Climate Culture

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  • Old gumball machines give guerrilla gardeners easy ammo

    For the guerrilla gardener on the go, why be bothered with making your own seed bombs? Greenaid’s repurposed candy dispensers will arm you with grenades of greenery for all those times you’re deep in urban war zones and remember you’re not packin’ peat (or seeds). Helping the natives beat rebel plants is now as easy […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • Ask Umbra on eyewear, faux eco efforts, and Easter baskets

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I need to replace my eyewear—the lenses need updating and the frames are damaged—and I’m wondering what the most sustainable choice is. Frameless seems likely, but if I want to go with a frame (Coke bottle lenses, anyone?) then is metal the way to go? Blindly,Hope K.Providence, […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Watching the green screens at the Environmental Film Festival in D.C.

    HomegrownSpring and the Environmental Film Festival both burst into full bloom at the festival’s start in the Nation’s Capital last weekend. Eco-movie buffs, many having withstood record snowfalls in Washington, D.C., this winter, eschewed the beauty of the outdoors to watch the beauty of the outdoors indoors in the form of a wellspring of eco-conscious […]

    Jennifer Prediger Culture

  • What’s that funny-talking TV chef doing in my West Virginia hometown?

    It’s about 8:45 a.m. and I’m sitting in an audio booth, waiting to talk to Brit celebrity chef Jaime Oliver on the other end of a high-quality line. I’m his third, set-‘em-up-and-knock-‘em-down “interview” of the morning. The night before he was on Letterman. He’s 15 minutes late, and I have an uneasy feeling. Not about […]

    Jeff Young Culture

  • A fast-and-furious weeknight skillet dinner

    In Tom’s Kitchen, Grist’s food editor discusses some of the quick-and-easy things he gets up to in, well, his kitchen. Forgive him for the lame iPhone photography. —————— Last night, I wanted something fast and simple for dinner–that also tasted really good. I hadn’t been grocery shopping for a while, and nothing much is coming […]

    Tom Philpott Culture

  • Whoops: Energy Star approves gas-powered alarm clock

    This (ahem) “space heater” earned a government Energy Star rating.Photo: Government Accountability OfficeWell this is embarrassing: Federal monitors granted the Energy Star stamp of approval to a number of bogus appliances, including a gas-powered alarm clock and an electric space heater with a feather duster taped to it. The Government Accountability Office submitted the fake […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Culture

  • HFCS study authors defend work against attacks

    Photo: BoekeMarion Nestle, along with other nutritionists have joined the Corn Refiners Association in criticizing the recent Princeton study on High Fructose Corn Syrup. Indeed the very title of Nestle’s post on the subject — “HFCS makes rats fat?” — seems to question the well-established practice of using rats to test hypotheses regarding human nutrition. […]

    Tom Laskawy Culture

  • Ask Umbra chews the fat with Moby

    Whatever you do when you meet Moby (eventually, we all will), don’t tell him you enjoy his book. “That’s a strange word to use,” he said when I did the very thing I’m telling you not to do. My face briefly turned the same shade as my hair as I attempted to explain how exactly […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Celeb couple awkwardly asks you to dim the lights for Earth Hour

    On Saturday at 8:30 p.m. local time (wherever you are) join 30 U.S. states, 3,100 U.S. cities, 121 countries, and celeb couple Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen (in both their homes), by turning off your lights for World Wildlife Fund’s 4th annual Earth Hour. And what a more inspiring couple to promote the event than […]

    Tyler Falk Culture

  • Do you prefer your green space pre-packaged?

    This enlightened group of Spanish nightstalkers are fed up with shrinking urban green space. Worried that the most greenery people see nowadays comes in plastic containers with a sell-by date, they decided to prank up the limelight on an ugly corner of Madrid with their Packaged Vertical Garden. We think their style packs way more […]

    Ashley Braun Culture