Climate Culture

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  • Climate news, all poetic-like

    Hello, and happy Poem In Your Pocket Day! We thought we’d celebrate with a climate-news poem. Because this is also Katharine Is Really Busy Day, it’s not a long poem. However! There will be more climate-change poems coming your way soon. Only on Grist.org. Rep. Henry WaxmanThere once was a sponsor named WaxmanWhom critics described […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • “The Goode Family,” a new cartoon, makes enviros cringe

    As promised, The Goode Family, a new cartoon from the King of the Hill folks, is “an animated caricature of every Whole-Foods-shopping, hybrid-driving, African-orphan-adopting, vegan-dog-having do-gooder you’ve ever met.” Find out what’s so funny about trying to be Goode when the show premieres May 27 on ABC. Here’s a trailer:

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Can you catch swine flu on the subway?

    Sick transit?arvindgrover via flickrThis morning, Vice President Biden went slightly off-message about swine flu — just enough to freak out the White House, and potentially enough to freak out hypochondriacal Americans. Appearing on NBC’s Today Show, he responded to a question from Matt Lauer by saying he would advise his own family not to “go […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • Ask Umbra on living off the grid

    Q. Hi Umbra, You’ve made several mentions of living off the grid in previous columns, and I was wondering where someone should find such things? It seems as though there are secret communities and communes that everyone seems to know about but me. How would you find an off the grid community, or go about […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Seattle, utility to help pay for home energy audits

    Photo: Office of the MayorSometimes, fighting climate change is a numbers game. Numbers like 20 — the percentage of Seattle’s carbon footprint caused by energy use in homes and buildings. Also 600 — the cost (in $) of a home energy audit to find out just how drafty those old windows are. But thanks to […]

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Seattle’s Ferry Farm Stand brings fresh produce to hungry commuters

    Photo: tobiaseigen via Flickr.It’s a mid-week summer evening, and you’re making the commute back home to Bainbridge Island wondering what’s for dinner. You’re craving fresh, local produce, but you’re on a boat (you’re on a boat, everybody look at you!). Lucky for you, this is a dinner dilemma no longer: Starting June 25, the Ferry […]

    Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Charles and Benedict chat about climate

    Earlier today, Prince Charles and Pope Benedict XVI met to discuss their shared environmental concerns, with Camilla looking on. With press reports so far scant on details, we are left to imagine the proceedings. We couldn’t find a free photo of the prince shaking hands with His Holiness, so we’re settling for a Flickr shot […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • Ask Umbra on light timers

    Q. Dear Umbra, So I’ve gotten a lot better at turning out the lights when I’m not in the room. I’ve still got some work to do in terms of turning off power strips when I’m not using appliances though. I was thinking about this last night and I remembered this contraption at my grandparents’ […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Navigating the non-dairy ‘milk’ aisle

    In Checkout Line, Lou Bendrick cooks up answers to reader questions about how to green their food choices and other diet-related quandaries. Lettuce know what food worries keep you up at night. Dear Lou,I went to pick up some milk at our local mom-and-pop shop and noticed they had soy milk.  Since it seems a […]

    Lou Bendrick Culture

  • From JT to Jedi

    Photo: edwardk662 via Flickr.Crying himself a riverJT’s concerns about the clean water crisis are justified. He knows that what goes around / comes around, so he’s gathered a boy band of hikers to bring sexyback to Mount Kilimanjaro. Who knew he was so ‘n sync with environmental issues?   (Click below to see the next […]

    Sarah van Schagen Culture