I have a friend off for a week at the beach in Australia, but here in New England it’s still soup weather and this is a favorite, full of ginger and garlic to help fight colds. Couldn’t be simpler, or easier on the earth, this favorite lentil soup, based on recipe from the New York [...]

Publishing does a lot of good: promoting global understanding, sharing knowledge, providing low-impact entertainment, supporting education and lifelong learning. But it also requires a lot of paper, much of which is sourced from unsustainably managed forest. Greenpeace has launched a campaign to promote sustainable publishing practices, and as a result The Armchair Environmentalist is one [...]

I can’t believe I missed this when it came out in October, and that I found it only because the lines were long at the food coop before the holiday weekend (today is Presidents’ Day, here in the US, and the radio hosts make terrible jokes about not being able to tell a lie, an [...]

You may not remember the McLibel trial in Britain, the most expensive case, I think it was, in UK history. During the days I lived there, McDonalds did about as good a job as George W. Bush does today at promoting a positive view of the United States. They sued everyone, from big time journalists [...]

There’s a section in The Armchair Environmentalist called “How to Survive the Online Life,” covering Repetitive Strain Injury and offering some suggestions about exercise and positioning. But we also talk about the bigger question of how the planet is going to–we hope–survive our online lives. While using recycled paper is a fine thing to do, [...]

I’m not crazy about people who give advice then tell you to check with your doctor, your therapist, and your gas station attendant before trying it. But I received an email yesterday asking about advice on “green sex” in my previous book, Eco Living, and I thought I’d try to answer it here. Given the [...]

It always amuses me that corporations would tell us to trust them, as if they were priests or surgeons instead of merchants, hawking their goods as best they can. They talk as though their leadership role model is Mother Teresa instead of Henry Ford. They want to feed the developing world, right? Rice with Vitamin [...]

Midwinter is when the gardening bug strikes me, because I’m so much in need of greenery and flowers (and folic acid!). One thing I’m doing is growing sprouts, sick of the high prices and dreariness of the salad greens in the shops (they’re clearly labelled as coming from California, with signs apologizing for the high [...]

You may have noticed that environmental history has influenced my thinking. It ought to be possible to learn from our mistakes, after all. It’s some comfort to know that humans in the past, too, have messed with their environment throughout history, turned forest into desert, polluted rivers, and poisoned themselves!
But we know so much [...]

I haven’t noticed anyone wearing a mask this trip. Sometimes you see bicyclists in cities wearing white masks, which certainly makes sense given the air quality on London streets. I never did, myself, when I cycled here. There are many cyclists in London and especially in Oxford, which is great. The physical benefits of cycling [...]