PLAYgreen

A New Trend: Paddle Board Yoga

Many yoga enthusiasts are already familiar with Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, and Restorative Yoga. There is a new style of yoga – Paddle Board Yoga. This new yoga practice is carried out on paddle boards in the water and is especially popular in Miami, Florida. Paddle board yoga is supposed to be a combination of surfing and yoga. It is also known for giving the body a "core" workout because of the added challenge of having to maintain one's balance while performing yoga poses. Check it out today!

Source: The Huffington Post

A Vegan Cyclist in the Tour de France

As the Wall Streen Journal puts it, American cyclist David Zabriskie will be “riding the Tour De Vegetable”. The challenge of competing in a race that can burn 8,000 calories a day without eating meat, eggs and dairy makes this a historic undertaking.

Zabriskie will not be fully vegan, he does eat small amounts of salmon two days each week to help with iron absorption. But the rest of his diet consists of things like oatmeal with flax seeds and coconut butter for breakfast, vegan Clif bars as snacks while riding and a mix of grains, vegetables, protein shakes and fruit for the rest of the day.

Many people have been skeptical of how well a vegan can perform under such grueling physical conditions, despite the success of vegan ulramarathoner Scott Jurek. But after nine months on his vegan diet Zabriskie says he was feeling better: more focused, he said his vision had improved and various small ailments disappeared.

"This is definitely the ultimate test of the vegan diet," Zabriskie’s team director told the Journal. "If it works here, no one can ever say you can't do X,Y,Z as a vegan."

Story: Treehugger.com

Image: DaveZabriskie.com

Green Ice Cream!?!

Ice Cream, the summer's ultimate guily pleasure. Thankfully with a little effort, eatting ice cream doesn’t have to be a guilty indulgence. Recently the supermarket and health stores have started stocking plenty of alternative ice cream products. Courtesy of Treehugger.com, here is a list of some guilt free ice cream brands:

• Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss: Luna and Larry Kaplowitz founded their company to satisfy their own craving for creamy non-dairy ice cream. The end result is a certified organic ice cream with entirely Fair Trade ingredients that just so happens to be gluten free. And for those of you out there who aren’t coconut fans, never fear they also offer chocolate hazelnut, ginger cookie caramel, chocolate walnut brownie, mint and more.
• Julie’s Organic Ice Cream: Get your sweet tooth fix with a tasty classic ice cream sandwich.  The sandwiches are made from 2 organic chocolate cookies and organic ice cream. Julie’s also offers smaller 100 calorie sandwiches and a gluten-free option.
• Alden’s Organic Ice Cream: This ice cream is the modern, eco-friendly equivalent to the half-gallons your family probably stocked for desert. With classic flavors like strawberry, vanilla bean, mint chip and cookies and cream you can easily satisfy your comfort food craving while being kind to the enviornment.
• Stonyfield Organic Frozen Desserts: This company offers a variety of flavors that are perfect for your sustainable sweet tooth. Their products are certified organic and made without any artificial ingredients.

For even more ecofriendly and organic ice cream brands visit Treehugger.com.

Image: OnlyIceCream.com

Love Nature? Try Out This New App!

Have you ever gone hiking on a trail and discover something unique you wanted to share with all your friends? Social media site iNaturalist.org  gives people the opportunity to share the small wonders of the outdoors. iNaturalist.org now offers an app for Smartphones to share cool things people find in the outdoors. People can simply take their favortie photos and upload them online using the app to share with other outdoor enthusiasts.

Thousands of species from the outdoors have been captured by camera and plotted with google maps on the website, creating a database that visitors can sort through by location, species, or observer. Also, the site lets members connect and compare notes with fellow trail or creature enthusiasts. Try it out today!

Source: Sierra Club

Car Upkeep to Keep Mileage Low

 

Your driving habits can go a long way to reducing energy emissions, but with the right maintenance program, you can reduce emissions even more! Here are some maintenance tips that can improve your gas mileage even more:

• Use the manufacturer recommended grade of motor oil, using a different one can lower mileage by 1-2%.
• Keep tires properly aligned and inflates to improve your gasoline mileage by roughly 3.3%.
• Replace clogged and old air filters to improve gas mileage by as much as 10%.
• Get regular engine tune-ups to avoid fuel economy issues due to worn spark plugs, dragging breaks, low transmission fluid and transmission problems.

For more tips and information on fuel economy check out http://www.fueleconomy.gov/.

Image: Duane's Automotive Plus

Green Up Your Driving

The summer is a great time to travel but whether it’s a road trip to see and old friend or your summer sweetheart, transportation accounts for 67% of US oil use—mainly in the form of gasoline. Lucky for you there are many ways that you can improve your gas mileage and cut down on fossil fuel use.

• Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon, even on the coldest of days you don’t need more than 30 seconds of idling to warm up your car. The best way to warm up your vehicle is to drive it. Idling only wastes fuel and increases emissions.
• Driving aggressively (speeding, rapidly accelerating and breaking hard) can lower your highway gas mileage by 33% and city mileage by 5%.
• Avoid high speeds. Above 60mph, gas mileage drops rapidly.
• Clean out your car, the extra weight can decrease gas mileage 1-2% for every 100 pounds.
• Having a loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel economy by 5%, place cargo in your trunk in order to reduce drag.
• Combine errands into a single trip. Several short trips, each one taken from a cold start, can take twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance.

Story: EnergySavers.com

Image: SUVblogger.com