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  • Americans’ Waste Lines Expanding

    One mantra of the environmental movement in the U.S. has been “reduce, reuse, recycle,” but consumption patterns in the country reveal a nearly opposite trend: buy, use, discard. Disposable culture is on the rise across the country, and has been ever since single-use razors and disposable diapers hit the shelves in the 1960s. Now disposable […]

  • Umbra on organic food and farming

    Dear Umbra, I try to buy organic food where possible, but I notice that there is often a tradeoff with other factors. For example, organic food has often been shipped further and/or is more heavily packaged. How do I assess those tradeoffs? EllenWatertown, Mass. Dearest Ellen, As I’ve mentioned before, the USDA national organic standards […]

  • Umbra on fruit sprays and organic food

    Dear Umbra, The tangerines I bought recently had this on the label: “Thiabendazole and/or orthopenylphenol and/or imazalil used as fungicides, and coated with food-grade shellac based wax or resin to maintain freshness.” Presumably the shellac stays on the skin and does not affect the fruit, but what about the other products? What are these products […]

  • The Roof Is on Fire

    By passing regulations to encourage developers to install green roofs, Portland, Ore., has become a pioneer in the growing worldwide ecoroof movement (what, you aren’t a part of it yet?). Rooftops planted with vegetation such as ferns and wildflowers can reduce runoff after rainstorms by up to 90 percent and diminish a building’s energy costs […]

  • Umbra on sustainable bunk beds

    Dear Umbra, I’ve been looking for a sustainably harvested bunk bed for my five-year-old son for quite some time now. I have found only one company, Pacific Rim, that makes such an item. It seems like a great company, but it doesn’t have exactly what I’m looking for. When I search online, all I read […]

  • Umbra on making mulch from paper

    Dear Umbra, I know this is a silly question, probably the strangest you’ve ever gotten, but I’m curious. Where I live, there isn’t a place nearby to recycle paper. I reuse most of my paper as scratch paper and have attempted to make my own paper using a blender and a screen. The problem is, […]

  • Umbra on used soap

    Dear Umbra, At a gym I go to, lots of guys pick up bars of soap, use them for two minutes, and then leave them (even though there is a liquid soap dispenser in the showers). Is there any good use for several pounds of partially used soap per day? DennisSeattle, Wash. Dearest Dennis, I […]

  • A Catalog of Ills

    Of the 17 billion catalogs mailed every year to American consumers (that’s 59 catalogs for each and every one of us!), a surprising few contain recycled materials. An Environmental Defense survey released yesterday found that only six of 42 major catalog companies are using significant amounts of recycled paper, and most don’t use any. Nary […]

  • Michelle Nijhuis reviews Hunting Season, A Killing Season, and Hoot

    If the pen really is mightier than the sword, it seems like environmentalists should have worked themselves out of a job a long time ago. Take a stroll through almost any bookstore, and you'll find a nature-writing section full of lushly designed covers, beautifully turned prose, and impassioned arguments on behalf of the land. It looks like a slam-dunk for Team Green.