Blogs & Ecology

Photo courtesy of the Road to Angkor

Image courtesy of Age Healthy

Photo: Woman sifting asbestos into powder, Bangladesh (Greenpeace)

Though there have been efforts to phase it out at home, it is anticipated that the Canadian government will be lobbying against the inclusion of a type of asbestos on a watch list of the world’s most dangerous substances in UN negotiations later this week.

It's a short leap to get from the health of the world to the health of humans. The link is obvious. And yet, there is much the health care industry can do to green up.

Making waves on that front is the Teleosis Institute. They offer information and education on everything related to health, from greener doctors' offices to cleaner environments, from sustainable medicines to healthy health care workers.

But they don't just provide tools and classes - they want to change the way the health care system operates. ...

Image courtesy of Glutenfreeda

Good news for anyone restricted to the difficult-to-navigate waters of the gluten-free diet: there's an all-natural food company, Glutenfreeda Foods, who as you may have guessed from their name, specialize food right up your alley....

For every pair of TOMS sold, another pair is given away to a child in need. Blake Mycoskie used to think he’d make as much money as possible in life and then give it all away. But now he figures he’ll just do business and help the world at the same time. ::TreeHugger Radio

Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.

Image source: Westchester.gov

While drug companies continue to say its not happening, school nurses around the country are saying more and more parents are at a loss for solutions, reports MSNBC. One nurse even reported a parent, whose child has been battling head lice all summer, was extremely frustrated and unsure what to do next. So why are common medications like Nix, Rid, Ovide and Kwell still prescribed? Simply because they do work on some cases, some of the time.

Image source: Kona Bikes

Kona not only sells good bikes, sponsors riders to jump off things taller than our heads, and promotes recreational and functional biking, but it also is putting those bikes to work all over Africa. Their AfricaBikes program not only helps HIV/AIDS workers deliver medicine, but now the bikes are also being used to ensure that over 6 million people have access to water. The bikes also allow healthcare workers to move from seeing 1-2 patients a day by foot to over 6 a day.

If you have an entrepreneurial itch, a love of shoes, or a distaste for poverty, Blake Mycoskie, the creator of TOMS, is someone you should know about. In an odd twist, Blake took the favored footwear of Argentine peasants and sparked a hipster shoe meme, transmitted by word of mouth. In our interview, Blake tells us about how TOMS got started, what comes next, and what it takes to hand-place thousands of shoes on children’s feet. ::TreeHugger Radio

:: Avoid these common household products to steer clear of cancer.

:: Sooth your tummy--and your taste buds--with Kelly's Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon.

:: Sign a petition asking the next elected U.S. President to grow a food garden at the White House....

According to researchers at Duke University Medical Center there’s a significant chance that a drug commonly prescribed to halt pre-term labor and stave off premature birth might leave the brains of children susceptible to other chemicals widely present in the environment. And with 20% of all pregnancies in the U.S. encountering pre-term labor and 1 million of those being treated with terbutaline or related drugs to halt pre-term contractions and premature birth, there’s a real chance the child who may affected could be your own....

Where do the Buffalo Roam?

In a piece of irony you couldn’t imagine if you tried, researchers in Australia have discovered that a lack of time spent playing in the great outdoors is leading to greater incidences of myopia among children, which means it's not just figuratively causing shortsightedness, but literally as well.

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A Community Guide To Environmental Health (Guide), published by Hesperian and now available online, is one of the most comprehensive guides empowering communities to deal with environmental health issues in the 21st century. The Guide has taken over a decade to develop as researchers scoured the globe for the best practices. The examples come from the help and input of over 300 communities in over 33 countries. ...