Part 1: Considering the Electric Car Gasoline-powered cars stink. Just ask Chuck Alldrin. That’s no philosophical or political judgment. It’s simply an observation. It wasn’t until Alldrin started driving electric cars that he noticed how bad other cars smell. “You just don’t think of it,” he says. “You don’t notice that the car in front [...]
Stuff to read, stuff to give to others to read—let’s hope for a few moments of peace to enjoy a book during the holiday season, and then stretch that peace as far into winter as we can. One woman spent an entire year reading a different book every day. At the end of the year, [...]
In An Era of Tight Budgets and Other Limits, Small Looks More and More Beautiful Once Jay Shafer gets done explaining the virtues of tiny houses, you feel embarrassed living anyplace larger than, say, an obscenely spacious 500 square feet. A key reason to live small – or at least much, much smaller – is [...]
Buildings use more energy than any other aspect of modern human life. The energy used to keep the lights, heat and air conditioning on — both at home and work — is responsible for about 40 percent of carbon emissions generated in the U.S. Two very different trends have arisen to radically revise this energy [...]
Some folks have such a kindly way of poking even sore points that you end up wanting to thank them. With that general observation we happily introduce our new Green Mountains correspondent, Cindy Hill, who sends her first Postcard from Vermont. There’s not much question that Cindy is a great writer. She’s also an obsessed [...]
Before I start gassing on again about any number of things — including just what it is we’re trying to do with Up the Road — let me introduce this week’s issue. The main reason to write this every week or so, after all, is to let you know there’s something new on the site. [...]
Earlier this year I moved to an idyllic rural neighborhood close to Lake Oroville. From my desk I see out onto a big pond and cow pastures through the branches of a big blue oak. A few weeks ago I looked up to see a Swainson’s Hawk perched on a jagged branch, 20 feet away, [...]
Water Wealth Contentment Health: That simple four-word message stretched across the famous Modesto Arch at 9th and I Streets in downtown Modesto perfectly sums up the historically optimistic relationship between farmers and the Northern California water that makes California’s abundant agriculture possible. By 1912, when the arch was new, there was good reason for optimism. [...]
© Up the Road 2011
