Climate Culture
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Getting their fair share: The rise of the barter market [VIDEO]
Barter markets — where people bring stuff they don’t want and exchange it for stuff that other people don’t want — are like urban sustainability Swiss Army knives. It’s amazing how many things they can do. They reduce the amount of expensive new crap people buy. They help folks clean out unwanted junk from their […]
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The great unwashed: Ask Umbra on twice-weekly showers
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, My two sons, age 12, shower twice a week, with prompting. I told them most Americans shower daily, and one of them stated flatly, “That’s crazy. It’s wasteful.” Now, I am all for saving water, but I told them it depends on the situation. What is your […]
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Too good to be true: biodegradable forks
Methane spoils everything. Natural gas drilling would be less risky if it didn't have the potential to release clouds of methane into the atmosphere. Methane cow farts make even grass-fed beef a less-green option than no beef at all. And now it turns out that those biodegradable plastic utensils we've been telling ourselves are soooo […]
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How to stay cool for next to nothing
Central AC is for suckers. Why are you cooling every inch of your house, even the dust bunnies under the couch, when the only part that actually needs to be cooled is your body? Having endured, sans air conditioning, countless summers in locations including the deep South and the middle of the gigantic urban heat […]
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Ask Umbra’s Book Club announces ‘The Joy of Less’ is next book
Dearest readers, Spring cleaning has gotten me thinking about de-cluttering — and the larger minimalist movement. It sure feels great to get rid of things we no longer use or need, but what’s to stop us from just filling up our lives with more stuff? Minimalism and environmentalism have a lot in common — enough […]
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EPA critics are hogging the air time
According to a Media Matters report, cable news channels are flooding the airwaves with people who oppose the EPA's rules regulating greenhouse gases: They get four times as much airtime as supporters. Of 199 guests discussing EPA rules on cable news shows between December 2009 and this April, 152 opposed the rules, and only 35 […]
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Websites help you choose a walkable, low-commute home
Looking for an apartment involves a lot of guesswork — if you believe Craigslist, absolutely everything is "steps from shopping and transportation!" If you want to figure out how to maximize walkability and minimize commute, you have to actually schlep over there. Or, now, you could just hit the web. PadMapper integrates rental listings, Google maps, […]
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A Seattle development that is greener than green
Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Leave it to a city famous for coffee and rain to produce possibly the best example of transit-oriented urbanism, natural public space, and green stormwater infrastructure I have ever seen. This Seattle redevelopment is green in so many ways that it is hard to know where to start. […]
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Reno 9-year-old finds simple, smart water-saving solution
Two years ago, Mason Perez, then seven, went to wash deposits of ballpark ketchup and relish off his hands and face. The water in the Reno Aces ballpark poured out the faucet so hard and fast that it hurt his hands. His mom turned down the faucet, and that's when Perez had a brilliant, simple […]
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Hoofin’ it: Ask Umbra on faux-leather Birkenstocks
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I love Birkenstocks, but what’s the deal with Birko-Flor? A leather alternative, sure. But they’re vinyl, and I believe vinyl is a four-letter word in Grist world. Would I be better off just sticking to traditional leather-upper Birks? JenniferBrooklyn, N.Y. Heart and sole. Photo: pi?A. Dearest Jennifer, […]
