Day: January 13, 2019

January 13, 2019 at 01:03PM by CWC While you may find the ubiquity of blue bins on your street comforting, in reality, only nine percent of plastic in circulation is recycled (a number so shocking and under-reported that it was named “stat of the year” by Great Britain’s Royal Statistical Society this past December). This knowledge, coupled with what plastic smog is doing to the oceans, may have you feeling like you want to minimize your contribution to this waste; however, as I discovered while giving my home a plastic-free makeover, doing so isn’t easy. Our society relies on plastic for everything, and therefore eradicating it from your life requires not just a few easy steps but rather a major lifestyle overhaul. So as not to let the overwhelm of this paralyze you, I suggest starting with one plastic-free action and building from there. But what singular change can you make that will have the biggest positive impact on the environment? “The one action people can take that will have the biggest impact is to urge their local supermarkets, businesses, and restaurants to stop relying on so much single-use plastic.” “Protest, petition, etcetera—get corporations to change,” answers Perry Wheeler, senior communications specialist at Greenpeace USA. “I can say that the one action people can take that will have the biggest impact is to urge their local supermarkets, businesses, and restaurants to stop relying on so much single-use plastic.” This response surprises me, as I’d been expecting something more to do with,

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January 13, 2019 at 07:11AM by CWC If you’ve been to Joshua Tree National Park in southern California, it may have been to experience one of the best hiking and rock-climbing spots in the country. Or maybe you went to a sound bath in the Integratron, a dome structure built in the 1950s by an architect who said he was instructed to build it by visitors from Venus. (In which case: Jealous.) Or, if you’re like me, you’ve never been to Joshua Tree but you dream about it via Instagram accounts like @thejoshuatreehouse. But there’s one thing most people know about Joshua Tree: the actual trees are amazing. With their spiky leaves and sharply angular branches, they have a stark, otherworldly beauty and create a landscape like no other. But as the government shutdown drags on (it’s now the longest in American history), Joshua Tree National Park is operating with just a skeleton crew to take care of a land mass the size of Rhode Island—and some vandals have taken the opportunity to spray paint and cut down trees, The New York Times reported. (Yes, really. What’s wrong with people? I don’t know, I don’t know.) With the shutdown affecting almost everything you eat and making air travel more dangerous (thanks to FDA, TSA, and air traffic control workers being furloughed or working without pay), you might question whether a bunch of fallen trees constitutes an emergency. But it doesn’t have to be an either-or thing. You can focus on the very real threats

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January 13, 2019 at 05:30AM by CWC After a 30-minute run, I’m pretty beat. My legs are sore AF, I’m out of breath, and I’m pretty much ready to get out of the gym. But! I like to incorporate strength training into my workouts as well, which is why I’m currently obsessed with 5-minute strength training routines. So many workout streaming companies—from Peloton to Aaptiv—offer 5-minute workouts that focus on different body parts (say, your abs, or your arms and shoulders) as quick-hitting exercise options that are easier to squeeze into your routine than a full strength training sesh. And even if you’re not following along with a trainer, you can do your own body part-focused regimen that only takes 5 minutes. Either way, as you go through them, it starts to undoubtedly burn. Case in point: Last night I was doing an ab sesh, and by minute 2 I was quaking. But even though I can confirm firsthand that you can certainly get your muscles to burn in under 5 minutes, I can’t help but wonder whether that’s really enough time to truly be working a body part. Yes, workouts can be super effective if you go hard in a short amount of time, but I’m curious whether 5 minutes is all you need to strength train a part of your bod. Turns out, it all comes down to consistency. “Building strength takes a lot of time and consistency,” says Kendall Janicola, an instructor at New York’s Fhitting Room.

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January 13, 2019 at 04:18AM by CWC Sunday is going to be a big day, astrologically: a full moon and a lunar eclipse, both of which are associated with sudden endings (and beginnings). And yes, this could bring some majorly disruptive change, astrologer Jennifer Racioppi says. Here’s her day-by-day advice leading up to the big day, to keep you in tune with the cosmos. Monday, January 14 The waxing quarter moon perfects early in the morning, at 1:45 a.m. Eastern, marking the halfway point between the recent solar eclipse in Capricorn and the upcoming total lunar blood moon eclipse in Leo. This quarter moon moment provides a critical check-in point. In less than a week the full moon lunar eclipse will rage the sky, so, tuning in now to what’s brewing in your subconscious remains non-negotiable. Eclipse season, the time of the year when the new and full moon are much more potent than usual, often acts like a broom—sweeping away what no longer serves you. While it can feel jarring—I know, I know—embracing this extremely to-the-point and productive energy proves fruitful. The Artist’s Way author Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages exercise (where you journal, longhand, and complete three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing upon waking), helps you flesh out what’s percolating for you on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level. Sleep with a pen and paper beside your bed, and grab it first thing in the a.m.—certainly before your phone—to flesh out your early-morning thoughts. Tuesday, January 15 The waxing moon moves through

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