Climate Culture

Toronto women's shelter starts bike-sharing program

When you're broke and scared and used to not being in charge of your own life, regaining autonomy is a step-by-step process. Getting on a bike can help with all that.

Zero-energy lighting for poor communities requires only water and bleach

It can get pretty dark under the corrugated metal roofs of Manila’s slums. Millions of families in the Philippines go without electric light, and those who have it can be at risk of fires from faulty wiring. But thanks to an innovation developed at MIT and distributed by the Liter of Light project, that problem […]

'Katrina cottages' become permanent housing

"Katrina cottages," alternatives to FEMA trailers used after Hurricane Katrina, find new life around the country as housing and educational facilities.

Why aren't men demanding decent male birth control?

Contraception has long been the province of women. Isn't it about time for men to get in on the game? These days men have a lot more at stake than they used to.

Trashtivist: Where did the garbage go?

I want to tell you stories about my gross garbage. I really do. But so far, there's just not that much of it.

Could you squeeze into the world's skinniest house?

Ask Umbra Book Club: How sustainable is minimalism?

Welcome to the first day of discussing Ask Umbra's July book club pick, The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Living Guide.

Umbra takes on 25 dares in 25 days

Ask Umbra takes on a new sustainable living dare every day for 25 days.

DuPont herbicide may have caused mysterious tree plague

Millions of dollars worth of spruce and pine trees across the country have mysteriously withered and died in the past few months. The likely culprit is an herbicide marketed as a way to control lawn pests like dandelions.

The herbicide is Imprelis, a new product from DuPont. It was supposed to be better for the environment than its predecessors and has been sold at a premium to professional landscapers. DuPont claims it "may not have been mixed properly or was applied with other herbicides." Landscapers just want to know if they're going to have to pay to replace the trees that died on their watch.

Plastic purge: The poo problem

Millions of pet dogs in the United States means a lot of poo-filled plastic bags in landfills. Here's how Hank and I figured out a solution to that nasty mess.