A bar of soap used to be a relatively uncomplicated affair, designed solely to purge our bodies of dirt, oils, dead skin cells and other particulates that manifested throughout the course of a typical work day. Somewhere along the line, however, manufacturers began realizing that they could capitalize on a tremendous void in the market. While plain Jane bars that boasted 99.44/100% pure ingredients were admittedly efficient at restoring our hands and other respective body parts to their former zippy-clean glory, it was time to usher in a new generation of products that would cater to our every fragrance whim and turbo-cleansing desire.

There are certain translatable words in the healthy living dictionary. Words that are easy to understand or roll off the tongue with ease. 'Sustainable' is not one of those words.

Nighttime during the summer takes on a whole new feel. The insects buzz a symphony of noises, energy from the just-set sun lingers in the warm air and, even though it’s getting late, you just want to stay outside a little bit longer. (Come on Mom, five more minutes.)

Enjoying the summer doesn’t only mean taking daytime excursions to the lake or picnicking at lunch. Summer evenings can be just as, if not more, fun. Reconnect with your 8-year-old self with these four (completely free!) activities that were made for summer evenings. They’re guaranteed to make you a little giddy.

Does it gnaw at you to stand in line at the supermarket ashamed that, once again, you forgot your reusable grocery bag? That's just one way in which we find ourselves at the mercy of the Plastic Overlords. There are dozens more ways plastic sneaks into our sanctuary, but you do have the power to make your kitchen plastic free. And it's easier than you think. Read on…

Feng shui meets Bobby Flay in the well-designed foodie kitchen. You don’t need a $3,000 stove or marble-topped island in your kitchen to make it cooking worthy. To a true chef, it’s all about the details. On their own, the nuances of a foodie kitchen don’t seem like much. But together, they add up to create one magical environment for all your cooking adventures. Read on to learn the essential decoration tips of a foodie kitchen done in affordable fashion.

If you look at photos of the ocean-bound, conventionally manufactured plastic circulating our global gyres (otherwise known as the 'great garbage patch' and – gulp – there are quite a lot of them out there), we’ve already done a crazy amount of damage to our natural environment. Think about it. Our world’s marine-based creatures are living amid our trash and slurping up a steady diet of pulverized Bisphenol-A (BPA) laden plastic particles. This reality is directly connected to the hot and heavy love affair we’ve had for decades upon decades with cheap, lightweight and easily disposable plastic, and this perpetual buying and purging cycle is so deeply engrained within the American psyche that biodegradable alternatives can’t come soon enough. But there’s a hitch.

Despite what you may be imagining, this isn’t another cookie-cutter article about the importance of dropping glass bottles, metal cans, plastic containers and old newspapers into your curbside collection bins – good ol' recycling. It’s awesome that you do that week after week – and mother nature is definitely smiling ear to ear – but considering the bloated state of our landfills, we’ve all got to do even more to reduce the amount of waste that we produce.

Quenching your thirst without reaching for a $1.00 bottle of filtered (ahem… municipal) water at your neighborhood convenience store isn’t exactly rocket science. In order to entirely avoid one-time use plastic containers, all you really have to do is saddle up to the sink and stick your favorite cup underneath the faucet. Unfortunately, it seems that our modern day need for hydration continues to be so fierce and frequent that using washable open-mouthed glasses, mugs and cups -- precisely when the craving for blissful H20 strikes -- is seriously inconvenient, particularly if you’re commuting to work, fitting in some all-too-important exercise or running errands.