I spoke recently with a guy who went through Alcoholics Anonymous. I tried to show him that we are addicted to behaviors that pollute and deplete. He agreed with that assessment. He agreed he was once addicted to alcohol, but he wouldn’t acknowledge that he was experiencing addiction with his polluting, depleting behaviors. To clarify, he didn’t disagree with anything. He just wouldn’t acknowledge he was addicted today. He acknowledged[…] Keep reading →

Every time someone tells me they balance their behavior regarding the environment, guaranteed the next thing they say will concern only themselves. They want to help the environment but they want to live their life too. They want not to pollute but they can’t afford not to fly. They want to eat less meat but they want to stay healthy. For one thing, most of what they say doesn’t make[…] Keep reading →

A reminder: my point in posting about syringes and addiction is less about the people addicted to hard drugs and more about our culture of huge parts of America (and many other nations) addicted. Addiction to social media, doof, fast fashion, driving, wearing shorts inside in the winter and sweaters in the summer, and everything else is addiction too. Regarding syringes, I’m writing: I saw the syringes below about 9:30am[…] Keep reading →

This post is about freedom. Several milestones this week following Year 13, day 1 of daily burpees and My Second Winter Solstice: Over 1.5 Years Unplugged From the Electric Grid (and counting). More freedom than ever. I once filled about a load of trash every week. I ordered takeout and bought lots of packaged food. I bought things online. I didn’t realize how much it cost me in money and[…] Keep reading →

They put up umbrellas to be less obvious in one sense since you can’t see they syringe as easily, but more obvious if you know the reason for the umbrella. I post about addicts because I only see quantitative, not qualitative, difference between this behavior and McDonald’s, Starbucks, or other behavior that people can’t stop despite it harming others. If we drive when we can walk or bike, or use[…] Keep reading →

While talking to a friend about how what people call travel isn’t travel any more, he told me his friend counted how many steps he took on a trip from New York to Los Angeles: 800. That’s not traveling. That’s being transported. If I take 801 steps, I’ve put more effort into traveling. And going from New York to L.A., he isn’t visiting a different culture or learning about humanity[…] Keep reading →

The twentieth-century introduced marketing based on wants instead of needs. The other was the shift in marketing from needs to wants. Podcast guest Amy Westervelt’s podcasts, particularly Drilled, documented this shift, especially through the work of Edward Bernays. Needs can be met. Once you have enough food, water, shelter, and a few other necessities, you can move to other things in life, like hobbies, family, arts, sports, and civic participation.[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been copying the travel comments from the newsletters from a friend into a file. I edited out people’s names and put in bold the names of places, but otherwise it’s as he wrote it. What do you think about this lifestyle? I think I once would have aspired to live this way. Even if I didn’t want to fly this much when I flew, I think I would have[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been copying the travel comments from the newsletters from a friend into a file. I edited out people’s names and put in bold the names of places, but otherwise it’s as she wrote it What do you think about this lifestyle? I think I once would have aspired to live this way. Even if I didn’t want to fly this much when I flew, I think I would have[…] Keep reading →