 Stories About: advice
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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 ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living, toxics (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, energy, food, food and agriculture, green living, natural gas (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, green living, oil, placemaking, toxics (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, fuel efficiency, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, placemaking (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, education, gardening, green living, toxics (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: advice, agriculture, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living, health, toxics (all these topics) |
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Clothes Call
On clothing |
Umbra Fisk |
30 Jul 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, My nephew says that new clothes and other apparel that come from foreign countries are treated with toxic chemicals to avoid various types of fungal or insect contamination, and upon arriving at the loading dock of your favorite wanker-mart, they are ripe to toxify the air, your skin, your eyes. He worked on such a dock and had to wear a respirator and other protective devices to avoid dangerous levels of exposure to the stuff. So I ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, fashion, green living, toxics (all these topics) |
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Bad Medicine
On flushing medications |
Umbra Fisk |
21 Jun 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I work with a number of older women who try to be environmentally conscientious. When it comes to discarding outdated medications though, there seems to be conflicting advice. Medical doctors tell me that all such medicines should be flushed down the toilet. Water resource people say, don't flush, because all those discarded medicines are seeping into groundwater. Sigh. What are we to do? Jonell Cadman Dearest Jonell, The ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, health, solid waste treatment and disposal, toxics, water pollution (all these topics) |
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Grim Limb Gym
On chlorinated swimming pools |
Umbra Fisk |
21 Jun 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Umbra, I recently managed to mangle my knee and am going through all the 4,673 steps necessary to unmangle it and make it happy and functional again. One of the things my doctor advised me to do was swim. Well, swimming pools are of course full of chlorine! Hey, I just bought an expensive filter for my shower to keep the chlorine off the largest organ of my body, my skin. So what are the risks of contact with chlorinated water ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, health, sports, toxics (all these topics) |
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Give Yourself a Wedgie
On recycling beer bottles with lime wedges |
Umbra Fisk |
21 Jun 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Most Honorable Umbra, Knower of All Green Things: Am I unwittingly hampering the recycling process by twisting that lime wedge into my bottle of beer? The dang things are tough to get back out! Humbly yours, Jill Brooks Dearest Jill, Please be assured that I thoroughly investigated your problem. I started with Personal Solutions. I have a pile of limes I keep down here to fend off scurvy, and I spent som ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food, green living, recycling (all these topics) |
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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 ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics) |
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Just Bag It
On grocery bags |
Umbra Fisk |
04 Jun 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, At the grocery store, when they ask "Paper or plastic?" (and you have left your eco-friendly organic cotton tote bag at home), which is the lesser of two evils as far as total pounds of pollutants per bag (including solid waste, hazardous waste, and air and water pollution), and as far as ecological damage from raw material extraction and processing? Anna Dearest Anna, I am beginning to believe that true national environ ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, waste (all these topics) |
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Off With Their PCs!
On computers |
Umbra Fisk |
04 Jun 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I normally turn my computer off when I leave the office. However, I was recently told that the act of turning on a computer requires more energy than is saved by keeping it off from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. The person said that it is better to let your computer go into "sleep" mode and just wake it up when you get in. Is this true? Thanks, Bryna Dearest Bryna, Simply putting the computer in "sleep" mode will not ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy at home, energy efficiency, green living (all these topics) |
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The Paper Chase
On corporate paper recycling |
Umbra Fisk |
23 Apr 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| I work for a large corporation that is very wasteful with paper. I am looking for information on whom I can complain to about this so that something will happen. They do not use recycled paper or require any recycling of paper. Beth Dearest Beth, Prepare yourself: The fate of reams of office paper is in your hands. You must be the defender of the discarded draft, the champion of the crumpled wad, the protector of the printer ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, business, education, green living, recycling, waste (all these topics) |
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No Farm, No Foul
On farmed fish |
Umbra Fisk |
23 Apr 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| I have a friend who is a homeopathic. She told me that I should stop eating pen-raised salmon because they are fed a lot of antibiotics. I was very disappointed because I thought I was eating a safe product. I don't know how to get more info about this, but if you guys know anything about it, I'm sure a lot of us would appreciate it. Claudia Dearest Claudia, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that your question is ... |
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| Topics: advice, aquaculture, Ask Umbra, fishing, food, food and agriculture, water pollution (all these topics) |
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Con Trails
On chemtrails |
Umbra Fisk |
23 Apr 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| I'm interested in learning more about Chemtrails. I understand that they are spread in the sky by jets using aluminum particles and that they are used to create cooler weather to slow down global warming. However, people are suffering from health problems as a result of this spraying action. If you have more information on Chemtrails, I would be interested in hearing about it. Terry Dearest Terry, Airplanes release water vapor as a byproduct of ... |
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| Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, toxics (all these topics) |
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