November 2008
Features
Interviews by Jenny Rough
It’s heee-eere: November. If you’re anxiously anticipating cold dark days, nasty bugs, dry skin and the packing on of the dreaded holiday pounds, take heart (and a spoonful of cod liver oil). We brought together seven holistic practitioners to pick their brains on everything from fighting the flu to battling (continue reading...)
By Joelle Hann
In early August 2008, Margot Andersen’s newly-married, 29-year-old son was hit and killed by a car while crossing a busy highway in Chicago. For Margot, a social worker in Chicago schools for more than 13 years, the pain of the sudden, tragic loss was overwhelming. Enrolled in a yoga teacher-training (continue reading...)
Conversations — Interview by Emily Gertz
Celebrity mycologist. You might say it’s an oxymoron, but only if you recognize the word in the first place. After all, mycologists — scientists who study fungus — are possibly the last folks one might expect to be the hit of a cocktail party. (continue reading...)
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Ready to start holiday shopping? This year, before heading out to the mall — and the big crowds, check out our 2008 Eco Holiday Gift Guide! (continue reading...)
On Our Radar —
With organic, fair trade coffee beans running nearly $10 a pound at our local natural food stores, we expect our morning joe to deliver a total sensory “mmmm” day after day. When that doesn’t happen, we walk backwards through the coffee making process to find the weak link. Here’s how: (continue reading...)
On Our Radar —
They rise like periscopes from another world: wild mushrooms. Things of beauty, gourmet temptation and just a pinch of malice, fungi have the power to capture the imagination and draw the captivated from their beds to scour the nearest woods in the cold, creaky hours before dawn. (continue reading...)
On Our Radar — Interview by Warren Etheredge
You don’t like balancing your checkbook; neither does Uncle Sam. In the number-crunching, nail-biting new documentary I.O.U.S.A., director Patrick Creadon tries to account for our nation’s finances — and nearly drowns in red ink. (continue reading...)
On Our Radar —
The farmers’ markets may be moving indoors but that doesn’t mean that your Thanksgiving meal can’t be cooked with local, sustainable and fresh market produce and meat. But plan ahead, because these farm fresh products are being gobbled up for the holiday season. (continue reading...)
On Our Radar —
New England farmers stole the show with their home cooked food and sustainable practices recently at the 23rd Annual Farm Aid concert held this year in Mansfield, Massachusetts. This unconventional concert is becoming the forerunner in environmentally responsible festivals from organic concessions to utilizing clean wind energy. (continue reading...)
On Our Radar —
Don’t have two dimes to rub together during this brutal economy? Recessions certainly suck, but they can bring out the dark green in Americans. Not the electric-sports-car-buying, bamboo-flooring-throughout-the-solar-powered-McMansion type of green, but the old school environmentalist: the resourceful conservationist. Here are four frugal ways to turn economic blues into some (continue reading...)
On Our Radar — Compiled by Jenny Rough
36%: Doctors who are using email to communicate with patients (up from 24 percent in 2005). (continue reading...)
From the Commish — By Suzane Malec-McKenna
There are some awesome things taking place in Chicago and as Environment Commissioner, I have the opportunity of a lifetime to be part of this green movement. Chicago is well known for its ingenuity in architecture and environment. Our cultural treasures are extensive and we are quickly becoming well known (continue reading...)
Urban Essentials —
Looking to spice up your practice? Meet Yogamatic. Pick from a gallery of original artwork or upload your own pic. The image you choose will be printed in water-soluble ink on a mat fashioned from (biodegradable and latex-, rubber-, and toxin-free) Thermo Plastic Elastima, and five percent of what you (continue reading...)
Healthy Living — By E.B. Boyd
With the holidays around the corner, earth-wise hosts and hostesses with the mostest are in party-planning mode. But when it comes to picking the most sustainable wines, the choice isn’t as straightforward as most harried hosts would like. The old rule of thumb — look for products labeled “organic” — (continue reading...)
Healthy Living :: Yogapedia — By Julia Steinberger
Origins: On some days, a sweaty Vinyasa flow is just the thing to relieve tension and restore grounding. But other times, it’s important to honor your need for balance with an introspective practice focused on the more subtle energies and tissues of the body. The emerging style of Yin Yoga (continue reading...)
Healthy Living :: Body Talk —
A small square of dark chocolate a day might not quash your cravings, but it could help shield you from heart disease, a new study from the Journal of Nutrition suggests. Sizing up data on 4,849 healthy adults, researchers found those who regularly ate modest amounts of dark chocolate had (continue reading...)
Healthy Living :: Tastebuds — By Tanya Fritz Catalano
Webster’s Wine Bar has been a favorite spot of mine since I moved to Chicago six years ago. It’s comfortable and welcoming, the wine list offers a variety of lovely wines and the clientele is friendly. Even though the bar is almost always packed, I still feel like it’s my (continue reading...)
By Terra Brockman
Pumpkins have been hijacked by October for that trick without a treat, the Halloween Jack-o-Lantern. Now that the imposters (bred for their size, color and substantial stem, not their texture or flavor) have been duly smashed, trashed, or ideally, composted, we can turn to real pumpkins. (continue reading...)
Tune In — By Stephen Krcmar
It’s a hot, sunny day in Los Angeles, but I’m sitting in air conditioning-crazy Starbucks, freezing my frijoles off and looking for answers. Since my life coach hasn’t shown up yet, I look elsewhere — to the LA Times astrology pages. (continue reading...)
Prophet Motive — By Daniel Pinchbeck
Witnessing the unraveling of the global financial system, I find myself gripped by contrasting emotions. While part of me feels like heading for the hills and hoarding cans of sardines, another part of me is giddy, almost celebratory. The tyrannical rule of Wall Street is ending, along with the self-serving (continue reading...)
Art & Soul —
Memoirs about personal transformation are often a mixed bag. Though they can inspire hope that the reader, in all his/her ordinariness, might follow in the memoirist’s footsteps and undergo some meaningful personal change, such books are also crafted — post facto — with all the elements of a good narrative (continue reading...)
Art & Soul — A penny saved is a penny earned. Common sense, right? Tell that to the United States government. (continue reading...)
Regulars
From the Publisher —
I am a low inventory consumer. There are very few things on my shopping list, typically. That might seem kind of ironic considering I run a business that is driven solely by advertising revenue. Were Conscious Choice any other kind of publication, I guess it would be ironic. (continue reading...)
To The Editor —
You might notice we use the term “worldchanging” quite a bit in our pages… like on last month’s cover (“If only worldchanging came with a guidebook. Oh wait, now it does”). (continue reading...)
People In Your Neighborhood — Interview & photo by Christine Mangan
Chicago native Jennifer Dubowsky knows that for many, alternative medicine remains something to be regarded with caution and a bit of skepticism. It’s an attitude that she wants to change. “I hope that I can reach more and more people and let them know how wonderful Chinese Medicine is,” she (continue reading...)
Life, the Universe and Everything — By Andrew Cohen
Two Western spiritual teachers came for a visit last week. One was American; one was English. They both claimed to be enlightened. They actually told me they were. And I think, to some degree, it was true. They both had undergone many powerful transformative spiritual episodes and were considered by (continue reading...)
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