Climate Culture
All Stories
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Swimming pools don’t have to be insults to the planet
Swimming pools — so awesome and fun, but so not actually good for the environment in any way. But KB Custom Pools, a pool company in Texas, has a sorta-kinda-more-like-a-real-body-of-water alternative. Their Eco-Smart pools match the topography of your backyard, use a filtration system that doesn't require harsh chemicals, and can be heated using solar panels. Gizmodo goes so far as to say it's positively lake-like (minus, of course, the mucky bottom and the fish).
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World population could just keep on expanding, says expert
"Leading demographers, including those at the United Nations and the U.S. Census Bureau, are projecting that world population will peak at 9.5 billion to 10 billion later this century and then gradually decline as poorer countries develop. But what if those projections are too optimistic?"
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Can smartphones serve as birth control? [VIDEO]
This amusing Indian ad suggests that smartphones can bring down birthrates. If you're having 3G fun, why bother with old-fashioned amorous pursuits?
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Got trash? Put a kitten in it.
The Etsy shop Atomic Attic makes upcycled pet beds and feeding trays out of old suitcases and vintage electronics, thus making use of a cat's natural tendency to sit on any damn thing you happen to have lying around. My dog wouldn't fit in a suitcase — maybe a steamer trunk — but I love […]
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Critical List: Coal companies lavish cash on Boehner; how to stick it to hungry deer
Boehner's got his hands all sooty with coal money.
Uh, guys? Maybe we should check up on the safety of nuclear plants? Kthx. XOXO, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
California chose solar PV projects over solar thermal projects because the latter use more water. -
The largest outdoor green wall in North America
Why just have a green roof when you can have a green wall? This 3,000-square-foot wall, which fronts a public library in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada, was installed by green wall company Green Over Grey. It consists of over 10,000 plants in over 120 species.
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Rick Perry stumbles and mumbles as he tries to defend abstinence education [VIDEO]
"Abstinence works." That's Rick Perry's response to a question about why Texas is sticking with abstinence-only education despite its high teen pregnancy rate.
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Do individual green actions matter? Maybe not, says New York Times
The Huffington Post's eco-etiquette column yesterday featured a question from “Kimberly,” who writes "I used to be enthusiastic about going green, but now I feel like what's the point? Like a stupid reusable water bottle is going to make a difference…" She got a comforting answer, but if she’d written to the New York Times, op-ed contributor Gernot Wagner might have told her she might as well pack it in.
HuffPo’s advice columnist Jennifer Grayson identified Kimberly’s problem — "You're having a F**k it moment right now" — and told her to step back, take a breather, and "remember that individual actions do make a difference."
But Wagner, an economist with the Environmental Defense Fund, has a different answer for people like Kimberly:
[S]adly, individual action does not work. It distracts us from the need for collective action, and it doesn’t add up to enough. Self-interest, not self-sacrifice, is what induces noticeable change. ...
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Toilet-sharing app CLOO' turns your home into a public bathroom
Hey, we all love sharing, right? It lets you live comfortably while limiting consumption and waste. And you have that bathroom, and you're not using it all the time, right? What are you, selfish? Put your money where your mouth is, toilet-hog, and offer up your bathroom to strangers with a deuce to donate. Otherwise the terrorists win.
If you're seriously willing to hang an "Open to Strange Butts" placard outside your lavatory (what are you, nuts? We were joking), a new app called CLOO' will let you take shit from just about anyone.
