Carpooling, car-sharing companies offer driving alternatives Eighty-four percent of commuters who use a car to get to work say they drive alone, and more than half say it's because carpooling is inconvenient, according to a recent survey on traffic issues conducted by major news organizations. But a company called NuRide is trying to change that. Its website hosts a directory of participating D.C.-area commuters and makes it simpler for folks heading in the same direction at the same time to arrange car pools. Meanwhile, car-sharing companies like Flexcar and Zipcar place vehicles throughout urban areas and allow members to reserve …

Dear Umbra, I love all your research and cool little notes on Grist. Lots of learning! You must really love your job. I know this sounds weird, but I wish I could see a picture of you. I am intuitive by nature, and I respect what you are doing. I wish you all the best. Keep it up! Peace,Christopher P.S. Are you single? Dearest Christopher and the many, many others who have written similar notes, Thank you very, very much. From the bottom of my heart. I love compliments on my writing, and I'm incredibly relieved that you find me …

Enviros say Apple's iPod isn't green New legislation introduced in the House of Representatives last week would establish a consumer fee on computer and television purchases to fund a national electronics recycling program. But activists say the real answer to the "e-waste" problem is increased responsibility from manufacturers, and many are focusing their ire on Apple, maker of the absurdly popular and now culturally ubiquitous iPod music player. The 4.5 million iPods purchased in late 2004 may be little more than electronic junk by 2007, as their batteries last only two to three years and are hard to replace. Green …

Jared Diamond. I will always think of Jared Diamond as the man who, for the better part of the late 1990s, somehow made the phrase "east-west axis of orientation" the most talked-about kind of orientation there was -- freshman, sexual, or otherwise. His 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies began with a simple question -- "Why did Pizarro conquer the Incas and not the other way around?" -- and then managed to tell, over the course of only 400-odd pages, the history of why humanity has turned out the way it has. For …

Dear Umbra, If an environmentalist has about six hours per week to devote to activism, what should the person do to make the biggest, most positive impact? Some people (like myself) think that climate protection is a key leverage point -- but is it? If yes, why, and what is the best way activists can help protect the climate? (And what's a leverage point anyway?) AnnGraton, Calif. Dearest Ann, Such a good question, and so important that I asked a real expert about it. Dr. Allen Hershkowitz is a senior scientist at Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as a …

Church of England going green The Church of England has joined the battle against global warming. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will unveil his green vision for the church and begin discussion on the issue of climate change during a General Synod meeting scheduled for Feb. 17, the day after the Kyoto Protocol goes into effect. In an accompanying report titled "Sharing God's Planet," Williams asks that each parish complete an "ecological audit" and introduce green policies, such as using organic bread and wine for Holy Communion, selling fairly traded products at church events, car pooling, and recycling waste. He …

Dear Umbra, Can you recommend a paper magazine dedicated to environmental/social-justice issues that has the same kind of light touch and zany humor that Grist has? I've found that getting really good reading material into the house and just leaving it around is a sure way to hook my two children, who are both avid readers. They're both computer literate, but won't go to a website I recommend, whereas they do read enticing stuff that's left around -- devour it, in fact! I'd really appreciate any pointers you could give us. We're in New Zealand, but I wouldn't mind importing …

"Natural family living" is a growing trend Parents of today's youngest generation are increasingly choosing to raise their kids in more natural, even old-fashioned, ways, say supporters of a lifestyle called "natural family living." This parenting approach involves trusting instincts over published experts and using more natural means to feed, medicate, and nurture children, which can translate into gentler effects on the environment as well. Organic and locally grown food choices often play an important part. "We're willing to pay a little more not to have pesticides in our bodies and our kids' bodies," says Amy Williams-Derry, a Seattle mom. …

Michael Crichton,author of State of Fear. Photo: HarperCollins Publishers. Michael Crichton's State of Fear is an attempt to meld serious politico-scientific critique with a modern techno-thriller. It's an ambitious undertaking, but to paraphrase Thomas Edison, success is 1 percent ambition and 99 percent not writing an awful book. Crichton's novel, alas, is unilluminating as a critique and unsatisfying as a thriller. In many books of this ilk, authors work up a certain level of suspense by following several characters' storylines at once, cutting back and forth at each cliffhanging juncture. In State of Fear, however, the reader is shackled throughout …

State of Fear by Michael Crichton, HarperCollins Publishers, 624 pgs., 2004. Michael Crichton's new novel State of Fear is about global-warming hysteria ginned up by a self-important NGO on behalf of evil eco-terrorists ... or by evil eco-terrorists on behalf of a self-important NGO. It's not quite clear. Regardless, the message of the book is that global warming is a non-problem. A lesson for our times? Sadly, no. In between car chases, shoot-outs, cannibalistic rites, and other assorted derring-doo-doo, the novel addresses scientific issues, but is selective (and occasionally mistaken) about the basic science involved. Some of the issues Crichton …