Climate Culture

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  • Peeing in the shower goes, um, viral

    Dearest Readers, Today brings news — oh, and wildly spreading it is — of an ad campaign in Brazil aimed at convincing people to save water by peeing in the shower. Here is the video, and here is the website, if you are seeking extra credit for your Portuguese skills (beware, it starts with a […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Ask Umbra on smarter outlets

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I recently spent several months in New Zealand and was impressed with the simple energy-saving electrical outlets they used. Every outlet is equipped with a small switch allowing you to “turn off at the wall” whatever device you have plugged in. I want to replace my current […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Would you trade your car for a bike?

    Would you trade your car for a bike? That’s what the folks behind the Tour de Fat want to know. New Belgium Brewing’s now-annual cycle celebration is pedaling to Seattle this Saturday — and they’ll be taking a car off the hands of one (lucky?) local driver and handing him a cool commuter bike in […]

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • It’s time to end the practice of shark finning

    This post is co-authored with Discovery Channel GM & President John Ford. —– Photo: Willy VolkEvery half-second a shark is killed for its fins, so in the time it takes you to read this post, hundreds of sharks will die. “Finning,” as the practice is known, is decimating shark populations world-wide. Every year up to […]

    John Kerry Culture

  • Ask Umbra on power-strip alternatives

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Hi Umbra, I know that the little trickle of electricity that so many appliances use even when they are “off” adds up to a significant amount of power. I also know that a power strip with an on/off switch can help. But there are places in my house where […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Climate-news poem: Forgery edition

    There once was a firm known as BonnerWhose tactics were lacking in honor.“Can’t get white letters read?We’ll forge brown ones instead!”Oh Bonner, you should be a goner. Whose words these are I think I know.AFLCIO2008 via flickr  

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • That smarts! Dutch pranksters go car-tipping, and more

    Dutch treat Forget cow-tipping. Dutch pranksters are all about car-tipping these days, dumping dozens of lightweight Smart cars into Amsterdam’s canals. What tossers! Image created by The Sun

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • 365 days of junk mail

    In December 2007, in “Junk Mail Box,” I lauded ad-mail slayer Catalog Choice and argued for US and Canadian Do Not Mail registries. Soon thereafter, I began using Catalog Choice assiduously at home. I also refreshed my subscription to the Direct Mail Association’s Mail Preference Service. I wrote to ValPak to plead for a reprieve […]

    Alan Durning Culture

  • Is this a green home?

    I’m thinking about reporting on this house as an example of sensible environmental design reproducible for the masses. Can anyone help me decide? This is a press release (emphasis mine): We handle parenting author, environmentalist, and “The Crafty Mom” Mary Lyon who recently built her 6,700 square foot spectacular “green” home in Brentwood, California. Below […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Culture

  • Solar chargers, real and imagined

    The real news of the day: there’s now a solar-powered charger for iPhones. The more entertaining news: At Comic-Con this weekend, Jimmy Fallon dressed up as a solar-powered superhero called “Recharger” and tried to sell his idea to, among others, Jon Favreau, Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, and that hot guy from Lost. This skit is […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture