Living Roundup: Greenwash, Tantric Meditation & More

Every week we highlight the best articles, blogs, news, videos and interesting Web tidbits to help you live green, be healthy, and connect with your sense of spirituality. Read our roundup for info that just helps you live better.

Spin Cycle: Real Green Goods or Greenwashed Sales Pitch?

As going green reaches ever-greater pinnacles of hip, it is harder and harder to distinguish real green goods from a greenwashed sales pitch. Never fear, intrepid econistas — we got your back. (Whole Life Times)

7 Low-Carbon Fashion Companies

Contributing to climate change tops our list of fashion don’ts. Luckily, we no longer have to sacrifice style for sustainability, thanks to a new wave of trendsetting designers and retailers who are showing the world that “eco-fashion” is no longer a contradiction in terms. (Sprig)

Yoga In Action

Violence. Vulnerability. Mistreatment… Meditation? No, it’s not a game of which word doesn’t belong — it’s the prototypical path to healing followed by teenage participants in the Art of Yoga Project, a local nonprofit that’s taught yoga, writing and art to hundreds of girls in the California juvenile justice system since 2002. (Common Ground)

Turning Your Body to Light

The following Tantric meditation is based on a classical Tantric practice called nyasa, in which mantras or deities are imagined in different parts of the body. One of its purposes is to make you aware of the essentially spiritual, or subtle, nature of the physical body, which Tantrikas regard as a condensed form of divine light, or divine sound vibration. (YogaJournal)

Pop Quiz: Calories in Per Calories Out

Roughly how many calories of fossil fuel energy are required to produce every calorie of food we eat? (TreeHugger)

Greenwashed! How To Spot the Travel Industry’s Eco-Lies

“Greenwashing is undeniably present in the travel business,” says Hugh Hough, president of Green Team, a company that specializes in working with sustainable travel destinations and travel-related companies. “But there are steps travelers can take to distinguish travel providers who are legitimately cleaning up their act from the more cynical providers who are just cashing in on an opportunity.” (Tribune Media/CNN)

VIDEO: Confessions From Hollywood’s Greenest Celebrities

Sprig’s Earth Week Video Series goes celebrity wild with the most glamorous green people around, with Tom Hanks, Colin Firth and Emily Blunt sharing everything from their eco-tips to their eco-sins. (Sprig)

How To Make A Vegan Chocolate Cake

An omnivore with many vegan and vegetarian friends challenged herself to make a chocolate cake without any animal products whatsoever…and she succeeded! Here’s the recipe so you can bake your own. (Instructables)