Story Archives of 'Summer'

Many Americans fell back on tried and true ways to cut down the cost of summer vacations. Some of us stayed closer to home, others bunked with friends, camped in the woods, or splurged on the occasional hotel or motel.

A growing number of families skipped out on these traditional vacations and swapped homes with strangers instead.

Journalist Hanna Rosin handed over her house keys to a French family she found on one of many online home swapping sites. In exchange, Hanna’s family spent two weeks living like locals in Northern France. It’s an odd experiment, one that raises questions of identity and trust. Hanna Rosin joins us from Washington, DC where she’s the founding editor of Slate's women’s site DoubleX.

DoubleX: How to Survive a House Exchange

Boston Globe: Swap, travel, and save

(Photo by Hans Oischinger via Flickr/Creative Commons)

July and August are key vacation months… a time to leave the work behind and have some fun on the beach, at the lake, in the woods or these days, dodging the raindrops. Of course you’ll need a good book to keep you company. Today on the Exchange, two of our bibliophiles join us to look at some of the hottest reads of the summer.

Guests

• Dan Chartrand, owner of Water Street Bookstore in Exeter
• Michael Herrmann, owner of Gibson's Bookstore in Concord

With summer easing in, the eco-minded have a whole new set of choices to make about things like sunscreen and what to throw on the barbecue. For answers to these and other summertime conundrums, we turn to Nina Shen Rastogi. She writes the Green Lantern column for Slate.com which explores environmental questions that go beyond carpooling and light bulbs.

Her findings can be surprising – for example, that using a microwave might actually be “greener” than cooking in a conventional oven. Or that rinsing out your mayo jar before throwing it in the recycling bin actually doesn’t do Mother Earth any favors. Nina Shen Rastogi joins us from Brooklyn, New York to walk us through some summertime eco dilemmas.

Stories From Today's Roundup:

Do Carwashes Hose the Planet?

The Kindest Cut: Which meat harms our planet the least?

Breaking Down Is Hard To Do: How biodegradable are biodegradable plastics?

Staying Green in the Sun: Is my sunscreen bad for the environment?

(Photo by woodleywonderworks via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Well, New Hampshire has struggled with all sorts of weather this summer, from tornadoes to torrential rains. Thunder and lightning almost seem a part of the daily weather pattern. Correspondent Sherwin Sleeves has been thinking about the unusually stormy season and files this report: