shopping
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Guy stops using soap for a year, loves it
Sean Bonner hasn't used shampoo or soap in a year -- and he says he smells great.
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Ask Umbra on surprising last-minute holiday gifts sure to cause a smile
A frenzied reader asks Umbra for last-minute, memorable and sustainable gift ideas. Read this and start checking off the naughty and nice on your list
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Ask Umbra on Black Friday, giving thanks, and buying nothing
Don't get caught in the herd headed for Black Friday's 'Savings Stampede!' Join Umbra in celebrating Buy Nothing Day, or "Giving Thanks Day."
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Ask Umbra on turning threadbare clothing into recycled textiles
Ask Umbra answers a practically naked reader's question about how to recycle clothes once they are past the point of no reuse.
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A shopping center tries to repel teens with the buzz of a powerful Mosquito
D.C.'s Gallery Place has gotten so fed up with teens lounging near the property that they've imported a device called the Mosquito to drive them off.
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Grassroots financing is underwriting a new crop of neighborhood businesses
In the summer of 2008, business partners Jessica Stockton Bagnulo and Rebecca Fitting were making plans to open a bookstore in Brooklyn. Their chosen neighborhood, Fort Greene, was over the moon at the prospect. For years, residents had been clamoring for a bookstore, repeatedly citing it as their top need in surveys conducted by the […]
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Ditching shopping carts one-ups bans on plastic bags
Why would we want to teach our little rascals that shopping carts and cars don’t go together?Sean Dreilinger via Flickr Creative CommonsCalifornia may think it’s bag-ass for its progress toward banning plastic shopping bags. However, Sydney, Australia’s city council is pushing the limits of grocery-getters by telling a small supermarket to park its shopping carts […]
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Community Carts Remove a Barrier to Walking.
When I was growing up in Seattle in the sixties, the neighborhood grocery where my mom shopped let her and other regular customers push purchases home in the store’s shopping carts. We lived two blocks away, and we returned the carts promptly to safeguard the privilege. It was sometimes my older siblings’ job to return […]
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H&M’s organic line and the Wal-Mart perspective
Eurochic retailer H&M is launching an earth-friendly spring Garden Collection, H&M shopper Joe Romm reports. No, scratch that, this is from thegreengirls.com. The new line will include recycled polyester, organic cotton, and organic linen. Presumably the expected life of these clothes won’t be any longer than typical H&M items, which aren’t exactly known for their […]