Author: Joe Ascanio
Website: http://www.terracurve.com/2010/01/11/how-to-find-your-next-v…

Beginning in 2010, Planeterra, a non-profit leader in global voluntourism, is launching new projects and volunteer vacations – including onsite work at the world’s largest Panda reserve in China’s Sichuan Province as well as a family-oriented adventure on an organic farm along the coast of Ecuador.

“Community development, environmental and wildlife conservation projects around the world need the support of active travelers who are willing to take the time to understand what is needed and how they can help,” said Planeterra’s Director, Richard G. Edwards. “Our programs are designed with great care, so that everyone genuinely benefits, while having fun learning about each other’s cultures.”

Planeterra’s style of voluntourism combines time spent at a community project (usually a minimum of four days) with adventure travel opportunities exploring the surrounding countryside.

Except for international air, a volunteer vacation averages $85 per day and includes most meals,…

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Author: Green Talk
Website: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/green-talk/jRYI/~3/vrDypjfmFH…

Are you dreaming for spring like I am with the average temperatures in the New Jersey area hovering around 21 degrees? Day dreaming about the pool you have in your backyard and dipping your toe into the warm pool water?

Well, if you live in the northeast like me, I can’t dip my toe in my pool until at least the end of June unless I want to incur an expensive gas bill from my pool heater. So, basically, if I don’t want to use my pool heater, we are talking about three months of the year when the water is warm enough for me to take a swim. Well, maybe two and half. I can be kind of a princess when it come to the water. I like my water at least 85 degrees.

For those of you who want a longer swimming season without the expensive heating bill, solar pool heating is the way to go. I am considering it myself.  Let the sun heat your pool instead of depleting our natural resources of natural gas or coal.

Are you scratching your head right about now and wondering if I am slightly…

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Author: Davina
Website: http://flgreenliving.com/blog/2010/01/11/existing-home-sales…

Existing home sales surged in November, as buyers rushed in to close purchases ahead of what was thought to be the end of the first-time home buyers’ tax credit. Sales rose 7.4 percent to a 6.54 million unit annual rate.

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Sales of existing homes surged 7.4 percent in November to a 6.54 million 7.5 unit annual rate. The increase was widely expected, as the pending home sales data and anecdotal reports from realtors suggested that a substantial 7.0 number of buyers rushed into the market to buy homes ahead of what was 6.5 thought to be the end of the first-time home buyers’ tax credit. The tax credit was subsequently extended through April 2010 and expanded to 6.0 bring in more trade-up buyers. Early reports for December suggest the 5.5 extension will have little immediate effect. Transactions were pulled forward into November which will likely lead to a payback in December and 5.0 January before another…

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Author: Lisa Frack
Website: http://www.enviroblog.org/2010/01/epigenetics-hits-the-mains…

Back in February, 2009 EWG’s Olga Naidenko wrote an excellent piece here on Enviroblog about epigenetics and environmental chemical exposures. She began the post with the heart of the matter:

Prenatal exposures to environmental pollutants may lead to chronic diseases later in life.

She went on to succinctly explain how:

Toxic effects of environmental pollution on human health are well recognized. Yet, for a long time conventional wisdom held that a child developing in the womb is sufficiently protected and insulated by the placenta from harmful pollutants outside.

This expectation no longer holds - we know now that the developing fetus is exposed to hundreds of industrial pollutants that find their way from the mother’s body across the placenta, into the umbilical cord blood and then into the growing body of the child, as demonstrated by the ground-breaking research conducted by EWG in <a href=”2005 and 2009.

This week, epigenetics hit the mainstream by making the cover of TIME…

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