I was thinking about some things I don’t know. I’m confident humanity is better off with less plastic in the ocean, litter on the ground, and PFAS in our blood, but I don’t know: When a human sperm and egg become an independent human life the law should protect The optimal number of and amount of access to guns for self-defense, to protect against government overreach, to defend a community,[…] Keep reading →

I was talking to a friend who considers herself more sustainable than most, someone who feels she cares. She said something many people say: “I want to be more sustainable, but I’m not ready to start yet.” This statement illustrates the problem with nearly every approach to sustainability: they’re based in book theory, not practical experience. Without practical experience, they don’t know that acting more sustainably brings liberation, joy, and[…] Keep reading →

I’ve meant to write this post for years. It may be the longest past due. Why? Because it relates to many parts of my life and involves decisions that will affect me the rest of my life. I’ll stick with the basics to put the main thoughts on paper, so to speak. When I started doing burpees daily, it was ten a day for thirty days with a friend in[…] Keep reading →

The title says it all, but for clarity, I’ll generalize: if you choose to do something that requires polluting, depleting, or plundering, you don’t get to claim your life requires living unsustainably. You don’t get to then make claims on others’ resources. A life requiring hurting others is not liberty. Its’ the opposite: it’s destroying other people’s liberty. Why don’t I spend all my money and then claim you have[…] 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 →

First, let’s imagine solar, wind, hydroelectric, fission, or fusion were “clean,” “green,” or “renewable.” They aren’t, but for the sake of understanding, we’ll imagine they are, so if we transitioned to them from fossil fuels, society could live indefinitely on them. What Doesn’t Work Everyone is acting as if we can ramp up “clean,” “green,” and “renewable” energies until we don’t need fossil fuels, then we can ramp down fossil[…] Keep reading →

I used to waste three or four hours a day browsing social media sites, generally Reddit at the time, but others too, in particular after telling myself not to spend that much time on sites. I found some useful guidelines to reduce wasting time on screens. Not all time on screens is wasted, so I wanted to reduce wasted time but maintain productive time. Existing rules that have served me[…] Keep reading →

The title asks it all, but I’ll make it more poignant. Say I blow cigarette smoke in a baby’s face. Shocking, isn’t it? Horrible. Unconscionable. Probably criminal, like assault. But if I burn tons of jet fuel to visit the Amazon under the guise of ecotourism, people seem to view it as healthy. How is this difference possible? You could say because blowing smoke in someone’s face is directed. Still,[…] Keep reading →

First some context: When I challenged myself to avoid flying for a year, I expected the worst year of my life—my family disowning me, running out of money, etc. Instead, after a couple months I unexpectedly found the experience rewarding enough to go for another year. Then each year led to another. At some point I figured I’d never fly again. It’s easy enough not to get on a plane.[…] Keep reading →