Prefab 2.0
By Heather Boerner
Judging by magazines, museums and word of mouth, you might think we were in a prefab housing Golden Age. (continue reading...)

Om At Home
By Jeanne Storck
Forget Extreme Home Makeover. Forget the cost and headache (not to mention waste) of a renovation. Stop comparing your life to the pristine museum interiors showcased in the home design glossies. Keep it simple — and sustainable — by making easy, affordable changes to create a beautiful space right where (continue reading...)

Earth’s Mosaic
Conversations — By Jessica Kraft
Terry Tempest Williams is known as a passionate and poetic advocate for wilderness and the webs of ecology that surround her home in the Utah desert. She’s written numerous books that artfully blend personal and family memoir with natural history, and has long worked to raise awareness about ecological conservation (continue reading...)

The Lease They Can Do
On Our Radar —
If you’re a renter, you probably feel like your options for greening up your living space are limited to cheap, temporary, DIY changes like switching light bulbs, recycling, or setting up a kitchen compost. And as for convincing your landlord to consider making green renovations and installations on your building (continue reading...)

The Other Black Gold
On Our Radar —
Americans have a reputation for being wasteful — even going so far as to waste our own waste. According to the EPA, yard trimmings and food scraps make up 24 percent of U.S. waste, needlessly filling up our landfills when it could be put to good use in a backyard (continue reading...)

Feed the Meter and Put Your Feet Up
On Our Radar —
More parks, fewer cars. The Zen-like philosophy behind Park(ing) Day — the annual event that attracts artists, urban planners and open space advocates interested in setting up ad hoc miniature parks in metered parking spaces on urban streets — appears to have hit a tipping point. What began as (continue reading...)

Moving On Up
On Our Radar —
As Spencer Brown stood atop a pile of discarded cardboard boxes in a stinking Southern California landfill in the spring of 2006, a deep feeling of regret sank in. Brown, an inventor and product designer, arrived at the landfill after being repeatedly thwarted in his efforts to find a second (continue reading...)

What Counts?
On Our Radar — Compiled by Jenny Rough
472 Square miles of Los Angeles that would be covered if all the obsolete computers in America were stacked on top of each other in a giant pile. (continue reading...)

Get Active
On Our Radar —
How many environmentalists does it take to tell you to screw in a CFL bulb? Too many. In fact, if one more person evangelizes about saving the planet with an energy efficient light bulb, we might just ralph up something green. (continue reading...)

Greencorps Helps Make Chicago Green
From the Commish —
Each year approximately 20,000 people are released from prison and come home to Chicago. Mayor Daley had the vision to understand that the city of Chicago had an obligation to assist Chicagoans with regard to re-entry into society. There is a story behind each and every individual who has (continue reading...)

If Twiggy Had These, She Might Have Eaten More
Urban Essentials —
A welcome departure from conventional utensil-dom, the stainless steel Twig Flatware from VivaTerra adds a dash of contemporary rustic to every meal. Five-piece place setting, $58, vivaterra.com (continue reading...)

Can You Hear Me Now?
Healthy Living — By E.B. Boyd
Ever since the first reports on electromagnetic fields (emf) came out 20 years ago, the debate has raged: is the radiation from devices like microwaves, power lines, cell phones and computer monitors a danger to our health? The topic gained new prominence in May when three neurosurgeons, including cnn chief (continue reading...)

Defining yoga, one style at a time
Healthy Living :: Yogapedia — By Julia Steinberger
Origins Pausing to breathe before you take that first delicious bite of a meal is just one example of how we may open ourselves to the Divine in our daily activities. Anusara yoga imparts that outlook to students on the yoga mat, with the implicit goal of applying those mat-habits (continue reading...)

Spa Cafe: Clean Eating in the Loop
Conscious Dining — by Tanya Fritz Catalano
Heading out for lunch in Chicago’s Loop to eat organic veggie “Sun Burgers” and vegan wraps while drinking bright green cucumber water with traders and financial district folks in suits and ties may seem a little peculiar, but that is exactly what happy lunch crowds do every day at Spa (continue reading...)

Return of the Greens
By Terra Brockman
Many people assume that when it’s “back to school,” it’s also “back to the grocery store” and its produce from far-flung corners of the globe. In fact, the local food season in much of the country is not even half over. After the scene-stealers of summer — the tomatoes, sweet-corn (continue reading...)

Artichoke For a Healthy Heart
Healthy Living :: Body Talk —
An extract of artichoke leaf — typically used to soothe indigestion or irritable bowel syndrome — may help keep your cholesterol in check, recent research from the University of Reading indicates. For the study, 75 otherwise healthy adults with slightly high cholesterol levels took either a placebo or 1,280 mg (continue reading...)

Think Outside the Studio
Tune In — By Meagan McCrary
From fighting traffic to make it to class in time, to carving out a space for your mat amidst the after-work studio crowds, yoga can sometimes be a less than Zen-like experience. For the initiated, starting a home practice can ultimately save time, energy and money — plus no one (continue reading...)

Absorbing Orbs
Prophet Motive —
This summer, I visited Glastonbury, the New Age epicenter of England, to speak at a “Great Mysteries” conference about orbs. Orbs are best known as those mysterious balls of light that have appeared on digital photographs for the last fifteen years, though some claim they can see them with the (continue reading...)

Towelhead
Art & Soul — By Warren Etheredge
Invest a little time and effort and you can come up with far better reasons to dislike people than just the color of their skin or their country of origin. Hate them, for example, for the content of their character. (continue reading...)

Reviews
Art & Soul —
Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, by Raj Patel (Melville House Publishing). Worldwide, more people than ever are starving (continue reading...)

Mindfulness
From the Publisher —
I received a letter today from an advertiser who has been with Conscious Choice for about six months. The advertiser is a non-profit seeking mission specific contributions for the betterment of children. The ad they run is honest and well designed; their mission is provoking. In the letter that I (continue reading...)

Fashion? Not hot.
To The Editor —
What’s the difference in the “Hot Earth” feature and an Abercrombie advertisement or Chanel jeans billboard with a naked lady? Nothing. What message are you trying to get across? If you’re selling me on jeans, why am I looking at some guy’s back, with no view of the jeans at (continue reading...)

Anthony Corso
People In Your Neighborhood — Interview & Photo by Christine Mangan
Sustainable Design Consultant Anthony Corso has always loved art and science. After a childhood spent connecting with the natural world, he eventually found himself interested in the impact of the environment on human health. A biology/pre-medicine degree led Corso to field ecology work, which in turn convinced him to pursue (continue reading...)

Hang Time
Life, the Universe and Everything — By Susie Arnett
“$8.72,” says the Rite-Aid salesgirl, as she hands me my rope and two packs of clothespins. I’ve just returned from a two-week visit with family in Ireland and have brought home the most unexpected souvenir — a deep desire to hang my laundry. Over the course of our trip, with (continue reading...)