Category Archives: Blog

Why We Step on the Gas, Thinking It’s the Brake, Wanting Congratulations

on December 12, 2023 in Blog

Many people opposed slavery. Even slaveholders acknowledged their feelings of guilt, but nearly everyone within our polluting, depleting, imperialist, addictive culture supports it even as we suffer from its growing damages. We blind ourselves to the downsides of polluting and depleting. Even residents of Cancer Alley fly and drive, funding their own cancer. Japan built a nuclear reactor forty miles from Hiroshima. We cover parks with plastic AstroTurf and still[…] Keep reading →

Putting Values Before Technology, Markets, and Efficiency

on December 11, 2023 in Blog

I wouldn’t mention the folly of putting growth and efficiency before values if I didn’t have an alternative, which is to put values first—that is, to create a strategy based on values and honestly verifying results, then use efficiency when it helps. I verify results to avoid stepping on the gas, thinking it’s the brake, wanting congratulations. Amsterdam’s citizens organizing based on their values over those promoting razing its downtown[…] Keep reading →

“But Won’t Fusion Create the Energy We Need, Cleanly?”

on December 9, 2023 in Blog

It’s tempting to dream that fusion will save us. It’s the most common power source in the universe, including our Sun’s. Many believe it could produce power without radioactivity or greenhouse emissions and could be made safe. Fukushima is a nuclear fission plant, not fusion, but have you ever wondered why it was built where a tsunami could hit it? The word tsunami comes from Japanese, so they knew it[…] Keep reading →

First flurries of the season while charging on the roof today

on November 28, 2023 in Blog

On the roof today charging my solar kit, I saw my first flurries of the season. I’m in month 18 disconnected from the electric grid, as I reported in TIME and Ars Technica. Wow, I just noticed the TIME piece appeared over a year ago. The temperature dropped to the mid-30s F (3 C) and it was windy. I’d prefer to keep indoors, but the battery was low and this[…] Keep reading →

More precedent for expecting we can each live sustainably soon

on November 17, 2023 in Blog

People hear me suggest everyone living sustainably and think it’s impossible. They don’t want to give up their comforts and conveniences any more than slave owners wanted to give up theirs. Max Weber wrote in his essay, The Profession and Vocation of Politics (1919) “What is possible would not have been achieved, if, in this world, people had not repeatedly reached for the impossible.” Quoting Eric Foner in his book[…] Keep reading →

Check out this review of my workshop on sustainability leadership

on November 16, 2023 in Blog

One of the participants in one of the summer workshops emailed me the following, noting “Josh, you can use this with my name if you wish for announcements or upcoming workshops.” The next workshop begins in January, so if you’re interested in actively leading our culture away from collapse instead of sleepwalking into it, claiming you can’t make a difference, email me and join us in January. I should mention,[…] Keep reading →

“But if it doesn’t change the world it’s not worth doing” Hogwash.

on November 10, 2023 in Blog

If you think anything anyone does has to scale to solve problems globally, you’re lying to yourself. I propose a couple more effective ways to approach what you do. One way: Imagine that no matter what, nothing you do will influence anyone else. Now what should you do? A second way: How does this view make any less sense? “I had a dream I was in 1850 Alabama owning slaves.[…] Keep reading →

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