Today in 1988, the New York Times front page headline said “Global Warming Has Begun.” Today today, Americans blame, rationalize, and justify, but pollute more than ever. They blame CEOs, companies, and politicians, denying and suppressing that they pay them to do what they do. We can stop if we choose to. It would mean valuing other people’s suffering over our convenience.

Sometimes I feel like I’m responding to someone who fell on the subway tracks. No one else acts. I jump down onto the tracks to help the person to safety, but the person is morbidly obese and struggles just to lift themselves from the ground. They’ve decided to stop trying. “It’s too hard. It’s not worth it.” They resign themselves to the train hitting them. “As long as I can’t[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: Strong Towns 101, by Strong Towns: Podcast listeners know I hosted Jason Slaughter, the host of Not Just Bikes, a video series I love. It’s one of my few subscriptions to anything. He refers to Strong Towns a lot. I finally dug in to their courses, so I’m not just learning courses on conservatism and their recommended readings. Regular readers may know I I helped get[…] Keep reading →

Is someone criticizing Taylor Swift’s flying lately? People talk to me about it all the time. In the past few days, a few people told me she was in the news for flying a few miles on her jet. Today, I turned the corner from Sixth Avenue onto Waverly and saw the scene below. I didn’t want to include identifying pictures so didn’t take it from their front, but what[…] Keep reading →

Want to hear what we should do to decrease polluting, depleting, and plunder? Milton Friedman’s advice on curbing government spending to reduce inflation applies: “A tough policy that takes courage.“ Watch this video, but substitute the following, So I hear: “Pollution is the most destructive disease known to modern society.” Instead of Substitute Inflation Pollution Economy Economy and people Employment/Unemployment More technology/Less technology He knows what has to be done[…] Keep reading →

I start my conversation with Andy with what brought me to him: the meal after recording with the guy who hired him, podcast guest Sven Gierlinger, and the Washington Post article that read like a paid ad for their food, Hospital food is a punchline. These chefs are redefining it. I didn’t record in my conversation with Sven how off-the-charts the food was because I at it after recording. Andy[…] Keep reading →

All humans until about a century ago lived without a fridge, as do many today. Coming up on three years with my fridge unplugged, I ferment a lot, and learn other ways to keep foods from going bad. Jams, jellies, and preserves were ways to keep fruits from going bad. Now that everyone has fridges and we ship produce around the world, we can get fresh fruit all the time.[…] Keep reading →

I keep thinking of little things that bring me joy and want to collect them in a post. I never start the post because I can only think of a few every time I post. I’m going to start the post with only a few and add to it. Sorry if you’re reading this when I just posted and have only three items, but I hope you enjoy cleaning your[…] Keep reading →

This conversation was brief, but covered the important points, particularly the challenges of changing habits. Dave didn’t do everything he intended, though I thought he succeeded more than he did. The goal of the Spodek Method isn’t to make big changes, though some do, but to share and act on intrinsic motivation relevant to nature and the environment. Just accessing intrinsic motivation at all can be a challenge in a[…] Keep reading →