Climate Culture

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  • Ask Umbra on writer’s block

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I am starting an internship at a sustainability consulting firm and was asked to blog about relevant issues. I am blocked by a few mind obstacles: I can’t help but think that I’m stealing other writers’ ideas, or that my audience is in the same bucket as […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Climate-news poem: Strange bedfellows edition

    This week brought news that made all sorts of people say, “Well, damn!”: The climate-bill support of one Senator Lindsey Graham. The damners on the left are thrilled that Graham thinks with his head. The damners on the right shout, “Lindsey, why’d you get in bed!” They’ve also had some more choice words, like wussypants […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • Does being hot make your green website hot, too?

    Here at Grist, we like to think of ourselves as trendspotters. And this is one trend we didn’t mind spotting: hot actresses are starting green websites left and right. With the launch of the most recent addition from Alicia Silverstone, we thought we’d take a peek at what lies beneath the glitz and glamour. Oh, […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • 4.5 things I learned at my energy audit

    As my family and co-workers will readily attest, I looked forward to my energy audit with disturbing anticipation after I made the appointment about a month ago. I was nearly giddy at the thought of having all my energy-efficiency questions answered: Should I replace my windows? Insulate? Wrap my water heater? Were there huge drafts […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • Bloggers of all stripes grab a piece of the climate pie for Blog Action Day 2009

    Maybe you’re a medical student in Hungary who finds release by detailing your daily life online. Or you’re an avid chronicler of the latest baby-name trends. Whatever your background or topic of choice, you’re a blogger — and you probably have an audience of at least one. Now multiply your blog times 9,000 others across […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • The best part about climate change

    On a recent work day at the JP Green House, volunteers came out of the woodwork.Leise JonesOne of the early effects of climate change was the demise of my marriage. I was living a comfortable, middle-class life that was all wrong for my politics, and my essential devotion to simplicity. At some point in my […]

    Andrée Collier Culture

  • Ask Umbra on climate weapons

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, What does a carbon offset do today for the planet? It seems to me like these vehicles are more for our guilty conscience than for real change. What do you think? Ingrid G.Chicago, Ill. A. Dearest Ingrid, Get involved in the climate fight — become a Climate […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Ask Umbra on offsetting work trips

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Lately I have been traveling a lot for work. This has made me seriously consider buying offsets for these trips. I know that it is better to not travel at all, but outside of quitting my job I can’t get around it. I have considered spending money […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • NASCAR and the high-octane American dream

    The action at the Talladega Superspeedway.At dawn on a hazy autumn morning, the rising sun spilled over the steel grandstands of the Talladega Superspeedway like foam from a cracked can of Bud. This image likely came to mind because I was lying beneath a tarp in a scrubby Alabama meadow carpeted with empty beer cans […]

    Amanda Little Culture

  • Entourage season finale delivers surprises and sustainability

    Warning: If the season finale of Entourage is waiting on your TiVO and you haven’t watched it yet, come back and read this post later as it contains spoilers. On the season finale of HBO’s Entourage, Matt Damon stole the show with a guest appearance as a well-meaning yet overbearing version of himself. But another […]

    Miles Grant Culture