When farmers grow for CSAs (where buyers like me pick up a weekly drop-off direct from the farm), they grow for specific people. They’re motivated to grow for flavor and quantity most, it seems, as a customer who keeps buying from his CSA because the flavor is out of this world and the quantity for the price is high. When farmers grow for a farmers market, they grow for the[…] Keep reading →

My notes that I read from for this episode: Sea wall for Manhattan, like Holland: expensive, huge, likely won’t work Controversial already. Natural solutions might work better. Let’s say they worked. On Staten Island, Fresh Kills Also everywhere, all coasts unprotected Now think of Cancer Alley Gulf coast, oil refineries and global toxic dumps All that pollution will be dispersed to seas and biosphere I’d guess hundreds of thousands of[…] Keep reading →

I mop as part of my six-day exercise cycle. Part of my ritual before my lifting days is to mop the floors, so every six days I mop the whole apartment. More accurately, I shifted from mopping to getting on my hands and knees and cleaning with a sponge. The ritual reminds me of monks, who seem to take on tasks with a measure of quality that focus the mind[…] Keep reading →

I wrote recently about the two biggest chips on my shoulder, one of them being that when I describe challenges I’ve faced, people keep saying that I’ve had an easy life, I think because they see a straight white male in the United States. When I talk to people who have lost limbs or eyesight, which seem pretty significant losses, they don’t talk that way. The ones who tell me[…] Keep reading →

Five months ago, Gaya’s work led to headlines like Yep, it’s bleak, says expert who tested 1970s end-of-the-world prediction. The 1970s predictions weren’t exactly predictions, but the headline refers to the book Limits to Growth. If you’re not familiar with it, we start by talking about it. We both consider its views and analysis among the most important. The book simulated possible outcomes for humans on Earth. Those outcomes varied[…] Keep reading →

You’ve probably read things like Until the last century, people were at more risk from malnutrition or starvation than they were from obesity. This lopsided pressure may have shaped humans to be more prone to store fat than to lose it. The ability to store extra calories as fat during times of plenty could help someone stay healthy and fertile when food was scarce. I’m no anthropologist, but I’ve concluded[…] Keep reading →

Hilary describes her commitments as achieving some success and some failure, but learned from both. We start with her personal experiences and memories of ice skating and cross country skiing as a child leading to her sometimes painful lessons today. More than just ice skating again, she took lessons with her child. Listen to her for the lesson and why it was painful, but I’ll share that she learned to[…] Keep reading →