family
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Driving a car doesn't mean being in control
It is during the times we are not able to drive that it becomes clear just how little "control" a car-dependent life provides.
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Americans need to stop multitasking while eating alone, argues French sociologist Claude Fischler
You're not alone in eating alone -- at least in America. It's what most of us do: in front of computers and TVs, or in cars. But as the preëminent French food sociologist Claude Fischler explained, we represent one extreme end of the social-eating spectrum, and the French another -- and in getting there, we've also strayed quite far from the ways that humans have consumed food for thousands of years.
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Moving to the suburbs for your kids? Think again
Folks, if you live in a sprawling, autocentric community that requires you to drive your kids to the supermarket to buy their organic produce and to the local playfield to get their exercise, you're not doing them -- or the planet -- any favors.
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'Sister Wives' is latest reality show to glorify mega-families
TLC made fauxlebrities out of Jon and Kate Gosselin and the Duggar family with its 19 kids. How do you get bigger and weirder than that? Polygamists!
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Why public transportation is good for kids
It's become part of the collective American belief system that cars are the preferred (if not the only acceptable) mode of transportation for our children. But my family is taking the road less traveled by.
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Is this a green home?
I’m thinking about reporting on this house as an example of sensible environmental design reproducible for the masses. Can anyone help me decide? This is a press release (emphasis mine): We handle parenting author, environmentalist, and “The Crafty Mom” Mary Lyon who recently built her 6,700 square foot spectacular “green” home in Brentwood, California. Below […]
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Fourth of July musings on symbols, patriotism, and identity
Sketches of ideas for the JP Green House exterior all include banners, signs, and flags at our request. This reflects our plan to unearth the former corner store that used to be housed in the “flatiron” triangular building. It’s also a means of advertising our demonstration project and a good fit with our civic purpose, […]
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In which we chronicle the creation of a groundbreaking eco-home
Editor’s note: This month, Grist contributor Ken Ward and his partner Andrée Zaleska begin chronicling their conversion of a rundown, 100-year-old store into a green home that serves as both family living quarters and a public space for climate activism, green building education, and community gatherings. Recently, I visited the pair for a tour of […]