Climate Culture
All Stories
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And other adventures in touching celebrities
I thought my closest brush with fame this week would be nearly taking out James Redford with a boom mic last night. But then I accidentally touched him inappropriately, and later, cornered his father. Son Redford presented Everything’s Cool at the special pre-screening last night, giving a glowing account of the film and announcing the […]
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Umbra on which wood to burn
Dear Umbra, I live in Maine, land of many loggers. My home is heated by an oil furnace, and I try to keep the temps down with thermostat timers to use as little oil as possible. I supplement my heat with a wood stove, as many Mainers do, and in my travels I have noticed […]
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Best movie of the year, hands down
I saw Children of Men the other night, and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s easily my favorite movie of the past year. The basic plot is: a numb and disillusioned ex-activist lives in London, 18 years after a sudden, unexplained worldwide epidemic of infertility. There are no children. The rest of the world […]
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From Blue to Blackbird
H to the WTF Dear Jay-Z, Why you frontin’? We were big pimpin’ your efforts to raise awareness about the world’s water crisis. But we’re not crazy in love with your latest venture. A “Jay-Z Blue” gas-guzzler? Seriously? Excuse me, mister, but we thought your color was green. Photo: John Shearer / WireImage.com The pen […]
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Times reports on vegan fashion
The Times reports on cruelty-free fashion today. Not that any of us can afford this stuff. But still. Just saying. It’s there. And we’re glad of it. But could this bring eco-fashion to the fashion-conscious masses? And could it signal the end of Summer Rayne Oakes’ unchallenged hegemony in the sphere of eco-fashion?
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Frosty the No Man
Washington school board puts a moratorium on An Inconvenient Truth First sex, now science? What will they tell the kids about next? The parents of a high-schooler in Federal Way, Wash., have complained to the district’s school board about a teacher’s plan to screen Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, and the board has put a […]
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Umbra on that time of the month, again
Dear Umbra, You mentioned in “Kid Commando” that the “disposable vs. reusable diaper fight is in a stalemate for the foreseeable future.” Is the same true for sanitary napkins? Clara Yuan Ithaca, N.Y. Dearest Clara, I haven’t heard tell of the debate, frankly. I certainly get several “which is better” diaper questions a month, but […]
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The Choice of a New Generator
Dirty diesel generators proliferate in developing countries The good news: Access to electricity is spreading to previously unserved areas, allowing residents of rural villages to grow more crops with electrically powered irrigation pumps and connect to the rest of the world through television. The bad news: The most common power source for these communities is […]
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Step It Up
Monday, 8 Jan 2007 MIDDLEBURY, Vt. The most important question about global warming right now is: what do I do once I’ve changed the damned lightbulbs? And one small answer is Step It Up 2007. This is the first of 12 dispatches I’ll write, one a week through mid-April, that will chronicle the first nationwide […]
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One woman’s eco-evolution, from off the grid to on the clock
Before: The simple life. In Chimacum, on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, there are probably more dairy cows than humans. It is a place where it’s common to see a 1972 Ford F-100 hard at work, way past its expiration date. Where those who own a patch of ground extend their hospitality to friends to park […]
