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Will the Trees Take Manhattan?

The battle for New York City’s green future arrived in my mailbox last week. It took the form of a fundraising appeal from MillionTreesNYC, a campaign to plant 100,000 trees every year for a decade. It bore the signature of that eminent environmentalist, Bette Midler.

Which immediately brought questions to mind. Who made the star […]

The Fine Art of Recycling

A closeup of Stuart Haygarth's "Spectacle" chandelier, made entirely from used eyeglasses. Photo credit: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images.

Last year New York’s Museum of Arts and Design moved into a gleaming white cube on Columbus Circle, giving no hint of its former identity as the American Craft Museum. But this popsicle-stick-and-glitter […]

I’m Not OK with Your Bouquet

In winter the New York streets are a gray asphalt tundra. Then one day in April…Daffodils! They nod at you on the sidewalk, bright as sunlight, gentle as Easter. Surrounding them is a tiny, valiant iron fence.

I saw a woman on 65th Street reach past the fence with one hand – the other held […]

Oy, the Sun!

Early this morning a congregation of about 150 Jews stood by the United Nations building and did something that seemed almost pagan: They blessed the rising sun.

I braved the chill and dark to join this event because it combined two rarities. Jews are everywhere in New York, but if one’s not Jewish it’s unusual […]

Eco? Maybe. Friendly? Mostly.

LEDs at Greenhouse go easy on the eye, and the electricity.

The other night I attended a fundraiser at Greenhouse, the SoHo club that claims to be New York’s first eco-disco. The rumors said Stevie Nicks would be there. Even more than her purring vocals, I sought a bigger hit: Can a hipster […]

Can Our Gadgets Really Be Green?

I attended the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City today, and pricked up my ears when the experts in electronics and design debated an urgent question: How can the ever-changing consumer electronics industry innovate without adding yet more gadgets to the trash bin?

Saul Griffith breaks down his personal carbon footprint.

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“Emperor of the Air,” as read for Radhika Kumar

“Emperor of the Air,” by Ethan Canin, recorded for Radhika Kumar on Christmas 2009. Enjoy!

Emperor of the Air

A New Adventure

The Ferris Files has been so quiet recently that you might wonder if your trusty outdoor correspondent died suddenly without leaving a forwarding URL. Did a giant swell at Ocean Beach bury David’s head in the sand? Did he run too far up a trail and into a pride of hungry bobcats?

I’m writing to […]

David & Anjali’s Wedding Registry

1. Click on the “Leave a Comment” link, in the grey bar below.

2. Make a comment such as, “Hello you two, I bought you this great gift.” Please include the exact product name/s, as some items in the registry are similar.

3. When prompted for your email address, enter David or Anjali’s email address. […]

Pretending to Work

Among the several hats I wear, I lead an outdoor workout for employees of the city of Mill Valley twice a week at lunchtime. This is a fun job and one with unexpected perks.

For an hour I hector a group of office workers, mostly women, to climb up and down flights of the fabled […]

The Ferris Files