Healthy Living

Although I don’t think the Girl Scouts are going to be selling boxes of CFL lightbulbs instead of cookies any time soon—why change a good and delicious thing?--groups of other stripes are always looking for creative ways to raise money for their organizations. Now your group can choose to sell recycled paper goods, green home cleaners, energy-efficient showerheads, and yes, low-energy lightbulbs through several Web-based green fundraising organizations.

Dr. Alan Greene, a pediatrician on the faculty of Stanford University’s School of Medicine and on the board of directors of The Organic Center, Boulder, Colorado, has developed an “organic prescription” of ten foods and crops you can buy that, in a single dose, can purify both your body and the planet: milk, potatoes, peanut butter, baby foods, ketchup, cotton, apples, beef, soy, and corn.

Dr. Greene bases his guide on his assessment of which pesticides are most harmful to humans, along with the negative effects of antibiotics, synthetic hormones, and chemical fertilizers. His choices are also based on how growing these crops organically reduces greenhouse gas emissions and toxic chemicals in air and water, and stems the depletion of non-renewable resources and the uncontrolled spread of genetically modified organisms.

Conscious Lifestyle was founded on the idea that we don't have to wait for elections to make a change. Everyday we have an opportunity for vote for kind of world we want through ordinary actions: eating food, investing our time, choosing how to dress, talk, etc. In this globalized world even small, sometimes overlooked actions, can have a ripple effect that can be felt around the world. In a word, it's about living a lifestyle in which we are aware of how our decisions affect other people and the environment.

Whole Foods' Whole Body campaign reflects the philosophy behind Conscious Lifestyle.