Climate Culture
All Stories
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Crowd control: 7 billion people. One last chance to save the planet
Renowned biologist Paul Ehrlich talks about the population problem, the “gibbering idiots” who think he’s wrong, and why we’re incapable of coping with slow-rolling environmental catastrophes.
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Wool balls keep your laundry soft, and maaaaybe save energy
When I was taught to do laundry, I was told that a Bounce dryer sheet went into the dryer with every load of wet clothes. But the green-minded among us have come up with a better solution to keeping your clothes static-free and soft (without involving PVC in the process): wool dryer balls. Get a […]
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Ask Umbra: What’s up with those ‘DO NOT EAT’ packets in shoeboxes and pill bottles?
A reader wonders what to do with those silica gel packs that come with vitamins and shoes. Umbra offers her a chill pill.
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Umbra’s second helpings: Keeping your cool without air-conditioning
A reader wonders about the best ways to beat the heat. Umbra has plenty of suggestions for this hot topic.
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Giant fish made of plastic bottles make Rio+20 look like Burning Man
What does the Rio+20 conference have in common with Burning Man? Apparently, the fact that you might encounter weird, large-scale art made of recycled materials. These fish, made from discarded bottles, grace the Botafogo beach near the conference. From certain angles, they look like they’re humping, but we’re sure that’s not artistic commentary on the […]
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Ikea won’t tell where it gets its wood — and Congress is about to give it a pass
Particleboard is the furniture equivalent of mystery meat -- and Ikea, which in the past has been a leader in responsible wood sourcing, is helping keep it that way.
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Why women’s needs must be part of the conversation at Rio
Increasing women's reproductive freedom is crucial to building a more sustainable world. So why are their needs largely being ignored at the Earth Summit?
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Good clean fun: Can green gadgets replace the washing machine?
Grist's green-living pioneer, the Greenie Pig, tries her hand -- literally -- at skipping the resource-guzzling washer and dryer.
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Newly discovered mushroom is actually a rubber vagina
Well here’s a story that sounds like an urban legend: Villagers in China unearthed a mysterious plant that they thought might be some type of mushroom. It’s described as “fleshy and meaty,” with “something that looks like lips” at one end, and on the other end there’s a hole with a shaft in between and […]
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The Christmas lights of the future will run on firefly juice
Fireflies make light without electricity, and by copying them, scientists have figured out how to do the same thing. Only instead of the yellowish light of fireflies in the night, a team at Syracuse University has figured out how to make green and orange and red light — all out of firefly juice.
