Climate Culture

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  • A recent grad follows her passions and finds a green job she digs

    All college students know the feeling — that squeaky little hamster wheel of doubt about life post-diploma. What if I can’t find a job? What if I can’t find a job I like? What if I can’t find a job that aligns with my values? Ditch that hamster wheel and climb on two wheels that […]

    Amy Linn Culture

  • To engage other students, green activists put their best fête forward

      A pop quiz for the college crowd: Which of the following is no fun? A) Beer B) Doing it in the dark C) Global warming activism D) This is a trick question — they’re all related If you picked C, you’re forgiven, says Maura Cowley, campaign director for the Sierra Student Coalition. But, dude, […]

    Amy Linn Culture

  • Resources to help you green your college experience

    The sites below aim to help you find the right green-leaning campus, cause, or contest. There’s no way we’ve uncovered all the good ones, so tell us what we’ve missed in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Green College Rankings Sustainable Endowment Institute’s “College Sustainability Report Card” Princeton Review’s “Green Rating Honor […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Tesla profile in New Scientist

    For those upset about the bashing electric vehicles have taken recently, check out this glowing profile ($ub. req’d) of Tesla — and its Roadster — in New Scientist magazine today. The Roadster does 0-60 in four seconds, tops out at 130 mph, and only costs $109,000 (sigh … not in this writer’s budget this year). […]

    Sara Barz Culture

  • Incoming Yale student plans to ramp up her activism for the big leagues

    For some people, life starts after college. For Karoline Evin McMullen, it began in middle school. Karoline Evin McMullen Age: 18 School: Yale University By the time she was 14, McMullen of rural Geauga County, Ohio, had already: written a textbook for elementary school kids; started a project with two friends to protect endangered brook […]

    Amy Linn Culture

  • Seven tips on green campus organizing from a Harvard pro

    Leith Sharp. When Leith Sharp left her native Australia for a five-month tour of the U.S. and Europe in the late 1990s, she could hardly have guessed that she’d be gone for a decade. But that’s exactly what happened. Sharp had spent five years piloting eco-efforts at the University of New South Wales, in a […]

    Katharine Wroth Culture

  • The automotive revolution: how fast?

    Wall Street Journal senior editor Joseph B. White attempts to dump some cold water on the "automotive revolution" everyone’s all giddy about: This revolution will take years to pull off — and that’s assuming it isn’t derailed by a return to cheap oil. Anyone who goes to sleep today and wakes up in five years […]

    David Roberts Culture

  • Umbra on wine bottle stoppers

    Dear Umbra, Here’s a question I couldn’t find an answer to in the Grist archives: What kind of plastic is being used for the corks in wine bottles? If I decide to put a bottle in the cellar for several years, will the plastic leach into the wine? Thanks for your help! Holli B. Portland, […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Will train travel get annoying too?

    As more trains catch up to air travel, time-wise, one thing that can put them over the top is the time saved avoiding the hassles of getting to the airport, parking, security, waiting, etc. But what if one of the first mid- or long-range train systems suffers some kind of attack, or even threat of […]

    David Roberts Culture

  • How to green your entertainment center

    When it comes to watching television, it’s practically your environmental duty to gaze at Adrian Grenier on Planet Green and cheer on Major League Baseball’s efforts to become more sustainable. (That’s what we tell ourselves, anyway.) But did you know the chemicals in that idiot box could be rotting your brain even more than the […]

    Grist staff Culture