Lululemon Hatha Tank: Super light weight and incredibly soft, this tank is made with micromodal fiber extracted from beech wood. Built in support and moisture wicking awesomeness make this one of my favorite tops for hot weather.

Prana Organic Jada Pant: Perfectly placed front panels on this pant flatter all body shapes and is 95% organic cotton to boot.

Bamboo Wrap Top By Blue Canoe: When the sun slides to the horizon you’ll need some long sleeve action. This bamboo wrap top is sure to keep you warm and stylish. Love the gathering on the side seam!

Organic Short By Prana: Bare those gorgeous gams with this 90% organic cotton short. The fold over waist is key to comfort when it’s cooking outside.

Bamboo Swim Wear by Rogan Gregory For Target: A summer wardrobe wouldn’t be complete without a great suit. Luckily, renowned European designer Rogan Gregory launches his eco-friendly clothing line for Target on May 18th (two days!). Included in the light weight line are some hot and functional swimsuits. So while you probably can’t swim laps in these bikinis, throw on one of these skin bearers after all your hard work at the gym.

While “green may be the new black”, and we’re comforted knowing “it’s easy being green,” creating an earth-conscious sustainable lifestyle is not just an ad campaign or fad, but a necessity for overall health. Oh it’s a tangled web we weave!… The health of our environment, whether it be the soil that grows our food or the cleaning products we use at home, directly effects our personal wellness. We can’t simple take care of ourselves, we’ve got to take care of the web that sustains us.

With that being said, we can definitely hit two birds with one stone. Choosing to live sustainably offers you the ability to get and stay fit while being green. Here are 7 simple ways to burn calories, and save the planet in one fell swoop.

1. Spring Clean Tis’ the season to clean out those packed closets, drawers, and cupboards. I know when I overhauled my place, I was sweating up a storm from all that lifting, organizing and scrubbing. Vacuuming and dish washing could seriously replace a workout! With all that cleaning we sure don’t want to choke on toxic chemicals so here’s a run down on the best eco friendly cleaning products from Grist.org.

2. Compost And Recycle: Taking the recycling out and tossing food scraps into a compost pile isn’t always so convenient. By the time you are done sorting and hauling the recyclables down several flights of stairs or across town for some people, you’ve definitely burned some calories! Compost stiring is also a great upper body workout.

3. Bike Or Walk To The Farmers Market: Farmers markets are definitely the best place to find locally grown organic fruits, veggies, and even beauty products. While you probably already hit up the stands every week, why not get a workout in on the way to and from? Leaving your car behind obviously prevents CO2 emissions and saves you money on gas.

4. Tend Your Garden: Between pulling weeds, digging, hauling soil, and dealing with that unruly hose, gardening can be quite a sport. There’s nothing like taking a bite out of a home grown cucumber or tomato. Best of all, no pesticides, trucks, or planes involved. Just a few steps to the kitchen!

5. Jog The Stairs: Elevators spend a lot of time and energy traveling (at least in my building!), so save energy and sculpt gorgeous legs by taking the stairs. Jog or skip steps for more intensity. Or my favorite, make it a race to the top.

6. Limit Coach Surfing: There’s no doubt the tube can suck you in with Fresh Prince reruns, but how many wasted hours do you spend watching when you could be hitting the carpet for some crunches and pushups? Dig out those free weights or fitness ball and save energy during that normally useless hour.

7. Finish Home Projects: Chances are you have a list of things to fix, improve or upgrade at home, but have you explored all of your options? If you’re dying to paint the kitchen, look into low VOC water-based paints. Wanting to replace flooring? Research the highly sustainable and gorgeous bamboo flooring options. Do it yourself and save money while getting your sweat on!

In the ever increasing search for the next viable fuel option, corn and soy based ethanol’s have been the leaders in bio-fuel. That is until now! Soy and corn based fuels aren’t that promising…seeing as we would have to some how pull a lot of land out of nowhere to support the country’s fuel demands, among other environmental no-no’s. Luckily, innovators in the field are seeking other alternatives, including the huge potential of using algae.

So that green sludge that grows on my fish tank could actually create enough fuel for a Porsche? Apparently, hell yeah! Algae are one of the fastest growing “plants” in the world. Just one acre of algae can produce as much fuel in 10 days as the same amount of corn or soy could in a year. The oil the algae produce can then be harvested and converted into biodiesel. While the algae’s carbohydrate content can be fermented into ethanol. Both are much cleaner-burning fuels than petroleum-based diesel or gas.

Massachusetts-based GreenFuel Technologies has decided to reap the benefits of the CO2 loving blob, and taken it a step further by placing their algae farms near smoke-stacks to reduce emissions from the stacks during the growing process. So the green goo takes a bite out of global warming emissions before it even gets pumped into a gas tank. Brilliant!

I just had to share….seriously how cool is this?! Besides, we all want to breath cleaner air, and pay less for gas!

Have you ever heard of the 100-mile diet? Or maybe read about the benefits of eating locally grown foods? You’re not alone. Trying our best to buy from local farmers markets not only benefits the environment, but also our health. Less travel time between the farm and you means reduced emissions, and fresher food. Apparently, over the last year or so there has been a huge serge in what’s known as the Locavore movement. So much so that the New Oxford American Dictionary has recently chosen Locavore as it’s word of the year. Here’s an excerpt from their biggest annual announcement.

The past year saw the popularization of a trend in using locally grown ingredients, taking advantage of seasonally available foodstuffs that can be bought and prepared without the need for extra preservatives.

The “locavore” movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation.

“The word ‘locavore’ shows how food-lovers can enjoy what they eat while still appreciating the impact they have on the environment,” said Ben Zimmer, editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press. “It’s significant in that it brings together eating and ecology in a new way.”

“Locavore” was coined two years ago by a group of four women in San Francisco who proposed that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius.

The Oxford group seems to be continuing an environmentally conscious trend this year. Last years word of the year was Carbon-Neutral. Yeah for the earth friendly awareness!

Yeah! Christmas is almost here! The season of giving is upon us and what better way to show your friends and family you care then by giving health conscious, green gifts? Here are a few great green gift guides (say that ten times fast) for all of your shopping needs!

Treehugger.com: Just released their 2007 holiday gift guide for all things earth friendly. Their annual guide “Shades of Green” allows you to pick light, medium and dark “green” gifts based on the type of person your looking for. For the yoga fiend, gifts range from the light green bamboo yoga block, to the dark green organic Simple shoe line. For the epicurean, great choices range from the light green Oceana cookie cutters, to the dark green Ecopod recycling center. Treehugger’s guide is thorough and simply awesome!!

Gaiam.com: Has recently expanded their Fair Trade initiative offering more fabulous fair trade goods from around the world. Categories cover it all from jewelry, to fitness gear, to clothing, to bedding, to home decor. Why shop fair trade? Because fair trade shopping empowers artisans with livable wages, skills training and sustainable business development, while helping to break the cycle of poverty. Gaiam is a company, similar to Amazon in structure, which offers all sorts of products to support wellness and healthy living. So if you don’t find anything in the fair trade section, check out their other products, which are fantastic eco-conscious options.

Christmas is without a doubt my favorite time of year, but it’s also the most wasteful time of year. With all the boxes, wrapping, multiple trips to the mall, and unwanted gifts, we create a giant amount of waste and CO2. This season reduce your impact with these tips:

1. Shop Online: Reducing your trips to the mall or around town cuts CO2 emissions. Buying from one company, like Amazon, in one delivery, reduces how many trucks or planes are involved. You can also reuse the delivery boxes for your gift-wrapping needs instead of buying boxes. Plus buying online is easier, offers millions of options, and is a lot of times cheaper!

2. Go Without Gift Wrap: Wrap your gifts in things like scarves or cute reusable bags or totes. If you need gift-wrap, stay away from plastic bags/wraps and stick to paper that you can save and reuse or simple recycle.

3. Forget The Box: How many gifts have you given that really don’t need to be put in a box? Reduce your waste by either choosing to wrap a gift in only a box or only paper. You definitely don’t always need both.

4. Give Usable Gifts: So many times we find ourselves scrambling at the last minute and end up buying a bunch of useless crap that no one will ever use. Plan ahead this season and reduce waste by giving gifts that you know your loved ones will enjoy for years (and not throw away!).

So give the gift of wellness while helping to reduce your impact! Happy shopping!