only from the skin that is the byproduct of the meat industry” or “We made these from road kill”, but that really doesn’t change the fact that animals died for your bag. Even with road kill its cruelty because you’re just ripping apart what is essentially left of a victim of a road accident.

So in summary, if you love the environment and you love leather then look for leather that has been processed responsibly (vegetable dye, etc) but if you love the environment and you love animals, then forget leather because it can never be both.

I love to throw tea parties.  My friends love to attend them, as well.  We each grab a chair around the kitchen table and sit and drink our steaming cups of tea while we discuss our children’s latest achievements, our husband’s latest goof-ups, our recent vacation, or our struggles at work. 

Not only do tea parties serve to strengthen the bond of friendship and alleviate stress, tea parties actually strengthen our physical bodies, as well. 

Tea is prepared from the leaves, leaf buds, and stalks of the camellia senesis, a warm-weather evergreen.  The most popular type of tea is green or black, although other varieties include ginseng, herbal, oolong, Rooibos and white teas.  The degree of processing these leaves determines if a tea will become green, red (oolong)  or black tea.  Green is the least processed of all teas.  Black and red teas are dried, crushed, and fermented.  The length of fermentation determines if the tea will be red or black. 

Tea from camellia senesis contains cancer-fighting properties.  Tea also contains polyphenols, which are the antioxidant properties found in the leaves of the tea plant.  Polyphenols have the following health benefits:  prevents blood from clotting, lowers cholesterol levels, deactivates cancer promoters, stimulates our immune systems, and protects our body’s cells from free radicals.

 Tea also contains “theanine,” an amino acid, plus vitamins and minerals to help delay our aging process, fight high blood pressure, fight bacterial and viral infections, and aid in our digestive and excretory systems. 

Tea also contains fluoride for healthy teeth. 

Tea contains half the caffeine as a comparable cup of coffee and has almost zero calories.  Note:  Decaf teas may not have the same health benefits as regular tea. 

 Here’s how to make a GREAT cup of tea, and it doesn’t include a box of tea bags from your local grocery store. 

First, purchase your tea at a local tea shop.  You’ll need an infuser, those little basket-shaped filters that sit on top of the tea cup’s lid.  You’ll be buying tea leaves, so make sure they’re stored in an airtight container and kept away from bright lights.  Pick out the tea of your choice.  You might want to pick up a nifty tea pot, as well, preferably one that will hold heat for the longest period of time. 

 Use clean, fresh, water.  For green tea, you’ll add your tea leaves directly to the tea pot just before your water boils and steep for 2 – 3 minutes.  For black tea, you’ll add your tea leaves directly to the tea pot just after your water boils.  Simmer for 3 – 5 minutes.   The rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon for every 8 ounces of water.

 Here’s the most exciting part: pour the tea leaves and water from the tea pot directly onto the infuser on top of your tea cup.  The infuser will collect any leaves and the tea will deposit into your tea cup.

 Make sure to drink 2 – 4 cups of tea per day, preferably with your girlfriends.

Being eco-friendly comes in many different shades of green. There are the beginner eco-conscious folks who might be considered a very light shade of green. These newbie earth lovers might just be starting their journey in eco-awareness. Then there are the veteran eco-conscious folks who might be considered the darkest shade of green. These progressive earth lovers have been practicing their love for Mother Earth for years…perhaps decades now.

If being green intimidates you, just remember “baby steps.” Not all eco-conscious folks wear dreadlocks, hemp clothing, and live in homes dug into a hillside.

Being green is a process, an adventure, an attitude.

So for starters, let’s go simply with these helpful tips:

Begin by recycling one item in your home, whether that item will be newspapers, tin cans, glass jars, or plastic milk jugs and plastic bags. Start simply. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Use a cardboard box placed on your porch, and every day, add that one item to your recycling box. When the box fills up, drive it down to your local transfer station. Better yet, take advantage of your city’s recycling drives and leave that item out on your front curb for the waste management team to pick up for you.

Next, turn your heat down by five degrees in the winter time, or your air conditioning up by 5 degrees during the summertime. Not only will this simple step save you $$$$, but it will save our earth’s energy resources.

Replace all of the light bulbs in just one room to the new energy saving bulbs. These bulbs will, in the long run, save you $$$$. Short term, they save our earth’s energy resources, as well. Don’t like the little curly Q pig tail design? They’re now available in different and more pleasing designs. One more tip: Turn your lights off as you exit a room.

Bike to work one day a week. You choose whatever day you want to forego your SUV ride through town and instead hop on your bike and pedal through the neighborhoods. It’ll amaze you the neat things you’ll enjoy on your way to work: children playing in their front yards, dogs lazily lying on their front porch, birds singing…things that will calm your spirit and relax your body. And the exercise is good for you, too!

Purchase all-natural cleaning products. Get rid of your chemical-filled bathtub cleaners and chemical-laden floor cleaners and instead clean with vinegar and water or lemon juice and water. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant. Mix with water and use on counter tops, bathtubs, sink handles, and floors for a natural clean. Mix lemon juice and water to wipe down your windows and mirrors, or stove top and toaster oven. Is that too much for you? Go to your local supermarket and purchase all-natural cleaning products ready made.

It takes minimal effort to begin your eco-friendly journey…you might even enjoy it!

Sea Turtles can be carnivorous (meat eating), herbivorous (plant eating), or omnivorous (eating both meat and plants. Now if they do eat meat, then jelly fish can be part of the diet and our fondness for the use of plastic bags and our irresponsible disposal of them is killing the precious sea turtles because these poor innocent creature mistake plastic bags for food and end up suffocating on them. And even if they don’t eat them, they could end up swimming into them, getting caught and literally end up drowning.

So if you want to help preserve the population of sea turtles, you have to learn to cut down on your use of plastic bags and you can take that step a bit further by supporting ‘Turtle Bags’ which is the supplier of a delightful range of fair trade eco-friendly bags that benefits the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) and women co-operative in Sri Lanka.

The bags are hand-made by a women’s co-operative in Sri Lanka using eco friendly and/or organic materials such as jute and cotton. Granted, they do seem more pricy than what you can find in the store but bear in mind the money goes to helping out conservation of turtles, party by encouraging former turtle egg collectors to turn turtle nest protectors through the income the Turtle Bag production offers.

They sell online to the world through their website and you’ll find Turtle Bags offers you a large range of colourful bags from string bags to laptop bags to trolley bags. Remember when you buy a bag, you are saving the environment, saving the turtles and giving a group of people a chance at survival.

Butterflies are essentially pretty winged insects with an inspiring lifecycle that have given rise to the practice of making reference to them to reassure our young we feel behind on blossoming.  Yet…shocking as it sounds, butterflies have a function in nature and it hasn’t got anything to do with looking pretty. In fact butterflies are just as important as the bees because they play a major role in pollination, which is what keeps nature’s greens alive.

It’s not new news that the population of bees are taking a dive and many organizations and individuals have stepped up to protect whatever bees are left and work on measures to bring the population numbers back up but I’m not sure if people realize we need to do the same for butterflies.
No, general butterflies population is not extinct, but certain species are. And while we may not have the definite answer as to why we are losing our bees, we can be sure that we are contributing to the unnecessary ‘death’ of butterflies  when we  go about ‘catching them’. Butterflies like many insects do not have a very long lifespan – they may in comparison live a tad longer ( some can live up to a year and that in bug years is ancient) but that means nothing when they are ‘hunted’ by collectors and unknowing fascinated children or when their homes are destroyed.

At present I’m not aware of any specific butterfly revival projects, probably because like I mentioned earlier, they aren’t extinct but even without one, you can revive the population in your own yard. All you have to do is tend to your garden and plant some greens that attract them. And you’ll be delighted to know that what attracts butterflies are really beautiful flowering plants that will make your garden look a though it were a snapshot of an impressionist painting!  If you are serious about building a butterfly garden then please visit The Garden Helper where they will give you details and instructions on how to make your garden butterfly fit!

If it were a one time affair, that probably be fine…but imagine if the scenario was a reoccurring one – monthly too! I really couldn’t bear the thought of popping pain numbing pills ever so frequent. It is obvious side effects would take their toll and soon enough I’d have more problems to add to my list. And I guess many people agree with me when it’s become quite clear how so many are now turning to alternative therapy for help. Of course if your condition is severe then it wouldn’t be advisable but if it’s something normal and not complicated then why not consider the aged old, time tested true traditional Chinese treatment of cupping!

Yes cupping, the really cool looking treatment (made famous again by certain celebrities) that will leave purple welts on your back!
Cupping looks simple enough but honestly is quite tricky to perform so it’s best you leave that to the experts because it isn’t just about applying a suction cup to your back. It’s about applying the right amount o vacuum to the correct spot for the correct amount of time. Traditionally animal horns were used but that soon became bamboo cups and now we have glass ones. You can also find modern glass cups with  Acu Point Biomagnetic additions but I’d rather stick with the original.

As far as I can remember, vacuum in those cups are created when a cotton ball soaked in 90% alcohol is burnt in the cup (cup faces down) and quickly removed then applied (the cup) on the skin. It works by drawing toxins/stagnantation out from the skin where the vacuum is applied. Hence the importance of where the cup is placed- specific acupunctural points which only an expert practitioner will be all too familiar with.
If you do it yourself or have someone who isn’t well experienced do it, you might end up with burns and other complications such as those related to the nerves, muscle or blood flow.

Traditional practices are almost always eco-friendly and effective, yet much like nature, they are being threatened with extinction from modernization. These days to be able to find a cupping expert who is truly trained with the art is really hard as the best skills have probably died out with those who had them – a lost that we have no right to weep over now…

Warts in the simplest explanation is a form of tiny skin infections that leaves you with an unsightly lump/bump on the surface of your skin. There are over 80 different strands of virus that could give you warts but most are harmless and will go away on their own, but some are malignant and need surgical removal.

Now when an adult experiences a wart, it’s simple, warts are unsightly and possibly a sign of something worse to come (HPV virus). So you go to the doctor and you get it fixed. But to a child, if he/she has a wart, then it’s pretty clear that he/she is turning into:

• 1. A witch
• 2. A troll
• 3. A toad
• 4. A mushroom

And believe me neither is something your kid is going to laugh about. You’ll hear endless whines and possible tears over it and as a super mummy you just have to make it go away. Doesn’t help that kids are especially susceptible to skin infections because of their weaker immune system and preference to run about without shoes on.

Well the common warts are absolutely harmless and these are the ones that are likely to infect the average child. You won’t need :

• To burn the wart off with a light electrical current)
• Cryosurgery (freezing the wart with liquid nitrogen), nor will you need laser treatment 

 but you do need some medication to treat the virus and make sure that after it goes away, it won’t be coming back. You can opt for over the counter medications which are always ‘toxic’ or made of salicylic acid, or you can try a home treatment which you can be sure will leave no adverse effect on your child.

You may opt to use either of the following options but it will take about 1-2 weeks for the wart to fall off.

• 1. Clean the infected skin with spirit (rubbing alcohol)
• 2. Apply either of the following directly onto the wart
• • Oregano essential oil (1 drop concentrated)
• • Sap of dandelion
• • Tea tree essential oil (1 drop concentrated)
• 3. Apply a bandage on the spot (the idea is to not allow the wart to breathe, but to soak entirely in the application)

Repeat the application 2x a day and the wart should clear off soon.

Now I’m not blind to see that my fanaticism for clothes is not without a price. Whilst I may not have put myself in debt, I realize that if I’m not more responsible with my choice of clothings, I don’t just hurt the environment, I end up hurting a lot of lives.

Now often we’re all aware about how important it is to source clothes that are eco-friendly – where the entire process of their make from raw material up to delivery to the shelves of stores has the least impact on nature. But we often get lost in that forgetting about how it’s equally important for our clothes to also be from a fair trade source!

Ever so often we’re more than pleased with ourselves when we find a good bargain. Beautiful garments that say organic cotton and cost us at a fantastic markdown price of a meager $5 or even $10 give us a high, but logically you’ve got to ask yourself how is it possible for them to sell it at such a low price? Clearly they aren’t selling it at a lost so if they can plummet the prices to such a low, someone out there in the supply chain must be taking the cut.

It takes so much effort to grow organics and nothing less to painstakingly put it altogether by hand to make your perfect embroidered dress or t-shirt. Yet you’ll find that many are exploited by large corporations to enable the sale of a $10 t-shirt one with a hefty profit margin. I won’t go into the details of which company is involved in the exploitation and which are the poor labourers of the trade being abused but I must insist you read this news article that can tell you all that.

Sustainable living is about a lifestyle that harms the least lives. It’s not all just about buying green, it’s also about buying fair trade green.