Climate Culture

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  • Big Coal does not want you to see this film

    As a groundbreaking clean energy counterpart to this summer’s extraordinary Food, Inc. documentary on the agribusiness, the long-awaited “Coal Country” film on the cradle-to-grave process of generating our coal-fired electricity will be hitting the theaters next week with the big bang of an ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosive. And Big Coal ain’t happy. Here’s the trailer: […]

    Jeff Biggers Culture

  • Climate-news poem: Breath-catching edition

    They’re not just poems, they’re vaguely educational poems! Check ’em out. After the fence-jump frenzy, this week is sweet relief.Bill passed! And all react to that with gasps of disbelief. Just breathe.Yet as it was each time the bill got closer to the floor,We must remember that it’s in for hurdles, many more. The good […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • Ask Umbra on moving boxes

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I will be moving soon, and a friend suggested buying cheap but durable plastic storage bins with lids as an alternative to traditional moving boxes (or whatever empty boxes I can find from local stores). The idea is appealing, especially for a lot of stuff that I […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • A review of six non-dairy ice creams

    This is part two of a two-part series on organic ice cream; see our previous review of conventional, dairy-based ice creams by Tom Philpott. Cow juice alternative?The Sheppard family has what you might call an ice cream problem. When I was 8 and my brother was 5, we went to Disney World. After a day […]

    Kate Sheppard Culture

  • Rothbury Music Festival rocks sustainability mission

    Photo: kuba425 via FlickrWhile your standard summer music festival may consider its primary mission to be “rocking out,” the Rothbury Music Festival being held this weekend in Michigan states its purpose to be “harnessing the spirit of the music festival community into a durable social movement.” Then again, Rothbury isn’t your standard summer music festival. […]

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Ask Umbra on moving cross-country

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, We have to move a small apartment from New York to LA. We can rent a diesel truck that gets 8-12 mpg (yikes — but the best we could find) OR sell the furniture, ship some stuff, and fly. Both options are about the same price, but […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Climate-news poem: OMG They’re Voting! edition

    This week’s poem features dubious meter and indubitable passion. Fritter some time away by checking out a few previous climate poems. All eyes are on Waxman-Markey this week.From the orbs of ObamaTo the peepers of the meek. I’m just beside myself!Will it pass, is it lame, should we love it anyway?Did the Ag folks make […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • A reading from the book of Jackson

    I never cared for Michael Jackson. I’m just going to get that out of the way right now. He entered my fourth-grade consciousness as a zipper-sporting pop star burnt by Pepsi, and it just got weirder from there. The face heard round the world.murilo campos via flickrBut now I find I can’t stop thinking about […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • A loo that turns poo into fuel, and more

    LooWatt LooWatt, oh baby, me gotta goMeet the LooWatt: a waterless eco-commode made from poop that turns your #1 and #2 into CH4. It’s the diaper genie of the sustainability set.  

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Ask Umbra on meating your needs

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Hi Umbra, I was shopping in the commissary (our lovely military grocery store) this afternoon when I noticed the “reduced for quick sale” meat section. [As a former vegetarian], I literally feel the weight of the world when I buy meat … but when I saw this meat, it […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture