Latest Articles
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Ask Umbra Book Club: Is minimalism just for the rich?
Is a streamlined life something only a privileged elite can afford? Ask Umbra explores.
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Not one more winter in the tipi, honey
Going off the grid seems romantic at first, but unfortunately, women are often the first to encounter the worst realities of homesteading.
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Would you eat mutant meat?
The FDA does Big Meat a solid by denying broader use of irradiation, which kills disease but leads to discolored and disfigured food.
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Hacking for the planet
Notorious hacker group Anonymous launches a campaign of cyber attacks in support of green causes. Monsanto fell. Are Canada's tar sands next?
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Michigan’s gangsta gardener gets off [VIDEO]
Julie Bass of Oak Park, Mich. no longer faces jail time for having a vegetable garden in her front yard.
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31 states can be self-sufficient with local renewable energy
The following map was the headline graphic to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s 2009 report, Energy Self-Reliant States, unveiling the enormous potential for each state to meet its own electricity needs internally. I re-created the map for web viewing, so it’s now even easier to share how each state can meet its electricity consumption with […]
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Trashtivist: Percy goes to the dump
The heaviest thing so far in my garbage bag is Percy. Poor, corroded Percy. You were a good train, but now it's time for the landfill.
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Jail time for gardening: Now officially a trend
Hey, remember the woman threatened with 93 days in jail for growing a garden in her front yard? She could have a cellmate! Dirk Becker of Lantzville, British Columbia turned his scraped-dry gravel pit of a property into a thriving organic farm, so of course he's facing six months of jail time. Why? Well, the thing is, this farm was full of DIRT. You can't have dirt in a yard! It's unsanitary.
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25 days of dares: Teens and sunscreens
For the first week of my dare-a-day challenge, I planted peas, spoke to some very smart young people and greened up my sunscreen.
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Six surprising U.S. cities for a car-free vacation
Where should you take your next car-free getaway? These six cities may not boast mass transit systems like New York's, but they do have what it takes to make discovering their best features an easy, fun, and affordable experience without a car.
