I enjoyed reading Bill McKibben’s latest book Here Comes the Sun. I found much of it well researched. Still, I don’t think it made clear what I consider its starting point. Before you read the critical stuff I start with about the book, I end on a high note. I’ve written many times how tools like technology, market incentives, and legislation aren’t good or bad. They implement and augment the[…] Keep reading →

My building has a little garden in front with a low wall people can sit on. Isn’t it nice to provide space for people to take a load off? I’m sure most of them don’t, but plenty leave their garbage in our little garden. Here are some pictures from a typical morning. The “Rite-a-way” box is rat poison I don’t like that the superintendent puts there, but with all the[…] Keep reading →

As always: I post about junkies not to criticize or condemn them as individuals, though I consider adults responsible for their actions. I post about them to illustrate our culture. Their addiction and its harms to others and communities is more acute than most of ours, but it is generally more benign than people with dependencies on flying, driving, doof, takeout, screens, and other things nearly everyone does that hurt[…] Keep reading →

I love Drew Gardens’ space and community. Every year I lead a workshop on cooking, though less now about low-cost, low-waste cooking. Now I focus on helping them create a food coop there. The city has some programs I consider “push,” where they try to supply fresh, local produce to the community. Having grown up with parents who, because they struggled to make ends meet, started a family food buying[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know my sidcha to pick up at least three pieces of litter from the northwest corner of Washington Square Park. While most of my sidchas I haven’t missed, that one I’ve missed, maybe one or two times per year. The park could use more people picking up litter. No, the point of picking up litter isn’t just the temporary removal of litter. Picking up litter makes not buying[…] Keep reading →

I read an article, The Costs of the Cloud, by Ashley Dawson in the New York Review of Books and wanted to note for future reference how much artificial intelligence pollutes and depletes. When asked how they think AI will affect the environment, most people seem to respond to a different question: “Can you think of ways AI can help with the environment?” They’re doing what I wrote about in[…] Keep reading →

I was thinking about the people who manufacture addictive things like doof. If you believe that someone choosing to buy something means they valued what they bought more than what they paid for it, then you think that the more they buy, the more they’ve improved their lives. Then the more addictive you make the product, the more you sell. You can tell yourself that your profit means their life[…] Keep reading →

The first time I unplugged my fridge was December 2019. A few months later Covid hit and I lived outside the city a couple months. My fridge remained unplugged, but I don’t count that time since I wasn’t home. The next time I unplugged earlier in the year: November 2020, and made it six months or so before spring warm weather made keeping things fresh harder. The next year I[…] Keep reading →

I’d been thinking about pets. When most people lived on farms or hunted, they played a functional role, at least I think. Today, they’re more of a self-indulgence. Yes, we love them. We don’t know if they have consciousness or can love, but we believe they love us back. They seem to enjoy life, which is an end to itself, even if they don’t serve any function for us. Still,[…] Keep reading →