The Big Favorite wants to redirect our worn out panties, briefs and bras into the zero-waste economy — but there’s a catch. Used polyester-infused underwear is not currently suitable for recycling. With no place left to go but the trash can, undies join the estimated 11 million pounds of textiles dumped in landfills yearly. In
MoreEditor’s Notes: No Time To Lose
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” –F. Scott FitzgeraldI believe in the eureka moment: the experience of discovering something about the world or yourself that changes everything. This magazine has sought out those stories
MoreBy Lois VoltaDear Lois: How can we bring the change we want to see in the world into our domestic lives?
MoreThere are few tasks I will dodge more willingly than cleaning out an empty peanut butter jar. It’s tedious and yucky, and I don’t want to do it. Yet when it’s time (or maybe a day or two later) I grab a butter knife and sponge, and scrub the bottom and the sides of the
MoreThe Challenge: Those cheap Walmart pots and pans you bought just out of college are reaching the end of their usefulness, but there’s a good chance they’re made out of aluminum or stainless steel, which are both recyclable. You can’t put them in the blue bin at the curb, but, according to the Institute of
MoreUrban farmer and MacArthur Grant recipient Will Allen on the importance of greens, worms and moreby Lee Stabert
Everything about Will Allen is big. The pro basketball player turned urban agriculture iconoclast has hands like baseball mitts, and arms like tree trunks. His normal uniform—jeans, baseball hat, hooded sweatshirt with the sleeves removed—only serves to emphasize
A local company helps Philly businesses jump on the composting bandwagon by Lee StabertThere is one word showing up left and right on the lips of top urban sustainability and food access experts: compost. To hear them speak of it, the stuff is magic—now it’s just a matter of getting the rest of society on
MoreA veteran Philly furniture maker finds new inspirationby Lee Stabert
I interview Jack Larimore from an unfinished bench in his studio. Reclaimed wood timbers lay on an angle—dominos mid-fall—braced by a small round ball. The top is sanded, but still rustic. As he speaks, I can’t help but run my finger along the grain of the
The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities and Our Health--and a Vision for Changeby Annie LeonardFree Press (2010), $26
The original “Story of Stuff” is a 20-minute animated documentary that took Annie Leonard 20 years of research to make. It’s a brilliantly simple dissection of our society’s relationship
No Impact Man(2009)
Back in 2007, Colin Beavan (a.k.a. No Impact Man) had his 15 minutes—sitting for television interviews, being bandied about on blogs and earning a feature in The New York Times. (His book was reviewed in Grid’s October 2009 issue.) Along with his wife and daughter, Beavan attempted to live for one year in