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Forest Bathing the Japanese call it Shinrin-yoku.  Since 1982 it has been recognized by the
Forest Agency of Japan as a form of relaxation and stress management.  It boosts your immune system and even, they
say, can help fight cancer.

Studies have shown that when you’re deep in the forest you
automatically breathe in antimicrobial volatile organic compounds that work to
keep you healthy.  More than that, there
is an electro-organic exchange between us and the trees and undergrowth that
you can’t help but feel.  Just touching
the bark of a tree creates subtle changes in your body chemistry—probably why
people began hugging trees in the first place.

 

For the ultimate in forest experiences, you might want to
take a trip to the Catalan countryside in the Pyrenees.  Emmanuel Grymonpré and his wife, Karin, have
built cabins that “hang†from the trees, almost like birdcages.  Rather than build platforms for his cabins,
Grymonpré builds the cabins around the base of the tree.  Once the cabin is complete, he raises it
ten-to-twenty feet off the ground.  He
drives a thick, stainless steel rod through the center of the tree.  His cabins are then hung from the rod by
steel cables.  Grymonpré says that the
stainless rods are easier on the tree than other methods used to support tree
houses.  He likens it to the stainless
steel rods that are used to repair broken bones in humans.

 

Access to the tree houses is by a suspension bridge that
takes you up to a ladder.  Once inside,
there are no amenities—no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no
refrigeration.   Candles provide the
light; the toilet is a bucket with sawdust in it, and a wash basin and pitcher
of water are there for washing up. 
There is no cell service, so there are no phones and no internet.  You are completely cut off from
civilization. 

 

Grymonpré intentionally uses only rough, unprocessed wood
for all door handles and railings.  He
knows the therapeutic value of “touching woodâ€.  This is as back to nature as you can get and still have a bed to
sleep in.

Located between the Montseny mountain range and the Pyrenees foothills.  Grymonpré’s “Cabanes als Arbresâ€
(or “Cabins In The Treesâ€) is not advertised at all, yet has a waiting list of
a full year for people wishing to stay in them.  For more information on them, go here:  http://www.cabanesalsarbres.com/en 

You might have to wait a year to stay in one of Grymonprs
tree houses.  In the meantime, you can
always just take a walk in the woods.
Itll do you good.

Wandering down the
aisles of the local grocery store there are hundreds of “green”
products on the shelves. “What an excellent selection of green products,”
you might think. The green movement has caught advertisers attention, consumers
want and look for green products making anything green a hot item. Going green
never looked so easy until you examine the fine print.

 

Marketers look for
trends in order to stay relevant, but many less scrupulous have found ways to
market their non-green products using terms that sound green, but have no
scientific or legal meaning. Products labels like “Bio-Degradable” or
“Eco-Safe” are purposely vague. These phrases have no real guidelines
requiring studies or ingredients. In effect anyone can make these claims about
their products and justify it in whatever way they choose.

 

This trend is known as
“green-washing” coined by environmental activists to describe
businesses attempting to portray themselves as environmentally concerned when
in reality their practices are anything but. The number of green-washed
products out there has been estimated as high as 70% by a 2010 terrachoice
report.

 

When looking for definitively
green products those expressing, “Compostable”, “Non-Toxic”
and “Post-Consumer” or that offer a specific percentage of recycled
content. These are specific terms defined in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
guidelines designed “to ensure that [advertisers] environmental
marketing claims don’t mislead consumers.” according to the FTC website.

 

Walmart hoped to address
this green-washing problem by offering a green product rating and labeling
system in their stores. “We have to change how we make and sell products,â€
Michael T. Duke, Wal-Mart’s president and chief executive told Stephanie
Rosenbloom of The New York Times in 2009. Now in 2012 the program is facing a
variety of likey insurmountable challenges. Decisions on what factors to weigh
when determining sustainability, including human impact, environmental impact,
and product longevity are proving difficult to quantify.

 

For consumers right now
the best answer is research. Look for specific defined products labels or third
party certification. Do a Google search on your favorite brands. Pull up any
news articles covering their green or not-so-green activities. Read what the
company actual says about being green and remember to look out for those vague
meaningless claims. 

Want to reduce your carbon footprint, feed your
family organic foods and support local growers? Invest in a farm.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA, for short)
is exactly what its name implies. The consumer purchases a “share” of a farm for
one season, and each week, is given a portion of that farm’s harvest in return.
The CSA concept is not new; farmers and consumers have enjoyed this type of
relationship in Europe since the 1960s. In the United States, farmers have been
exchanging produce for shares since the mid-1980s. The relationship can be ideal
for green-living consumers lacking green thumbs, space to garden or who suspect
their local farmers markets are hocking pesticide-rich foods.

Generally speaking, the farm sets the share price
(typically $20 to $30 per week for a full share), the harvest pick-up time and
location and what crops it will grow. The consumer typically decides on the
share size to meet his family’s needs. Most farms offer half shares that can
feed one to two people per week, while full shares can feed a family of four or
more weekly.

Belonging to a CSA can bring instant benefits.
Farms participating in CSAs almost exclusively grow in-season crops organically.
And because the consumer knows exactly where the food is grown, there’s a high
level of confidence that the produce he is receiving is fresh, organic and free
of hidden bacteria (can you say, “spinach e. coli scare?”). Filling your kitchen
with organically grown, biocide-free food can bring you comfort in knowing you
are not supporting growers whose practices are hurting the environment. And,
because you are picking up your produce in your fuel-efficient car as opposed to
the farmer’s fuel-inefficient truck, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced.
Lastly, supporting the local farm also means you are helping a local business
owner, or mom-and-pop business, feed their own families.

Sounds great, right? It can be, but there are a
few cons. While belonging to a CSA can reap a plentiful supply of produce in
great growing years and weather, it can also leave you starved in poor climate
years. The consumer assumes this risk, and also has little say in the kind of
produce he’ll receive. And if your food budget has little wiggle room, a CSA may
be too costly for your household for the amount of produce you receive
(remember, your share price does not change because an unexpected storm took out
half the farm’s crops).

Local CSA farms can be found at localharvest.org.
A recent search of the Stockton, CA area shows three local farms participate in
CSAs. Fresh Edibles Community Farm (freshedibles.org) in French Camp offers
trials, weekly shares and several local pickup locations. Lucero Organic Farms
in Lodi also offers full and half weekly shares, with pickups at their location
(facebook.com/Lucero-Organic-Farms). Farms participating in farmers markets may
also have CSA options as well.