Climate Culture

All Stories

  • From Kinky to Kicky

    Kinky is as Kinky does Texas guber-candidate Kinky Friedman is trading his Caddy for a biodiesel ride and wants Willie in his cabinet. Plus he’s got his own action figure and a rockin’ ‘stache. Almost makes us want to pack up for the Lone Star State. Almost. Photo: Brian Kanof MyCage.com It’s hard out here […]

    Katharine Wroth & Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • The Sea Lion King

    A new documentary delves into the lives of California sea lions Because of their long history as circus animals, California sea lions are one of the most widely recognized marine mammals in the world. But they’ve also gained a rep as a pest, hanging around harbors, stealing fish out of salmon ladders and fishing nets. […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Frank Scura’s green ideas are sick

    Xtremely green demo at a Whole Foods in San Mateo, Calif. Photo: Courtesy ASEC  With the recent profusion of green takes on everything from diapers to caskets, Frank Scura’s proposition might sound like more of the same: “We’re about greening the planet, one skateboard at a time.” But Scura, founder of the Bay Area-based Action […]

    Gregory Dicum Culture

  • Umbra on dropping out of society

    Dear Umbra, Although I have always been one to conserve, recycle, etc., it is only in the last year that I have realized the extent of the catastrophe coming upon us in terms of climate change. I am 40-something, live in a city, own an older home with a sizeable mortgage that requires my husband […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Can industrial civilization really become sustainable? Should it?

    To be, or not to be — that is the age-old question, and civilization today faces its own dire version of it. As the negative social and ecological effects of 150 years of industrialization are becoming impossible to ignore, people are asking whether we can maintain our standards of living. But very few are asking […]

    Charles Shaw Culture

  • Jason Wentworth, eco-friendly laundromat owner, answers questions

    Jason Wentworth. What work do you do? I am the owner, along with my wife Sandrine, of the Washboard Eco Laundry in Portland, Maine. How does it relate to the environment? We have attempted to create a new model for the coin-laundry industry by designing our business around the goal of minimizing the environmental impact […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • From Hova to Happy Meals

    H to the two oh Shawn Carter Jigga Hova Jay-Z’s got 99 problems, and clean water is one. “Every 15 seconds a child dies from not having access to clean water,” said the hip-hop mogul, who has teamed up with the U.N. and MTV to raise awareness about the world’s water crisis. “I want people […]

    David Roberts & Sarah van Schagen Culture

  • Why won’t America’s environmentalists accept positive developments?

    There are winners, there are losers, and there are people who just don’t get it. If you’ve been paying attention, you know that in spite of the best efforts of tens of thousands of dedicated environmentalists and the spending of literally hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars, the environment has been losing. Hey greens, open […]

    Bob Perkowitz Culture

  • Words Fail Us

    Hummer propaganda aimed at kids through McDonald’s Happy Meals Sometimes a story comes along that so perfectly captures a culture’s pathologies that it should be put in a time capsule, so future generations … oh, right, there won’t be any future generations. It seems that, according to fast-food behemoth McDonald’s, this is a “Hummer of […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Economies of Bale

    Straw-bale construction a little less marginalized Straw-bale construction has slowly been catching on in the green-building set, but its positive performance in recent fire, durability, and eco-friendliness tests could take it to the next level. The latest was an independent fire-resistance test, which proved that the material lives up to industry standards when it’s covered […]

    Grist staff Culture