The Flexitarian Cookbook is a compilation of flexible recipes for vegetarians and carnivores.

100% of proceeds benefit Yoga Bear and Slow Food USA!

Cross Posted from Yogaslackers

It took 500 chocolate bars, 25 supermarket cart-fulls of food, and an organizational staff of 64 people to manage and run the 2010 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. More fun facts and numbers below from this year’s event.

Total course distance: 554 km (344 miles)

Checkpoints: 18

Trekking distance: 220 km (137 miles)

Biking distance: 288 km (179 miles)

Kayaking distance: 46 km (29 miles)

Ziplines over river: 1

Team Gear Junkie crests a mountain pass on day five

Competitors: 56

Teams: 14

Teams that finished: 7

Time to complete course (winners): 5 days 6 hrs 8 mins

Time to complete course (Team Gear Junkie; 4th place): 6 days 3 hrs 31 mins

Race-ending injuries: 1

Average weight loss per competitor: 5 kg (11 pounds)

Weight loss by Stephen Regenold (Gear Junkie): About 7 pounds

Team Helly Hansen in transition area tent, day five of race

Lowest temperature recorded: -2 degrees C

Strongest winds recorded on course: +120km

Number of mountain passes: 4

Oldest racer: Age 56 (Robert Finlay, Team Eddie Bauer)

Youngest racer: Age 22 (Daniel Staudigel, Team GearJunkie.com)

Organizational staff: 64

Amount of support food: 25 supermarket cart-fulls

Amount of support chocolate: 500 bars

Cameras lost/broken in wilderness: 5

Hours to return to civilization at end of race: 32

Tears: A few

Racers and gear in hull of Chilean Navy vessel, the transport back to the start line from end of race

Yogaslackers – Slacklining for a better world

This was on a ridge top on day 2 of the Patagonia expedition race. It had blown like this for 36 hours straight, and continued for the next 12. Minutes after this video, we were on an even more exposed ridge with even stronger gusts, and Daniel and I had to physically hold on to her to keep her from blowing off the ridge.

The strongest gusts reported were actually approaching the speed of a human skydiver at terminal velocity!

The wind finally died after about the first 48 hours of the race, but picked back up again when a blizzard hit the Darwin mountains while we were crossing them…

serious crazy s%*&.

Jason

“Enthusiastic climber gets pro-climber-signature ink”.

Seeing is believing…

For the full article check out UrbanClimber

Cross Posted From Inhabitat

Like the 35mm camera, film slides have gone to the wayside in favor of digital images and PowerPoint. So what is one to do with that box of slides collecting dust up in the attic? Turn them into a curtain! In a beautiful and clever design, one gal has gathered up these vibrant treasures and turned them into a stunning, colorful window curtain full of memories. For this simple DIY project all you need is a small drill and a pile of aluminum chain-mail rings, and violà! Say goodbye to lackluster mini blinds!

Cross Posted from it’s all yoga, baby

This Sunday, March 7, yogis across Canada will be gathering to practice together with the 2010 Power of Movement yoga challenge, and all funds raised will go towards critical arthritis research. Now in its fourth year, previous Power of Movement events have raised nearly $400,000 benefiting the 4.5 million Canadians who live with arthritis and autoimmune conditions. This year, organizers hope to exceed above and beyond that amount.

It’s not too late to sign up for one of the “mega-sessions” happening across the country and start taking pledges from your friends and families. The Montreal mega-session will start at 11am at The Sacred Heart School (3635 Atwater Ave), and other events will be taking place in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa and Halifax. If you don’t live in or near any of these place, there are smaller local events in select cities – or just simply make a donation to Power of Movement, in the name of yoga as service!

And what’s with the biker campaign? It’s just proof that “anyone can do yoga,” a fundamental belief at the core of Power of Movement. See the video below for proof…

Sounds like its time for another road trip. Be sure to stop in and say hi to the prAna crew and athletes including Chris Sharma!Red Rock Rendezvous is the country’s largest outdoor climbing festival, with clinics for ALL climbers, regardless of skill level. Beginning climbers can join the Friday UClimb event for personalized instruction in small, encouraging groups. There are also several clinics for beginning climbers throughout the weekend. Be sure to check out the gear package option – it’s a really affordable way to get into climbing! Intermediate & advanced climbers find plenty of challenging clinics, in topics ranging from big wall rigging systems to self rescue and much more. All climbers will enjoy the world-class instructor athletes, the Friday & Saturday night slideshows / movies, the Saturday night buffet party, and the Sunday morning pancake breakfast.

Here is the registration info. Want to see more images from 2009? Click here and here.

Women are the backbone of families and societies around the world. They perform 66% of all labor, produce 50% of the world’s food and bear 100% of children.

Cross Posted From Treehugger

There are multiple layers of beauty behind the organization Hands Up Not Handouts (HUNHO) whose mission is to help empower the world’s impoverished women. How you ask? By helping them hone in on their knack for handcrafting goods from native materials which in turn, generates income that they, their families and communities can sustain themselves off of. This micro-enterprise model isn’t by any means new, HUNHO is yet just another successful example that’s making a dent for the better. What won’t make a huge dent in your wallet are the oh-so-cool and hip handcrafted accessories being made from HUNHO’s Palestine and Rwanda-based women run cooperatives.

HUNHO is the brainchild of the American philanthropic Sager family who in 2000 set out to travel to the world’s developing countries. Wishing to help the people they met along the way, without just handing out money as charity–they believe this can create dependency with no lasting positive effect–they instead became venture capitalists of sorts. After investing in a project, they help implement it–mentoring the artisans along the way with product development, strategy, marketing and distribution. And the final product is nothing short of positive and gorgeous for women in Rwanda and Palestine who are working through HUNHO cooperatives.

Is it any surprise that fashion icons and rock stars like Kate Hudson, Gwen Stefani and Rihanna would adorn themselves in these urban-chic, circular earrings that come in electrifying colors like hot pink, apple red and lemonade yellow? Or that they’d embellish their wrists in candy-colored strappy cuffs and wraps like these simple yet statement making tie-bracelets? I for one, likely along with these three fashion divas, eagerly await the continued artisan made crafts that arise from future HUNHO partnerships. It’s a simple, affordable and one-of-a-kind-way to support girl power–not to mention sustainable developing communities as all of the proceeds trickle back to the ladies in charge.

::Hands Up Not Handouts

It was really cool to see that Chris liked our best selling mens jeans. Here’s what he had to say…

These jeans are made of stretch denim which gives amazing range of movement for climbing. The stretch also makes it so the knee does not wear out as fast. After a hundred days of climbing, we don’t see any signs of wear. They are ideal for all types of climbing from bouldering to chimney climbing in Yosemite. Their main downside is they are made mostly of cotton so they are not appropriate for long climbs where you might encounter an unexpected storm (for long climbs we recommend synthetic pants). They also don’t ventilate as well as a thinner synthetic pant so they are not ideal for long and warmer approaches. But the extra thickness does come in handy in Yosemite and other places where your knees and legs are exposed to abrasion. The pockets are extra deep so your keys and wallet won’t fall out while climbing. Overall, these are one of our favorite climbing pants.

Specifications for Prana Axiom Jean

• Regular Fit
• Stretch denim with gusseted inseam for range of movement
• Contrast zig-zag stitch on hip at side seam
• Rear faux suede logo patch
• prAna tack button and rivets
• 33″ (83.8cm) waist = 33.5″ (85cm) inseam
• 98 Cotton / 2 Spandex

We are looking  forward to seeing the soon to be released CORE. Chuck talked about how busy he was a couple of months ago and now we know why. The quality of Chuck’s work is amazing as seem in the prAna athlete profile videos he put together for Fred Nicole and Paul Robinson. Check out the HD trailer for CORE…

From the director of PURE…

CORE goes to the heart of climbing. Join an international cast of the sport’s most dedicated athletes as they stick it when it matters most. Shot in 35mm Ultra High Definition, get ready to see every detail of some of the nastiest pieces of rock ever climbed.

A close examination of each character offers perspective beyond just their achievements on the stone. From Helsinki to Hueco, Africa to Italy, the enclosed forests of Tuscany to the vast open space of the American West, this film is a study in the landscapes and lifestyles that define our sport.

Be there, in the moment, as a 5.14 traditional route gets its first ascent. See the mind-bending footage from Livin Large, Nalle Hukkataival’s monster 8C. Watch as Fred Nicole polishes off his multi-year project in Switzerland – his hardest ever. All these achievements and more are brought to you here in Chuck Fryberger’s followup to the hit bouldering flick PURE. These are the moments and the athletes that define our sport, documented here with a unique style that invites the viewer to be part of the experience.

Featured Athletes: Nalle Hukkataival, Matt Wilder, Fred Nicole, Kilian Fischhuber, Kevin Jorgeson, BJ Tilden, Lucas Preti, Cody Roth, Michele Caminati, Jamie Emerson, Sarah and Steph Marvez, Berni Fiedler, And Many More.

If you ever happen to be passing through a Lakota (Sioux) Indian Reservation in South Dakota, you just might catch a glimpse of someone wearing prAna clothes. And while it could certainly be because they purchased the clothes themselves, it also could be because of one of the donations I regularly make to the Native American Heritage Association (NAHA).

NAHA is one of only four percent of charities that has been consecutively given five four-star ratings by Charity Navigator. Charity Navigator ranks charities according to their fulfillment of their mission and the amount of funds and contributions that go directly to the purported recipients of that charity’s intentions (as opposed to administrative or fundraising expenses).

For me, deciding to contribute to NAHA came hand in hand with learning more about the historical plight of the American Indians, particularly in this area of the country. It’s a shameful chapter in the nation’s past, and one that certainly wasn’t taught honestly or in its entirety when I was in school. Books such as Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt; Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown; and In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, by Peter Matthiessen; among many others available, have helped bring this history to life for me, as have my travels around this area of the country, which is rife with historic battlefields, gravesites, trails, and American Indian artifacts.

Alas, as we all know, a person living in the present cannot undo or take back the atrocities committed by those in the past. All we can do is to strive to not perpetrate those same sorts of injustices in the future, while also attempting to do whatever we can in ways both large and small to help those who are still suffering in our present time from the results of those injustices committed in the past, as so many American Indians are today. We have to realize that the actions of the people in our past do continue to have repercussions in today’s world for so many different groups of people, and to understand that healing them, if it is ever even fully possible, may take many generations.

This is why, in my own small way, I try to do what I can ever so often by giving to NAHA. As a part of prAna’s athlete team, it’s best for me to always be sporting the latest prAna styles and fashions when I’m out climbing or even just out in the community. But this means that I end up with clothes from last season, or two or three years ago, that are still in great condition and have lots more wear left in them. At least once a year, then, I go through my closet and pull out the same amount of clothing that I’m going to be receiving in my next new shipment from prAna. I box up these items, and send them out to NAHA.

I know it’s not much, and I know that some donated clothes don’t even come close to undoing the evils and ills perpetrated on these people as a whole in the past. However, I do believe that every gesture of kindness, however small, helps to rebalance and correct the relationships between human beings, focusing our attention more on what we have in common and less on our individual and cultural differences, both past and present. If we all could realize just a little more every single day, in everything we do and every gesture we make, how much of a potential impact we can have in making others’ lives better by acknowledging our mutual human needs, wants, and connectedness, what a kinder, more united and peaceful world we would live in.

Alli Rainey