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RESULTS		Results 26 – 46 of 46
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Idle Thoughts On whether to leave the engine running	Umbra Fisk	23 Sep 2004	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I have a question that has been nagging me for a while, and I would really like to have it answered once and for all. You see, I deliver pizzas for a living right now, and so I make many frequent stops and starts at people's houses during a shift. I always turn off my engine whenever I make a delivery or am waiting at the store for the next order to come up, because I believe in doing my part to keep our ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, cars, greenhouse-gas emissions, placemaking (all these topics)

The Rank and Vile On choosing the least evil gasoline company	Umbra Fisk	20 Sep 2004	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Every week I scan the gasoline signs looking for the cheapest deal, while knowing that what I pay in rock-bottom prices may come at the expense of environmental integrity and social justice. I'd like to choose my brand of gas with more conscience. Would you help? I'd love to see a ranking or rating system of the major gasoline brands. It could let us know which ones are meaningfully pursuing r ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, business, energy, oil, placemaking (all these topics)

Stinky Unsafe Vehicle On SUVs	Umbra Fisk	25 Feb 2004	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Please help; my friend Kathryn Schulz, Grist's managing editor, is sick of hearing about my guilt. I own an SUV. In my defense, I got it almost six years ago, when I was moving to the mountains and needed a big car with four-wheel drive to support my rugged, transient lifestyle, and it's a littler model, not a Navigator. Life is funny, though, because now I live in New York, and the only thing I use my SUV for is commuting from ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, electric vehicles, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

Gear Factor On driving in neutral	Umbra Fisk	28 Oct 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I have a question about getting the most miles per gallon. If you put your car into neutral at stops or going downhill, do you save any gas? My car is an automatic. Jeff Verona, N.J. Dearest Jeff, Another great question we have all pondered. Louisa and her fellow mechanics thought you might save a little gas. Let me be more specific: a very, very small amount of gas. Droplets. In the final cost-benefit analysis, those dropl ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, oil, placemaking (all these topics)

Defrost Cost On car heaters	Umbra Fisk	28 Oct 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, My friend and I have a bet going that I hope you can settle. She thinks that running the heat in a car in the winter is "free" -- that is, it doesn't use additional gas. As a conservationist, this pleases her greatly. However, I think that turning on the heat does use additional gas if you are using the defroster. Can you settle this for us? Thanks! Sama Denver, Colo. Dearest Sama, You win. But I fear this is a wager wi ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, energy efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

The Corrections Reader responses on family cars, the internal combustion engine, and more	Umbra Fisk	11 Jun 2003	Ask Umbra
Dearest Readers, How I enjoy your letters! I'm sorry I'm unable to answer them all; lest you fear that they vanish into the void, I assure you they do not. I read each and every one of them down here in Stacklandia. I must in particular thank those of you who write in to correct, amend, or expand on issues I address in my columns. Almost without exception, those perspic ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Plane Text Advice on driving vs. flying	Umbra Fisk	28 May 2003	Ask Umbra
Hi Umbra, I'm wondering if you have any numbers comparing the fuel efficiency of flying versus driving the average car for the same distance. Also, how does carbon dioxide production compare for the same trip? Steve Loomis, Calif. Dearest Steve, Flight blight? Here's what I can find so far, courtesy of the Rocky Mountain Institute in beautiful Snowmass, Colo. Single-occupancy automobiles produce 0.91 pounds of carbon dioxide per ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, cars, fuel efficiency, greenhouse-gas emissions, placemaking, travel (all these topics)

Give a Hoot, Don't Scoot On scooters	Umbra Fisk	28 May 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I was thinking of buying a scooter with the idea that (in addition to being fun) I would be using a more fuel-efficient means of transportation on days when the weather was good. Then I got the edition of the Daily Grist telling me how dirty motorcycles are. Now I'm worried: Are scooters the same? I'm talking about a Vespa-type thing. Please tell me that's not as polluting as a Harley! Thanks (even if the answer isn't wha ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Gnarly Davidson On motorcycles	Umbra Fisk	28 May 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I recently read a claim that "motorcycles produce far more pollution per mile than your typical car, truck, or SUV." Is that true? I've got a friend who's currently making her (bad-ass) way across country on a Harley -- 60 mpg, baby -- and we are both curious about the environmental impacts compared with a car. Billy Brooklyn, N.Y. Dearest Billy, Bad news for your friend and her bad behind. If she's getting 60 miles ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Vantastic On minivans	Umbra Fisk	28 May 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, We have a six-year-old daughter, a three-year-old daughter, and -- surprise! (well, not completely) -- a new baby girl due in the next two months. Our fuel-efficient car cannot fit two car seats and a booster across the back seat, and according to Washington state law ("six-years-old and 60 pounds"), my petite six-year-old will remain in her booster for some time. I've been looking into minivans but am discouraged by their poo ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Bamboo Ado On wood floors and solid waste	Umbra Fisk	27 Feb 2003	Ask Umbra
Oh Wise Umbra, We'll be replacing our carpeting with wood flooring, probably from one of the major home stores (Home Depot or Lowe's). Are wood floors a really bad environmental choice if they are made from unsustainably harvested wood? Would I be better off going with a (probably petroleum-based) fake wood floor? Also, is there any environmentally responsible way to dispose of my old carpet? If the nice garbage collectors pick ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green building, green living, green products, placemaking, recycling, waste (all these topics)

Burden of Roof On eco-friendly roofs	Umbra Fisk	27 Feb 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Our roof is getting pretty old and starting to fall apart. It's one of those asphalt-shingle roofs that most houses have these days. Before we call the roofing company, I'd like to know what's the greenest kind of roofing material to use. Metal? Cedar? More asphalt? I'm sure lots of other readers would like to know, too! Thanks, Wally Bubelis Seattle, Wash. Dearest Wally, Like other readers, you may need a drink or t ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green building, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Housecapades On homegrown activism	Umbra Fisk	12 Feb 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I have been changing my way of living in the past year or so to become more environmentally friendly. I have been recycling (my city recycles almost everything) and I started composting. I have been cutting meat out of my life, and I have been surrounding my home with plants and herbs. I buy biodegradable, organic products that haven't been tested on animals. I've also signed online petitions and became a member of Greenpea ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, grassroots activism, green building, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Grease Be With You Advice on converting to biodiesel	Umbra Fisk	10 Oct 2002	Ask Umbra
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 -- how to get it, how it may be beneficial, and what you might have to do to ensure your car can run on it safely? Thank ...
Topics: advice, agriculture, Ask Umbra, biofuels, cars, energy, food and agriculture, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, placemaking (all these topics)

Ecotopias, Part II On environmentally friendly communities, again	Umbra Fisk	19 Sep 2002	Ask Umbra
Dearest Readers, In my last column, I received a plea from James "Captain Planet" Fitzpatrick of Florida, a firefighter looking to relocate to a small, friendly, environmentally conscious mountain community with good schools, reasonably clean air and water, and no polluting companies or toxic waste sites. As this was obviously a job for discerning Grist readers, I turned the question over to ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, placemaking, Portland (all these topics)

For Whom the Roto Tills On killing your lawn	Umbra Fisk	19 Sep 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I just moved into a house with a large backyard. I would like to xeriscape 90 percent of it, but I must first learn how to kill and remove the grass. I'm not a fan of chemicals and would like to find an alternate solution. Most of the yard is very, very brown these days due to the drought. Will a rototiller do the job? Frank Dearest Frank, For befuddled readers, a xeriscape is a water-saving garden, usually instal ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, gardening, placemaking (all these topics)

Ecotopias, Part I On environmentally friendly communities	Umbra Fisk	06 Sep 2002	Ask Umbra
Hello, Umbra, I have been a firefighter for 23 years in Florida and have been reading Grist for the last couple of years. I am very environmentally conscious (probably why my nickname at the fire station is Captain Planet) and am starting to look for a place to move with mountains, small and friendly (preferably environmentally conscious) communities that still have reasonably clean air and water and a lack of hu ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Sin Diesel On diesel engines	Umbra Fisk	15 Aug 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Longtime reader; first-time writer. Love the column. My partner and I recently bought a small station wagon to replace our 4WD pick-up and '83 sedan. After some debate, we chose a turbo-diesel engine that boasts about 45 miles per gallon instead of a gas engine, which gets about 30 MPG. Our thinking led us to choose the higher fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions of the diesel engine, although the gas engine produces fewer par ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, green living, oil, placemaking, toxics (all these topics)

Autodidactic On picking the right car	Umbra Fisk	15 Aug 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, In 1981, I bought my first car, a Honda Civic. It was a great car, and despite what certain congressional leaders say about car size and safety, an excellent vehicle for handling winter snow and ice in mountain driving in Steamboat Springs, Colo. The problem is that now, living in Pennsylvania, my husband and I and our three children are looking for a car that will be able to carry the five of us for the next 10 years wi ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, fuel efficiency, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, placemaking (all these topics)

Coolant On cooling your car	Umbra Fisk	15 Aug 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Is it more efficient to drive down the highway with my windows down or the air conditioner on? I know the air conditioner decreases gas mileage, but I bet having my windows down at 75 miles per hour produces pretty good drag. Thanks, Sara Dearest Sara, This is July's Question of the Month for Grist readers, apparently. I received a passel of virtually identical queries with minute variations. ("How much drag do you get from ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Car Talk On hybrid cars	Umbra Fisk	04 Jun 2002	Ask Umbra
Umbra, hi, With Honda having just released its gas-electric hybrid Civic in the U.S., many enviros are scrambling to buy one. But one question that hasn't been answered to my knowledge is whether the total amount of energy, pollution, mining, etc. involved in making a new car -- even a hybrid -- constitutes a greater overall environmental impact than the added emissions and fossil-fuel consumption of a huge old second-hand clunker that would cost ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

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