John Bryson, Obama's new pick for commerce secretary, is a dyed-green-in-the-wool environmentalist (he co-founded NRDC), who's taken a swing through the corporate world. The U.N. carbon market shrunk for the first time since it was founded in 2005. Who's to blame? The U.S. Senate, of course! (Well, among others, but we have the most fun pinning stuff on the Senate.) The Keystone pipeline is spilling Canadian oil all over states like North Dakota and Kansas. Okay, this time, you CAN blame Canada. More bad weather news: As the Missouri River floods in South Dakota, evacuating residents are being told they …

As a sustainability solution, cloth diapers were never fun. Even the most eco-minded have been known to quail in front of a pail of soiled nappies. But a team of researchers has come up with an excuse for switching back to disposable diapers. They found that within 2 months, oyster mushrooms will consume 90 percent of a disposable diaper. Within four months, the entire thing is gone. Plus, the resulting mushrooms are safe to eat for anyone who can look past their origins. It's like a double sustainability rainbow.

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I work in an office of serious coffee drinkers. We have a Keurig single-cup coffee brewer that everyone loves because it allows them to choose their own roast and flavor. But all those little plastic K-Cups add up to lots of waste fast! Is there a more sustainable alternative I can recommend? Christine CoolickCleveland, Ohio Don't be a drip -- brew your coffee sustainably.A. Dearest Christine, Ah, yes. We here in the Grist office are serious about our java too (although we just have an old-fashioned coffeemaker). Whenever I emerge from the …

Given a choice between spending an hour watching TV or surfing the Internet, which should you choose, assuming, of course, that your goal is not entertainment but consuming the least energy possible? This handy graphic provides the answer: It's surfing the Internet: At .09 kilowatt-hours per hour, your computer consumes the least energy of any of these four appliances. A better option, though, would be to turn the computer off and go outside to hang dry the laundry.

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I liked the article on pedestrian-friendly cities, but what I really want to know about is dog-friendly cities.  There has to be a green message in there ... or maybe just a peace and well-being message. I hate my city (Wichita) for being so pet-unfriendly. Where should I live to be able to take my dog with me while I run my errands, shop, eat, and play? Amy S. LemleyWichita, Kan. You lookin' at me?Photo: Rollan BudiA. Dearest Amy, Thanks for your letter. You must have sensed through the ether that I've …

No matter how broke you are, chickens can help you keep some dignity about you.Photo: Stu MayhewWhen last we fetched up, babydolls, Broke-Ass was waxing pedantic about the primacy of stocking the pantry as nutritiously and cheaply as possible. One alert soul commented: "Where are the eggs? Nature's most perfect food with as many ways to fix them as your imagination can accommodate." A flawless observation, "jjfahl"! As it happens, Broke-Ass has so many damn eggs that, at times, she feels that she might prefer to shove bamboo shoots underneath her fingernails than to sup upon another oeuf. This is …

Ditch the car and get a bike, a transit farecard, and a smartphone.Photo: NoktonCross-posted from Shareable. Two years ago, my California driver's license expired. Living in Chicago at the time, where the smart resident uses bikes or public transit to avoid traffic, I hadn't found a compelling reason to get behind the wheel of our car in months. With plenty of other pressing tasks on my to-do list, renewing or replacing an expired out-of-state license quickly plummeted to the bottom of my priorities. Two years later, the license is still expired, and I'm happier, healthier, and richer for it. There's …

Remember those people with flammable tap water? Yup, hydrofracking is responsible, according to Duke University scientists. Chile wants to dam two incredible rivers, despite opposition from both locals and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. A judge in Utah shut down Koch Industries' search for the clever people who sent out a fake press release claiming the company had embraced the idea of climate change. A quote from the Kochtopus’ inner monologue: “How dare you, Utah judge? Nobody says Koch Industries believes in science and gets away with it! Nobody!” Angela Merkel is kicking other world leaders' butts on clean energy policy. …

Wouldn’t it be nice to get to know trees while they’re still around? Leafsnap can help. The new app, developed by a team of researchers at Columbia, University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution, contains a database of beautiful photos of leaves, barks, flowers, and fruits. All the lazy naturalist has to do to identify a tree is take a picture of one little leaf. It turns out, however, that you can't just point your iPhone camera at a tree, snap a picture, and find out what in the world it is. After gathering a leaf, fruit, flower or other …

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Can you bring some balance and common sense to the Wall Street Journal's aw-shucks oversimplification of the issue of to print or not to print emails? I learned about it from a few colleagues' change in email signatures, encouraging people to print their emails to promote a "sustainable" industry. I was amused at first, but now I'm getting worried. Greenwashing a wasteful habit is trivializing and dismissing a serious contribution to our landfill issues and carbon footprint. Bit o' Sunshine Don’t get too cozy with the idea of printing out reams of …