Today is my second winter solstice relying on solar for my electrical power. Tomorrow I’ll have more daylight than today, not counting clouds. Last year I couldn’t believe I was making it as long as I was and was going to NYU several times a week to power my phone and computer. I didn’t notice, but last week began my sixth month since my last electric bill. This year, courtesy[…] Keep reading →

For some time I’ve been saying, half-jokingly, to people who start showing an interest in more sustainability with me: “Be careful spending time with me or you may find yourself avoiding flying and telling me how much it improves your life not to fly.” I don’t want to overstate things since only a few people have said it so far, but increasingly people are saying just that sentiment to me.[…] Keep reading →

The Daily Show aired their segment on my disconnecting from the electric grid in Manhattan! I just learned, so haven’t seen it myself yet so can’t comment on it. I hope it was funny, informative, and inspiring. EDIT: I posted the video and some comments on it: See the Daily Show’s segment on me: “Is it Possible to Live “Off the Grid” in Manhattan?”. The point isn’t my personal impact.[…] Keep reading →

The twentieth-century introduced marketing based on wants instead of needs. The other was the shift in marketing from needs to wants. Podcast guest Amy Westervelt’s podcasts, particularly Drilled, documented this shift, especially through the work of Edward Bernays. Needs can be met. Once you have enough food, water, shelter, and a few other necessities, you can move to other things in life, like hobbies, family, arts, sports, and civic participation.[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know my development of seeing abolitionism as a role model movement for sustainability. My next book, almost finishing the final draft, will show the connection deeper than mere analogy or role model. Readers here and podcast listeners know my conversations with Manisha Sinha, James Oakes, and David Blight and reading their books, and reading Sean Wilentz’s book. Connected with them all is Eric Foner. I’ve met him in[…] Keep reading →

Earlier this year I posted The Ruling Race: Quotes on those who improve their lives on the suffering of others, corrupting them, with quotes from podcast guest James Oakes’s book The Ruling Race, which describes the demographics, beliefs, and views of slaveholders in the U.S. south. They are no more or less human than you. That book reveals how being on the dominant side of a dominance hierarchy corrupts one’s[…] Keep reading →

Imagine you’re sitting in your home, comfortably with your family, say a spouse and a kid. Then five other families move into your home with you. You can imagine conflict would arise more when you more than quintuple the number and density of people in your home. I found the following graphs in a piece a podcast guest, Jane O’Sullivan, wrote, The Catalyst of Overpopulation in the Gaza Conflict. I[…] Keep reading →