Climate Culture
All Stories
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Colleges given green grades
How green is your alma mater? Check out the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card, which grades 300 U.S. and Canadian schools on their green practices. The colleges are evaluated in areas including climate and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, and transportation. Many pass those categories with flying colors, but in areas “like […]
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A review of Tom Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded
I have a book review in the latest issue of the American Prospect, covering three books: Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America, by Thomas L. Friedman Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 438 pages, $27.95 Earth: The Sequel: The Race To Reinvent Energy and Stop Global […]
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A review of non-clay cat litters
It’s time to let the cat out of the bag about the icky stuff in your cat’s litter box. (No, not that stuff.) If you’re using clay-based kitty litter, you could be making a mess of the environment — and your health. Most conventional cat litter is made from natural clay, or sodium bentonite, which […]
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Urban farmer awarded ‘genius’ grant
Will Allen. Urban farmer Will Allen has been named one of this year’s recipients of the prestigious “genius” grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The grant recognizes Allen’s work bringing affordable fresh produce and quality grass-fed meats to the urban poor and educating communities about sustainable farming. Allen co-founded the group […]
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Umbra on the importance of voting
Dear Umbra, I have a friend who is a fellow environmental studies major, and he says he’s not going to vote because he “doesn’t agree with the system.” I’ve had numerous discussions with him about how important it is to vote, especially when it comes to environmental issues, but he doesn’t seem to want to […]
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Grist and Dell hit the road in search of a sustainable future
It feels like just a year ago that I was traveling down the Mississippi in search of sustainable cities. Well, I’m on the road again — this time with a much more ambitious itinerary: 15 cities, 15 days, destination: green. I’m in San Francisco right now, but I’m headed all the way across the country, […]
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An interview with Wikia’s Jimmy Wales about his new green venture
Jimmy Wales. Jimmy Wales, best known as a cofounder of Wikipedia, is now channeling some of his energy and ambition into the environmental realm, aiming to build “the world’s handbook for going green.” Wikia, Inc., Wales’ for-profit company (not to be confused with Wikipedia, a project of the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation), announced this month that […]
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From Eva to Earthquake
Happily Eva after What do you do when Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson want your number? You answer the call. Brother, can you spare me some climate change? Booted from the Arctic by the subprime mortgage crisis global warming, the population of homeless polar bears in D.C. is exploding. And any of them with hopes […]
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When the basil plants get out of control, reach for the mortar and pestle
Mortarin’ pesto. September in Iowa always brings the same delicious dilemma — what to do with all that basil. Few herbs are as surrounded by mythology and folklore as basil. Its origins are debated, but most seem to think it came from India. There, the plant offered innumerable culinary uses: A devout Hindu has a […]
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Jon Bon Jovi will play Live Earth concert in Mumbai
After seven concerts on seven continents on 7/7/07, Live Earth has downsized (you may have noticed that 8/8/08 passed by with nary a warble). On Thursday, organizers Al Gore and Kevin Wall announced plans for a Dec. 7 Live Earth concert in Mumbai, India. The show will feature “some of the biggest artists from India […]
