Climate Culture

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  • Ask Umbra’s pearls of wisdom on sleeping

    Dearest readers, Yawn. Goodness me, I could use a nap — perhaps a nice long eight-hour nap to celebrate National Sleep Awareness Week and prep for Daylight Saving Time starting on Sunday (don’t forget to spring forward!). While I go catch a few z’s, enjoy my troll through the archives to snag slumber-related suggestions. Got […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Streetfilms: Fixing the car-centric city [video]

    “Fixing the Great Mistake” is a new Streetfilms series that examines what went wrong in the early part of the 20th Century, when our cities began catering to the automobile, and how those decisions continue to affect our lives today. In this episode, Transportation Alternatives director Paul Steely White shows how planning for cars drastically […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • McMansion modular

    Remember when modular homes were going to be part  of the “green” future?  In the post-Dwell, post-postmodern architecture era, pre-fab was going to be cheap, green, hot and hip.  Yes, finally, an antidote to McMansions and an affordable alternative to ballooning home prices.  As if that were not enough,  these stylish boxes were set to […]

    Lisa Selin Davis Culture

  • How many Venezuelan soldiers does it take to change a lightbulb?

    An entire army, apparently. El Presidente of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, put in big orders for energy efficiency when he commanded the country’s lightbulbs get swapped for CFLs. Why the power play? A drought of hydropower has the nation in energy crisis and the military armed with efficient lightbulbs, laying waste to every wasteful incandescent in […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • A recipe for delish disaster: global warming hot apple pie

    apocalypsecakes.wordpress.com Just because the planet is turning up the heat, doesn’t mean we should get out of the kitchen. If we’re going to be globally baking anyway, we might as well take a slice out of the life of pi pie of life while we’re at it. So go eat up this delectable recipe for […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • A Cleveland mall turns lost retail space into farm stand

    Photo: Fast CompanyShopping malls, those bastions of American consumerism, have not been immune to the recent economic downturn. In a recent piece by our own Greg Lindsay, we looked at the impending decline of the mall, which is part of the “single-use environment” category of real estate development that will slowly disappear over the next […]

    Fast Company Culture

  • Ask Umbra on Annie Leonard and The Story of Stuff

    Do you ever think about all the resources, the man hours, the stuff that went into making your iPod? Your cell phone? Your computer? The clothes you’re wearing? Annie Leonard did. And then she started talking to other people about it. You may have seen her animated 20-minute viral video, released in 2007, The Story […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Cocaine addicts are snorting their way to a warmer world

    Passetti via Flickr You may snort at the news, but it’s the real snuff: Cocaine is hard on your sinuses, but it’s not crazy fun for the planet either. Celebs’ favorite nose candy is knocking down rainforest in party favor of coca plants, thus speeding up climate change. In fact, “for every few lines of […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • Ask Umbra on shoe polish, socially responsible investing, and Facebook

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I prefer to buy shoes that will last me a long time rather than buy lots of cheap ones that consume many resources. Is there an environmentally friendly shoe polish that I can use to keep my feet looking spiffy for the long haul? LaineWashington, D.C. A. […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Is ‘Birdemic’ the best/worst apocalyptic thriller of all time?

    If it weren’t for some seriously nom-nom-y green Oscar noms, I’d be either A.) extremely embarrassed or B.) extremely pumped about the future of enviro films after watching the trailer for “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.” Or both. What do you have to dread look forward to if you catch this latest internet fever? “Woefully inept […]

    Ashley Braun Culture