Climate Culture
All Stories
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Owning a car is like having a second mortgage
Auckland Transport Blog points out a sobering calculation from the book The Option of Urbanism: The financial cost of owning and maintaining a car is equivalent to the cost of owning a small house. (Well, a small house in a cheap area. But still.) AAA calculated that the average cost of car ownership and maintenance […]
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Better than air conditioning: Tips for biking through the heat wave
Heat wave biking isn't for everyone. But if you put some thought into how you dress, take it slow, and always have water on hand, you'll love it.
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Alpha and omega-3: Ask Umbra on vitamins for vegetarians
Seeking to fortify your diet in sustainable ways? Ask Umbra is happy to supplement your knowledge of dietary supplements.
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Net zero living in a walkable neighborhood
A historic house in Ann Arbor generates more energy than it consumes, is located in a walkable neighborhood.
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Va-va-vintage: Country club kitsch
I skipped the last pair of mom jeans today for a preppy sweater and a linen skirt. Did someone just call me Muffy?
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25 days of dares: Forkprints and fracking
It's the last week of Umbra's 25 days of dares. She dares to green her take-out and high-five a bus driver.
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Good lord, American homes are huge
This infographic from the BBC shows how much newly built North American, and especially U.S., homes dwarf those currently being built in Europe. The average new U.S. home is more than twice as big as the average new home in the U.K.
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Chill your beer without using any electricity
A one that is not cold is scarcely a one at all, but keeping beer frosty on a hot day normally sucks up energy. Not anymore. This ancient innovation uses clay pots, sand, and water to keep stuff cool even on a hot day.
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Va-va-vintage: My mom — style maven or hoarder?
The finds from my mom's closet have been so successful that some people think I didn't even have to dig to find them. Oh, I dug. Believe me. I dug.
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British kids build greenhouse out of plastic bottles
What do you do with the empty plastic bottles that you really shouldn't have been drinking out of, anyway? These British school children spent a year and half collecting 1,500 of them and used the bottles to construct a greenhouse, in which they are very successfully growing tomatoes.
