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Is one person’s trash really another’s treasure? According to a Durham, North Carolina-based arts and crafts store, it is.
The Scrap Exchange lets people explore their creativity while helping out the environment. The exchange was founded in 1991 as a sustainable art supply store that takes unwanted materials from businesses and community members and resells them [...]

by Morieka V. Johnson
Let’s face it, a smelly pet can put a serious damper on cuddle time. Proper grooming can help dogs not only look good, but feel better, as well.
“Extreme matting can cause a health risk to pets,” explains DeAndre Upton, a registered veterinary technician in Conyers, Georgia. “Dogs have a natural amount [...]

by Judith Fertig
“Being a locavore is fabulous if you live somewhere like California,” says Audra Wolfe, a co-founder of Canvolution and an expert food preservationist. “But if you live in the Northeast, unless you learn food preservation, you could be eating local turnips and kale all winter,” she notes with a chuckle.
The mounting desire to [...]

by Mary Beth Maziar
Mounting scientific evidence makes it clear that personal creative expression, once perceived as a luxury, sideline or hobby in our busy lives, is in fact a keystone of our most healthy and worthwhile activities. In infinitely varied and pleasurable forms, creative practices can move us beyond artful living to also serve as [...]

by Martin Miron
This year, why not make the most of a long weekend by taking the family on a short trip designed to give kids a new, vibrant connection to nature? Everywhere across North America, birds, insects, animals and sea life are repeating their annual rituals of migration, a vital call of the wild [...]

Responsible parents create responsible teens
by Lisa Moore
When Wendy G. noticed changes in her 14-year-old daughter’s behavior, she chalked it up to the pressures of starting high school and teenage hormones. But after her once enthusiastic, high-achieving child experienced ongoing depression, mood swings and a drop in grades, she became concerned.
After smelling alcohol on her daughter’s [...]

by Lisa Moore
When back to school shopping this year there is one important item that requires special attention: the backpack. Backpacks that are poorly designed, overloaded or incorrectly worn may cause harmful stress to the entire spine. This growing problem is a source of shoulder, neck and low back pain in school age children.
A study [...]

by Lisa Moore
photo by Dorne Pentes
The colorful, plastic hoop from Wham-O that was a staple of our childhood toy box has evolved into a powerful exercise tool. Hooping, or hoop dance, is a fun, inexpensive fitness trend that provides a ‘well-rounded’ workout for the body, mind and soul.

Gone are the light, flimsy hoops of [...]

by Carlotta Mast
Most kids are more likely to grab a French fry than a broccoli floret. Fortunately, a children’s-specific, high-quality multivitamin can help provide crucial, missing nutrients, as well as build an early shield against diabetes, heart disease and childhood cancers, according to the writings of Shari Lieberman, Ph.D., a clinical nutritionist often cited for [...]

by Barb Amrhein
Millions of new parents in the 1960s thought they had found the answer to their prayers in the mess-free convenience of disposable diapers. Sales of Pampers, Huggies and other brands continued to soar during the following decades.
Sadly, so did a host of related problems: tons of soiled plastic diapers that could potentially contaminate [...]