Climate Culture
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Ask Umbra on the dangers of BPA in canning lids and canned food
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, My wife and I belong to a CSA. We are getting some cucumbers that I would like to try and pickle. My wife says the lids to the classic mason jars have BPA in them. Do you know how much of a concern this is in the context […]
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On World Population Day, take note: population isn’t the problem
Is population growth the cause of our troubles?A green myth is on the march. It wants to blame the world’s overbreeding poor people for the planet’s peril. It stinks. And on World Population Day, I encourage fellow environmentalists not to be seduced. Some greens think all efforts to save the world are doomed unless we […]
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Three of our favorite politicians on two wheels
While oil continues to gush in the Gulf of Mexico and the future of federal climate and energy legislation looks dim, there remains one relatively easy solution for those interested in saving the planet: riding your bike. And it’s nice to know we’re not the only ones who think so. Here are a few of […]
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Ask Umbra’s Book Club discussion starts next week
Dearest readers, Next week, we’ll begin our discussion of The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One by Sylvia Earle. If you haven’t gotten your book yet, there’s still time! Take it to a beach or air conditioned coffee shop near you and dive in! It really is a fast and […]
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Department of Energy turns out to be the Energy Hog
“What changes are you willing to make to save energy at work?” asks a blog post from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Savers blog. Energy Hog Hiding Place #1: The Department of Energyenergyhog.orgFor starters, how about swapping out old fluorescent and incandescent lighting, as its own website suggests? Wait a minute, file that under […]
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Cleanup efforts bring life back to Grand Calumet River
Grand Calumet River near Gary AirportLeslie DorworthThe first time I saw the Grand Calumet River, I was driving down the Indiana Toll Road. It was 1996, and I had just arrived in northwest Indiana from North Carolina to take a new job as an aquatic ecology extension specialist with the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program. All […]
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Bicycle trailers and human-powered house moves
I want my next move to be by bicycle. Crazy? Not at all. Thanks to impressive new bicycle trailer designs, such a move is now possible. So are other, similarly audacious feats of human-powered hauling, from freighting fish to delivering mattresses. (More on that in a moment.) In 1981, when I left for college, (almost) […]
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Not even the Beatles can stop the oil spill [VIDEO]
When leaking crude threatens cartoon characters in a pineapple under the sea (under the sea!), the Beatles give it a go in this animated short. “We’ve been trying to stop the oil with our music,” they say. “It’s not working.” ——————————————————————————————————————————————– Like what you see? Sign up to receive The Grist List, our email roundup […]
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It’s raining apples
These apples might look green, but they’re perfectly ripe — and begging to be picked.(Steph Larsen photos) I have my work cut out for me.When nature calls on the farm, we listen. Meaning, when a fruit with a short shelf life becomes suddenly ripe, there’s no choice but to drop everything else. Did you know […]
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Want a party? Kick cars off the street in Oakland
Shut down a street to autos and sunny revelry instantly breaks out with lots of happy Californians. OK, maybe not automatically, but a key appeal of Complete Streets is that human-scaled throughways tend to be much more social than environments designed for cars. Streetsfilms makes the case by chronicling the first-ever Ciclovía day on Oakland, […]
