Climate Culture

Umbra on cruises

Dear Umbra, My husband, though a very warmhearted man, does not follow the environmental tides quite as much as I do. He would desperately like to take a cruise for our second honeymoon. I know cruise ships dump waste in the oceans and are not good for the ecosystem in general, but could you tell […]

Umbra on Styrofoam

Dear Umbra, I continue to avoid buying Styrofoam, but I don’t really know why. In middle school, I remember being told not to chew on Styrofoam cups because the action of breaking the Styrofoam would deplete the ozone and ingesting it would make me ill. This information, given to me by the lunchroom woman, is […]

Solar, Without Flair

President Bush’s proposed budget for the government’s 2004 fiscal year doesn’t contain much good news for renewable energy advocates: Total research funding for the Energy Department’s energy efficiency and renewable energy programs would increase just 0.1 percent. Last summer, though, the feds apparently had enough money to purchase a solar-energy system to heat the presidential […]

Catalog of Thrills

Bill Clinton Gathers No Moss

Former President Bill Clinton will take to the stage with the Rolling Stones this Thursday at an L.A. concert aimed at raising awareness about the looming problem of climate change. Clinton won’t be playing the sax, but he will be blowing his metaphorical horn in a speech about the need to tackle global warming, says […]

L.A. Sob Story

Los Angeles gets plenty of sunshine, but the city government has dropped the ball on boosting solar power and other clean-energy sources. Almost four years after the launch of a $40 million initiative meant to shift the city toward renewable power sources, the L.A. Department of Power and Water has increased the amount of clean […]

Sweet Carolina

For the first time, residents of North Carolina will be able to buy their electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and biomass. Under “NC Greenpower,” a new plan approved by the state earlier this week, industrial electricity customers can choose to pay about 2.5 extra cents per kilowatt hour for green power; residential […]

Muck Ado About Something

Russian journalist and environmental muckraker Grigory Pasko was paroled from prison yesterday after serving part of a highly contested term for treason. Pasko became the poster-child for concerns about Russian limitations on press freedoms when he was convicted for taking notes during a 1997 meeting of Russian naval commanders. The court claimed that Pasko had […]

Succulent Temptations

In an effort to conserve water, landscapers in Arizona have turned to the wild cacti of West Texas for decoration, creating an unsustainable demand that could imperil some species. According to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund, agaves and yuccas are being harvested from the Chihuahua Desert to feed a demand for drought-tolerant […]

Umbra on student activism

Dear Umbra, I may be asking the wrong person, but I hope you can help out. I am a student at the University of North Carolina and my group, the Student Environmental Action Coalition, is undertaking an ambitious campaign to raise student fees by $4 per semester in order to bring renewable energy to our […]