Latest Articles

Earth Day: Profiling Coal's Eco Heroes

As we remember the first Earth Day happening 40 years ago, it’s also worth spending some time today thinking about our eco heroes, too. I thought I’d spend my post today talking about two fantastic women who are hard-working green heroes in the coal movement. Susan Holmes is behind the group Bokoshe Environmental Cause Group, […]

Severine von Tscharner Fleming

Art by Nat Damm. Original photo by Anthony-Masterson. Severine von Tscharner Fleming Director and Founder, The Greenhorns Hudson Valley, N.Y. Severine von Tscharner Fleming, 28, is director of the forthcoming film The Greenhorns, about America’s young farmers, and founder of a group by the same name that recruits and supports “greenhorn” farmers. The group provides resources, puts on gatherings, hosts a […]

Hai Vo

Art: Nat Damm Hai Vo Food Activist and Farmer Davis, Calif. Five years ago, as he was about to head off to college, Hai Vo weighed in at 250 pounds. But at the University of California–Irvine, he underwent a double transformation: By embracing healthful food, he lost more than 100 pounds, and in an effort […]

Janine Yorio

Art: Nat Damm Janine Yorio Founder and Managing Director, NewSeed Advisors New York City, N.Y. Janine Yorio, 33, formerly a Wall Street investor, has turned her finance savvy to the food world. Her firm, NewSeed Advisors, founded in 2009, invests in and advises promising companies working to make agriculture more sustainable. NewSeed has hosted two […]

Republican Opinions on Environmentalism have Shifted Drastically in the Past 10 Years

In honor of Earth Day, Gallup has just released polling showing how American’s opinions of the environmental movement have changed in the previous ten years. At first glance, the results aren’t pretty: But as has been the case in several other recent polls, the change is due almost entirely to a sharp shift among Republicans. […]

EPA intern offends sensitive meat-industry souls

Ironically enough, the people who cram animals together and stuff them full of dodgy feed are really, really sensitive. So please don’t say anything critical about meat.An iron-clad rule for government bureaucrats of all ranks: thou shalt not question the American habit of eating more than a half pound of meat per day. The folks […]

Ask Umbra’s Earth Day book giveaway

Dearest readers, Happy Earth Day! How are you celebrating? Perhaps by tweeting your little heart out about all the hopeful things going on in the environmental movement (don’t forget to add #hopen)? Well, since you’re on there anyway, why not participate in my little book giveaway? That’s right! Free stuff! Woot! I’m giving away two […]

Amonix has real solar news instead of Earth Day idiocy

I’m waving the green flag of surrender, crushed by the organic cotton-gloved fist of the enviro-public relations-industrial complex. I will write an Earth Day column, my resistance broken by the ceaseless pitches from corporate PR people to include “in your Earth Day coverage” everything from how to “go green between the sheets [and] make your […]

Berlin Reed

Art: Nat DammBerlin Reed The Ethical Butcher Portland, Ore. Berlin Reed, 27, took an unlikely path through vegetarianism and even “militant” veganism before embracing his new profession whole hog — literally. He now styles himself The Ethical Butcher. He gets all of his meat from small, local farms and visits every one to meet the farmers […]

Hipster habits that annoy the Earth [SLIDESHOW]

Photo courtesy davefishernc via FlickrWe don’t mean to jump on the hipster (NSFW) hating bandwagon. We know the young and the hip eat healthier and ride bikes more often than their peers and yadda yadda yadda. But there’s nothing like getting even with the cool kids and catching them in un-green moments. (How cool do […]