Nature as Ritalin A small-but-growing body of research shows that exposure to nature can reduce the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. For calming your crazed kids, "outside" is the new TV. The Twike Photo: FINE Mobile GmbH. Is it a small car? A motorcycle? A bike? We don't care, we just heart this little two-seater commute-mobile. Good luck getting one -- but if you can, you'll be the talk of your town ... at least until you're run over by a Hummer. Rollin' with sol Photo: Stefano Paltera/North American Solar Challenge. Congratulations to the University of Michigan team (go …

Dear Umbra, I live less than a half-mile from a supermarket, and prefer to do my errands by foot. Any thoughts on where I could buy a top-of-the-line utility cart? I'm willing to pay a premium for something lightweight, smooth-rolling, stable, foldable, and durable (or if not durable, then easy to recycle when it breaks!). Something stylish would be a bonus: it might just convince my neighbors to follow suit. LizAlexandria, Va. Dearest Liz, Generally I don't like to shop for people, because it's so easy to go wrong with brand or site favoritism, but this seems like a safe …

Hollywood studios see greenbacks in them thar flightless waterfowl The summer's big hit documentary isn't about the antics of political weasels, or children at spelling bees; it's a nature film about flightless Antarctic waterfowl. French-made March of the Penguins, a heartstring-yanking saga about emperor penguins, cost $7 million to make. It's already earned over $10 million in North America, after making over $12 million in France. This profit ratio thrills Hollywood execs, who have learned a lesson: not that audiences love films about the natural world, or documentaries, or just good movies -- no, that audiences love ... penguins. "They …

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte, Little Brown and Co., 320 pgs., 2005. Our soda man delivers. He comes bounding up the steps, easily cradling an ancient-looking wooden crate under one arm. The contents are 24 seven-ounce bottles of cola and birch beer, for which we hand him $7, and last month's crate. The thick, wavy glass bottles bear an old-fashioned logo that reads, "Castle Soda: Food for Thirst." Bottled in a declining industrial town in Connecticut, Castle is like some visitor from another time. The idea of returnable, refillable bottles seems quaint and archaic …

Dear Umbra, My wife and I are making plans to purchase our first hybrid vehicle and need to properly dispose of our current car -- a 1989 Buick LeSabre. My question is, what is the best way to get rid of it? It is old and has a lot of miles on it. I suppose the dealer may take it off our hands for a very small trade-in amount -- at which point, they will probably just send it to the scrap yard. What are the odds of it getting properly recycled at that point? Should I first see if …

Ah, now we're talking. Earlier this week I was a bit snarky about this article, which flung broad statements about with very little empirical support (understandable, I guess, for a breezy op-ed). But a new study that just came across my desk puts some teeth in the argument that going green is smart business strategy for automakers. Jointly published by the U. of Michigan and NRDC, the study analyzes what would happen to the Big Three U.S. automakers in the event of an oil-price spike. As I've mentioned before, the possibility of such a spike is not remote. With supply …

Dear Umbra, We are having a wedding in Kauai in September and are expecting about 40 guests. I would like to make it as "carbon-neutral" as possible. We've already instituted some greening aspects -- recycled invitations, recycling at the reception, etc. -- but would like to take it a step further. Obviously, air travel is the most significant contributor. Are there any organizations offering carbon offsets for weddings? I researched Future Forests, but was wondering if there are others out there. SeanSan Diego, Calif. Dearest Sean, What a lovely, seasonally apropos question. Ye wedders and civil uniters force your guests …

Locally grown foods catching on at college dining halls The local-and-seasonal food movement is going to college. About 200 schools around the country have joined programs that supply them with locally grown foods, like Brown University in Providence, R.I., where locally farmed Pippin and Macoun apples proved so much more popular than Granny Smiths and Red Delicious that food-service buyers soon branched out to local tomatoes, peaches, and milk. And at the University of Montana in Missoula, nearly 20 percent of the dining-hall food budget goes to locally produced meat, wheat, and dairy products. Student-run farms have sprung up at …

"I don't trust 'natural.' People are always dying of natural causes."-- Woman looking at food labels, in a Richard Guindon cartoon Roll playing games? Photo: Laura Cacho. Shoppers of the world, I have just one question: Are you an eco-chump? Lots of us try to shop green. We buy unbleached paper towels and recycled products, some with more than 5 percent post-consumer content. Commend McDonald's for banning Styrofoam, and shun them for lying about beef fat in the fries. Save our paychecks because we suffer from Prius envy. Wouldn't be caught dead at Wal-Mart because, well, it's Wal-Mart. But a …

Seattle to reduce landfilling by producing less trash in the first place Seattle is pioneering programs to cut landfill costs by stopping trash before it starts, pursuing an ambitious long-term goal of becoming a "zero-waste" city. Seattle Public Utilities is using more electronic documents, radically reducing its use of paper, and instituting a green buying program for non-toxic cleaners, greener electronics, and other eco-friendly products. Manufacturers are being encouraged to institute take-back programs for their products, intercepting them for reuse or proper disposal before they are sent to the dump. Last year, 11 city-sponsored green-building projects salvaged or reused 57,000 …