Living unsustainably means you need resources beyond your immediate environment. It requires you take from others. When done on a cultural level, it’s known as imperialism. When we take their land too, it’s colonialism. When we take their labor, it’s slavery. All of these things are happening in the Congo. If you think solar and wind are sustainable or avoid human suffering, read Siddharth’s book Cobalt Red. If you listened[…] Keep reading →

We’re entering Christmas season, when Christians in the U.S. celebrate with a clearly pagan ritual of celebrating a birth in Bethlehem with chopping down fir trees. Presumably this tradition began in northern Europe, unrelated to the middle east. I propose instead of celebrating birth with death and mixing paganism in with Christianity, recognizing that cutting down trees was not likely ever appropriate, but not now. Look at this mess from[…] Keep reading →

I finished this week: Poverty, By America, by Matthew Desmond: I’d been recommended to read this book. It’s recent and the library had a long waiting list so I ended up reading his earlier book Evicted. His view of poverty overlaps a lot with my views of the environment. If you want to help the Amazon, don’t fly there. People there aren’t causing the problem. The problem is in boardrooms[…] Keep reading →

I hosted two professionals who model population growth with different views, some complementary, some conflicting: Wolfgang Lutz and Chris Bystroff. I learned from both and recommend listening to their episodes first. I’ve also recorded episodes with many guests and solo episodes on population: I invited Wolfgang and Chris to talk about their different views and see if they could learn from each other and we could learn from them. That’s[…] Keep reading →

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 →

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 →

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 →