Climate Culture

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  • Muggles Get It Right, for Once

    The Canadian edition of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” — to be released later this month as the fifth book in J.K. Rowlings’ phenomenally popular series — has been printed on chlorine-free, 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. With a first print run of 935,000 copies, this is by far the largest recycled […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Umbra on scooters

    Dear Umbra, I was thinking of buying a scooter with the idea that (in addition to being fun) I would be using a more fuel-efficient means of transportation on days when the weather was good. Then I got the edition of the Daily Grist telling me how dirty motorcycles are. Now I’m worried: Are scooters […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Umbra on motorcycles

    Dear Umbra, I recently read a claim that “motorcycles produce far more pollution per mile than your typical car, truck, or SUV.” Is that true? I’ve got a friend who’s currently making her (bad-ass) way across country on a Harley — 60 mpg, baby — and we are both curious about the environmental impacts compared […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Umbra on minivans

    Dear Umbra, We have a six-year-old daughter, a three-year-old daughter, and — surprise! (well, not completely) — a new baby girl due in the next two months. Our fuel-efficient car cannot fit two car seats and a booster across the back seat, and according to Washington state law (“six-years-old and 60 pounds”), my petite six-year-old […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • Community and sustainability go hand in hand

    Some years ago, I was part of a group that set out to create a community where we could work toward living with less impact on the environment. One of the first steps we took was to write down a list of principles to guide us as we worked to turn our vision into reality. […]

    Elizabeth Sawin Culture

  • Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut …

    Macadamia-nut shells will soon be the source of electricity for more than 1,200 Australian homes. Construction began this week on a biomass cogeneration plant in the northern Australian state of Queensland that will produce renewable energy by burning more than 5,000 tons of shells generated by the nation’s native macadamia nut industry. “This project … […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Wisconsin anglers band together to protect an elusive fish

    Every winter, on the outskirts of Appleton, Wis., the world’s strangest subdivision suddenly appears. Thousands of shacks, each about the size of a two-hole outhouse, proliferate on the frozen expanse of Lake Winnebago. Dick Koerner in his shack on Lake Winnebago. Photo: Erik Ness. Early in the morning on Feb. 8, Dick Koerner jockeyed his […]

    Erik Ness Culture

  • Too Cool, from School

    Pennsylvania State University has undertaken a massive new recycling program — not for paper or plastics or food waste, but for the mammoth piles of stuff that students leave behind at the end of every school year, from sneakers to TVs to sofas. The end-of-term junk problem grew into a major headache on U.S. campuses […]

    Grist staff Culture

  • Drought-Tolerant Landscaping for Dummies

    Suzy Becker Culture

  • Umbra on green reasons to quit smoking

    Dear Umbra, I want to quit smoking. As if the risks to my health weren’t enough, could you help out by twisting that knife of guilt into my tree-hugging heart and give me some environmental reasons to stop supporting the tobacco industry? Cough, wheeze, ElaineSaint John, New Brunswick, Canada Dearest Elaine, I don’t care whether […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture