I was reading the introduction to the book Climate Liberalism about classical liberal approaches to environmental problems. A sentence in the opening paragraph said, “The last half century has seen substantial environmental progress as human lifespans have increased, poverty has declined, and Malthusian fears of resource depletion have been dispelled” with a footnote “For a compendium of human progress along these (and other) lines, see Marian L. Tupy and Gale[…] Keep reading →

I’ve shared about my annual cooking workshops in Drew Gardens. Last time people recorded videos. Recording was impromptu, so I didn’t bring a good microphone, so sorry the sound isn’t great, but you can see something of the experience. Some students from Fordham University were making documentaries of Drew Gardens as a class project and I ended up in them:

What fraction of oil ultimately becomes pollution? Or of coal or gas? I’m curious if you can extract oil from the Earth without polluting. We may use the the materials for purposes we value, but what of the material itself? It came from plants originally, but I can almost only think of ways it becomes pollution, not benign. If we make it into plastic, eventually it becomes microplastic and harms[…] Keep reading →

What would Jesus do? Would he kill trees in a Pagan tradition for a few days and then put them in the garbage, like this? It’s January 2 and my neighborhood is swimming in dead trees people used for a couple weeks. I know people are just starting to throw away their Christmas Pagan trees, so I’ll post these few now and update with more. Why? So you can remember[…] Keep reading →

I’m trying to remember all the material things I bought last year besides food. I paid for many services and non-material things like train rides and web hosting. I also caused pollution that hurt people (and wildlife) in other ways, but I see paying for material things as a useful proxy for polluting. What I remember: I’m sure there was more, but I think that’s most of it. I’ll add[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Drug Dealer, MD, by Anna Lembke: She wrote this book before Dopamine Nation, which I finished last week. You know someone likes a book when after finishing it he reads the author’s previous book the next week. Drug Dealer, MD wasn’t as personal as Dopamine Nation, but described the growth of addiction well. She described the systemic forces driving doctors, insurance companies, government, medical associations, patients,[…] Keep reading →

A reader wrote with a message on doof. Or rather on enjoying food instead. It resonated so much I asked permission to share it. Here it is: Hi Josh Season’s greetings! I hope you enjoyed a delicious, doof-free Christmas feast. Some time ago I watched your TED talk “Don’t Call Doof Food” and was delighted to discover a fellow human being who truly loves the taste of genuine food. With[…] Keep reading →