Ideal Bite

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Don't know when you'll be back again? Even if you do, we want to clue you in on our best eco air travel tips before you take off. Your green taxi's waiting and blowing his horn.

1. It's in the bag.

Skip luggage that comes with its own baggage - like chromium and PVC (from conventional leather and plastics), which release cancer-causing chems during production – in favor of greener alts made of materials like vegetable-tanned leather (no chromium), recycled materials, and sustainable crops like hemp. Better yet, opt for a used bag at a secondhand shop. Get the full Bite. Read the full post... 

I had family in from CA this month, and since there's way more to the Midwest than meets the coast-dweller's eye, I decided to retrace the path of one of our Chicago city breaks.

Best decision ever - two hours north, the lake was still there, blue and choppy like an ocean (thank you Lake Michigan, for being so impressive by the way), but with a different skyline framing it, dotted with old churches and breweries. Of course, we wandered through the Milwaukee Art Museum, home to the surreally floating Infinity Room and a current Andy Warhol exhibit. We had a few other possible destinations in mind, but everything changed when we got to the Lakefront Read the full post... 

After a brutal return flight from Turkey last year (53 hours!) I swore off international travel – at least until the dollar perks up. Instead, I’ve been traveling to a few of our great cities. Last weekend I was in Portland, tomorrow New York, and by Thanksgiving I’ll be in Denver. Sure, it’d be better for the planet if I stayed put, but shorter trips are still a wee bit better than going to say Poland from SF and I still get my travel fix.

So if you plan to road trip or jetset (then offset) to a local city, check out our fab, new city guides to San Francisco (the city I heart), NYC (love it, but had to leave it), and today’s brand-new Read the full post... 

There's nothing that relieves stress quite like getting outside, particularly if you're standing under a moss-and-fern-bedecked waterfall on a clear, bright weekend morning. That is, until you look down and see a plastic water bottle floating around…argh!

So under the watchful gaze of two chipmunks, I managed to fish it out with a stick, then carried it two miles back to my cabin to chuck in the recycling bin.

-Jenifer...off to hope the next view is trash-free…
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For those of you who didn't end up spending the holiday weekend in the great outdoors (I was lucky to squeeze in some stress-squelching kayak time on a lake in the beautiful Sierras), here's a little escapism for you:

Check out the winners of the Wilderness Society's recent photo contest here (45 gorgeous shots), and later this month, try catching PBS's series National Parks: America's Best Idea (by Ken Burns).

-Jenifer…off to book my next vacation at a national park lodge...
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As I watched this fascinating machine pull about 8 yards of pink plastic cellophane around a tiny little black duffle bag, taffy-like, I had to wonder. I imagined 10 years later, explorers finding it in a landfill and cutting it open to find a tube of perfectly preserved toothpaste…

A better alternative for travelers who want to ensure that a week's worth of underwear doesn't end up flying across the tarmac because the latch on their suitcase failed: Get a luggage strap. They cost around $5-$8 bucks, and there's no cello to trash, no waiting in line to mummify your bag.

Jenifer…off to excavate the in-tact contents of my 'case…



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Not to get all Seinfeld on you, but what is the deal with passport covers?

Suddenly I see them everywhere, including a local store that was selling some made out of old bowling bags. I got all excited because they looked like really cool handmade wallets (mine's falling apart and I've been looking for a replacement), but no, these are just accessories that protect your passport from...uh...looking like you've ever used it, I guess?

Now, I'd like to applaud the use of the old materials…very cool. But since when does your passport need a cover? IT HAS A COVER. And it's practically made out of Kevlar - you could use it as a cutting board. Why are we wasting materials to cover these things? If we're spending money on covers, shouldn't we get covers for the covers too? What about those covers? Where does it end?!?

And when did I become a Read the full post... 

Do people in the former Soviet Union have unhealthy chems in their beauty products too? Yep, and getting them out is on scientist Olga Speranskaya's agenda (watch the shortish video about her work here, top right, and enjoy Robert's delicious narration…). But give her a little breather first – she just played an important part in a worldwide effort to eliminate the release of extremely dangerous POPs (persistent organic pollutants) into the environment. So from Russia with pesticide-free love, here's a look-see into how she did it.

-Jenifer…off to really, really enjoy my organic apple...

How did your own awareness about toxic chemicals come about?
Olga: So in 1987, my organization Eco-Accord…[joined] the International POPs Elimination Network...and we

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And the winners of Ideal Bite's Every Day is Earth Day contest…the Delisle family…congrats! This supercute fam (three little girls: Logan, Carsyn, and Maren; and parents Barry and Meg) were already on vacation when they won - they were actually vacationing at Disney World in Florida. So, IB magically transported them (well, flew them actually) from D-World to D-Land last Friday. Then on Saturday, they went up to my neck of the woods to the H'wood premiere of Disneynature's film, EARTH and the after party.

The Delisles had a blast throughout their Disney-whirl-wind-weekend in hot, sunny SoCal. They thought that the film was fascinating and it motivated them to want to go out there and do something to help the environment. The girls were a bit jet lagged, but Read the full post... 

I love water. I drink about three liters a day. I went to college to study it inside and out. Oceans are overwhelmingly cool, rain is amazing. And water's the one thing we truly can't live without (though I might argue that this merits consideration as well).

But put me in a boat on top of the water, and bad things happen. I once had the chance to go sailing with a friend, and ended up spending most of the day on my back, trying to retain my lunch. I went waterskiing with my family; the boat kinda-sorta sank, requiring us to swim to shore (long story). I went white-water rafting, and a woman in our boat fell out and ended up requiring stitches.

What does this have to do with motion sickness? I don't know. But stay away from boats if you want to live.

-Senior Editor

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