by Amy Linn

Posted 1 year, 2 months ago

All college students know the feeling -- that squeaky little hamster wheel of doubt about life post-diploma. What if I can't find a job? What if I can't find a job I like? What if I can't find a job that aligns with my values?

Ditch that hamster wheel and climb on two wheels that can take you places, Maya Donelson would tell you. A 2006 graduate of New York's Syracuse University, Donelson knew she wanted to do something green in her life. But it took a random adventure -- a Read More

Posted 1 year, 2 months ago

 

A pop quiz for the college crowd:

Which of the following is no fun?
A) Beer
B) Doing it in the dark
C) Global warming activism
D) This is a trick question -- they're all related

If you picked C, you're forgiven, says Maura Cowley, campaign director for the Sierra Student Coalition. But, dude, you're so wrong.

The right answer, of course, is D. Today's campus eco-actions involve all sorts of festive frolicking, from "Save the… Read More

Posted 1 year, 2 months ago

For some people, life starts after college. For Karoline Evin McMullen, it began in middle school.

By the time she was 14, McMullen of rural Geauga County, Ohio, had already: written a textbook for elementary school kids; started a project with two friends to protect endangered brook trout; won a Christopher Columbus Award and a trip to Walt Disney World; and won a President's Environmental Youth Award and a trip to… Read More

Posted 1 year, 2 months ago

Sometimes people do things because they don't realize they can't. If this makes no sense to you, you haven't met Chris Samila, a (permanent, as he jokingly puts it) senior at Arizona State University in Tempe, where he had some epiphanies, founded a business (Green Summit Inc.), and somehow managed to pull off a wildly successful green business expo on campus. With no experience. And no real cash.… Read More

Posted 1 year, 9 months ago

Ahhh, the bedroom: an oasis of pleasure, a place where terms like "emissions reduction" and "off-gassing" should never intrude. Not that environmentalism and sex don't mix. It's just that lying back and thinking about things like CO2 and carcinogens isn't exactly ... hot. So what's a passionate greenie to do?

The answer is easy as one, two, wheee. We've assembled a slew of ideas (and a… Read More

Posted 2 years, 2 months ago The perfect ending is a gorgeous thing, all the loose ends neatly knotted, all the confusion gone. It's a motionless bird on a wire -- calm, brightly plumed, contented, with no need to fly off or find a worm or do anything but sit in the sun and enjoy the day.

If only parenthood were like that.

That's the kind of wistfulness I've been indulging in over the past few weeks as I've worked with Grist on its special series about green parenting. The project is jam-packed with tips and… Read More

Posted 2 years, 2 months ago Mea culpa. That's the only way I can honestly write anything about getting older kids to eat healthy foods. Because I've been a sucker for the look my 11-year-old gets on her face if I plop down a bowl of nuclear-orange SpongeBob mac-and-cheese in front of her. Sheer joy: that's the only way to describe it. Ditto for the times she eats (can I admit this?) Cookie Crisp cereal, high-fructose corn syrup laced yogurt, and the occasional bag of Doritos -- chips that look toxic enough to qualify as their own Superfund sites.

Posted 2 years, 2 months ago "Go outside and play!" It's a simple enough command, but as a nation of teeth-gnashing parents and teachers will tell you, not enough kids want to unplug or log off long enough to heed it. Enter Congress.

That's right, Congress.

Amid growing evidence that learning about nature and actually experiencing it can help children become healthier, happier, more engaged citizens, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) introduced the No Child Left Inside Act in the Senate and House this summer. The goal of the… Read More

Posted 2 years, 2 months ago If you were to give a check-up to Alan Greene, eco-pediatrician extraordinaire, you just might diagnose him with ASHD -- Attention Surplus Hyperproductivity Disorder. It isn't a real disorder, of course. But whatever Greene's got -- whatever blend of vim and vision allows him to stay at the cutting edge of environmentalism and e-medicine while also writing books, doctoring, and being a 100-percent-organic-food-eating father of four -- well, it's something that's helped the world get better.

Consider: In 1995, Greene and his wife Cheryl sat down at their kitchen… Read More

Posted 2 years, 2 months ago Editor's note: Last year, Grist introduced readers to MOMS as the activist group was targeting Target's sales of PVC. In this interview, we catch up with co-founder Mary Brune to find out about the group's latest campaign.

OK, so David slew Goliath. He never had half the battle facing Mary Brune and her fellow mothers in their crusade against the $500 billion-plus chemical industry.

In 2005, Brune and a trio of her friends in… Read More