Culture

Ask Umbra: What should I do with my old bike helmet?

A reader is at a loss for how to toss her battered brain bucket. Umbra, as always, is outspoken.

Ask Umbra® Culture

Hot on the trail: Exploring parks threatened by climate change

Writer Mike Lanza wanted his kids to experience our national parks before climate change alters them forever. So he took his entire family on a year-long quest to visit our most endangered wild places.

Ted Alvarez Culture

New film about fracking stars Matt Damon, John Krasinski, and maybe you

Ryan Gosling may have saved a woman from a speeding car, but some of our other favorite stars are doing the next best thing: starring in an anti-fracking movie. Gus Van Sant is directing, and the cast includes Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, probably Hal Holbrook — and, if you can get to Pittsburgh […]

Jess Zimmerman Culture

Flame retardants can turn a burning room into a gas chamber

You know brominated and chlorinated flame retardants are bad when when even Walmart bans them from its products. Unfortunately, some fire codes require them.

Christopher Mims Culture

Potty talk: How best to green up your bathroom business

Grist’s eco-living pioneer, the Greenie Pig, ventures where few have dared to go -- the realm of the porcelain goddess -- and returns with a few tricks you might want to try. But be warned, this is not for the faint of heart.

Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan Culture

We-Flashy sells reflective biking gear that looks like normal cool clothes

Oh yes, you're cool. Your bike looks like a Victorian gentleman. Your helmet looks like a tweed fedora. And your reflective vest looks like ... a shitty reflective vest. You have two options: Embrace ugliness as a hipness signifier, or find reflective clothing that actually looks like something you'd wear on purpose.

Jess Zimmerman Culture

April fooled? Spot the real news among made-up stories

It gets harder each year to distinguish between bizarre true stories that land on April 1 and genuine leg-pulling. Here are our favorite gags from this year — plus a few legit stories. See if you can find the fakers.

Grist staff Culture

Biodegradable slippers are the new creepy toe shoes (we hope)

I’m pretty sure this is the ultimate eco-product: a biodegradable shoe modeled after the Amazonian practice of painting resin onto one’s feet to protect them. Should you invest in these lovelies? Let us examine the advantages and disadvantages. Advantages: You can dispose of them in a compost bin. (Pre-shredding required.) You can get rid of […]

Sarah Laskow Culture

Indian man single-handedly plants hundreds of acres of forest

In the northern Indian province of Assam, there's a forest named after one man — not a politician, or a historical hero, but a guy who lives there today. It's named after him because he planted most of its 1,360 acres.