agriculture
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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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Starting from scratch with chickens and eggs
Chicks and balances. Photo: USDA. It’s very provoking, as Humpty Dumpty once told Alice, to be called an egg. After all, a name must mean something. “My name,” he told her, “means the shape I am — and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, […]
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How to have a Valentine’s Day with a conscience
Friday is Valentine’s Day, but while you’re buying bonbons and bouquets, be sure to be sweet to the planet, too. If Hershey’s, Hallmark, and FTD aren’t your idea of romance, never fear: Eco-friendly options smell good, taste good (well, maybe not the flowers), and just might land you a date. Flowers In 2001, Americans spent […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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It’s time to end the race to the bottom
Here’s a simple game that makes a not-so-simple point. Stand in a line, with several friends. Each of you hold your right index finger out in front of your body. Now place a long stick across all of your fingers, balanced upon them. Your collective goal is to lower the stick to the ground. There […]
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Advice on converting to biodiesel
Umbra, I own a diesel VW Golf, which I bought thinking it was a better choice for the environment than a gasoline engine. Therefore, I was disappointed to read your message that diesel is probably a worse choice. However, you didn’t talk at all about biodiesel. Can you give us a rundown on this fuel […]
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Sleep With the Fishes
At least 20,000 chinook salmon and other fish have died in Northern California’s Klamath River in the last two weeks, but federal officials are unwilling to attribute the deaths to the Bush administration’s decision to divert water away from the river this year and into an irrigation project in southern Oregon. U.S. Fish and Wildlife […]
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Umbra on lawn and garden pesticides
Dearest Umbra, Goddess of Green Knowledge, A few years ago, a farmer friend of mine argued that more pesticides and chemical fertilizers are applied to suburban lawns and gardens than are used in commercial agriculture. I can see how this might be the case, given the massive size of the lawn and garden chemical industry, […]
