Climate Culture

Umbra on swamp coolers and their coolness

Dear Umbra, I recently visited Moab, Utah, and found that many people there use “swamp coolers” rather than conventional air-conditioning systems. Moab is in a near-desert environment and has frequent water-shortage problems. I’m wondering whether this swamp-cooler method of air-conditioning is really greener than the systems most of the rest of us use, and whether […]

Umbra on keeping cool without selling out

Dear Umbra, Please advise me on the best way to beat the summer heat! I live in a rather steamy studio apartment and thus far have been languishing under fans in front of the open window, lapping up ice cream, and taking many cold showers. I feel a tad guilty about the excess use of […]

Umbra on when to retire a fridge

Dear Umbra, I love to freeze fresh veggies at their peak of ripeness during the summer. Then, in the winter, I don’t have to buy commercially frozen veggies or long-distance transported ones. In order to do more of this, I’d like to move my 1985 refrigerator to the basement and use its freezer entirely for […]

Advice on natural fabrics vs. polyester

Dear Umbra, I’ve never appreciated human-made fabrics — polyester and its cousins invariably feel less comfortable to me than cotton or wool. Until recently, I thought this personal preference also had the happy side effect of making me a greener clothes shopper, since producing natural fibers doesn’t involve long chains of polymers. A friend recently […]

An abandoned Brooklyn warehouse heralds the onset of hipster environmentalism

Thinking outside the loft. Catch the aboveground S train in Brooklyn and you’ll whiz through the neighborhood of Crown Heights, an industrial pocket of warehouses and factories that once stored and manufactured everything from artillery to pickle jars. These days, the buildings you pass appear to be abandoned relics in a bleak concrete landscape. But […]

Advice on buying aquarium fish

Dear Umbra, I’m an elementary school teacher and I’d like to get a pet fish for my classroom, but I’ve heard tales of such fish being caught by eco-egregious means: dynamite blasting, cyanide dumping, etc. How can I make sure I’m getting happy, healthy, sustainably caught fish for my aquarium? Ginger Dearest Ginger, Is nothing […]

Umbra on recycling videotapes and laser discs

Dear Umbra, I’m a dedicated cineaste, and over the last decade I’ve built up a large library (around 5,000 titles) of classic films on VHS and old-fashioned laser discs. I have been anxious to start adding DVDs to my collection, with all the extra features they offer, but I’ve held off because I know that […]

An interview with Hollywood eco-crusader Laurie David

Those who are quick to snub Hollywood environmental activists as dabblers in eco-chic or peddlers of a pet cause would likely have a change of heart after shooting the breeze with Laurie David. Laurie David Photo: Tierney Gearon. David began her career booking comedians for David Letterman and met her husband Larry David — co-creator […]

Umbra on getting a job in the “eco-field”

Dear Umbra, I’m a conscientious baby boomer who would like to do things to help the planet. I’m simultaneously enjoying a midlife crisis. I have spent more than eight years in college, studying to be a psychologist/chef. Where in the eco-field is there a place for a reformed business owner/computer teacher/chef with years and years […]

A Real Downer Cow