consumption
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Ask Umbra’s Book Club: Are you a possum?
Dearest readers, Thank you all so much for joining me this week as we got down and dirty with our first book club selection, Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and With (Almost) No Money, hitting all the hot buttons like leaving the rat race, eating meat, and bucking the education system. […]
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‘The Story of Bottled Water’ and big fun learning about water
It’s World Water Day, which means there’s no better day to, um, pour yourself a glass of water and, uh, dive into our planet’s dismal water problems. Let’s not kids ourselves: If we’re going to learn about water use, we’re going to need snappy videos with animation and peppy music. There’s just no other way […]
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Ask Umbra on Annie Leonard and The Story of Stuff
Do you ever think about all the resources, the man hours, the stuff that went into making your iPod? Your cell phone? Your computer? The clothes you’re wearing? Annie Leonard did. And then she started talking to other people about it. You may have seen her animated 20-minute viral video, released in 2007, The Story […]
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Ask Umbra’s Book Club launches
Dearest readers, You know what an extraordinary book nerd I am. And the secret’s out: I know many of you are, too. That’s where the splendiferous new Ask Umbra’s Book Club comes in, because there’s just too much book love to keep all to myself. Here’s how it’ll work: I’ll announce a juicy eco-minded […]
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I paid $50 for this book and all I got was this lousy feeling of hope and goodwill
I received a free review copy of The Power of Half, but it ended up costing me $50. Fifty bucks that won’t go toward a much-needed (fine, much-wanted) pedicure, about a dozen cinnamon lattes, a month of cable or my cell phone, or a couple of weeks worth of bus fare for my ride to […]
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Ask Umbra’s Change Agent: Hannah Salwen
What would you do with half? Half the house, half the lattes, half the TV watching, half the Tweets, half the email checking? More importantly, what would you do with the other half — the extra space, funds, and time? Dearests, meet 17-year-old Atlanta Girls’ School junior Hannah Salwen (you may have read about her […]
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Would you trade a bigger house for more happiness?
In New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s column on Sunday, he recounts the story of then-14-year-old Hannah Salwen and her dad Kevin, and how a chance encounter with a homeless man catapulted their family into swapping their high-end home for a more modest abode and donating half of the proceeds to charity. Just reading that […]
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Ask Umbra on water bottles, gas dryers, and tea lights
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Hey! This whole freakin’ deal about aluminum, steel, and plastic bottles is bewildering. I wanted to get a BPA-free Nalgene, but should I buy an aluminum instead? I don’t have or see the use to spend $20USD for a darn bottle. What’s the best way to go? […]
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Ask Umbra on judging greenness
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I consider myself to live simply and in an environmentally conscious way. I have been having trouble with those who also are “green” but seem to be smug about it, ostentatious even, maybe hypocritical when judging others who appear “un-green” based on superficial things like my clothes. […]
