Climate Culture

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  • Ask Umbra on 8 things you can do to fight the Gulf oil spill

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, This oil spill has really gotten me down. Countless millions of gallons flowing into the beautiful Gulf of Mexico and no end in sight. The leak just keeps on leaking. I hate to admit this, but I’m feeling helpless and a bit hopeless. I’m not a big […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Louisiana residents paint mural for Obama and BP

    Image of the day: Residents near Grand Isle, La. painted this mural for President Obama’s visit last week. Twitter.com/MacMcClelland Courtesy Mother Jones reporter Mac McLelland, who’s reporting up a storm from the Gulf.  

    Jonathan Hiskes Culture

  • Why is India the poster child for the population problem?

    A market street in Chennai, India.Photo: mckaysavage via FlickrJulia Whitty has written a smart, nuanced cover story on population for Mother Jones.  She addresses the important issues, she connects the dots, she knows her stuff. But I have a bone to pick. About half of the article explores the wide-ranging set of issues associated with […]

    Lisa Hymas Culture

  • Egger’s Head: The oil spill

    There’s a lot going on in Robert Egger’s head. Just ask him. Which is exactly what we do on a regular basis. And who is this Robert Egger, you wonder? He is the Founder of D.C. Central Kitchen, who moonlights as a rabble rouser, entrepreneur, and non-profit innovator with a knack for knitting disparate ideas […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Mercury pollution from dental offices is contaminating your seafood

    It seems innocent enough. Your dentist is giving you a new filling. You get some of those little metal slivers in your mouth and he tells you take a swig of water. Rinse and spit. No problem, right? Unfortunately, each one of those slivers is about half mercury. Multiply that simple routine millions of times, […]

    Michael Bender Culture

  • Ask Umbra’s pearls of wisdom on Memorial Day

    Dearest readers, Ah, Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial kickoff of summer—even though we’re still rocking scarves and raincoats here at Grist HQ. To prep you for this glorious three-day weekend, I’ve sifted through the archives and found these handy holiday-appropriate tidbits, from flying the flag to drinking beer (both arguably patriotic acts). What’s going on […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • When cyclists go uncensored

    dustDesign Co.Now, we at Grist don’t like to encourage contests of “who art the greenest of them all,” but we think this tote bag (made of recycled cotton and soda bottles, natch) for the hardcore bike lover really makes a(n uncensored) statement about the iconic Prius and its pious following. On the other handlebar, it […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • Couple buried alive under the weight of their own junk

    Sure, most people living in the Western world could probably definitely do with consuming much, much less stuff. But this Chicago couple demonstrates the extreme: what can happen when a throwaway society like ours throws you away. Turns out you actually can be consumed by your own consumption. (Lucky for them, this pair survived.) [vodpod […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • Public service announcement: Don’t spit on the people transporting you

    ghmss via Flickr Creative Commons Bus drivers put up with a lot of crap: cranky commuters in the early morning, drunk partiers late at night, and would-be passengers breathlessly demanding that they open-the-doors-right-this-minute-I-didn’t-chase-this-bus-three-blocks-for-nothing. Maybe even witnessing the occasional fight. But, to my surprise, one of the spit falls of working in mass transit appears to […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • Win some free ‘Dirt!’

    Dearest readers, I’m giving away DVDs of Dirt! The Movie signed by the directors to eight lucky readers. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, the film is a glorious ode to the “living skin of the Earth” we so often taken for granted—an homage to dirt, if you will. All you have to do is let […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture