In the rich mosaic of North American society, I stand rather forlornly on my own as a member of an oft-forgotten minority group: I am an adult male who can't drive. I have a wheelie bad feeling about this. Photo: Andrew White. Catapulted into the overcrowded car culture of Vancouver, British Columbia, from the U.K. last January, I quickly found myself labeled as a maverick and an outcast. People looked at me as if I were mad, misinformed, incapable, or just plain wacky. They told me that the honeymoon couldn't last -- that I wouldn't survive, that the long walks …

Dear Umbra, How does one unclog a clogged bathtub drain without pouring toxic chemicals directly into the waste stream? Allie CatBoiling Springs, Penn. Dearest Allie Cat, I don't believe that's your real name. But yours is a noble question. Let's get motivated by reviewing a Drano material safety data sheet [PDF], where we find that the product has a hazard rating of "high," that "mixing with other cleaning products may cause toxic gas," and that Drano may cause "chemical burns" to the eye, "moderate skin irritation," or "severe damage to the digestive tract." Alright! We're ready to replace toxicity with …

Dear Umbra, I was recently elected the social chairperson of my subdivision's swim/tennis/social club. Now I'm in charge of party planning for a group of about 150 families. While shopping at Costco, I wondered which is better for the environment: several 128-ounce jugs of apple juice plus many plastic cups, or lots of 6.75-ounce juice boxes that would equal the same juice volume, or the equivalent in 10-ounce plastic bottles? (Glass bottles aren't really an option because most parties are at the pool, where glass isn't allowed.) As this is just the first of about 10 parties planned for the …

Well, for one issue. Kinda. From a Playboy press release dated today: Playboy magazine is searching for the sexiest environmentalists in America, women willing to take it all off for their favorite cause. The magazine is planning a pictorial for an upcoming issue featuring women involved in environmental causes or with groups dedicated to saving the planet or protecting wildlife. In addition to a modeling fee for each of the participants, Playboy will make a donation to the favorite causes of the women chosen to appear in the pictorial. But will they be as hot as Leona Johansson? Much as …

Could a mall mogul's dream project give a big boost to renewables? Image: DestiNY USA. As the Senate deliberates over the Bush-backed energy bill and enviros send out another round of distress signals over America's obdurate fossil-fuel dependency, who would believe that the next big thing in renewable energy is being driven by a tenacious commercial developer with strong GOP affiliations and 25 mega-malls under his belt? Picture a gargantuan shopping complex in upstate New York -- a so-called "retail city" big enough to make Mall of America look like a five-and-dime -- with thousands of shops plus restaurants, theaters, …

Ok, that's a dumb headline. But the problem itself -- whether to diaper my babies with cloth or disposables -- was one I spent a bit of time agonizing over. But perhaps I shouldn't have. A new study commissioned by the British Environment Agency (reported on here and here) suggests there's almost no difference between the two, at least in terms of environmental impacts. Which is roughly the same answer that this 1992 study, at the website of our friends at the Institute for Lifecycle Energy Analysis, came to. The British study made some suggestions for ways that both disposables …

Fashion consumers tending toward greener garb Increasingly, fashionistas "don't just want to look good in their clothes, they want to feel good in their clothes," says Ali Hewson, co-creator (with her husband, U2's Bono) of eco-sensitive clothing line Edun. With a growing number of ethical and green clothing lines hitting the market and making use of renewable fibers like bamboo, soy, corn, and chitin, conscientious couture-lovers have plenty of choices. And, say the founders of earth-friendly apparel line I Wear Red Shoes, those choices are no longer limited to Birkenstocks and varying shades of beige. Even more mainstream clothiers like …

Dear Umbra, I just switched to all-natural cleaning products (Seventh Generation, it's great!) and I wanted my switch to have the most impact possible. I was thinking about sending emails to the companies whose cleaning products I had previously used, telling them why I switched, describing the nasty effects of their products, and encouraging them to change their products to be earth-friendly. I also thought I would send this email to all of my friends, encouraging them to send it to their friends, and cc'ing the company in question each time. Since I have never sent a letter to a …

Japanese municipalities take recycling to a whole new level Yokohama, Japan, a city of 3.5 million, recently sent its citizens a 27-page instruction book on how to sort trash for recycling into 10 different categories, detailing how to dispose of more than 500 separate items, from used lipstick tubes to old socks. The city aims to slash the amount of waste being sent to incinerators by 30 percent by 2010. Kamikatsu, a small town of 2,200 residents, has set its goal even higher -- no garbage thrown out at all by 2020. To achieve this lofty aim, the town requires …

In the afterword to the 30th-anniversary edition of his 1975 novel, Ernest Callenbach writes, "Looking back, it seems clear that Ecotopia was the first attempt to portray a sustainable society, and that this, more than its modest literary merit, explains its durability." Sadly, there is no false humility in that statement. Ecotopia (30th Anniversary Edition) by Ernest Callenbach, Heyday Books, 176 pgs., 2005. Ecotopia is ostensibly about a secessionist Northwest -- northern California, Oregon, and Washington -- founded on ecological principles. In this independent land, cars are abolished, everybody recycles, and sewage is turned to fertilizer. More fundamentally, Ecotopia is …