Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 172

happy earth day!

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This week I've been sharing lots of information about Earth-friendly events along with some cool eco giveaways in honor of Earth Day!
 
We Kind Lifers try to make everyday Earth Day but this week we get to share our convictions with a global community of activists and citizens who care about the environment.  
 
This year EarthDay.org is focusing on reducing carbon emissions and supporting sustainability through its A Billion Acts of Green campaign. At their website you can sign up for a simple initiative like recycling at home or a larger project like planting trees in your community. Many of you most likely do these things already but Earth Day is a fantastic excuse to share your eco-friendly habits with friends and family!
 
For more ideas about Earth Day check out the blog I wrote last year! Let's invite everyone we know to celebrate with us! How do you plan to spend Earth Day?

win my full 2011 EcoTools collection!

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I'm so excited to announce that my new 2011 EcoTools collection is here!
 
In honor of Earth Day EcoTools is giving away my full EcoTools collection pictured above plus my limited-edition tote bag pictured below to ten Kind Lifers! The tote bag will not be available for purchase so the winners will be the only ones who have it.

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This year I redesigned and expanded my collection to include even more travel items so you can be eco on the go! Here's what each winner will get:

1 cosmetic bag
6-piece brush set & bag
4-piece backstage vanity set
1 deluxe pencil case
1 hanging valet
1 train case
1 limited edition tote bag

All materials used in my EcoTools collection are earth-friendly and include tree-free paper a natural hemp blend recycled plastic lining as well as non-toxic inks. The brushes are made with recycled aluminum bamboo and synthetic bristles. The collection is now available at Target Walmart and Walgreens so check it out next time you're at the store!

To enter to win my 2011 collection just leave a comment below telling me how you plan to celebrate Earth Day!

Win Alima Pures 2011 Goddess Collection! Sponsored Post

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Earth Day is only two days away and Alima Pure is celebrating with another giveaway for all you naturally beautiful Kind Lifers! This time five lucky winners will receive our 2011 Goddess Collection pictured above.
 
This collection includes the following:

Four travel sized eye makeup brushes
Two limited edition shadows
A cute Alima Pure bag

It's a perfect Mother's Day or Earth Day gift for the mom or friend you would like to encourage to use super healthy super pure super beautiful makeup! Hmmmm… do you win one for yourself and buy one for mom or vice versa???

How To Enter

Since Mother's Day is just two weeks away we're asking you to comment below and tell us the best natural beauty tip your mother ever gave you. Five winners will be chosen at random so get to commenting!

Contest is open until 12pm PT tomorrow 4/21

kathy freston on the ellen show!

The beautiful Kathy Freston did a segment on "The Ellen Show" recently where she taught a family all about eating a plant-based diet.

With help from Tal Ronnen and some yummy Gardein tacos it seems like this family has gone vegan.  

It makes me so happy when our message goes out to such a mainstream audience and really has the power to inform people and give them another option. Yay Kathy! Yay Tal and yay Ellen!

hemp history week!

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I love using hemp and have been a fan for years. I have bought hemp clothes and napkins for the house and couches made with hemp...and on a regular basis I buy hemp milk and protein powder for the hubby. At one point my husband also had a great hemp wallet! I had a hemp backpack that lasted me twelve years and traveled the world with me. I wore that thing everywhere! It still works but I finally decided to retire the idea of a backpack. Now I carry a purse and bags like a grown up I suppose. But it was only recently and after much friendly persuasion from friends – all of which I never listened to! But finally I felt like being more lady-like. And of course my EcoTools bags are made with hemp!
 
Anywho hemp is my friend and it would be way more eco to be growing it here in the U.S. That's why I'm supporting the second annual Hemp History Week happening this May 2-8.
 
All About Hemp History Week!

During Hemp History Week there will be events happening all over the country designed to renew support for hemp farming in the U.S. and to educate elected officials about the economic benefits of growing non-drug industrial hemp on American soil.
 
Hemp is not just used to make clothes; it's also a great source of complete protein with ten amino acids omega-3 and -6 essential fatty acids Vitamin E and iron. Hemp can also be used to make cosmetics building materials and auto parts for real! The downside is that right now it's illegal to grow hemp in the U.S. so hemp product manufacturers have to import their raw materials and farmers in the U.S. are missing out on an entire industry!
 
The theme for 2011 Hemp History Week is "Hemp for Health and Sustainability." If you'd like to volunteer or organize an event go to HempHistoryWeek.com for more info. You can also go here to find out if your state is considering legislation that would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp. Then go here to express your support for hemp to your legislators!
 
A Kinder Choice

You could argue that shipping hemp almost takes the eco out of choosing it but I still think shipped hemp is better than regular cotton and all its pesticides. As it is now I support the hemp industry so the powers that be can see how profitable it is.
 
And for those of you who think hemp is the same thing as marijuana it's not so let's clear that up right now! First of all industrial hemp doesn't come from the same kind of Cannabis plant as marijuana.
 
According to the North American Industrial Hemp Council "One type of Cannabis is high in the psychoactive cannabinoid THC and low in the antipsychoactive cannabinoid CBD. This type is popularly known as marijuana. Another type is high in CBD and low in THC. Variants of this type are called industrial hemp."
 
The Arizona Hemp Council provides these numbers:
 
"While marijuana has a potency range of 3 to 20 by dry weight of THC industrial hemp is generally defined as having less than 1.0 THC and the normal range is under 0.5."

Dr. Andrew Weil corroborates this saying "Even if you ate nothing but foods containing hemp you wouldn't test positive for drugs. Hemp foods do contain trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol THC the substance in marijuana that is responsible for the 'high' you can get by using the drug. But the minuscule amounts of THC in hemp seeds or the bread cereals granola bars beer and other products made from them will not alter drug tests."

So hemp won't get you high. Sorry stoners! Just kidding but really it's a complete myth. You can smoke as much hemp as you want but the only thing you'll end up with is a bad cough!

For more information about this you can visit the VoteHemp.com FAQ page.  
 
What do you think? Do you use hemp products? I want to hear how all you Kind Lifers feel about hemp!

Win A Trip to NYC And Dinner At One Of Alicias Favorite Restaurants! - Sponsored Post

Earth Balance and MadeJustRight.com want to send you on a hip and healthy trip to NYC! Enter the Spring to Life Recipe contest going on now through May 8th for a chance to win with your favorite plant-based recipe.

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If you're the lucky grand prize winner you and a friend will be whisked off to New York City stay at an eco-friendly hotel spend the day at Aveda and enjoy dinner at one of Alicia's favorite vegan restaurants – Candle 79!

Note from Alicia: That means you get to eat Candle 79's Seitan Picatta which is a must at least once in life! As an extra special treat you can have it with a small glass of Francesca's sangria. Yum!

And if that weren't enough Candle 79 has agreed to feature the winning recipe on their menu for one night! Imagine your dish prepared by the chef at one of New York's hottest restaurants known internationally for its local seasonal organic and vegan cuisine. What an amazing opportunity!

There are a lot of other cool prizes like a year's supply of Earth Balance® products so check out our contest page and get cooking.

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Who wants to win? Share what you're planning to cook in the comments below. We can't wait to see all the delicious and wholesome creations Kind Lifers will submit. Happy and healthy cooking!

have an eco easter!

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Easter is all about renewal and new life so it makes sense to think about how we can help renew the Earth on this holiday!
 
There are many ways to honor Easter without hurting the environment.

Rescue an animal in need
Visit an animal sanctuary
Go for a hike where spring blossoms are blooming. Find out what great trails are near you here.
Give out vegan treats or cook a delicious vegan feast. Veg News has some great suggsestions here.
Plant flowers or vegetables to harvest later in the year. Find out what to plant in spring here.
Take some time to meditate or think about spiritual renewal

For cards and gifts Green Field Paper Company makes tree-free cards and paper products out of hemp. Each card is embedded with wildflower seeds so you can plant it after you've opened it!
 
For a summary about the origins of Easter and for more suggestions about how to "kind" your Easter traditions see my blog from last year.
 
How do you plan to celebrate Easter this year?

passover is almost here!

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During Passover we remember how Moses led the Israelites to escape enslavement in Egypt. Since Passover is a celebration of freedom I think it's appropriate to think of all the ways we can promote freedom in the world today.
 
Although we are taught in school that slavery is a thing of the past it still exists. Forced labor human trafficking sexual slavery and the abuses of the factory farming system are all examples of modern slavery. We can do our part to protest these atrocities by living a kind lifestyle: avoiding meat and dairy buying fair trade whenever possible and donating time or money to organizations like PETA the Humane Society or the Project to End Human Trafficking.
 
If you are attending or hosting a Passover Seder check out the blog I wrote last year about kind choices for your Seder meal.
 
How do you plan to celebrate Passover this year? Do you have any special traditions that you've adapted to be more kind?

q&a: what is the difference between prunes and dried plums?

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I've wanted to do a blog about this for a long time. I've always wondered what the real difference is between prunes and dried plums and people always ask me this when they're making my Oatmeal Walnut & Dried Plum cookies from The Kind Diet pg. 186.

To get to the bottom of this I asked the lovely Kristina Brindley from Seedling Catering who created this oatmeal cookie recipe from my book. Here is what she had to say.

"Technically prunes and dried plums are the same thing. However if you can find 'dried plums' they will generally have a sweeter and milder flavor than the prunes. You can also get different varieties of dried plums where with prunes they never tell you what kind of plum it was."

Thanks Kristina! Hope that helps some of you out - if anyone asks you it's safe to say that prunes are just dried plums.

Let me know if you have other questions like this and I'll work on answering them for you here on the blog!

meet kind blogger becca!

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Recently I asked all you Kind Lifers to share links to your blogs and boy did I get an amazing response! This month I want to highlight Kind Lifer Becca and her sweet
B Positive. B Free blog. On her blog Becca shares quirky insights photos of her travels and recipes.

Here is an excerpt from one of her recent posts:

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 "As a seasoned veteran of the open road I have more extreme restlessness than most but I think we can all relate. Once you take a real road trip you get that energy running through your veins. If you sit long enough it charges and suddenly you just have to get out there and see something do something or just drive for hours at a time! There's nothing more exciting to me than looking at a map and seeing all the places that I have not yet explored. And this country is so accessible that if you do it right you can get anywhere in just a day or two! But that's just me. I am a bit extreme with my road tripping. And I have it down to perfection. We've learned how to comfortably sleep in the car eat cheap and pack for any amount of time away from home. We've made it from Eastern Colorado to Eastern Kentucky in just 24 hours. But a true road trip has no time limits. Your senses are awake and you're ready for anything!!"
 
I want to go on a roadtrip! I completely relate to what Becca wrote - I love that feeling too. Where have you Kind Lifers traveled recently and what's the best roadside veg food you've found in your travels?