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RESULTS		Results 476 – 500 of 510
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Wrapture On wrapping paper	Umbra Fisk	10 Dec 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Any suggestions on where to find recycled wrapping paper? I know the real environmental choice is to reuse stuff I have around the house, but sometimes newspaper, etc., just doesn't have the right look. Any ideas where I can find recycled/tree-free wrapping paper for the holiday season? I've been looking around (both online and off) but all I can find is rolls of brown packing paper. I want something a little more festive. Thanks, ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, holiday, recycling (all these topics)

The Organic Verses On organic food and farming	Umbra Fisk	26 Nov 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I try to buy organic food where possible, but I notice that there is often a tradeoff with other factors. For example, organic food has often been shipped further and/or is more heavily packaged. How do I assess those tradeoffs? Ellen Watertown, Mass. Dearest Ellen, As I've mentioned before, the USDA national organic standards came into effect last month, an event that has caused both rejoicing and concern in t ...
Topics: advice, agriculture, Ask Umbra, CSAs, farmers markets, food, food and agriculture, green living, local food, organic food, sustainable ag (all these topics)

Just Spray No On fruit sprays and organic food	Umbra Fisk	26 Nov 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, The tangerines I bought recently had this on the label: "Thiabendazole and/or orthopenylphenol and/or imazalil used as fungicides, and coated with food-grade shellac based wax or resin to maintain freshness." Presumably the shellac stays on the skin and does not affect the fruit, but what about the other products? What are these products and do we know what the impact of spraying or putting them on the ...
Topics: advice, agriculture, Ask Umbra, food, food and agriculture, green living, industrial ag, organic food, toxics (all these topics)

Teeth Chatter On vegetarianism	Umbra Fisk	26 Nov 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I have been a vegetarian for a pretty long time, but my uncle told me that if the human is not supposed to eat meat then why do we have teeth. He left me a little confused. Is the human being naturally vegetarian? Laida Somerville, Mass. Dearest Laida, Your uncle is unkindly denigrating your ideas, and using his authority to confuse you. His comment reminds me of a long-ago MAD Magazine spoof -- to paraphrase, "If the Lor ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food, food and agriculture, vegetarianism and veganism (all these topics)

Bunk Rock On sustainable bunk beds	Umbra Fisk	14 Nov 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I've been looking for a sustainably harvested bunk bed for my five-year-old son for quite some time now. I have found only one company, Pacific Rim, that makes such an item. It seems like a great company, but it doesn't have exactly what I'm looking for. When I search online, all I read about are "super low, unbeatable prices," rather than the really important details, like whether it's any good for our planet. Do ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, logging (all these topics)

Mulch It Over On making mulch from paper	Umbra Fisk	14 Nov 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I know this is a silly question, probably the strangest you've ever gotten, but I'm curious. Where I live, there isn't a place nearby to recycle paper. I reuse most of my paper as scratch paper and have attempted to make my own paper using a blender and a screen. The problem is, making my own paper isn't worthwhile, and I can't possibly use that much scratch paper. Besides, what do I do with the paper after I have use ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living (all these topics)

Cushion the Grow On cushion planters	Umbra Fisk	14 Nov 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I have been cutting out old cushions, filling them with dirt, and planting them for some years now. I found the first two floating in the river (while canoeing). Since then, I've gotten them from the trash; I don't pay anything for them. I use them to grow everything from herbs to prairie plants to succulents to water plants. I have even used cut-up, leftover cushions in bog gardens (in the bottom part along with newspape ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, gardening, toxics (all these topics)

Keep Soap Alive On used soap	Umbra Fisk	14 Nov 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, At a gym I go to, lots of guys pick up bars of soap, use them for two minutes, and then leave them (even though there is a liquid soap dispenser in the showers). Is there any good use for several pounds of partially used soap per day? Dennis Seattle, Wash. Dearest Dennis, I have some harebrained schemes for you, but there are some natural limitations on the success of used-soap projects. First, there is the cost/benefit limitati ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living (all these topics)

Murders on the Rise On crows	Umbra Fisk	31 Oct 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Is there a national increase in the crow population, or am I just noticing them more as I age? Jim La Jolla, Calif. Dearest Jim, Probably both. I'll wager that you have become more observant as the years pass, but it's also the case that, according to various bird counts and surveys, the American crow population is indeed expanding -- although not in all parts of the country. Industrial agriculture provides little friendly habit ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, wildlife (all these topics)

The Green Beyond On corpses	Umbra Fisk	31 Oct 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, What's the greenest method of disposing of one's corpse? I'm just dying to know. Buchacha Austin, Texas Dearest Buchacha, You are not the only one thinking of the Great Green Beyond; there are more choices about the fate of your corpse than you might imagine. Let's start with the traditional options: Cremation is greener than burial, for (at least) three reasons. First, embalming (which is common although not mandatory) uses noxi ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living (all these topics)

Wick-ed Witches On candles	Umbra Fisk	31 Oct 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Recently, nature-conscious religions such as Paganism and Wicca are getting a lot of attention. This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, such religions inspire love for the environment and have spawned many eco-nuts (myself included, I admit). However, although most of the common practices seem to be eco-friendly enough, I'm concerned about some of the incense and candles being burned. I've heard a lot of nasty rumors about these ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, green living, religion and spirituality, toxics (all these topics)

Walk the Walk on Water On water conservation	Umbra Fisk	10 Oct 2002	Ask Umbra
Dearest Umbra, How can I convince friends to conserve water? I write a column for my church newsletter to encourage responsible environmental practices by church members. One member said recently that he doesn't see any need to conserve water personally; given that our area has plenty of water, why should he turn off the tap when he brushes his teeth? I'm not sure. Our local environmental organization's slogan is, "If we ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living (all these topics)

Atmos-Fear On ground-level ozone	Umbra Fisk	10 Oct 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Where I live, the air is declared "unhealthful" on many days in the summer due to ground-level ozone pollution. On those days, we have to stay inside until after about 3 p.m. My question is: What causes ground-level ozone to form and what are its reported health effects on adults and children? Dean Bakersfield, Calif. Dearest Dean, Ground-level ozone is the unholy love child of fuel combustion and sunlight, and the ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, ozone (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)

Rush Fire On forest fires	Umbra Fisk	06 Sep 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, My husband says that Rush is blaming the Sierra Club for the huge forest fires raging in Colorado and Arizona. He says that because environmentalists oppose logging, the forest is too full of fuel. I told him that as far as I know, the Sierra Club is really trying to prevent logging in roadless areas and wilderness areas, not areas where people are living and building developments. But he pointed out that with the fires the size the ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, deforestation, land stewardship, logging (all these topics)

Deft Pallet On wooden pallets	Umbra Fisk	06 Sep 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I've scrounged some old wooden shipping pallets for garden projects -- compost piles and raised planting boxes. They appear to be untreated wood, but I'm feeling paranoid. Is there any way to know? Do companies that make pallets routinely spray them with any preservatives? Thanks, Jim Dearest Jim, Great nations consider your humble garden pallets to be of vital economic importance. As world trade expands, the global market ofte ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living, toxics (all these topics)

Now We're Cookin' With Gas Advice on eco-friendly grilling	Umbra Fisk	06 Sep 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, What sort of grill (charcoal or gas) is the fairest of them all -- speaking from an environmentalist's viewpoint, of course! R. Widiss Dearest R., Gas. I gather that lively debate exists in the barbecue set over which yields better flavor: the briquettes, with their flavorful smoke and irregular heat, or boring old gas, which cooks evenly and imparts fewer smoky (aka burnt) flavors to the object de g ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, energy, food, food and agriculture, green living, natural gas (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)

Weed Creed On weeding	Umbra Fisk	30 Jul 2002	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, We moved into a suburban neighborhood in Ft. Collins, Colo., last year and I began my usual organic gardening practices. I created a beautiful flower garden in our front yard, but I still receive complaints from my neighbors because I refuse to apply herbicides to kill the dandelions and other weeds in the lawn. At least they are all green and neatly mowed! My scientific explanations about the dangers of herbicides and pesticides and th ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, education, gardening, green living, toxics (all these topics)

A New Day Lawning On lawn and garden pesticides	Umbra Fisk	30 Jul 2002	Ask Umbra
Dearest Umbra, Goddess of Green Knowledge, A few years ago, a farmer friend of mine argued that more pesticides and chemical fertilizers are applied to suburban lawns and gardens than are used in commercial agriculture. I can see how this might be the case, given the massive size of the lawn and garden chemical industry, but I haven't been able to verify this information. Can you help? Ed Hunt Dearest Ed, Supplicant, The l ...
Topics: advice, agriculture, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living, health, toxics (all these topics)

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