Climate Culture

It’s the wrong lever for creating social change

On Saturday night, I was on a panel at the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival on the subject of "communicating about climate change." My co-panelists were KC Golden of Climate Solutions, LeeAnne Beres of Earth Ministry, and Sean Schmidt of the Sustainable Style Foundation. The moderator was Steve Scher of local public radio station KUOW. […]

Then There’s the Short Term

Long-term radiation risks lower than some daily hazards, study finds Living in fear of a nuclear meltdown? Now you can relax! A new study says the long-term risks faced by survivors of two of the world’s most notorious nuclear episodes — the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the 1945 bombings of Japan — are lower than […]

So to speak

No, as far as I know, no baby-food maker ever used rat poison as an ingredient. The point is that we don't have to worry about it; if you have an infant switching off milk, you can shop the baby food counter confident that none of the choices will contain rat poison.

However, as a consumer, buying "green" is not quite so easy. Hastening the end of our civilization is a routine ingredient in most of the things we buy. By spending a little extra time and money, we can sometimes find alternatives that don't contribute to our society's destruction -- though often not.

If baby food routinely contained micro doses of arsenic, of course you would go out of your way to buy uncontaminated versions for your child. But you would also recognize that we should not allow baby food to include anything so toxic in the first place.

Umbra on plastic and kids

Hi Umbra, What about “sippy” cups for little kids, not to mention bottles? They’re all plastic, and we all know that kids are more vulnerable to environmental toxins. What’s a mom to do? Janet Byron Berkeley, Calif. Dearest Janet, A mom is to check the research and purchase only bottles and sippy cups that are […]

Steffen makes good points

Sustainable consumerism — i.e., buying greener stuff — is a hot topic these days. Opinions range from "hey, it’s a low-impact way of drawing people into the sustainability movement” to “it’s perpetuating a horrendous illusion, that the modern American consumer lifestyle can ever be sustainable.” I’ll admit to having some sympathy with both these perspectives. […]

What are you doing to respond to the climate crisis?

Orion magazine has a brand new section, of interest to all Gristmill readers, where folks from all over are encouraged to write in and share what changes their families, communities, churches, etc. are undertaking to respond, now, to the climate crisis, peak oil, etc. I've seen so many ripe ideas posted on Gristmill, BioD's plug-in hybrid bike being a good example. So have a look at some of these great ideas and initiatives (a clustered, renewably-powered, affordable housing community in Missoula, for example) in the first installment of this section, called Making Other Arrangements, and share your own projects and ideas.

… especially at an auto show

Possibly in an attempt to convince attendees that a green auto show actually can be sexy, the UK's Eden Project named their eco-car fiesta -- wait for it -- "the Sexy Green Auto Show."

Luckily it seems to be living up to its moniker with an abundance of tempting auto treats, from a Volkswagen that gets 72 mpg to a racing car that can run on a 50 percent blend of jatropha nut biodiesel.

And god bless 'em, I saw zero scantily clad babes in the show's program -- just a whole lot of carbon fiber and flex-fuel engines. Now that's sexy.

Light for your rights

So last week, my roommates were out of town. And just before they left, one of their cars was broken into and slightly trashed. Alas, this simple act of vandalism has ushered in a new era of paranoia in the house -- and in the twisted funhouse that is my brain.

Needless to say, I did not sleep well while I was alone in the house. Lord knows, I could have used this stylish and oh-so-practical nightlight made from recycled cans. Its tiny beam of yellow brilliance would have shone a bit of happy reality into my nasty nighttime imaginings.

Next time, I suppose.

Lots o’ good stuff therein

This week’s TIME has a big package of stories on global warming. Upping the ante on the de rigueur “10 things you can do,” the magazine offers a whopping 51, an odd mix of large structural reforms and consumer tips like drying your clothes on a clothesline. Coming in at No. 1? Ethanol. Oy. Then […]

It’s

Oh, dear. This video is HIGH-larious. And at the same time utterly, utterly depressing.

Without further ado: "What We Call the News."