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RESULTS		Results 176 – 193 of 193
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Compostmodern On composting toilets	Umbra Fisk	30 Apr 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I grew up in a house built in 1812. Until 1962, we still used an outhouse that was built with the house. My mother said that when she was a girl (in the 1920s), a man used to come around and clean it out each year, but it was never done in my memory. The seats were built about 10 feet over the debris and it never seemed to fill up. We did put lime (the kind you buy for your garden) in it. Some people now use outhouses wher ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, waste, water pollution (all these topics)

Europe Paean		21 Apr 2003	Daily Grist
Europe Paean Major American corporations may be getting off easy on environmental regulations in the U.S. these days, but they're being forced to toe the line in Europe. Rules adopted this year will require all electronics manufacturers doing business in European Union countries to eliminate use of lead, mercury, and other heavy metals from their products, ...
Topics: European Union, globalization, green living, politics, recycling, toxics, United States, waste (all these topics)

Disposal Proposal On garbage disposals	Umbra Fisk	27 Mar 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra: When my garbage disposal died recently, I replaced it with a clever new design that uses no electricity (just water pressure), but it led me to wonder which is really kinder to the environment: putting kitchen waste in the disposal or just trashing it? I compost whenever possible, of course, but there are always scraps that are mixed with animal fat and shouldn't be added to a compost pile. How does the damage of this o ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, food, solid waste treatment and disposal, waste (all these topics)

Pee Ditty On paper towels vs. hand dryers	Umbra Fisk	27 Mar 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, As an environmental science instructor, I'm often asked which is the better choice when drying one's hands in a public restroom, assuming both options are available: paper towels, with their associated disposal issues, or hand dryers, with their use of electricity, much of which is wasted. What's the answer? Curious in Iowa, Dawn Dearest Dawn, Patient multitudes have written repeatedly with the insistent query: &quo ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, energy, energy efficiency, green living, waste (all these topics)

Menstruation Innovation On that time of the month	Umbra Fisk	12 Mar 2003	Ask Umbra
Hey there, Umbra! I have a kind of gross-yet-pressing question for you: Are sanitary products (pads, etc.) environmentally friendly? I would think no, but what do you say? And what can I do about it? Thanks, Jessica Telford, Tenn. Hey there, dearest Jessica, How is it possible that we live in a country where diapers are table conversation and menstruation is considered gross? But no worries, there are many nice flowe ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, health, toxics, waste (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)

'Til Cruise Do Us Part On cruises	Umbra Fisk	06 Feb 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, My husband, though a very warmhearted man, does not follow the environmental tides quite as much as I do. He would desperately like to take a cruise for our second honeymoon. I know cruise ships dump waste in the oceans and are not good for the ecosystem in general, but could you tell me which cruise lines are the most environmentally conscious? In the spirit of compromise, I have agreed to go, but would like to make the ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, oceans, travel, waste, water pollution (all these topics)

Styro-Tome On Styrofoam	Umbra Fisk	06 Feb 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I continue to avoid buying Styrofoam, but I don't really know why. In middle school, I remember being told not to chew on Styrofoam cups because the action of breaking the Styrofoam would deplete the ozone and ingesting it would make me ill. This information, given to me by the lunchroom woman, is all I seem to have on the material. What is it with Styrofoam? Why should we avoid it? Sincerely, Sundee Chicago, Ill. Dearest ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, ozone, waste (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, waste (all these topics)

Mr. Yucca		09 May 2002	Daily Grist
Mr. Yucca The U.S. House voted 306 to 117 yesterday to move forward with the Bush administration's plan to store the nation's nuclear waste under Nevada's Yucca Mountain. The overwhelming vote -- which overrode the veto of the plan by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn (R) -- was expected. Now the battle moves to the Senate, where Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Majority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have prom ...
Topics: Harry Reid, Nevada, nuclear power, politics, waste (all these topics)

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 ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, business, education, green living, recycling, waste (all these topics)

As the Worm Turns Or: how I learned to start vermicomposting and love the worm	Erik Ness	11 Oct 2000	Main Dish
The problem with winter is that nothing rots. Yummy! -- compost in action. Photo: Texas A&M Dept. of Horticultural Sciences and Aggie Horticulture. This won't bother you if you don't have a compost pile, but if you do, you are frozen on the horns of a messy dilemma. The wondrous microbial engine of your compost pile is no match for the big chill of winter. The tiny ecosystem that magicall ...
Topics: gardening, green living, waste (all these topics)

No Trash Can Do Pesticide labels contradict local waste laws	Scott Cassel	11 Aug 2000	Soapbox
As another summer eases into autumn, many of us are now enjoying the rewards of a season of gardening. We proudly face the August dilemma of figuring out what to do with all those tomatoes and zucchinis that are the result of our digging, planting, and weeding earlier in the season. More than a few of us also applied pesticides in our gardens and yards to keep the grubs down and insects away. When the sea ...
Topics: gardening, green living, toxics, waste (all these topics)

Order in the Court The nitty-gritty on the ruling that lets citizens sue their way to a clean environment	Michael Grynberg	28 Mar 2000	Main Dish
Once upon a time, a South Carolina wastewater treatment plant repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act by dumping illegal amounts of mercury into a river. Unsurprisingly, several environmental organizations responded by suing. They could do so because the Clean Water Act contains "citizen suit" provisions that allow private citizens to sue for the law ...
Topics: litigation, mercury, toxics, waste, water pollution (all these topics)

Pork Politics	Donella H. Meadows	24 Jan 2000	Global Citizen
"Campaign reform" is much too polite a phrase. "Ending corruption" is more like it. I could -- and maybe I will -- write a column a week from now till next fall's election counting the ways campaign contributions corrupt our government, destroy our public assets, and rob taxpayers. Today's example is industrial hog farming. This little piggy went to market. As recently as 20 years ago, most pigs were raised on family farms. F ...
Topics: agriculture, industrial ag, waste (all these topics)

Congress Is Playing the Ugly Rider Game Again	Donella H. Meadows	26 Jul 1999	Global Citizen
"ACTION ALERT. This week the Senate is expected to vote on an Interior Appropriations bill that has a dirty baker's dozen of anti-environmental riders. Now is the time to step up our opposition to these undemocratic attacks on the environment." I get so darn sick of these emails. I get sick of the whole cynical rider game. They play it, down there in the Great White Governing City, whenever they ap ...
Topics: Harry Reid, mining, oil, politics, toxics, waste (all these topics)

A Rind is a Terrible Thing to Waste Alaskan finds gold mine in trash	Elizabeth Manning	10 Jun 1999	Main Dish
John Dean is never still when he's at his composting and recycling facility, tucked behind the airport in Anchorage, Alaska. Dressed in his usual baseball cap and a T-shirt that reads "Compost -- Because a Rind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste," Dean splits his days between the seat of a backhoe and his mobile-home office. One minute he's loading chocolate-brown compost into a customer's ...
Topics: Alaska, recycling, waste (all these topics)

Riders on the Storm	Ben White	12 May 1999	Muckraker
No one in her or his right mind thinks the 106th Congress is going to pass a whole lot of actual free-standing legislation. It will likely take every ounce of strength this feeble Congress can muster to pass the essential spending bills that fund the government. So riders, those pesky little items that hope to escape scrutiny by hitching a ride on big money bills, are the name of the game, as noted in last week's Muckraker. The current vehicle for ...
Topics: education, environmental non-government organizations, mining, Muckraker, politics, United States, waste, wildlife (all these topics)

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