“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and both far and near; my closets were full from gifts from last year.
Bath products unused, the lotions still capped; and even a present still sat in its wrap!
When out in the yard there arose a big mess; trash cans overfilled, Santa looked quite depressed.
“You have enough stuff, yet I keep piling more! Time to get creative and not be a gift bore.”

Another day, another batch of holiday catalogs. By December, your mailbox is as stuffed as the Victoria ’s Secret bra on the cover of the fifth catalog they’ve sent this week. Here are a few tactics to relieve your mailbox of its holiday burden and your conscience of its eco-guilt.

Reduce your dog’s carbon paw print with these eco-friendly foods and pet supplies.

Today’s news of the massive egg salmonella outbreak has millions of Americans flocking to their fridges to see if they’ve got contaminated eggs. But the bigger questions are these: Why do these outbreaks happen so regularly, and how can we protect ourselves against future ones?

The NC 10% Campaign kicked off in Charlotte today with a song… quite literally.

Local raw honey — at last, those of us with sweet tooths can claim a health food!

It’s a startling statistic. In 1981, the number of seed varieties in catalogs was 5,000; today that number has dwindled to about 500. That decline is a stark representation of the effect of corporations’ greater control over the supply and distribution of seeds. Their concern? Bottom line. Enter JW’s Farm. JW’s is a micro-farm that brings fresh, local produce to Charlotte while preserving heirloom varieties of plants and supporting genetic diversity.

Very little can compel me to wake at sunrise on a Saturday, but the Matthews Community Farmer’s Market provides a convincing argument to set the alarm. This is the market that sells to the chefs of some of Charlotte’s finest restaurants, and it is the largest and most diverse growers-only market in our area.

How clean is clean? How green is green? I don’t mean to wax Suess-ical, but during the hunt for a green dry cleaners in Charlotte, these questions evolved from the seemingly obvious to the somewhat infuriating.