Climate Culture
All Stories
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Umbra on eco-actions for kids
Dear Umbra, In my city, environmental awareness might as well be some late-night, budget infomercial that nobody thinks about except to laugh at. I’m trying to organize a series of interactive presentations in area schools to educate and engage kids in a more progressive approach to greening up our lives and our city. Many of […]
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The Best of Grist List 2008
Or are you just soapy to see me? Man Junk: “A line of organic shampoos for the discriminating scrotum.” Members only, please. Eat your hat Tried to go whole hog, but still have leftovers? Haberdash over to this site to save your bacon. Because “one always looks neat, in a hat made from meat.” Elephant […]
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Umbra on homegrown meat
Dear Umbra, I try to eat as many vegetarian meals as possible, but I haven’t “gone all the way” yet, mostly because my in-laws (whom my husband and I live with at the moment) raise beef, chickens, and hunt deer; and my husband and I end up with a lot of free, locally produced meat. […]
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Umbra on children’s art supplies
Hey Umbra, I’ve got a niece with a second birthday coming up and I’d like to get her a present that doesn’t involve sitting in front of a computer or TV. So, I thought, how about an art set? What better way to get those creative juices going at an early age than some finger […]
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Foodie lessons from Dwight K. Shrute
A brilliant blogger has assembled a list of food and frugality tips gathered from Dwight K. Shrute, assistant to the regional manager at The Office‘s Dunder Mifflin paper company. Below, a few gems: DWIGHT SAYS: “My grandfather left me a 60-acre working beet farm. I run it with my cousin Mose. We sell beets to […]
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From Carols to Condoms
Jingle bells, clean coal smells Click here. Discover wintry-clothed, googly-eyed coal carolers. Hear frosty lyrics like “There must have been some magic in clean coal technology, for when they looked for pollutants there was nearly none to see.” Vomit. Repeat. Buckling under pressure On the heels of the economic downturn, seems NatPo’s vegan Mary Janes […]
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The light-related news keeps flooding in
On Thursday GE launched a line of CFLs that look like … wait for it … regular incandescent bulbs! At least one other company (competitor Philips) has tried the clever disguise, but GE says, “No, for real, this one is really small and it really does look like a normal bulb.” Or words to that […]
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Origins of cereal linked to religion, vegetarianism
The mental_floss blog has an interesting piece on the origins of cereal. Only a short bit of it is eco-related, so I’ll post that here (emphasis mine): Meat Is Murder (on the Colon) During the early 19th century, most Americans subsisted on a diet of pork, whiskey, and coffee. It was hell on the bowels, […]
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For some families, the holidays are all about the grub
This is the holiday season in just about every culture. I was born and raised a Unitarian Universalist, thus of the Judeo-Christian background, so in my house it’s Christmastime. For some folks, Christmas is about peace and good tidings. For others it is a joyous celebration of the birth of their savior. In my […]
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My father installed a solar system and radiant-heat floor in his barn
A couple of years ago, my folks retired. Pops ripped out the bottom of the barn on the old family farm, set up a woodshop, and got to work. Check out his stuff here. Nice, eh? I’m pleased to say that Pops’s pots are now solar heated. With no urging from yours truly, he installed […]
