As we gallop into September and the last quarter of 2010 it is a good time to spring clean and consider what new habits we can implement for a fresh start to summer. In this issue we reveal real concerns regarding the effects of pesticides in food which is ever more reason to start your own food garden. Keep forgetting your shopping bags at home? Where is the money going that you spend on buying plastic bags? It certainly is not going into any recycling initiatives so take heed. On a lighter note there are some great give-aways as always. Enjoy your read and do send us your feedback and visit the website www.lifeinbalance.co.za for daily updates and event listings

It’s Arbor week from the 1st-7th September and this is a great time to plant indigenous trees in vacant lots and areas that need greening as well as in your own garden. Trees are precious and we should be planting a tree for every major long haul journey we undertake in our lifetime. Here is a guide to the indigenous trees you can plant during arbor week.

Did you know that the Acacia Tree, the iconic tree of Africa, has a secret way of communicating with its fellow trees? It seems difficult to believe that trees can communicate but the Acacias do, just ask any game ranger who has spent lots of time observing what happens when a group of herbivores moves in for the graze.

The US, with a population of just over 300 million, uses over 30 billion plastic bags annually. With a population one sixth that of the US, at just below 50 million, as well as legislation and a levy, one would think that South African usage would be far less. Shockingly, we get through 8 billion bags a year. The reasons are equally as shocking.

The California Senate is about to vote on a bill that seeks to ban plastic bags throughout the state. Heal the Bay, an organisation working to keep coastal waters safe, has released an hilarious but thought provoking four-minute mockumentary done in the style of a BBC nature documentary. Narrated by Jeremy Irons, it follows “one of the most clever and illustrious creatures: the plastic bag." A must see!

The Elephant Whisperer
Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence

What we don’t know about animal communication is as vast as the universe we inhabit so how on earth does one man communicate with a herd of rogue elephants whose last chance at survival is to behave and literally adapt or die? Like most of the endeavours Lawrence Anthony undertakes, he used his uncanny intuition and crate loads of dogged determination to work a miracle.

Music festival organizers in the UK are faced with thousands of abandoned or forgotten tents left by attendees each year, adding to the country’s already-burdened landfills. To eliminate this problem, they came up with an innovative solution.

Every year since 1997 the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder has risen by 3%. Something serious is amiss and a new study published in the journal Pediatrics says that ADHD is tied to an exposure to pesticides.

10 double weekend passes to be won

Capetonians and visitors to Cape Town once again get to restore their spirits and uplift their souls at the very popular annual Celebrate Life Festival, where the accents is on all things natural, organic, eco-friendly and healthy.

Spring and planting season are just around the corner, with their promise of longer, warmer days. Cheral Kennedy’s moon phase guide takes us through the busy gardening month of September and reminds us it is the perfect time to begin your very own food garden. Old pots and containers are great for growing herbs, tomatoes and spinach.

I attended the inaugural conference in Gauteng last year and was very impressed by the quality of the presentations by leading thinkers in the sometimes questionable arena of ‘The Big Brand’. Usually just the very term ‘brand’ can send cold shivers through a person trying to live a more conscious life and not be driven to consume everything in sight as a way of gaining popularity or status because of the impact on the environment from such instigators of consumption.

Eat the frog...Urgh what a vivid thought and a rather humorous analogy for those things we know we should be doing and getting out of the way but never seem to get round to...the mounting paperwork, the calls to family and friends that take months to get to, like reaching the next step in building your model life. In times of great stress and busyness it is all too easy to let the frogs jump all over the show and prevent a clear path to success. So this is why you need to eat them – in a purely metaphorical sense of course.

Join the GreenPop treevolution – a simple yet brilliant concept to celebrate Arbor Day in a big way. Capetonians are being asked to be even more treemendous than they already are and get involved in planting trees in and around their beautiful city.

Some people celebrate spring on the 1st of September; others wait until the spring equinox. Whichever camp you’re in, the days of hibernating against frosty winds or chilling rain are nearly over. Get out and about with activities that feed body, mind and soul.

The events section of the website is updated regularly so do book mark the page and check in to see what is happening in your area.

We take note of what goes into a product but the packaging is often sidestepped as there are not many options available when it comes to maintaining quality and freshness. This has not stopped two great wine producers from doing their bit to produce wine in packaging that reduces their footprint on resources and yet delivers wine with the same taste and quality you have come to expect.

Aloe ferox is already well known for its medicinal qualities, especially relating to skin care, but who would have thought its properties could extend to a range of chocolate treats. The spiky aloe plants adorn a garden beautifully and attract many sunbirds during their flowering season but can you imagine what it would taste like drenched in fine chocolate? Simply put its yummy and a real decadent treat with a difference.

Nuvida – The science of reproductive health
Nuvida™ is passionate about health and well-being and is offering couples who are trying to conceive a natural boost. Their range of supplements can help boost fertility and reproductive health safely so for couples who are wanting to embark on the journey of parenting but are having a little trouble at the starting block help may be in hand.

Did the takeaways you bought at lunch or the meat for this weekend’s braai come in a polystyrene container? How about the protective packaging of your last large appliance purchase? These well known examples are made from Expanded Polystyrene, but did you know that your make up containers, computer casings, CD boxes, yoghurt and cottage cheese containers are also made from polystyrene?