Climate Culture

Or: how I learned to start vermicomposting and love the worm

The problem with winter is that nothing rots. Yummy! — compost in action. Photo: Texas A&M Dept. of Horticultural Sciences and Aggie Horticulture. This won’t bother you if you don’t have a compost pile, but if you do, you are frozen on the horns of a messy dilemma. The wondrous microbial engine of your compost […]

As the Worm Turns

Zed, last of his species, in "Riverboat Scrambler"

Zed, last of his species, in "Out of the Etheridge"

One class of chemicals is causing a cacophony of environmental problems

To the average observer, environmental crises may seem to pop up as randomly as Starbucks franchises. Every so often, worries about a substance such as DDT or dioxin surface and, after a public outcry and tireless campaigning by environmental groups, some action is taken. In his powerful new book Pandora's Poison, Joe Thornton makes the point that many of the environmental problems that have come to light in the past 40 years are not isolated from each other at all but rather have been caused by just one class of chemicals: organochlorines.

Zed, last of his species, in "Party Animal"

Pesticide labels contradict local waste laws

As another summer eases into autumn, many of us are now enjoying the rewards of a season of gardening. We proudly face the August dilemma of figuring out what to do with all those tomatoes and zucchinis that are the result of our digging, planting, and weeding earlier in the season. More than a few […]

Zed, last of his species, in "A New Wrinkle"

And You Thought Condoms Were Useful

A Hairy Situation