The Live Healthy Expo provides the opportunity to learn first hand about effective, alternative approaches to health and wellness. The three day expo will offer the latest in nutritional guidance, interactive fitness demonstrations, how to save energy and go green, healthy cooking demonstrations as well as free massages and product samples. General information is here , and the speaker schedule is here.

This NY Times Article includes examples of cities trying to bring back the corner grocery in underserved areas. In Pennsylvania, the Fresh Food Financing Initiative has been particularly successful and has begun encouraging similar programs throughout the country. New York City has expanded its licenses for carts selling fruits and vegetables, provided $2 bonuses for people using food stamps at greenmarkets, and encouraged bodegas to offer healthier items. You can read the full article here.

Per Environmental Leader, a key finding of “The Greening of HR Survey,” indicates that 54 percent of respondents incorporate environmental management into their business operations. Other survey results show that 78 percent of respondents use Web or teleconferencing to reduce travel; 76 percent promote the reduction of paper use, and 68 percent implement wellness programs to foster employee’s proper nutrition, fitness and healthy living. (photo Environmental Leader)

The April 19 'Going Native Garden Tour 2009' is a free tour of native gardens in Santa Clara Valley and the Peninsula. Registration information is here.
The May 3 'Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour' is a free tour in the East Bay.  Registration information is here.

A Sausalito CA-based team created a design of interconnected gardens with names of “Honeycomb Hideout” and “Pollinator Patch” to win the international bee-friendly garden design competition. More information can be found here.  There is also a second gift for honeybee research and education into Colony Collapse Disorder. The honeybees I've seen love Rosemary, and it's a drought-tolerant, edible, and nutritious herb. Do you have a plant that honeybees love?  Tell us about it.  Image: Sibbett Group, Sausalito

Farm Sanctuary is holding an online auction to help support it's mission. See their Charity Buzz Site for more details.

On March 17, Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) spoke at an event in Marin County called “10 Americans” telling the story of 10 people whose blood was tested in 2004, for 413 chemicals.  The results were astonishing.  On average, more than 200 of these chemicals were found in their systems.  Note – these were only the chemicals tested for, more may have been present. The make up of the chemicals found in the blood samples was: 28 waste bi-products, 47 consumer bi-products (Teflon) , and 212 industrial chemicals.  These chemicals did not come from their drinking water, their workplace, or their homes. The blood samples were taken from the umbilical cord.  Their mother’s provided these chemicals – you see, they were all babies still in the womb – they came to the world pre-polluted.  Some of the chemicals had been banned thirty years prior to the testing!  The results were all the more disturbing when you think that at this age these babies do not have a blood brain barrier to keep these toxins from entering their brains, this apparently develops in their first year of development.
The results of these findings led to the Kids Safe Chemical Act that is to be reintroduced through Congress where among other items it proposes that the Federal Government must reduce exposure to these chemicals and the concept that chemicals are to be considered as bad unless proven otherwise, a 180 degree change from the current view.  More information and the actual presentation in video can be found at www.ewg.org/kidsafe.

LouAnn Conner is Managing Director at Sagacious Consulting www.sagaciousconsulting.com  a management consultancy in San Francisco, and also blogs on food and culture at http://oysterculture. wordpress.com

Join VegNews for their March 31 Speakers Series with Jeffrey Moussaieff Mason at the Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco starting at 7pm. Register here.

Greener By Design, May 19-20 in San Francisco, is the conference where hundreds of brand managers, business strategists, sustainability officers, marketing directors, product designers, material sourcing experts and many others go to get the tools, insight and inspiration to improve their company’s bottom line through product innovation and green design techniques. This year’s theme is Greener Products for Leaner Times – How Smart Companies Innovate in a Recession, where the focus will be on the many ways green product design and innovation can cut costs, improve efficiency and quality, reduce risk and retain customers in this economy.
Special offer of 15% off the early bird conference registration, to take advantage of this offer, click here to register and enter the ID code: ecoproMV

Loews Hotels recently announced its 'Adopt-a-Farmer' initiative to promote local farming while providing customers with locally-sourced, organic and sustainable food. Loews hotels in San Diego, CA, Tuscon, AZ, Miami, FL, and more have begun sourcing their food from local brands. Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tuscon uses food from local Native American farmers, including wild amarinth, native squash, and saguaro fruit. Loews Miami Beach Hotel has turned to a Florida farm for all of its fruit and vegetable needs.