Climate Culture
All Stories
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You’ll Never Drive Alone
Carpooling, car-sharing companies offer driving alternatives Eighty-four percent of commuters who use a car to get to work say they drive alone, and more than half say it’s because carpooling is inconvenient, according to a recent survey on traffic issues conducted by major news organizations. But a company called NuRide is trying to change that. […]
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Umbra on Umbra’s romantic availability
Dear Umbra, I love all your research and cool little notes on Grist. Lots of learning! You must really love your job. I know this sounds weird, but I wish I could see a picture of you. I am intuitive by nature, and I respect what you are doing. I wish you all the best. […]
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The Apple Dumping Gang
Enviros say Apple’s iPod isn’t green New legislation introduced in the House of Representatives last week would establish a consumer fee on computer and television purchases to fund a national electronics recycling program. But activists say the real answer to the “e-waste” problem is increased responsibility from manufacturers, and many are focusing their ire on […]
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Jared Diamond’s Collapse traces the fates of societies to their treatment of the environment
I will always think of Jared Diamond as the man who, for the better part of the late 1990s, somehow made the phrase "east-west axis of orientation" the most talked-about kind of orientation there was -- freshman, sexual, or otherwise. His 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies began with a simple question -- "Why did Pizarro conquer the Incas and not the other way around?" -- and then managed to tell, over the course of only 400-odd pages, the history of why humanity has turned out the way it has. For most readers (and there were millions), Guns was their first exposure to theories of geographic determinism. To broadly simplify, Diamond's book posited that human populations on continents with a primarily east-west orientation benefited from a more consistent climate and therefore developed more quickly than those living on continents with a north-south orientation. It had the kind of paradigm-shifting impact that happens with a book only once every few years, and it turned Diamond -- a professor of geography at UCLA -- into something of a rock star.
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Umbra on effective activism
Dear Umbra, If an environmentalist has about six hours per week to devote to activism, what should the person do to make the biggest, most positive impact? Some people (like myself) think that climate protection is a key leverage point — but is it? If yes, why, and what is the best way activists can […]
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If Any Man Eat of This Bread, He Shall Live Pesticide-Free
Church of England going green The Church of England has joined the battle against global warming. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams will unveil his green vision for the church and begin discussion on the issue of climate change during a General Synod meeting scheduled for Feb. 17, the day after the Kyoto Protocol goes into […]
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Umbra on environmental print magazines
Dear Umbra, Can you recommend a paper magazine dedicated to environmental/social-justice issues that has the same kind of light touch and zany humor that Grist has? I’ve found that getting really good reading material into the house and just leaving it around is a sure way to hook my two children, who are both avid […]
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Meet the Parents
“Natural family living” is a growing trend Parents of today’s youngest generation are increasingly choosing to raise their kids in more natural, even old-fashioned, ways, say supporters of a lifestyle called “natural family living.” This parenting approach involves trusting instincts over published experts and using more natural means to feed, medicate, and nurture children, which […]
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A review of the distorted plot and politics in Michael Crichton’s State of Fear
Michael Crichton's State of Fear is an attempt to meld serious politico-scientific critique with a modern techno-thriller. It's an ambitious undertaking, but to paraphrase Thomas Edison, success is 1 percent ambition and 99 percent not writing an awful book. Crichton's novel, alas, is unilluminating as a critique and unsatisfying as a thriller.
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A review of the distorted science in Michael Crichton’s State of Fear
Michael Crichton's new novel State of Fear is about global-warming hysteria ginned up by a self-important NGO on behalf of evil eco-terrorists ... or by evil eco-terrorists on behalf of a self-important NGO. It's not quite clear. Regardless, the message of the book is that global warming is a non-problem. A lesson for our times? Sadly, no.
