articles by: Melissa Breyer

10 Ways to Use Gourds & Winter Squash

I think it's a shame that pumpkins get hijacked by Halloween. Although they make a brief comeback for Thanksgiving in pie form, their curtain call comes much too early in the season. So what's a pumpk…

726 comments

10 States Most at Risk Of Disaster

History is punctuated with disasters. Vesuvius, the China floods, the San Francisco earthquake, the Indian Ocean tsunami, and countless other catastrophes dot the timeline with damage, loss and destru…

380 comments

10 Cancer-Causers to Remove From Your Home

Given poor government regulation, many of the cleaning products available on the market contain "everyday" carcinogens such as formaldehyde, nitrobenzene, methylene chloride, and napthelene, as well a…

489 comments

8 Creepiest Halloween Candies

I love Halloween. It's the rare chance to embrace all the frights (guts! gore! death!) we usually sweep under the carpet, as well as a time to play out some fantasies. (And no, that doesn't mean I'll …

364 comments

11 Scary Fast Food Breakfasts

How would you like to meet your daily sodium and saturated fat allowance, as well as nearly half of your daily calorie needs, in one quick breakfast eaten on the road? It's becoming progressively easy…

612 comments

51 Fantastic Uses for Baking Soda

I don't mean to sound seditious here, but I have a rebellious plan to combat the ills that many corporations are perpetrating in the name of fighting grime and germs. My main gripe is about the enviro…

1058 comments

9 Strange Jesus Sightings

God reveals him(her)self to people in mysterious ways--a feeling in church, a message in meditation, beauty in the way a leaf falls from a tree. But for these people, the revelation hasn't been quote …

661 comments

Clutter and Depression

Does clutter cause depression? Does depression cause clutter? At any given moment during a high-clutter period in my household, I may argue the validity of both of these scenarios. Clutter has a speci…

147 comments

10 Healthiest Breakfast Cereals

When I posted 10 Breakfast Cereals to Avoid I seemed to have suffered a sugar flashback; and the 1970s-swank, Henry Mancini jingle for Pink Panther Flakes has been stuck in my head ever since. The fuc…

466 comments

Can Poinsettias Kill Your Cat?

It's possible that poinsettias get the bummest rap in all of the plant world. They've got a bad-girl reputation as deadly beauties, but is the ubiquitous holiday plant actually toxic? About 70 percent…

215 comments

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Melissa Breyer is a writer and editor with a background in sustainable living, specializing in food, science and design. She is the co-author of True Food (National Geographic) and has edited and written for regional and international books and periodicals, including The New York Times Magazine. Melissa lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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Kara Foran

Kara is an editor for Care2's Healthy Living. She's happiest when engaging with creative, bright and loving people--whether they are the stranger on... more