Climate Culture

Umbra on car heaters

Dear Umbra, My friend and I have a bet going that I hope you can settle. She thinks that running the heat in a car in the winter is “free” — that is, it doesn’t use additional gas. As a conservationist, this pleases her greatly. However, I think that turning on the heat does use […]

Umbra on recycling batteries

Dear Umbra, I have to humbly admit that for years I’ve known that one can recycle batteries, but unfortunately, I’ve never known where or how to do this. I’ve been living in Seattle and northern Italy for the last year, and I have a pile of old batteries in each place. If you have any […]

Advice on choosing carrots

Dearest Umbra, I’m curious how they make those mystical little carrots that are just the right size for snacking. Are baby carrots actually harvested that small, or are they carved out of bigger carrots? If they’re carved out of bigger carrots, where do all the shavings go? Bottom line: Am I supporting a wasteful production […]

The Bottle Let Me Down

Michigan Looks to Improve Its Recycling Record When it comes to recycling, Michigan lags behind much of the nation, and state lawmakers say it’s time to change that. Yesterday, a state Senate task force proposed spending $50 million to establish a recycling program and ban beverage containers from landfills. Funding for the project would come […]

Pesticide use on airplanes could harm your health

Vacations are supposed to leave you feeling relaxed, happy, and healthy — but if you travel by air, you might feel worse by the time you get home than you did when you left. Fear of flying? For good reason. Flying should not generally be the transportation option of choice for the environmentally minded, given […]

Ever Wonder About Earth-Friendly Coffins

The scoop on Bush’s Texas getaway

Dear Umbra, I heard a rumor that President Bush’s Texas ranch is off the grid. I find it very hard to believe (unless “off the grid” means he has his own oil well and refinery set up) and I can’t find any documentation about it. Ever heard this? Know if it’s true or false? Skeptical,JulieChicago, […]

Working to develop the Volkswagen of solar homes

Just off I-75 in Tennessee, halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga, past a Home Depot, a Ford dealership, a Krispy Kreme, and a Piggly Wiggly supermarket, there is a newly developed tract of low-income homes built by volunteers of Habitat for Humanity. A bright idea: the Indrajaya-Kinandjar solar house. At first glance, nothing about the development […]

Pack Your Trunks

California’s Timber Appetite Spells Trouble for World’s Forests As California strives to protect its own forests, rising demand for wood in the state is fueling logging far afield, in Oregon, the southeastern U.S., Canada, and even Europe. According to a new report by the state Department of Forestry, California imports about 75 percent of its […]

Oil Be Seeing You

Oil and Gas Supplies Will Peak in a Decade, Swedish Scientists Assert World oil and gas supplies will peak soon after 2010 and be in short supply thereafter, causing worldwide economic havoc unless societies have adopted alternatives to fossil fuels, Swedish scientists predict in a controversial article published today in New Scientist magazine. Other scientists […]