Addiction

Hear me on WNYC: “Meet the NYC environmentalists going off the grid and eating discarded food”

Addiction / Audio / Hands on Practical Experience / Nature

Hear me on WNYC: “Meet the NYC environmentalists going off the grid and eating discarded food”

Listen to this story about me on WNYC: The text introducing it says: As President Donald Trump pursues a deregulation agenda, New York’s ambitious clean energy goals appear further out of reach. So what’s a climate conscious New Yorker to do? WNYC’s Rosemary Misdary reports on some New York City residents taking an extreme approach to eliminating their carbon footprints. I won't split hairs, but I would describe what I do as traditional and conservative, not extreme, since nobody connected to an electric grid or used plastic more than about a century ago. If you've read Sustainability Simplified, you know I consider many polluting and depleting activities as addictive, and from the perspective of, say, a heroin addict, using zero looks extreme, but it doesn't…

May 2, 2025

A simple way to view the choice to live sustainably: Think of others more than yourself

Addiction / Choosing/Decision-Making

A simple way to view the choice to live sustainably: Think of others more than yourself

People tell me how hard it looks to them to live sustainably. I recently wrote about people thinking it's hard: First they say it’s impossible, then easy, then easy for me but hard for them. Anything but acting or responsibility. Almost always, they talk about themselves: "Me, me, me. It's hard for me. I don't want to give up doing what I like." They never talk about the people that their actions necessarily hurt. They know the plastic, pollution, etc hurt others, but they only talk about themselves and what they want or feel entitled to. They don't say they feel entitled to whatever perk they get for being at the top of a dominance hierarchy. They just act entitled. How they can think about…

April 24, 2025

Addiction by chance versus Addiction by Design with Intent

Addiction / Freedom / Habits

Addiction by chance versus Addiction by Design with Intent

That something in poppy can be extracted into something that addicts (opiates), that fruit and grains can be fermented into something that addicts (alcohol), or smoking tobacco can addict, or that gambling addicts are all chance results from nature. People may have found ways to capitalize on and profit from that addiction, but no one created the effect. Evolution did. By contrast, we now know how to addict people to things like video games. We know how to make substances that addict and to lower the costs of making them. We know how to refine addictive things to make them yet more addictive. I see a major difference between the first type and the second. I'm starting to distinguish them by name: addiction by chance…

April 19, 2025

Telling people problems with tobacco and alcohol is perfect message for the industries selling them

Addiction / Habits

Telling people problems with tobacco and alcohol is perfect message for the industries selling them

I was talking to a friend about how addictive products work so well for people who sell them. The products sell themselves. From the perspective of the buyer and society they don't work so well. Regular readers know I've concluded that since polluting and depleting destroy life, liberty, and property, a government mandated to protect life, liberty, and property must prevent polluting and depleting, as surely as it has to prevent slavery. I haven't reached final conclusions, but addiction at least skirts with depriving people of their liberty. I can imagine a case being made compelling that governments should protect people from being addicted. If I addict you to something without you knowing I did it, say by selling you something I claim can't addict…

April 17, 2025

Why treat doof as second hand smoke

Addiction / Doof / Freedom

Why treat doof as second hand smoke

If an adult wants to smoke in their home, that's their business. If they give themselves lung cancer, that's their choice, assuming their sickness doesn't tax others who didn't choose. Likewise, if people want to consume doof, that's their business too. But if someone smokes where others who don't or can't consent to breathing that smoke, or if someone too young to know the long-term results of their choices smokes, then I consider a role of a government to protect the life, liberty, and property of those people who don't consent. Also, if smokers litter cigarette butts and packaging, I see it the responsibility of government to protect the rest of us from their destruction of our lives, liberty, and property. Likewise for doof. Unlike…

April 11, 2025

What happened to produce stands in America?

Addiction / Doof / Fitness

What happened to produce stands in America?

I passed through Chinatown this afternoon and passed countless produce stands selling fresh vegetables and fruit. A while ago I read in the New York Times that many stands there have a separate supply chain for their fresh produce that's grown relatively locally independent of the supply chain for other grocery stores or farmers markets in the city. While Chinatown is full of produce stands, the rest of New York City has almost none. In fact, people constantly treat my buying fresh as privileged and a luxury. New York City is full of corner delis and bodegas, which are full of soda, beer, chips, and other doof, almost no food. These stores don't stay open magically. People near them are buying those products of zero…

April 7, 2025

In 2025, can you become obese without doof, whose packaging hurts people as surely second-hand smoke, but remotely?

Addiction / Doof / Fitness / Hands on Practical Experience

In 2025, can you become obese without doof, whose packaging hurts people as surely second-hand smoke, but remotely?

We've all seen the graphs and data of rising obesity. People get riled up about it. I have no problem with people living by their values when their choices affect only themselves. I pick up litter daily and hear from Workshop alumni and podcast guests who pledge to pick up litter. They sometimes cry when their hands-on practical experience leads them to see and consciously process what they usually look past instead of at: there's way more litter than they expect. What we see in the U.S. is nothing compared to the places we export our waste to. The packaging no doubt correlates with the transportation and industrial processing that pollutes and depletes yet more. Buying doof drives that systems. Buying doof harms people. I…

April 4, 2025

Abraham Lincoln never went overseas yet accomplished a fair amount. Maybe flying isn’t that necessary.

Abraham Lincoln never went overseas yet accomplished a fair amount. Maybe flying isn’t that necessary.

People act as if flying is necessary for life. I sometimes list people who have never flown. Here's a short list from a recent presentation I created: Marco Polo Lincoln Aristotle Jesus Paul Buddha Laozi Mohammad Mozart Shakespeare Maybe it's just me, but they seem like people who accomplished meaningful things. I was curious about Lincoln: had he traveled overseas? I knew Jefferson, Franklin, and other Founding Fathers had spent time in Europe, meaning sailing across the Atlantic multiple times. I looked up Lincoln and learned his only time outside the US was to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and the country was smaller then. Since people who fly today don't look like they'll make the history books as much as Lincoln, I conclude…

March 29, 2025

Sriracha sauce: yuck! Enjoying food over doof.

Addiction / Doof / Fitness / Hands on Practical Experience

Sriracha sauce: yuck! Enjoying food over doof.

It's been almost ten years since I posted Why Sriracha Hot Sauce tastes good. In it I wrote: Did you ever wonder why it tasted so good? Here’s the answer: It’s twenty percent sugar! Out of 100 grams, 20 grams are sugar. Sure, you only have a few grams at a time, so a serving doesn’t have a lot of calories, but that’s a high percent of sugar for when I want something spicy. Progress report on enjoying food over doof I don't think I've tasted it in the decade since. Then in my volunteer work salvaging food that would be thrown away, I ended up with a jar to deliver. It had been opened, so I had a chance to taste it. It's been…

March 26, 2025

Year 10, day 1 without hurting people and funding lobbyists by flying

Addiction / Hands on Practical Experience

Year 10, day 1 without hurting people and funding lobbyists by flying

On March 23, 2016 my flight arrived in JFK from Paris. Since then, I challenged myself to go a year without flying. I expected it to become the worst year of my life, or at least miserable: Like many of you readers, many family members and people I love and care about live flying distance away. I relied on flying for my income so worried I might go broke. I wasn't practicing sustainability or sustainability leadership that much by then, but loved nature and considered flying a way to visit places to experience nature. I considered learning about other cultures and cuisines good for everyone. I could list more fears, but I can summarize that I considered flying an unalloyed good. If you feel you…

March 24, 2025

Social media executives don’t let their children use social media. This time it’s personal.

Addiction / Doof

Social media executives don’t let their children use social media. This time it’s personal.

Months ago, when I read Adam Alter's book and hosted him on the podcast, I learned that executives of social media companies often don't let their children use the services they work for. They know they design them to addict. I recently saw an old friend who works at Facebook. He has two kids. I asked him if he let them use Facebook. He said "no," with a look of: of course not, that would be bad for them. It's one thing to read and hear about it. It's another to experience it directly with a friend. Sometimes I can't believe people put social media apps on their phones. I mean, of course I know they do and I believe it. I'm the tiny minority.…

March 15, 2025

Josh and Evelyn Go Live! … see our first live stream of a series on living joyfully sustainably

Addiction / Freedom / Hands on Practical Experience / Nature

Josh and Evelyn Go Live! … see our first live stream of a series on living joyfully sustainably

Living more sustainably isn't hard. Our human ancestors did it for 250,000 years. Our non-human ancestors did it for billions. Most life forms do, maybe all except we modern humans. Living more sustainably in a culture that for whatever lip service it falsely pays to sustainability rewards the opposite is hard. Then the problem is people---that is, social and emotional, not technical. After all, it costs less, requires less time, is more convenient, and helps poor people. The social problem is people who, like all addicts, confuse the need to feed their addiction with actual life needs. They believe living more sustainably costs more, takes more time, is less convenient, and hurts poor people. In my book I describe why addicts get it precisely wrong.…

February 28, 2025

What do you think: will the world be more healthy, safe, and secure next year? Next decade? Next century?

Addiction / Nature

What do you think: will the world be more healthy, safe, and secure next year? Next decade? Next century?

I'm curious if anyone wants to share their intuition, how they are living their lives, not necessarily people who research the state of the earth, but what you think for yourself and your children, if any: Do you think tomorrow---that is, the future in general---will be more or less healthy, safe, and secure than today? I haven't researched the question, but I'd bet for all of human existence, nearly all our ancestors lived lives always confident that the earth of their children would be the same or more healthy, safe, and secure. I think many people today believe that no matter what they or anyone does, the future will be less healthy, safe, and secure. Even among people who say they expect the future to…

February 26, 2025

Why Are So Many Young Adults Getting Cancer? Doof, not food.

Addiction / Doof

Why Are So Many Young Adults Getting Cancer? Doof, not food.

I knew the article would cover food and not distinguish doof from food from its title: "Why Are So Many Young Adults Getting Cancer? New Columbia research looks at ultra-processed foods, sedentary lifestyles, and other possible explanations." Sure enough, it didn't. Imagine people didn't distinguish heroin from poppy, if they thought shooting heroin was like eating a poppy-seed bagel. They'd miss that heroin affects the body and behavior a lot different than poppy seeds. In this post, I'll quote a few paragraphs, then translate them to distinguish doof from food. For context, here are the first two paragraphs, which don't mention food or doof: When Beatrice Dionigi was in medical school fifteen years ago, she was taught that colon cancer — long known as a…

February 15, 2025

The Spodek Method is like quitting smoking.

Addiction / Education / Nature

The Spodek Method is like quitting smoking.

Some people in my workshops describe early times practicing the Spodek Method as causing them anxiety. From my experience with performance arts like acting or sports in front of a crowd or, in attraction, learning to approach women, I know performing where others can see you can cause people without experience anxiety. I also know that mastering that art can transform that anxiety into joy and glory. Everyone who became great at any performance art started as inexperienced and unskilled as anyone. Do the reps and you learn to succeed. You find the art in it and learn to express yourself through the art. You learn things about yourself you never knew. What I just wrote applies to all performance arts. What about the art…

February 5, 2025

Plastic appears more poisonous than you think, especially to your brain. You’d rather know these findings than not.

Addiction / Doof / Nature

Plastic appears more poisonous than you think, especially to your brain. You’d rather know these findings than not.

I try to avoid just quoting news. That's for social media, which I avoid. But sometimes the news merits it. Quoting the Washington Post: Our brains are filling with more and more microplastics, study shows A new study shows that microplastics have crossed the blood-brain barrier — and that their concentrations are rising. A new study shows that microplastics are making their way into human brains — with potentially dangerous effects onpeople’s health andmental acuity. A paper published Monday in Nature Medicine found that the tiny fragments of plastic are passing the blood-brain barrier and into human brains, and the amount of microplastics in the brain appears to be increasing over time. The concentration of microplastics in analyzed brains rose by about 50 percent from…

February 4, 2025

Finding a used syringe at my building for the first time. Also, people injecting on the subway platform.

Finding a used syringe at my building for the first time. Also, people injecting on the subway platform.

Context: I post about addiction not to comment on the individuals in the pictures but to reveal our culture. The images are only the most poignant representations of it, but they differ only quantitatively from, say, TikTok, Amazon, flying, McDonald's, Facebook, doof, or other addiction. My goal in connecting it to ourselves is not to make anyone feel bad, but to empower people to act. If you don't know the connection, you don't realize your potential power and influence. If you think these pictures don't illustrate part of your life, you're dreaming as much as someone buying sugar in 1800 thought they weren't funding plantations because they weren't holding the whip. I pick up litter everyday. We have created a culture where I often don't…

February 1, 2025

Nearly everyone misses the danger of artificial intelligence we’re sleepwalking into

Addiction / Artificial Intelligence

Nearly everyone misses the danger of artificial intelligence we’re sleepwalking into

When people predict what artificial intelligence will do, they tend to go in a few directions: how it will change their jobs, if it will become intelligent or conscious, if it will take over the world, or if it will solve some problem they face. Technology is a tool that augments people's and culture's abilities. It will tend to accelerate what its users already do. Whom will artificial intelligence help? It will help those with greatest access, which is Silicon Valley firms. What do Silicon Valley types do? The Silicon Valley firms that dominate got there by creating products and services that create emotions that keep you coming back: craving, outrage, etc. Think Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. They create barriers to entry for…

January 30, 2025

Is most of the economy transaction costs?

Addiction / Doof

Is most of the economy transaction costs?

I was learning about the economist Ronald Coase and a topic he focused on: transaction costs. A person in a video described how businesses and technology help lower transaction costs. The person used Amazon.com as an example, pointing out it takes less time to search the marketplace and buy what someone wants. My experience is different. When I look up what people buy most on Amazon.com, a lot of it is stuff that won't improve the life of the buyer before ending up in a landfill. In my conversation with Lorna Davis after she stopped shopping Amazon after taking my sustainability leadership workshop, she saved time and money. She didn't think she was wasting time or money. She probably thought she was saving them by…

January 9, 2025

Why we feel so busy

Addiction / Awareness / Freedom

Why we feel so busy

Do you feel busy all the time, like no matter how much you do, you still have more to do? I used to feel that way, but less so now. I still have to pay bills, buy food, and so on. It's more that I recognized how our culture rewards companies and industries making us feel that way. Here's how. Advertisers have learned to manipulate our emotional systems, often better than we can ourselves. Once they know how to prompt craving, they can sell you something to stop it. Entrepreneurs and product developers won't say the following is their strategy, but it amounts to it. They look for emotions we feel, the stronger the more effective. Then they think of how they can excite it,…

January 7, 2025

Pollution, depletion, and overcoming addiction

Addiction / Awareness

Pollution, depletion, and overcoming addiction

My book Sustainability Simplified treats addiction in depth because it's so connected to our environmental problems. All of those problems result from our behavior. We aren't stopping behavior putting civilization at risk, harming people globally. Read the book for more detail, but I think you can see our dependence on polluting and depleting qualifies as addiction. If you want to overcome an addiction, whom do you ask for help: people who have overcome similar addictions or people who do it the most and don't stop? If you want to overcome a heroin or cocaine addiction, would you ask help from someone who has overcome a heroin or cocaine addiction or people who use the most heroin or cocaine and aren't even trying to stop? If…

December 4, 2024

The Thanksgiving Day Parade from inside the barricades

Addiction / Doof / Education / Volunteering

The Thanksgiving Day Parade from inside the barricades

I served in my first Thanksgiving Day parade this morning. The role of an auxiliary police officer at a parade for families and kids isn't to keep the peace. I saw it as more for structure. A little to keep order, but more fulfilling a civic role for kids to see government in a peaceful role. I enjoy fulfilling civic duty, so despite the cold rain, I enjoyed playing that role. People in the crowd thanked me, asked me to pose for pictures, and offered me coffee. I found the content of the parade, however, gross because nearly all the floats were commercial, aimed to attract and hook kids. The parade was mostly commercial. There were a few marching bands and one small track that…

November 28, 2024

Ozempic: A drug that achieves what sustainability does, but sustainability doesn’t trade one dependence for another

Addiction / Doof / Fitness / Freedom

Ozempic: A drug that achieves what sustainability does, but sustainability doesn’t trade one dependence for another

The New York Times wrote a piece "Ozempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry. But It Is Fighting Back" that reported people happy with results that I've found from living more sustainably. Except my way didn't cost me anything, trade one dependence for another, or risk any side effects. It didn't require willpower either. People think it did, but I think they just don't know how to change habits without using willpower. The quotes in the article of people's results from taking Ozempic sound almost as desirable as mine, not counting their extra costs, side effects, and dependence. For decades I couldn't stop from consuming doof. I concocted bargains and elaborate attempts to reduce, but failed, at least as long as I just tried to…

November 25, 2024

Another annoying knee-jerk response to acting more sustainably

Another annoying knee-jerk response to acting more sustainably

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 to imagine either, but I wouldn't put it behind any environmentalist. How amazed they must be to learn that I have the remarkable ability to pick up litter without giving myself AIDS or addicting myself to fentanyl. Anyway, I just wanted to post something they must find amazing. I can lift things off the ground…

November 21, 2024

How to pull out all your hair: Try to get an addict in denial to seriously acknowledge their addiction

Addiction / Humor

How to pull out all your hair: Try to get an addict in denial to seriously acknowledge their addiction

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 confuse, but you will go crazy trying to lead them to acknowledge their addiction. You'll pull out your hair in frustration. They'll say the plane was going to fly anyway, other people pollute more, and so on, but not take responsibility. I'm talking about most Americans and their addictions to polluting, depleting behavior. I speak…

November 20, 2024

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