by Expand Your Consciousness
Michelle Toole 
This isn’t an article about what kind of cooking oil is healthiest for you. This is an article urging you to make sure that if you buy coconut oil, it comes from a humane and sustainable source. Environmentalists and animal rights activists have done a good job of shedding light on the heartbreaking deforestation … Read more
I always remember the day O’Riley broke my spirit. He was the first dog I adopted as an adult. When he was about six or seven months old, he became increasingly destructive when I wasn’t home (this was in the days before we knew that crating a dog when you went out could keep it … Read more
5G (which is short for 5th generation cellular mobile communications technology) is the subject of much controversy. A team from Oregon State University (OSU) has published a paper with their findings on 5G safety as tested with zebrafish. For readers who don’t know, zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a favorite proxy for humans in toxicology … Read more
Artificial outdoor light at night has been the subject of a range of research studies. Within the past few years, it has been “associated with depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors” by a research team at the University of Seoul1; “significantly related to obesity” by a research team from Korea University College of Medicine2; and a … Read more
If you live near the sea, chances are your life, home, and/or way of life have already been saved at least once by salt marshes that protect against coastal erosion and mitigate the effects of extreme weather. The daily rhythm of these precious coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained with the tides usually … Read more
The community food cupboard in this image may seem small, but for one person or family, it could make a huge difference in getting through the day as they wrestle with the food insecurity ramping up quickly in the U.S. An independent research group at the University of Chicago (NORC) conducted an analysis … Read more
There are all kinds of beliefs wrapped up in a decision to pursue a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. The attitudes vegetarians and vegans encounter from people around them can be complex. I grew up in an Army household and one of the benefits was we bought our groceries at a post commissary which, by law, … Read more
Reporter Alex Brown has written some interesting articles profiling the increase in urban wildlife in cities like Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Seattle. Initiatives in those cities to better coexist with urban wildlife are representative of what is going on across North America. As Brown states, “Most research on urban wildlife has taken place only … Read more
One of my favorite environmental activists is also one of my favorite philosophers: Joanna Macy is an ecophilosopher. She has written over a dozen books and travels extensively to share her thinking in workshops and lectures on topics that include ecological awareness, personal and social change, as well as spiritual issues. Macy calls the “empowerment … Read more
“Lawn chemicals, particularly, ones containing 2,4-D, have been linked to at least two types of canine cancers. Studies found that lawn chemicals travel to neighboring yards and inside homes, and chemicals have been found in the urine of dogs whose owners did not spray their lawns.”1 Evidence that lawn chemicals are linked to cancers in … Read more