Climate Culture
All Stories
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Paper wine bottle is classier than a box and just as compostable
Typically, drinking wine from paper vessels doesn't exactly scream "classy." Think about wine from a box … or a Dixie cup … or a paper bag. But the makers of GreenBottle are trying to break that trend with the world's first paper wine bottle. The bottle has a thin layer of plastic on the inside, […]
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This is the funniest video about repurposing you’ll ever see
What if you have metal can, and you don't want to make a throw away of it and then everyone is sad because you make a litterbug? Flula has ideas! He also has ideas for repurposing shirts, pants, monkeys, milk jugs, and branches. (You cannot make a car from branches, but you can make a […]
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Greenie Pig on ‘shrooms: A trip into wild-food foraging
Photo: Elisabeth Kwak-HefferanFarm to table? Please, so 2009. Forest to table is where it’s at right now. And while foraging one’s own nettles, berries, or chestnuts (or paying top dollar for them at hip restaurants) has both foodies and greenies all in a tizzy these days, no other gathering activity has quite the cachet of […]
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Letter from an imprisoned activist: Time to ‘play dirty’ for the climate’s sake
Delaying a decision on Keystone XL doesn’t redeem Obama’s failure to take advantage of his opportunity to turn the tide of climate change.Photo: The White HouseIt goes without saying that politics is a dirty system. It’s so dirty that I believe there are only three reasonable approaches to politics: apathy/despair, overthrowing the system, or playing […]
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Hilton hotels recycle soap for charity
Pretty much nobody besides Eloise and Leonard Cohen stays in a hotel for long enough to go through a bar of soap. They can't put your slightly-used soap out for the next guest, though, so hotels throw out more than 2.5 million bars a day. Hilton Hotels have now realized how stupid this is, and […]
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Ask Umbra: Is it bad to leave a window open when the heat is on?
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, When I was in college, I had a friend who thought she was eco-conscious, but she used to crank the heat and then leave the windows open for “fresh air.” Years later, I dated a woman who lived in a building where the heaters were stuck on […]
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‘The Story of Broke,’ Annie Leonard’s new video
Annie Leonard made a splash with her viral video about our consumerist society, “The Story of Stuff,” which inspired a book, an in-depth website, and a series of spinoffs. Her latest installment in the series is “The Story of Broke” — watch it here: The video in a nutshell: The Story of Broke: Why there’s […]
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Baby boomers are the worst for the climate
At what age does a person do the most damage to the climate? According to a new study, between about 45 and 80. Starting at birth, a person’s carbon dioxide emissions sprint up and up and up, until they hit their peak at age 65. But by 80, a person's emissions are down to 13.1 […]
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Green lifestyle choices won’t solve the climate problem
Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, aka the Greenie Pig, is feeling guilty about her plane trip to a friend’s wedding and decided to try to make up for it by rolling her own carbon offsets — that is, skimping on car travel and other energy use to make up for all that jet fuel she helped burn. While […]
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Ask Umbra: Is fabric compostable?
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Does polyester ever break down into molecules that return to the natural state? Does dyed wool compost? Evelyn P.Powell River, B.C. A. Dearest Evelyn, You pose two good questions, though the more I peer into the murky world of textile production and disposal, the more I want […]
