If you’re considering changing practices to live more sustainably, how can you tell among different practices suggested by different groups, often self-serving, which are more effective or even effective at all? Does recycling work for paper, metal, glass or plastic? Does changing your diet help? How about carbon offsets for flying? One measure matters more than almost any other, I contend: How much fossil fuel does the change keep underground?[…] Keep reading →

There’s litter everywhere. I pass maybe thousands of pieces daily. You may live in a place with a lower population density, but probably as much litter per person. I pick up a dozen or so pieces each day, leaving most of it. That means I pass most without picking it up. I’m not doing it for my health or to solve the problem. I do it because it feels right.[…] Keep reading →

People who don’t want to act on the environment will create and believe any rationalization to justify not acting. A common one is to say what they do doesn’t matter. Or that their results wouldn’t make a difference. I kept myself from acting for years for “reasons” like these. Nobody said to act once and stop. Any one individual action divided by the results of billions of others rounds to[…] Keep reading →

Many of you know about the famous Marshmallow Experiment. I wrote an extended series on it and willpower. I think it’s worth revisiting. I’m concluding different results on further reflection. Here’s a cute video on it: First, let’s review it. According to Wikipedia: The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on deferred gratification conducted in 1972 by psychologist Walter Mischel of Stanford University. A marshmallow was offered to each child.[…] Keep reading →

If you choose to act on sustainability, you will face darkness. You will want to give up. You will feel alone, misunderstood. I don’t say so to dissuade, but to prepare to face a part of all of us. Nobody is polluting because they are monsters. We’re all human. What is the alternative to confronting this part of us? To give up? To try to ignore and forget and try[…] Keep reading →

Have other people noticed that some Americans, in the name of patriotism, unless I’m mistaken, don’t mind getting a virus they believe comes from a Chinese lab but object to a vaccine made in this country? I’m sure I missed something. Maybe it’s different people from one community. I’m just describing what I see and hoping someone can set me straight if I’m mistaken, and them if I’m not.

I’m no epidemiologist, but some trends seem pretty obvious. While we haven’t suffered pandemics every hundred years as some have said, several have hit us and the last big one was about a hundred years ago. Then again, we’ve seen others more recently, like SARS and MERS. The causes of pandemics have been increasing. Not just happening, but we humans have increased them. I’m not saying we deliberately chose to[…] Keep reading →