Forget about Harlequin romance book clubs, women today have much more serious issues to discuss; things like eating locally, buying in bulk, switching to energy-efficient bulbs and the best natural cleaning products on the market.

Say hello to today's EcoMoms, the environmentally-conscious women who realize the enormous task of promoting and maintaining a green lifestyle with their families. The EcoMom Alliance in the U.S. currently has approximately 9,000 members and encourages moms around the country to tackle projects, both small and larger scale. A 10-step program encourages the use of non-toxic cleaning and beauty products, as well as reducing waste by 10 per cent.

"EcoMoms" isn't the only new concept on the block - therapists have started to attribute the stress related to going green as "ecoanxiety" and now provide treatmeant to deal with its effects.

“The truth is, we’re not living very naturally,” said Linda Buzzell, a therapist in Santa Barbara who publishes the quarterly EcoTherapy News and often holds sessions in her backyard permaculture food forest. “We’re in our cars, staring at the computer screen, separated most of the day from the people we love. “Activism can help counteract depression,” Ms. Buzzell added. “But if we get caught up in trying to save the world single-handedly, we’re just going to burn out.”

Research has shown that women tend to show greater concern, and are therefore more proactive, when dealing with environmental issues. Whether this means exchanging simple ideas to use in the home, debating the merits of one green option over another or lobbying their children's schools to use safer products, these moms are on a mission to make positive changes and have obviously found that two or more heads working towards this goal are more effective than one.

» The New York Times