Climate Culture
All Stories
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Umbra on beer containers
Dear Umbra, My friends and I consume a fair amount of beer, and we’re wondering: What’s worse for the environment, buying beer in cans or in bottles? KellyManitoba, Canada Dearest Kelly, Thank you for giving me a reason to look up the Earth’s mineral-reserves map in my atlas. I’ve learned fascinating things about aluminum and […]
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Oh, Yes! It’s Mr. Bill!
Mr. Bill to Serve as Spokesperson for Louisiana Coastal Campaign With a $14 billion, 30-year restoration plan — potentially the largest public works project in American history — at stake, an educational campaign meant to raise awareness about Louisiana’s eroding coastal marshes has turned to the one voice capable of spanning generations, articulating the scope […]
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Endless Summer
Climate Scientists Predict More Hot Summers for Europe Thanks to global warming, summer heat waves like the one that killed close to 20,000 people in Europe in 2003 could recur up to once every two years by the end of the century. So claims a study conducted by a group of scientists from Swiss Federal […]
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Just Stick to Tofu
Farmed Salmon Contaminated With PCBs, Other Nasties Consumers, still struggling with the news that bovine spongiform encephalopathy-laden beef will make your brain melt and mercury-laden tuna will make your children stupid, were met today with more bad news: A new study in the journal Science claims that fish-farmed salmon contain enough contaminants (primarily PCBs and […]
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Homeocidal
Herbal Medicine Trade Threatens Thousands of Plant Species The booming worldwide market for herbal medicines threatens between 8 and 20 percent of the 50,000 known wild medicinal plant species with extinction, according to a forthcoming study by the World Wildlife Fund. Having risen by10 percent per year for the past decade, the herbal medicine trade […]
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Terror Error
Top British Scientist Calls Global Warming Bigger Threat Than Terrorism Which menacing global problem should be keeping you up at night: terrorism or climate change? Britain’s top government scientist is creating a bit of a stir by arguing that it’s the latter, and lambasting President Bush for having his priorities all out of whack. In […]
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Umbra on water heaters
Dear Umbra, I have a question that’s been nagging at me for some time. Since I have a water heater inside my house, any waste heat from the water heater contributes to heating the house. Does it still make sense in terms of energy savings to put an insulating blanket on the water heater? KurtLittleton, […]
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Umbra on turning down the thermostat
Dear Umbra, My housemates and I are engaged in an ongoing argument about the heat (gas) in our somewhat old house. I argue that for the minimum eight hours that we are out of the house during the day, we should turn our heat down to at least 62 degrees. They argue that we should […]
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Umbra on home heating
Dear Umbra, Can you shed some light (or some warmth) on the most environmentally sound ways to heat one’s home this winter? Natural gas over coal and oil for its lower carbon (and particulate) content? What about fireplaces: good or bad? Would burning gas logs be a good alternative to burning real wood? Thanks for […]
