Sustainable Lifestyle Practices and Communities

The time has come for everyone to have more Eco-friendly sensibility

Eco-fact: Commercial car washes are better than washing your car at home in the drive.

Commercial carwashes reuse/recycle their water. They are also required to treat their water. Using a commercial carwash eliminates potential chemicals and toxins being added to your lawn or the neighborhood drain.

Like many people these days, I'm trying to become more educated about the environment and eco-friendly practices. Periodically, I will be sharing some of the knowledge and resources I find with you here.

One information source is Sara Snow, a Natural Living Expert who host the Discovery-Home show, "Get Fresh with Sara Snow." It is very informative, entertaining, and covers a myriad of topics including cooking and fashion. "The Green" is another such program hosted on the Sundance Channel.

Eco-Practice (fashion):

1. Wear vintage clothes and recycle old clothes by finding new uses.

2 Buy clothing that uses sustainable textile fiber. These can come from organically grown (chemically free) crops or unusual plants that are not normally used in the fiber and textile industry like bamboo. Bamboo is now being used in textile industry to produce very fashionable fabrics and garments.

On your next shopping trip, don't just like at the price tag but take a closer look at the fabric content label. Or instead of heading to the mall or big chain store, try visiting and sampling the wares of a local vintage clothing or thrift store.

Make it point to began educating yourself and incorporating more eco-friendly practices in your daily life. We can no longer afford to leave this task to a few "tree-hugging" nonprofit organizations. I believe it's vital we all began to take a more active personal role in sustaining the planet earth. Although we're making more frequent trips to the moon, so far, we're still only living here on earth. Let us all pitch in to preserve it. Start today, if not for yourself--then do it for your grandchildren and our future generations.

Cafe Reconcile

Wynton Marsalis, jazz musician and reknown chef John Besh were featured on one of my favorite Sundance Channel programme's "Iconaclast." Both these artist have volunteered and sponsored many benefits to help the city they grew up in--New Orleans. During the the program I learned about Cafe Reconcile, a nonprofit oganization that helps at-risk youths of New Orleans. Cafe Reconcile provides a safe supportive place for the youth to have the option of receiving the life, work and educational skills necessary to turn their lives on a productive path toward thriving and complete citizens of the city.

Tribute to a Lifetime of Work

My Mother recently retired from Nursing after 34 years of service to the same hospital. The hospital where I bore my first child. While there was no gold watch, there were many well wishing co-workers bearing gifts and well wishes. Amidst a myriad recanting of past shared work experiences came the repeated question of how she would spend her new found free time. It was most surprising when she really had no answer. After a lifetime caring for others she didn't know what would come after that. She will have to learn the new art of caring for herself and relaxing--a difficult task for a "born" nurse. I've always said that my mother was a nurse before she ever went to nursing school.