So-called Christmas trees have nothing to do with Jesus being born in Bethlehem and everything to do with pagan holidays, as I write about every year, for example in You Don’t Need a “Christmas” Tree—a pagan tradition. A reminder of the waste you can avoid, and other posts. We changed traditions to this needless one of cutting down trees and dumping them into landfills. We can change from it. Here[…] Keep reading →

“How long does it take to charge your battery?” asks nearly everyone who sees me charging my solar panels, such as the guy in this picture: After a few times answering what they asked, I realized people have no idea what the numbers mean. If I tell them in full sunlight the battery charges in four hours, they don’t know what the battery can then charge. I didn’t know before[…] Keep reading →

When people learn I pick up litter daily, many respond with a knee-jerk suggestion I be careful because the litter could be laced with fentanyl or could give me AIDS. I would ask where this nonsense comes from except that I know it’s their fears based on preconceptions. They can’t possibly imagine I don’t know about fentanyl and AIDS. They can’t imagine they’re helping me. I mean, they’d be fools[…] Keep reading →

Do you have too much hair on your head and want to pull it all out? Here’s how to do it: try to get an addict in denial to seriously acknowledge their addiction. I’m overstating it, of course, but talking to people who fly, buy SUVs, consume more doof than they like, buy fast fashion, and are stuck in other addictions will say anything, contort any meaning, deny, obfuscate, and[…] Keep reading →

I was walking through Washington Square Park the other day and an influencer/reporter stopped me to interview me about the election. It turns out he was Don Lemon, who has won awards. According to Wikipedia, he is “an American television journalist best known for being a host on CNN from 2014 until 2023. He anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days[…] Keep reading →

I’m following up my recent solo post, 790: Talking to a guy injecting on the sidewalk, with another extemporaneous one. This one is also with a former podcast guest and fellow teacher of our sustainability leadership workshop, Evelyn Wallace. This episode gives an inside view of how I develop ideas in our entrepreneurial team. In particular, I share a few insights into what I offer in the workshops. I’ve long[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Giants of Political Thought: Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, volumes 1 and 2, read by Craig Dietschmann and a Supporting Cast: This audiobook isn’t the Wealth of Nations, but is a summary with many quotes from it. I got it from the library as a quick review. I don’t think I’ve read any of Wealth of Nations since college and never read it cover to cover.[…] Keep reading →

On a beautiful sunny Saturday, 9:50am, I was walking to Washington Square Park to charge my battery and talk at 10am to my friend Dan McPherson (he’s been on the podcast, where he shared about his heart attack at age 46 the week before we recorded). I saw the guy in the picture injecting. I asked if I could take his picture and a brief conversation ensued. Instead of my[…] Keep reading →

If you think living in an apartment disconnected from the electric grid in Manhattan is hard, you haven’t had to deal with talking to people about sustainability when you’re doing it. People seem compelled to tell me their half-assed “sustainability” practices, nearly always self-righteously, as it they want my approval. I don’t look forward to people bragging, even less when their bragging doesn’t follow from whatever half-assed thing they did.[…] Keep reading →