That's Fit

Yesterday was Earth Day, a good reminder of the importance of caring for nature. I know I'm always saddened and angry when I hear of yet another species on the brink of extinction. The impact declining species have on the environment is evident -- it disrupts the balance of everything in the area. But did you know that declining species can also impact our health?

Over 100 experts contributed to a book titled Sustaining Life. Biodiversity offers us a wealth of knowledge. Learning how different species handle illness, reproduction, and other health issues can impact our own medical knowledge. The clues from animal species can help us solve our own medical mysteries.

One example is the southern gastric brooding frog, which is now extinct. The frog's babies gestate in the mother's stomach -- scientists had hoped that studying this anomaly would have led to possible treatments for ulcers and other human stomach ailments.

I'm the odd female -- I don't like lots of shoes. I probably wear less than six pairs of dress-up shoes and my feet are never happy the next day. A granola girl, most of the time I'm in jogging shoes, Teva sandals or my Merrill hikers.

Okay, so my personal shoe carbon imprint is fairly small. Beyond my lack of interest in shoes, I rarely totally wear them out. My dad purchased my very first pair of jogging shoes when I was around 14. After retiring them from running, I wore them around casually for years, graduating them to 'around camp' shoes, with one sole finally cracking completely through in Idaho's Sawtooth Mtns when I was 28.

In honor of Earth Day today, I wanted to share a few environmentally-friendly tips from Brooks on how to extend the life cycle of your running shoes.

• On Your Feet: After your running shoes wear out, slip them on for casual street wear. Once they're past that stage, transition them to gardening, lawn, painting duties.
• Donate: If your shoe is in decent shape and you don't need another gardening shoe, donate them! Look to a local charity, a community drop-off box or even ship them to Soles4Souls, a national organization facilitating the distribution of new and gently used shoes to those in need around the world.

Running shoes are replaced fairly often. The goal here is to try and avoid a landfill whenever possible. It'll take a little extra effort, but our Mother Earth is worth it.

Finding shoes that are easy on the environment is getting easier -- whether you're looking for running shoes, dress shoes, or just some sandals for kicking around town, you've got options.

Well, if you're an adult, anyway. It's a little more difficult to find eco-friendly shoe options for kids, but it's not impossible (and it's getting easier). In fact, this article at Divine Caroline lists options for kids' shoes. Patagonian, Timberland, and other companies have joined the good fight and are offering kids' shoes made with environmentally friendly products and packaged in a responsible and sustainable way.

And what if you have an environmentally conscious little ballerina? You can even find a vegan alternative ballet slipper. It might take a little more hunting for you to find shoes for your little ones with all these qualities, but isn't it worth it to know that your child's footprint isn't leaving an environmental footprint, too?

Are you trying to live a greener lifestyle? Looking at your diet is a good place to start. Pesticides, food miles, and factory farms are three important issues when we talk about the environment, as are artificial additives, food diversity, and vegetarianism.

The Daily Green has an excellent 30-day guide to greening up your diet. For instance, you could eat one meal a week that comes 100% from local sources. You could buy organic fruits and vegetables, instead of the conventionally grown versions. You could shop at a farmer's market or CSA, find a source of compassionately grown meat, or even make meatless meals twice a week. Finally, you can read books on the subject like Michael Pollen's In Defense of Food and Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food.

Check out the rest of their suggestions and start eating a greener diet today.

Fitness fans are constantly told to replace their workout shoes in a timely manner. But after your pair of trusty friends are worn out, they often end up in a landfill -- for too many years. If your midsole is made from traditional Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA), you're looking at possibly 1,000 years in a landfill before a pair breaks down. That's one large carbon footprint.

Good news arrives today on two fronts. Not only is it Earth Day -- claps and cheers for our Mother Earth -- I also just discovered Brooks running shoes is launching a revolutionary new midsole which biodegrades 50 times faster than EVA.

Named BioMoGo, Brooks has transformed their original long-lasting MoGo midsole to be more environmentally friendly. They added a non-toxic, natural additive to speed up the anaerobic microbe munch rate once the shoe finds its final resting space in a landfill. BioMoGo soles can biodegrade into reusable byproducts within 20 years, which Brooks alone estimates will save 29.9 millions pounds of landfill waste over 20 years. BioMoGo will initially be available July 2008 in their Trance 8 shoe, with all MoGo midsole performance shoes featuring the new technology by year-end 2009.

Think you're making a pretty good attempt at going green? You might want to think again. Sunday's Parade Magazine tells readers that just because something is marketed as green doesn't mean it actually is. Take paper shopping bags. Pick them over plastic and you're doing a great thing, right? Not exactly. They are biodegradable but it still takes four times more energy to manufacture paper than plastic, leading to even more air and water pollution. Oops. Opt for sturdy, reusable totes and you'll be doing the planet a favor.

Have you been picking up organic processed snacks at the store lately? If so, then stop. These processed treats require hugs amounts of energy to produce, pack, and ship. Snacking on whole foods that are locally or organically grown is so much better.

Are you a fan of recycling your plastic water bottles. Good for you, if you are. But even better than using these bottles in the first place is to sip tap water from a safe reusable metal bottle. Why? Because we dispose of about 70 million plastic bottles every day. Fewer than 15 percent are recycled.

Surprising stuff? There's more right here -- like how to redecorate your house in the greenest way possible, how to buy the best green car, and what eco-friendly duds to wear.

Today is Earth Day. And you should take the stairs. Not because it's saves a lot of energy. If you take two flights of stairs every day at work, you'll save 72 kilowatts of energy on each day, which saves 90 cents a year in energy costs. You should take the stairs for two other reasons.

One, it's a green thing to do, says Renee Mullen of The Nature Conservancy's Conservation Science Group. And any energy saved is good for the environment.

Two, it's a healthy thing to do. It's good for your body to move. It's good for your head too. So today, take the stairs. Do it every day if you can. But at minimum, do it today.

Unless you've denounced electricity altogether and no longer use the internet, you've probably already read many of the popular green living tips today -- turn off the water when you brush your teeth, turn down your thermostat, turn off the lights, recycle, etc. But did you know you can also take those green habits to work?

Canadian Living has a few tips to get you started:

• Use fair-trade and organic coffees, and drink them out of your own, washable cup.
• Use refillable pens made from recycled plastic and pencils from sustainably-harvested wood.
• Carry your own lunch and use reusable containers and silverware.
• Put a plant on your desk to improve your office's indoor air quality.
• Turn off your computer at lunch, during meetings, and definitely at the end of the day.
  
  

The next step, getting your boss encourage green habits office-wide!

As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

Today is Earth Day, a day to celebrate our Earth and raise awareness about environmentalism. This is the 38th anniversary of the holiday, and the issue of sustainable living has never been more popular ... or more important. Here at That's Fit, we address green living through our Sustainable Community category, so feel free to check out some of our recent posts or to visit some of these popular green living blogs:

No Impact Man
Visualize Whirrled Peas
Little Blog in the Big Woods
Ethicurean
EcoGeek
Treehugger
The Daily Green
Grist
Sustainable Table
Lime

Last but not least, of course, is our very own Green Daily, a daily must-visit for the latest in environmental happenings. Take a minute to check them out!

Our earth gives us so much -- our food, the air we breath, our water and much more. So it's time we started giving back, don't you think? Or at least doing what we can to lessen our impact on the earth.

As most of you know, today is Earth Day, a day when we take a moment to realize the impact we have on the environment. To do this, our fabulous team of bloggers has put together some inspirational posts to help get you thinking about -- and more importantly, taking action towards -- saving our earth. Click here to see our fantastic Earth Day posts.

And while you're at it, pay a visit to our friends over at Green Daily -- they're celebrating Earth Day in a big way too.

On April 20, in celebration of the April 22 Earth Day, families nationwide will celebrate our great planet by participating in the Green Apple Festival. If you live near one of these eight cities, you can plug into the music and environmental awareness that will be powering these simultaneous festivities.

Chicago: Lincoln Park Zoo
Dallas: Fair Park
Denver: City Park
Los Angeles: Santa Monica Pier
Miami: Bicentennial Park
New York: Central Park
San Francisco: Golden Gate Park
Washington DC: The National Mall

If you can't attend, do something instead to honor our Earth. Mix it up, like this post recommends. Enjoy a picnic in your favorite local park. Engage in a little eco-running -- tote a trash bag along on your neighborhood jog and pick up any litter you come across. Plant a fruit tree. Start our own compost pile, send a free e-card to friends and family, or simply get outside and marvel at the world around you. And by all means, eat a green apple. It's a Super Food, you know.

April 22 is Earth Day. What will you do on this day to celebrate the diversity of life on our planet? What will you do promote a healthier environment? My mom thinks I should start a compost pile. Our local Home Depot is selling compost bins for $35. This would be a pretty affordable way to make a difference by cutting down on yard and kitchen trash and nourishing the soil in my yard.

Publix GreenWise Market magazine recommends I honor Earth Day by putting together a tropical snack mix with ingredients from around the world. Each yummy item listed below comes from a crop grown in ways that protect the rain forest.

• Dried papaya, diced (Mexico)

• Dried pineapple, diced (Phillipines)

• Dried banana chips (Central and South America)

• Flaked coconut, unsweetened (Philipines)

• Macadamia nuts, chopped (Hawaii)

• Cashews, raw (India)

For more Earth Day inspiration, visit earthday.net.

Whether the 37th anniversary of Earth Day has you planting trees, working in your garden, enjoying (finally!) the arrival of spring, or just having a quiet Sunday morning, here are some tips for making this year your "greenest" yet.

If you pick just one thing off this list to change in your own life, you'll be going a long way toward improving the health of the Earth and it's citizens. For instance, did you know that if every person in America replaced just 5 conventional light bulbs in their home with compact fluorescent bulbs, it would be like taking 8 million cars off the road? (Plus, you'll save money!) Turning off the tap while you brush your teeth, combining errands into one trip, and recycling your newspapers (or switching to reading them online) are all changes you can make that won't impact your life in a big way. If you're interested in bigger changes, however, you can always look into energy alternatives or research green vehicles.

Finally, take some time today to measure your carbon footprint. This one was a shocker for me. I like to think I make a decent effort to reduce my own carbon footprint, but even so, if everyone lived like I did we'd need 4.3 planet Earth's to support us! There are some things I can't change easily (size of my house, my car's gas mileage), but there are many that I can (eat less meat, eat more local foods). Take the quiz and see how you do! Finally, here's a fun way to keep track of your progress as you make green changes to your life.

Happy Earth Day!