Skip to content
Grist home
Grist home

Climate Culture

All Stories

  • Celebrate Earth Week in Seattle

    Sure, every day should be Earth Day … blah, blah, blah. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take advantage of the many earth-centric events happening around your community this week. In Seattle, Earth Week(s) offers green-art activities for kids, get-your-hands-in-the-dirt volunteer projects for all ages, and even a special Carrotmob meet-up at Pike Pub. […]

  • Trash becomes treasure at Seattle fashion show

    Photo: Doug BulgerFrugal is fashionable in this economy, and the creative minds behind Haute Trash have discovered the cheapest (and chicest) way to dress in a depression is to put junk on your trunk. From pop-top chain mail to yogurt-cup lids, any dumpster-dive find can become a design inspiration. See all the fab runway garb(age) […]

  • Simplify your cleaning routine

    Tip #4: Simplify your cleaning routine by tossing out toxic stuff and sticking to the (very cheap) basics. Do you really need a different spray or scrub for every surface in your home? Marketing mavens want you to think so. But the dirty truth is that many mainstream cleaners are major contributors to indoor air […]

  • Umbra advises on gardens and kids

    Q. Dear Umbra, I am constructing a garden bed for a local preschool and am considering the various materials I could use. The beds need to be raised and protected by a rigid border. This has aroused two main concerns: the safety of the children and the durability of the materials. I feel the best […]

  • Treehugger lacks sense of humor?

    When you “crap all over Earth Day,” you can expect some angry barbs in return. Case in point is Lloyd Alter’s post over at TreeHugger.com about Grist’s “Screw Earth Day” campaign, which we found to be a fair and thoughtful rejoinder. But we think Alter missed the point. Yeah, Grist is cynical about Earth Day […]

  • We need Earth Day more than ever

    Rick BassHaving elected Team Obama, and seen a few months of promising leadership, have we achieved Mission Accomplished with regard to righting the environmental wrongs of the Bush administration? You don’t hear the question being voiced so much as instead sense it infiltrating, with an air of unearned relief. Everywhere, after the majestic battle of […]

  • Brief hybrid electric bike update

    That’s a picture of my Hybrid Electric parked next to an especially stupid looking Hummer. Dark tinted windows make it impossible for cyclists to make eye contact with drivers. You’re playing Russian roulette when you cross in front of a car that has them. I noticed that this particular Hummer would not move for days […]

  • Bag the paper or plastic debate

    Tip #3: Bag the “paper or plastic” debate at the checkout line by toting a reusable bag (or seven) of your own. We Are What We Do.Grist advice guru Umbra Fisk is lucky to go a week without being asked about the “paper or plastic” conundrum faced by anyone who has strolled a grocery-store aisle. […]

  • Say “I do” to a green wedding on a budget

    Photo: SimonShaw via Flickr. In two months, I will walk across a lawn in taffeta and heels to stand beside my baby sister as she says “I do.” Which means I have spent the last several months planning parties, calming crises, and trying not to gawk at the huge price tag looming over this blessed […]

  • Avoid the bottle blues

    Tip #2: Save money (and the planet) by avoiding bottled water. Already heard it? Then get busy converting your friends and family to the anti-bottled-water campaign. Grist has been beating the drum on this one FOREVER… Ashley Braun preached the good word in January 2008, noting: “Production of plastic water bottles requires three times the […]