Earth's Friends

What is the Happy Planet Index?

The happy planet index, or HPI, is an index that determines a measure of happiness, per nation, based on environmental impact and well-being. What does it mean to be in the happy planet index? It doesn't necessarily mean that the highest scoring country has the happiest people, or that by moving to that country you'll be happy (that's ultimately up to you). What it does show is how the efficiency with which a nation converts their share of the planet's resources into longer and happier lives for their citizens... read more »

The Kyoto Protocol and Climate Change

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan on the 11th of December, 1997, but not enacted or enforced until the 16th of February, 2005. The protocol was adopted to help combat the adverse effects of climate change, or global warming... read more »

An Environmental Oil Company, Really?

Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? Usually when the words environmental and gas station or used in the same sentence, they negate each other. In this case, however, we are looking to find a gas station that currently does the least environmental harm. In other words, a lesser of evils... read more »

What is the Slow Food movement?

In a nut shell, the slow food movement is the opposite of fast food. In fact, it was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy as an initiative to preserve local, cultural cuisine, and thereby combat the unchecked growth of unhealthy fast food. The slow food movement encourages us to return to our roots... read more »

The Bottled Water Craze

There's been a huge surge in the bottled water industry. To the point where it seems the average person is drinking more water from bottles than from their home tap. The problem with this isn't just the proliferation of plastic waste into the environment, but the fact that in many cases bottled water may in fact be less healthy than tap water... read more »

Holistic Depression Remedies

Depression is one of the most common concerns in mental health today. While depression is the natural reaction to certain situations, such as the death of a loved one, it becomes problematic when it's the reaction to much more minor situations and when the condition dominates most of your conscious awareness.

In this article, we will present a holistic healing approach to depression and provide a number of tips and suggested remedies for managing and preventing depression altogether... read more »

Treating Your Anxiety with a Holistic Approach

At Earth's Friends we like to take a holistic approach to healing. That means we examine both the body and mind – in other words, the whole, when looking at our health. Instead of merely targeting one symptom at a time (even if we do so via natural remedies), we try and see the whole picture. In other words, what is the underlying cause of the problem or health issue? Once we know that – we can work on treatment based not only on natural remedies but on lifestyle changes... read more »

Natural Herbs for Anxiety and Depression

Pharmaceutical drugs are popular remedies for anxiety because they hone in on the brain's receptors that cause you to suffer the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Pharmaceutical drugs literally change your brain's chemistry. Pharmaceutical drugs are both powerful and effective. The problem, however, is that such synthetic drugs also have negative side effects... read more »

How Good is Public Transit in Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh’s compact downtown area and well-integrated transportation system make the city easy to navigate by public transit. From traditional options like buses and trains, to light rail and Zipcars, you can get where you need to go if you plan ahead... read more »