advice
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Umbra on rooftop gardening
Dear Umbra, Growing your own vegetables is supposed to be healthy and good for the environment, but I live on a heavily trafficked avenue in Manhattan and my plants stay on my roof. Should I be worried that dirt from car and truck exhaust is contaminating my buckets of soil? Could I be poisoning myself? […]
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How to green your investments
This little piggy went earn, earn, earn all the way home. Photo: iStockphoto If you’re thinking green capitalism is one of the most powerful environmental forces in the world, you’re right on the money. Today, surprising as it may seem, some of the world’s leading financial institutions and biggest corporations are taking earth-positive actions — […]
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Umbra on Earth Day office parties
Dear Umbra, Earth Day seems like a good opportunity to raise environmental awareness in the office. Do you have any ideas for an Earth Day office party? The best I can come up with is vegan cupcakes in the park and an inter-department “use less paper” competition. I work for a publishing company that is […]
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Umbra on video games saving the world
Dear Umbra, Does the increasing use of video games as a form of recreation bode well for the environment? Fewer people using real resources means less of an impact on the world. Tadeusz Rockville, Md. Dear Tadeusz, Now that is an interesting spin on things. No one knows the complete answer, and we won’t know […]
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A tasting of seven organic beers
Can’t get enough of that frothy stuff. Photo: iStockphoto Why is beer so good? The question has perplexed humanity since the dawn of agricultural civilization 10,000 years ago. Archeological records show that beer-making evolved with bread-making: both are ways of using fermentation to preserve grain, the first cultivated crop. To make beer, you let grain […]
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Umbra on library furniture
Dear Umbra, I work in an academic library that has just received funding to purchase new furniture for the first time in over 20 years. As such, the committee examining this is very interested in purchasing stuff that will last a long time and be attractive and comfortable well into the future. We are purchasing […]
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Umbra on long, hot showers
Dear Umbra, The biggest waster of energy in our house right now is our 15-year-old daughter, whose never-ending daily showers must surely be responsible for warming the planet another half-degree. No matter how loudly we bang on the bathroom door and scream for her to stop, she showers on — 20, 30 minutes at a […]
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How to green your underwear drawer
Go on, green your drawers. Photo: jamelah e. Change your undies, change the world! OK, maybe that’s stretching things a bit — which can’t be good for those elastic waistbands. But think about all the times in recent history that underwear has shaped the culture: the 1960s bra-trashing by women’s libbers, the infamous 1994 “boxers […]
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Umbra on organic vs. natural foods
Dear Umbra, I’m trying to convince my sister that there is a difference between all-natural and organic products, and she doesn’t think there is. I’m pretty sure there is a difference, I just don’t know what it is. I look at the ingredients of some of the food she buys that she says are “natural” […]
