Climate Culture
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Umbra on the benefits of recycling
Dear Umbra, Some time ago, the public radio program This American Life, hosted by Ira Glass, was about recycling. Glass reported, “Experts agree that we have plenty of landfill space for the foreseeable future.” He proposed that recycling therefore did little more than make us feel good. The hapless person he interviewed came up with […]
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Umbra on recycling profitability
Dear Umbra, My friend has the notion that recycling programs lose money. Where does this come from? I can imagine situations where that could be the case, but in most cities there seems to be plenty of material being recycled to justify the collection infrastructure, etc. And surely there are markets for more recycled content […]
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An eco-film booster answers questions
What organization are you affiliated with? What does it do? I work with the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Network. I have been on the board for three years now. Every year this organization puts on a film festival in Leavenworth, Wash. This year it is March 18-21. We are showing more than 50 films from […]
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Hy Jinx
Hybrids Gaining Ground Among Celebs, But Still Pricey for the Rest of Us Thanks to lobbying by intrepid enviro group Global Green USA, several high-profile celebrities arrived at the Academy Awards this year not in stretch limos, but in diminutive hybrid Toyota Priuses. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, Robin Williams, and Sting all […]
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Home Green Home
Green Home-Building Rising in Popularity Eco-minded builders and environmental groups in the U.S. are pushing to simplify and popularize the notion of “green building,” which encompasses practices and materials that reduce waste and make homes more efficient. Green building — ranging from landscaping with native plants to using carpet made of recycled soda bottles to […]
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Does it make sense for environmentalists to want to limit immigration?
The Sierra Club, most venerable of environmental organizations, is awash in charges, countercharges, suits, countersuits, invective, counter-invective, and double counter-invective bounces-off-me-and-sticks-to-you. At issue, depending on whom you talk to, is whether single-issue racists will take over the organization’s board or whether club democracy will be squelched by blatant interference from the group’s old guard. What’s […]
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Breaking Wind
U.K. Military Accused of Thwarting Wind-Power Development The U.K. Ministry of Defense is blocking efforts to expand wind energy in the country, said a group of top scientists today. The MoD objected to 48 percent of applications to build land-based wind turbine farms in 2003 because it doesn’t want turbines within 46 miles of air […]
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Burn Me Up, Scotty
Super-Hot Trash Zapper May Yield Hydrogen This just in: The future is now. “Plasma torch technology” is gaining acceptance among corporations and governments, and may soon show up at a waste facility near you. Here’s how it works: Trash — anything from municipal garbage to toxic waste to PCBs — is zapped (at least we […]
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Advice on heating tiny urban dwellings
OK, Umbra, I live in a building in Brooklyn where, in typical Brooklyn style, we do not control our own heat. That is, there is no thermostat in our apartment. Thus, our only options for regulating the temperature in the winter are turning off the radiators or opening the windows. Obviously the latter is an […]
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Umbra on packaging peanuts
Dear Umbra, I was wondering whether you could provide me with advice about packaging materials. You see, I was recently married and my wife and I now find ourselves buried under packaging peanuts, Styrofoam, and other such materials, much as we tried to avoid the fate (of receiving loads of store-bought gifts, that is, not […]
