Climate Culture

All Stories

  • Ask Umbra on turpentine disposal

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where recently our city made a splash when our newly minted sewage system — which had been roundly celebrated for making the harbour swimmable for the first time in years — failed. Now we’re back to flushing it all into the […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • A tasting of nine “natural” root beers yields surprising results

    Nothing hits the spot on a hot day like an icy glass of all-American root beer. (Okay, if you want to split hairs: Nothing hits the spot on a hot day like an icy glass of all-American root beer when you must stay sober.) The problem is that when you take your wilting self to […]

    Lou Bendrick Culture

  • 10 ways to support charity through social media

    This post is a collaboration between Mashable’s Summer of Social Good charitable fundraiser and Max Gladwell‘s “10 Ways” series. The post is being simultaneously published across more than 100 blogs. Social media is about connecting people and providing the tools necessary to have a conversation. That global conversation is an extremely powerful platform for spreading […]

    Max Gladwell Culture

  • The perfect lawn doesn’t require a gas-powered mower

    The following essay was written by Paul Tukey, founder of SafeLawns.org and the author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual. The perfect lawn doesn’t require gasoline or synthetic fertilizer.Muffet via FlickrGrass Happens. As a former lawn care professional, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I first saw that bumper sticker on a passing […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Making change, one door at a time

    It’s officially summer, and one thing that brings, besides Kennedy yacht races on Nantucket Sound, is an army of thousands of kids with clipboards, out canvassing neighborhoods, street corners, and subway stops for green: green causes and the green of cash. This tried and tested organizing tactic is a mainstay of many groups from Sierra […]

    Erik Hoffner Culture

  • Seattle light rail finally opens doors to passengers

    Photo: wings777 via FlickrIt’s been a long time coming, but starting this Saturday, it’ll be “all aboard!” when Seattle’s light rail trains pull into the station. The Sound Transit trains will travel 14 miles from Westlake Center, in the center of downtown, south to Tukwila, two miles short of the Sea-Tac airport. By the end […]

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Proof of concept: Well-crafted standards spur innovation in lighting

    There was an excellent article in the NY Times last Sunday, detailing the unexpected rise of super-efficient incandescent light bulbs as a result of the standard in the 2007 energy bill. The article quotes NRDC’s own lighting and electronics efficiency guru, Noah Horowitz, and really drives home an important point – well crafted standards spur […]

    Lane Burt Culture

  • Ask Umbra on buying a convertible

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Long story short, my parents have been thinking about buying me a car since soon I will be going to University and that way, I won’t constantly be using their cars. My mom suggested a Volkswagen Beetle Convertible, which I love the look of. However, it doesn’t […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Farm City author cuts the foodie-elite snobbery from urban farming

    Food writer and urban farmer Novella Carpenter is everything the elitist, foodie stereotype is not: she squat-farms near downtown Oakland, Calif., dumpster-dives to feed her rabbits, and offers to show anyone who still thinks otherwise exactly “what urban farming smells like.” Novella Carpenter and cute baby animals today, dinner tomorrow.Photo: Courtesy of Novella CarpenterIn Seattle […]

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • Climate-news poem: G8 edition

    With deepest apologies to INXS. Congregate, heads of state, don’t be late, big G8Planet’s fate, cannot wait,Don’t stall debate or hesitate, designate your carbon rateA one world state, Italianate, on July 8, won’t abrogateA gentle trait, a balding pate, a girlish gait, pontificateWe’ll predicate our specs ornate, officiate, not deviateGreen groups berate, gesticulate, packed in […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture