I’m finding more advertisements for non-alcoholic cocktails popping into my social media feeds, more NA drinks showing up on menus when I’m out at restaurants, and more of a need to explore these options as I age. With that in mind, I recently started exploring zero-proof and lower-proof cocktails to see if I could find something capable of going toe-to-toe with my favorites.
November 3 is Election Day: do you know what’s on your ballot? The midterm elections represent a potential shift of power at the federal level but, but the Pennsylvania General Assembly is up for grabs, too. Down-ballot races continue to represent critical impacts on our daily lives, and this year is no exception. Hopefully this post will help you make a plan to vote.
I’ve been battling thistle for years, trying manual and organic methods, refusing to use herbicides that pose significant harm to human and environmental health. It’s possible that my patience and persistence are finally paying off… or that I’ve found something that really works. This something is a synthetic herbicide, but its environmental impacts are arguably less than chemicals I’ve used in previous years.
I love that my garden has been a teaching opportunity for my neighbors, as well as a habitat for native wildlife. This year, that opportunity expanded to educate my local code enforcement officer when my garden was flagged for violating our local property maintenance requirements. After another season of hard work, I was pleased that my work justified itself in big and very small ways.
Golf’s popularity continues to grow throughout the world, but its environmental impact remains significant. In order to reduce costs, improve public relations, and simply be a better steward of the environment, course designers and superintendents are now adopting more sustainable practices. Are recycled water, native plants, and integrated pest management enough to make an impact, or is this industry just too resource intensive?
Kombucha has been hailed by some as a panacea, providing multiple health benefits including digestive, cardiovascular, and immune system health. There’s still a big gap of scientific research on the subject, but some of the connections are at least plausible, if not demonstrable. I’m getting back into making my own for better digestive health as I continue to rebuild my microbiome.
When I landed in the hospital with a kidney stone last fall, I got a question I didn’t expect: “do you drink tea?” I wasn’t aware of a connection between the two, but I wasn’t surprised either. Afterwards, I wanted to understand if tea was getting a bad rap and what else I could do to prevent a repeat visit to the emergency room.
Ambition is a bad word in the workplace because it usually means striving for success at the expense of others. It doesn’t have to be that way, though – there are some wonderful examples of people who have achieved success without sacrificing their values, helping others along the way. The best example I can think of is someone we lost this last week: Dolly Parton.
This year’s resolutions were designed to help me build resilience to stress, but healthy behaviors tend to fall by the wayside in tough times. As of July I’m giving myself a D, but that’s actually not too bad considering the majority of people give up their resolutions by February. My next assignment is figuring out how to prioritize my wellbeing for the remainder of 2026.
I spend my workdays reading, writing, and talking about the health impacts of poor air quality, so when the Canadian wildfire smoke hit Pittsburgh this summer, I took a cheap and simple step to clean the air in our home. This DIY air filter is something I actually put in other people’s homes for my last job, which is why I know it works.