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CityStories / Citizen Reporter Stories

March 12, 2012

A Climate Conference that Ends in Real Action

One of the more frustrating aspects of our engagement with global climate change is that the crisis is manifesting itself in various ways right now, whereas the proposed solutions always seem to be gradual and incremental "works in progress." Take the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has been assembling for 15 years, with -- let’s be honest -- precious little to show for it. The ramifications of a warmer world are already upon us; but it's not always easy to find agencies,...

February 28, 2012

Digital Dining: The Best Online Guides for Ethical Food

The IFC sketch-comedy show Portlandia once featured a scene embarrassingly familiar to those of us trying to eat local and sustainable food. The show's star hipsters (played by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein) grill their restaurant server about the origins of the chicken they're contemplating ordering. Even after examining its dossier -- and learning that Colin (the chicken) ate local hazelnuts and sheep's...

January 30, 2012

Warmer Winters Uproot Garden Planting Map. Could It Be ... Climate Change?

Last week, for the first time since 1990, the U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its Plant Hardiness Zone Map, one of the tools we gardeners use to decide what will thrive, and what won't, in our personal plots of earth.

The map divides the U.S. into zones based on average extreme low temperatures, and the big news for many gardeners is that they've been promoted -- that...

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