Climate Culture

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  • Ask Umbra on trash, toxics, and tots

    Q. Dear Umbra, Municipal and individual composting operations are gaining steam nationwide. Some obvious benefits include space-saving in landfills, and cheaper and (hopefully) “greener” fertilizer. While I am an avid supporter of composting, I am curious if municipalities with composting facilities could see decreased decomposition rates in their landfills. Do yard and plant scraps even […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Reinventing the JP Green House

    For the last year and a half, Ken Ward and Andrée Zaleska have been rehabbing a 100-year-old former neighborhood store in the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. They’re converting it into a home for their combined family, a community gathering place, and a zero-carbon demonstration home to inspire others — and sharing their journey in […]

    Ken Ward & Andrée Collier Culture

  • Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change

    For some people, climate change is a tough cause to rally ’round — even those who understand that it’s happening and that it’s human-caused get distracted by things like eating, working, having sex, watching TV, or watching people on TV have sex. While social scientists ponder the best ways to get the message out and […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Growing up green: Breathing for two

    Babies don’t like air pollution and neither should you!Early in my pregnancy I developed a bloodhound’s sense of smell: even the faintest of odors overwhelmed me. It’s a common phenomenon during the first trimester of pregnancy, yet my new nasal superpower took me by surprise—and forced me into an unwelcome awareness of the pollution that […]

    Anna Fahey Culture

  • Growing up green: How to shop for a green baby

    Photo courtesy Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr I guess I’ve known all along that introducing a baby into the family meant introducing a whole slew of stuff into our lives — much of it bulky, expensive, and — often — plastic. But I’m fighting all the media and social cues to go on a shopping spree […]

    Anna Fahey Culture

  • Ask Umbra on shower caps, computers, and junk mail

    Q. Dear Umbra, I’ve taken to washing my hair less and less often to keep it from drying out. Since I’ve switched to the “no-‘poo” method (baking soda followed by a vinegar rinse) it stays cleaner longer. However, I still take a shower (brief and lukewarm) most days. To keep my curly hair from becoming […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • You never get a second chance to make No Impact — oh wait, yes you do

    Dearest readers, Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man.You’ve perhaps No-ticed the No Impact swirl of late: there’s been lots of buzz about No Impact Man, the New Yorker who committed his young family to a year of zero-waste living, and his eponymous film. In late October, five thousand people participated in the first-ever No Impact […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • A surprising sneak peek at the clothesline revolution

    This interview is part of a series on people who are making their communities smarter, greener places to live. Got a nomination? Leave it in the comments section or send it along to us. Alexander Lee founded Project Laundry List as a Middlebury College undergrad in 1995, after hearing Dr. Helen Caldicott say we could […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • Random Monday thoughts inspired by a throwaway line from Mark Bittman

    Yes, he occasionally gets on my nerves. But when the great Mark Bittman says stuff like this, all is forgiven (if not forgotten): I am the least impressive cook you will ever see. I am completely without knife skills, I screw things up all the time. When I’m in the kitchen I’m not obsessively trying […]

    Tom Philpott Culture

  • Ask Umbra on climate-skeptic teachers, low-flow toilets, and more

    Q. Dear Umbra, I know it’s a little early, but I had this great idea for a New Year’s resolution. Every month in 2010, I pick a certain eco-area of my life and focus on that for a whole month. So far I have: reduce energy consumption; reduce water consumption; reduce material waste; reuse; recycle; […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture