Climate Culture

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  • Top 20 green colleges

    Sierra magazine has just released its third annual list of what it calls “the most eco-enlightened U.S. colleges.” It ranks schools based on the results of a questionnaire sent to sustainability experts at hundreds of institutions across the country. Scores were assigned in eight categories: efficiency, energy, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, and administration. […]

    Claire Thompson Culture

  • How to deal with incandescent excuses and ‘dim bulbs’

    The phase-out of incandescent bulbs in the European Union begins next month, so it’s time to get prepared for a new round of ridiculous excuses about why folks can’t use more efficient lights. Despite having been dealt with repeatedly, these seem to be dug up anytime lights make the news. Luckily, they seem to get […]

    Lane Burt Culture

  • Washington state prisons pursue sustainable practices, green-collar job training

    Daniel plants showy fleabane, a prairie flower native to the Pacific Northwest, at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center.Photo: Sarah van Schagen Rows and rows of small yellow cylinders fill the greenhouse where Daniel works steadily, beads of sweat forming on his round, bald head as he places tiny seeds in each container. He is planting […]

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Seattle voters toss disposable bag fee

    Image: Tom Twigg/GristIn the end, elections always come down to numbers. In the case of Seattle’s Aug. 18 primary — a vote that would decide whether the city would adopt a 20-cent fee for paper and plastic bags at local stores — the most important number turned out to be not the 20 cents nor […]

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Coal coloring book teaches kids all about dirty energy

    Update below The coal-industry group Families Organized to Represent the Coal Economy, which doesn’t actually allow families to join, has a wonderfully crappy coloring book for children. Let’s have a look! Plot, character development, and drawings that kids would actually want to color don’t seem to be priorities for “Eyes for Frosty.” At least it […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Culture

  • ‘The Cove’ pulls no punches in documenting Japanese dolphin hunt

    The Cove documents a the hunting of dolphins in one Japanese fishing village.Early on in The Cove, director Louie Psihoyos describes how he assembled an “Ocean’s Eleven”-like team of specialists to infiltrate and expose a secret, brutal, for-profit dolphin-killing operation in Japan. The description fits the film, which is structured more like an action thriller […]

    Claire Thompson Culture

  • Ask Umbra on dream trips

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Like any married couple, my husband and I occasionally fantasize about what we’ll do with our life in our retirement years. We’ve had the typical RV fantasy as we do love to travel, but we worry about the gas consumption and resulting emissions that would come of […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Bill McKibben talks climate on Colbert Report

    Bill McKibben—author, Grist board member, and 350.org leader—appeared on The Colbert Report Monday night to talk climate change and spread the word about the International Day of Climate Action on Oct. 24. He also gave a solid explanation of the significance of the number 350. The ever-courteous Stephen Colbert threatened to upstage him by launching […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Culture

  • Would you pay more for walkability? Should you?

    The Truth About … via flickrForget letting your fingers do the walking: A study released today shows that homebuyers are letting their wallets do the walking, paying more for homes in neighborhoods where you can get around without wheels. Conducted by CEOs for Cities, the analysis looked at 94,000 real-estate transaction in 15 markets across […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • Ask Umbra on flying less

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Do we really need to fly less or do we need planes that are more fuel efficient? Am I assuming correctly when I say that planes have little or no emissions standards? I didn’t see that mentioned specifically in your previous article on planes and trains. So […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture