Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 122

action alert: stop fracking in new york

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Fracking: a method of drilling for oil and natural gas using chemicals that could contaminate our water supply and irrevocably pollute the environment.  

New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo is poised to approve a bill that would allow fracking in the southern portion of New York state an area with a large natural water table. and are spearheading a campaign called Artists Against Fracking to stop the bill and save this vital water supply. The risk that the chemicals used in fracking would pollute the water there is high and would have a huge impact on the public water supply for New Yorkers.

What you need to know about water quality and your health…

Check out the artists who have signed on to support the anti-fracking effort in New York and write a letter to New York’s governor at ArtistsAgainstFracking.com.

Fracking has already been illegalized in Vermont New Jersey Bulgaria France and South Africa. Let’s make it illegal in New York before it’s too late!

More stories about water and your health:
Tapped: a documentary about the evils of bottled water…
Easy ways to conserve water…
Beware of plastic water bottles…
The true cost of a leak…

Photo: Artists Against Fracking

animal love: the dog days of summer

Check out some pics of these fun-loving dogs enjoying the warm weather. 

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Rescued Lab Chimps Freed For the First Time

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Check out more dogs enjoying the Dog Days of Summer courtesy our friends at PETA!

Do you have any great pics of your dogs enjoying the summer? Please upload them and post them in the comments below I may feature them in a “Dog Days of Summer” gallery!

More cute animals from The Kind Life:
jane goodall's Chimpanzee movie
dog love: chinese dogs rescured from becoming dinner meat
baby foal nuzzling mama
lion dad gives his cub a bath

Source: peta.com

Tune In: So You Think You Can Dance

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I'm catching up on this season of "So You Think You Can Dance" -- I really enjoy this show and this season is off to an amazing start. These dancers are just beautiful! The way they move their bodies is so awe-inspiring! 

Here are some clips from this season:

This ballet number was so beautiful!

 

Did you catch Fun featuring Janelle Monae at the MTV Movie Awards? 

Audrey and Tiffany...here they are doing a great Jazz number:


The top ten girls performed a dance choreographed by Travis Wall:


Lindsay Nick and Whitney performed probably the best ballroom routine I've ever seen:

 
When Alexa Amber George and Will performed danced to "We Found Love" I couldn't keep my eyes off of Alexa!


In last week's episode I loved Sonya's routine performed by Tiffany and George and Travis's routine performed by Audrey and Matthew.

“So You Think You Can Dance” is on Fox every Wednesday at 8/7c.

Who’s your favorite dancer this season?

More TV recommendations from The Kind Life… 
Childrens Hospital with Rob Corddry
Kathy Freston on The Ellen Show
Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution 
Sophia Bush Talks to Craig Ferguson About The Kind Diet

Photo: BuzzSugar

my new movie: jesus in cowboy boots

I just started filming a new movie called Jesus in Cowboy Boots. I love my character. She’s unlike any character I’ve played before! All of the actors are great…I love AJ Michalka who plays my daughter and Adam Cagley who plays my son. Billy Burke plays a character who only exists in my daughter’s mind so we don’t actually meet in the film.

Vamps Screening in NYC

We’re doing night shoots right now so I’m super tired! My first night of filming ended at 5am. I only slept 3.5 hours then I shot a Clueless reunion photo shoot that will come out in September. I’ll be sure to share the photos with you. It was so neat to see all those guys…all of us now have babies and big kids!
 
Anywho keep checking back for updates on Jesus in Cowboy Boots! What’s your favorite movie of the summer so far?
 
More film and tv news from The Kind Life:
 
Bear on the Set of Suburgatory
Behind the Scenes of Suburgatory
The story that inspired Year of the Dog
Going Green on the Red Carpet

go see woody harrelsons new play!

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My friend Woody is directing an Off-Broadway play! It’s called Bullet For Adolf and previews start Thursday July 19 at the New World Stages theater in NYC.

My costumes in Time Stands Still

The story takes place in the summer of 1983 when Woody and Frankie worked construction together in Houston Texas. Check out this video of Woody and Frankie talking about how they came up with the name for the play plus how they became friends lost touch and then reunited after Woody’s appearance on Leno:


If you live in NYC buy tickets to one of the previews of Bullet For Adolf July 19-August 7 or go see it when it officially opens August 8.

Details Below:

Bullet For Adolf
New World Stages / Stage 4 
340 West 50th Street Between 8th and 9th Avenues
New York NY 10019
Buy Tickets Here.

Have you seen any plays so far this summer?

More good stuff from The Kind Life:
behind the scenes of suburgatory
watch this: chimpanzee with jane goodall
could you live for a year without toilet paper?
kind movies: get vegucated

Photo: Facebook

GIVEAWAY: green to go cups for your home or office

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Typical disposable cups are terrible for the environment: generally made from virgin paperboard they contribute to hundreds of billions of pounds of garbage each year. It's insane!

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A company called Repurpose Compostables has launched a green alternative. They are lined with plant material and the outer part of the cup is made of Ingeo a plant-based resin. These cups are compostable in 90 days and made from 100 renewable resources.

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So for those of you trying to inspire your office to go a little greener I’m going to give away three 12-packs of these Repurpose disposable hot cups. All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me why you want to try these Repurpose hot cups!

Of course the most eco option is to use a mug or cup but of course for those people who just won’t do it and there are tons these are perfect!

Three winners will receive a 12 pack of these compostable hot cups.

Good luck!

More on going green from The Kind Life:
kind classics: electronic waste recycling
lil kind life: 10 ways to help your kids go green
kind quickies: the true cost of a leak
kind classics: my favorite toiletries 

Rules:

You must be a registered TheKindLife.com member to enter. Learn how to sign up by clicking here.
This contest is open to residents of the USA only.
Winners will ONLY be contacted via private message to their TheKindLife.com inbox and by email. If our team does not hear back within 24 hours a new winner will be selected in your place.
Limit one comment per entry. Multiple comment entries will not be considered.
This giveaway ends at 11:59PM PST on July 26 2012.

kind classics: all about umeboshi plums

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Since umeboshi plums are one of the pricier superhero foods I wanted to share some useful tips with you about how to eat them and make them last awhile. The most important thing to know is that they are medicinal – so a little goes a long way!

How Do You Eat Them?
 
First of all one package of umeboshi plums should last for a long time. The cool thing about them is that you never use the whole plum at one time. You only want to use it for medicinal purposes so about a quarter or a half of a plum at a time is fine. You can add it to tea as in my Hangover Tea or sprinkle a diced up piece of plum on hot cereal – or you can just eat it by itself. You can also suck on the pit when you're not feeling well and forgive the salty-sour taste. Just remember that it's healing you!

Check out my nourishing nishime here!

Are There Any Substitutions?

Some people have asked if you can replace the umeboshi plum with ume vinegar and tamari – the answer unfortunately is no. Ume vinegar is for cooking purposes only. It’s not medicinal; it's salty and concentrated and yummy but not medicinal. If you’re trying to get the medicinal benefit you have to use the plum. Tamari is also for cooking purposes only. That said there’s nothing wrong with using tamari and ume vinegar for flavor. You can use tamari to replace shoyu too. But it’s not medicinal it's just for taste!
 
What about ume paste? That doesn’t count either! It’s good but it’s not the same as the plum. It’s not bad for you in any shape or form - ume paste would be better than nothing. It's just too concentrated so you get too much salt and it's not medicinal. Of all things ume the only thing that will give you the real medicinal value is the actual plum.

How Often Do You Buy Them?
 
I order plums very rarely – I don’t have them everyday. Rather I eat a small piece of plum a few times a week. You don’t need to have them everyday unless you are eating really crazy bad things. For example you would never want to have the hangover tea consistently every single day for a year. You just want to use umeboshi plums medicinally in very small amounts. So next time you are looking at the umeboshi plums in the store and they seem really expensive remember how long they last! I order mine in bulk from Goldmine Natural Foods then keep them in the fridge. 

Have you experimented with umeboshi plums yet?

More kind foods from The Kind Life:
kind eats: apricots are in season!
garden gourmet: my edible garden
kind classics: coroccan couscous with saffron
kind eats: naughty flirty cookie dough truffles

The health section is proudly sponsored by Kaeng Raeng natural cleanse.  Make sure to check out their 3 or 6 day vegan detox programs here:

kind travel: protect animals on the road

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Summer is the perfect time to hit the highway with the family for a road trip but before you get behind the wheel check out these tips from PETA on how to protect the lives of animals that may also be on the road.

Use defensive driving techniques: Drive slowly at night honk your horn at animals before they approach the road and flash your high beams at animals to prevent an accident. If you’re doing heavy highway driving this summer you can also invest in a deer whistle a device that’s inaudible to human ears and attaches to the front bumper of your car. The deer whistle makes a noise that deer can hear while you're driving that deters them from running into the road.

Summer Traveling With the Spork Foods Sisters!

Carry an animal rescue kit: By keeping an emergency rescue kit in your trunk to help wounded animals you can aid an animal until help arrives. Be sure to include the following: dog biscuitsthese organic treats by Max & Ruffy are good! cat food and water to lure the animals; a long rope or leash that can be looped into a collar to capture animals; a bandage for a muzzle; a collapsible cardboard carrier for small animals; a blanket or towel; a brown paper bag and clothespin to keep the bag shut forcarrying injured birds; and a list of emergency phone numbers of veterinarians humane societies animal shelters and wildlife rehabilitators.

In the unfortunate instance that you do come upon an animal that has been killed by a car either move him or her out of the roadway yourself or immediately report the incident to the local animal control department.

Summer road trips can be a lot of fun and it takes very little effort to help protect animals that you may come across along the way.

Do you have any tips on how to keep animals safe on the road? Share them in the comments section below!

My latest on travel:
i found some cool luggage tags!
bersham’s transition to a veg diet
ubuntu in napa
fascinating documentary about new york

Photo: maineaudubon.org

photo gallery: beautiful photos of animals being rescued

Beautiful…I love these images…and these men. 

Chinese Dogs Rescued From Becoming Dinner Meat

Which one is your favorite?

More kind animals:
action alert: help the JSPCA protect israel’s animals
dog & cat nap together
kind events: walk for farm animals!
animals in entertainment 

Photo Credit: Buzzfeed

kind eats: sweet potato tater tots with chipotle aioli

This recipe comes from the blog Vegan Yack Attack.You could make these as a snack or bring them to your next summer BBQ. I haven't tried them yet but they look interesting and tasty.


Baked Spicy Sweet Potato Tots With Chipotle Aioli

Ingredients

2 Large Sweet Potatoes
2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil Melted
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. Sea Salt
2/3 Cup Warm Water
2 Tbsp. Ground Flaxseed
3 Tbsp. Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Vegan Mayo
1/3 Cup Raw Almonds Soaked for 30 min.
1/4 Cup Oil-free Sun-dried Tomatoes Soaked in warm water for 30 min.
1/3 Cup Tomato Soaking Water
2 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Crushed Chipotle Pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Using a mandolin spiralizer or just a knife chop/slice/etc. the sweet potato into thin strips that are all consistent in size.
In a large bowl toss the sweet potato coconut oil cayenne cinnamon and salt together until evenly coated. Spread the mixture out on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until very tender but not really mushy.
While that is baking stir together the flaxseed and warm water until it creates a gel-like substance. Once the timer goes off take the sheet out and dice the baked sweet potato shreds.
Using the same large bowl stir together the sweet potatoes flaxseed mixture and flour. Start shaping 1 tbsp.-sized tater tots then place them onto a baking sheet about an inch apart.
Bake for 10 minutes then turn over and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.
In a blender puree the mayo almonds sun-dried tomatoes water maple syrup salt and crushed chipotle together until smooth.
Season the aioli with salt and pepper to your liking. Serve with warmed tater tots!

What are your favorite homemade snacks? Be sure to share your recipes on your profiles and I'll post them to the kind recipe gallery.

More kind eats from The Kind Life:
kind eats: thrive direct foods by brendan brazier
garden gourmet: my edible garden
the best veggie burger in LA!
delicious sunday dinners 

Photo: Vegan Yack Attack