Life on Google Earth
By E.B. Boyd
The map didn’t make sense. It was one of those grainy, black-and-white topographical maps, the kind of 8 ½ x 11 photocopy you get in the mail to inform you of an upcoming construction project near your home. The kind you turn this way and that until you give up (continue reading...)

Happy Wheels
By Maria Kay Fotopoulos | Research by Karin Amour
A multitude of tumultuous national and global events during the last year — including gas prices that skyrocketed before teasingly settling back down — have brought many of us face-to-face with our profligate ways behind the wheel. The volatility and uncertainty of the future of fossil fuels has prompted rethinking (continue reading...)

The Electric Car Returns (and This Time It’s Personal)
Conversations — By Siel
What happens to an electric car deferred? Ask Chris Paine, director of the documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006), and you’ll learn that those once-dead electric vehicles (EVs) are now exacting a shocking revenge. Paine was one of the first to lease a General Motors EV1 (continue reading...)

Be the Change
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
The New Year is a time for fresh starts and letting go of old, unwelcome habits. Is your home a disaster area? De-clutter your space with the help of the pros. Feeling flabby and un-centered after the stress of the holidays? Sign up for yoga class (continue reading...)

In the Living Library, Everyone’s an Open Book
On Our Radar —
On a recent afternoon, Margaret Oakley sat at a table at the Santa Monica Library and talked to visitors about her vegan lifestyle. Her goal: to convince people she doesn’t dislike carnivores — she’s just passionate about her veggies. Oakley is a “book” in the Living Library, an organization (continue reading...)

Say It, Don’t Spray It
On Our Radar —
Graffiti artists add vivid guerilla splashes of color to the urban landscape, but they do it with toxic paint loaded with VOCs. Enter a new breed of eco-taggers who are ditching the spray cans for natural materials such as water, mud and moss. Paul Curtis (street name: Moose) draws (continue reading...)

StickK it to Me
On Our Radar — By E.B. Boyd
The new year is a great time to make resolutions — and, of course, to reflect on how far we’ve fallen short on those of years passed. Statistics show that a majority of us fail to make good on our promises to exercise more, be a kinder person or start (continue reading...)

The Little Green People Show
On Our Radar —
Laurene von Klan and Jill Riddell are two “eco-chicks,” a name the duo thought up long ago when brainstorming about doing a talk show on how to live green in the big city. Now, 20 years later, the eco-chicks have their own podcast called “The Little Green People Show.” (continue reading...)

Reducing Ware and Tear on the Earth One Utensil at a Time
On Our Radar —
Imagine you grab a quick lunch and head back to the office. As you begin to pull your order from the bag, you realize everything is contained in styrofoam. Even the utensils are made of plastic. Obviously your favorite place for lunch isn’t the most environmentally-responsible restaurant. But what if (continue reading...)

Get Active!
On Our Radar —
Happy New Year! By now you know the drill. It’s time to get cracking on those resolutions — hit the gym, organize your closet, and swear off drinking, doughnuts and must-see TV. Feeling motivated? Absolutely. Just look at how well last year’s resolution turned out… Wait, what was (continue reading...)

What Counts
On Our Radar — Compiled by Jenny Rough
2  -  4 Million: Girls (some as young as five years old) who will be sold into sexual slavery in 2009. 2/3: Percentage of those girls who are sold by someone they know. 10  -  20: Number of men they are forced to meet with each night. 60: Percent chance (continue reading...)

Improving Chicago’s Transit Options
From the Commish — By Suzane Malec-McKenna
The launch of the Chicago Climate Action Plan (CCAP) last year set some lofty, yet achievable, goals for everyone who lives and works in the city. Some of its key components identify the need to continue to improve transportation options and make Chicago more bikable and walkable. For (continue reading...)

Growing Down?
Urban Essentials — by Andrea Manitsas
Boskke Sky Planters are turning gardening on its head. These low-maintenance, air-purifying plants hang down from the ceiling and are self-watering, provided you refill them once or twice a month (plants do need some attention, people). They not only conserve water, but floor space as well — perfect for your (continue reading...)

Happy New You
Healthy Living — By Deborahann Smith
Feeling sluggish or out of sync? Having skin problems, aches and pains or digestive issues? If the hectic holiday season and brutal winter weather have knocked your health habits out of whack, it could be time for a New Year’s detox. Practiced for centuries by many cultures around the (continue reading...)

Karma Yoga
Healthy Living :: Yogapedia — By Julia Steinberger
Origins: Experienced yogis know that practicing asana without diving deeper into yogic philosophy and spirituality is like painting by numbers: you may be going through the physical motions, but you’ll be missing the richness that understanding yoga can bring to your practice and your life. Karma Yoga is selfless action (continue reading...)

Climate Change and Your Health
Healthy Living :: Body Talk — By Elizabeth Barker
As climate change continues to trigger changes in air quality, people around the world will become more and more vulnerable to serious and even fatal respiratory problems, a new research review published in Environmental Health Perspectives predicts. Global warming is known to elevate the atmosphere’s levels of ozone, a (continue reading...)

A French Country Bistro... In Lincoln Square
Healthy Living :: Tastebuds — By Tanya Fritz Catalano
Bistro Campagne is an absolute gem. If you have not been there yet, put down this review and call immediately for a reservation. It is everything you could hope for in a Parisian bistro, or even a small French countryside bistro. The atmosphere is warm and relaxed, the servers are (continue reading...)

All Hail, Winter Apples
Healthy Living :: Savor the Season — By Terra Brockman
It’s not only fine wines (and some people) that improve with age; it’s also winter apples — varieties such as Black Oxford, Gold Rush, Winter Banana, Stayman, Rome Beauty, Roxbury Russet and the holy grail, Esopus Spitzenburg. These apples, often known simply as “keepers,” were bred to slowly sweeten after (continue reading...)

Chefs on the Farm
Healthy Living :: The Mindful Menu —
In growing numbers, farmers, ranchers and fisherpeople are transporting their harvests to more than 4,400 farmers markets (and counting) across the country; apartment dwellers are riding their bikes or walking to these contemporary agoras to exchange wealth for beauty, flavor and pleasure. Diners in restaurants across the country are asking: (continue reading...)

In 2009 I will...
Tune In — Interviews by Jessica Kraft
We asked some of today’s most celebrated spiritual leaders what they resolve to do in 2009, and oddly enough, losing those stubborn last 10 pounds never came up. Instead they provided some inspiring ways to shift our thoughts and reshape our world. “For hundreds of years our worldview has (continue reading...)

The Intention Economy
Prophet Motive — by Daniel Pinchbeck
While exploring shamanism and non-ordinary states, I discovered the power of intention. According to the artist Ian Lungold, who lectured brilliantly about the Mayan Calendar before his untimely death a few years ago, the Maya believe that your intention is as essential to your ability to navigate reality as your (continue reading...)

Fuelish Heart
Art & Soul — Interview by Warren Etherege
It’s time for The Rolling Stones to embrace alternative energy and rework the lyrics of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” It’s not “a gas, gas, gas!” It’s a solar panel, a wind turbine... a gallon of biodiesel! Surely, single-minded filmmaker Joshua Tickell would support the rewrite, as he has championed biodiesel (continue reading...)

Reviews
Art & Soul —
Amid the toxic economic environment we’ve been living in for the last little while, Slow Money — six essays culled together from several years worth of presentations, (continue reading...)

Big Ideas
From the Publisher —
On November 22nd, 2008, Conscious Choice magazine, along with approximately 35 other organizations, was inducted into the Environmental Hall of Fame. It was an honor to be among the chosen innovators and world-changers making a difference on our planet and in our culture. I was proud to accept the nomination (continue reading...)

Life Can Be So Car-free
To The Editor —
In “Soul in the City” (December ’08), Summer Bowen correctly reports on the stressors of city life, including “parking, street cleaning and sardine-like density.” My city solution to stress is to walk or ride my bike — and leave that car behind. As [legendary “neighborhood preservationist”] James Marston Fitch said (continue reading...)

Lettuce Be Grateful
Life, the Universe and Everything — By Natalie Fee
Something very beautiful happened to me the other day. Something beautiful is happening all the time actually, but for the most part my mind is too busy thinking to notice. But on this particular afternoon, I did notice. While walking my son Elliot home from school, I was presented with (continue reading...)