Good Green Advice

No, not that Green Lantern.

I know, I know. It’s Friday afternoon, and the end of a long post-holiday week. The last thing you want is to be lectured about the environment or your massive carbon footprint. And yet, if you’re a conscientious sort, you probably confront all sorts of small eco-dilemmas throughout the day. Should you cancel your print newspaper subscription to save trees? Is running a half-full dishwasher an unforgivable waste of water and electricity? Does blasting your car’s AC significantly reduce its fuel economy?

If this sounds like you, allow me to suggest the Green Lantern, a weekly environmental advice column on Slate. Rather than lecturing readers, the column’s author, Brendan I. Koerner, thoughtfully parses the nuances of carbon emissions, materials, life cycles, distribution, and other key issues. His answers are entertaining, illuminating, and sometimes surprising. Newspapers, dishwashers, and automobile ACs, for instance, are not as environmentally sinful as you might suspect. Thank God.