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advice

  • 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 […]

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  • 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 […]

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  • 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 […]

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  • Umbra on engineered soy products

    Dear Umbra, I don’t know if you’ll have time to answer this question, but while purchasing 8th Continent soymilk my husband noticed that there was Solae in it. After some research on the Internet, we discovered that Solae is made by DuPont and is a genetically engineered soybean, but we were unable to find anything […]

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  • Umbra on milk cartons

    Hi Umbra, I don’t know if the same thing has happened in the U.S, but here in Canada the milk industry has undergone a massive shift to using different containers. Once, you could get plastic jugs or cardboard cartons with fold-back lids or plastic bags. But now, the most commonly available container is a revised […]

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  • Umbra on the Bush administration’s environmental record

    Dear Umbra, I hope you can answer this or direct me to someone who can. I am a member of the local Williamson County Democratic Party. I would like to print up a leaflet to distribute to the public at our next gathering on April 26 and 27 that shows just what the present Republican […]

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  • Umbra on peeing al fresco

    Dear Umbra, If I am going to pee outside, is it more environmentally sound to squat in the back yard where the pee salinates the soil, or next to the road where the liquid runoff can enter sewers, or in the woods where there are no ornamental plantings to disturb, but there might be snakes? […]

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  • Umbra on keeping compost rat-free

    Hi Umbra, I live in Providence, R.I., and I have a basic composting bin; it’s about three feet tall, made of black plastic with ventilation shafts on all four sides and on top, but it has no bottom. I want to set this up in my tiny side yard for my neighbors and me to […]

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  • Umbra on composting toilets

    I would think that outhouses would be a lot better for the environment than a toilet. You don't have to use water in them and when one fills up (like the ones made now do after 15 or so years, depending on how deep your original hole is), you just fill it

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