Climate Culture

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  • Charts explain our current situation and how to improve it

    The hundreds of data sets that accompany Lester Brown’s latest book, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, illustrate the world’s current predicament and give a sense of where we might go from here. Here are some highlights from the collection. Veering toward the edge: As the world economy has expanded […]

    Lester Brown Culture

  • New tool calculates your nitrogen footprint and explains why you should be ashamed of it

    Are you looking for something to flagellate yourself over? Carbon footprints are last week’s news: The new hot subject for self-recrimination is your nitrogen footprint. According to the International Nitrogen Initiative, your nitrogen consumption is contributing to a host of environmental ills: Today, reactive nitrogen has dramatically increased in our air and water. It comes […]

    Jess Zimmerman Culture

  • You’ll want to be BFFs with the Bicycle Film Festival

    Do you have sick tricks, some kind of awesome human-powered art vehicle, or just a great story to tell about a bike? Then you should submit a short film to the 2011 Bicycle Film Festival, an international, multi-city push to showcase the cultural significance of biking. To get inspired, watch BFF’s compilation video of films […]

    Jess Zimmerman Culture

  • Philips wants to reward some innovative urban ideas

    A rendering showing how rooftops in Sana’a, Yemen, could be used to collect water.The ideal of smart cities — technologically advanced, forward-thinking, and green — is big in corporate circles these days. IBM has its “Smarter Cities” program, Cisco has its “Smart+Connected Communities,” and the giant electronics corporation Philips has been promoting the concept of […]

    Sarah Goodyear Culture

  • An exclusive with the artist behind Detroit’s new Robocop statue

    An iron pour from Westbrook’s performance at the University of West Georgia’s Art Incend event in October 2008.Photo: Casey WestbrookImagine a 10-foot-high steel bong filled with industrial grade coke that spews fire like Mordor and reaches temperatures hot enough to turn your radiator into a pool of molten slag. In the background, dimly illuminated by […]

    Christopher Mims Culture

  • Yo, Congress, you need to pony up $1B for global family planning

    We’re surging toward a world population of 7 billion this year — and we still haven’t even made contraception available to everyone who wants it. The new “Million for a Billion” campaign aims to bridge that gap. Here’s a video to set the scene: Right now, 215 million women who want to avoid getting pregnant […]

    Lisa Hymas Culture

  • Family values for population hawks: adopting a foster child

    Photo: jrodmanjrLast month, Lisa Hymas posted a list of eight things all of us can do about population. It was a great roundup (my favorite was No. 4), but I’d like to add an item: If you really want to be a parent — that is, if you’d like to help guide and shape and […]

    Carla Saulter Culture

  • Ask Umbra on making yogurt at home, with or without electricity

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I bought a yogurt maker in Germany eight years ago that consists of a glass jar and a sturdy styrofoam container. It cost about $20, works wonderfully, and doesn’t require electricity. Why can’t I find a similar product in the U.S.? KatherineCupertino, CA DIY that’s easy to digest.Photo: […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Hey, enviros, greens, climate hawks — we all need to stand up for Planned Parenthood

    A society is not sustainable if women don’t have basic control over their fertility. That’s just fundamental, a no-brainer. So the ongoing Republican assault war blitzkrieg on women’s reproductive rights and Planned Parenthood specifically should enrage anyone who cares about a sustainable future — and propel us off our asses. This isn’t just an attack […]

    Lisa Hymas Culture

  • Dear media: Quit the ‘manly vegan’ trend pieces

    A “hegan” in his natural habitat?Photo: ekornblutEvery year or so, a media outlet has the shocking realization that — ready? — not all men eat meat. Gasp! First, there was the New York Times piece about vegan firefighters, which boils down to “Wait, how can burly dudes who put out fires eat anything other than […]

    Holly Richmond Culture