The bigger an achievement, the more it’s just the start of another stage in your life. Maybe swimming across the Hudson was my start of learning that you don’t have to fly to create life experiences, that we don’t have to accept what others consider impossible, and that we aren’t risking our lives to do things people have done for thousands of years. I’ve used the picture of my swimming[…] Keep reading →

My proposal and rationale for the next amendment for the United States Constitution. It will sound crazy, impossible, and too hard at first, as it did with me. But the more you consider it, the more the objections will fade. It is the right tool for the right job. Nothing else is. I’ll write more about it later. For now, just the audio.

People once wondered if we would run out of fossil fuels. People who liked fossil fuels delight in showing how we keep finding more. “Ha!”, they imply, “we’ll never run out. It’s not a problem. Anyone who thinks we’ll run out is a fool.” We could talk about the finite number of molecules of oil, coal, and gas under the Earth’s surface, but when an economist like Julian Simon says[…] Keep reading →

While writing up a longer piece on my experiment going off the grid, I looked up when I bought the solar panels and battery. Going through my old records, I think I only bought five or ten things besides food in about a year or so, all from Craigslist or thrift stores, used. I don’t keep meticulous records, so I may have missed some things. Going backward, a couple weeks[…] Keep reading →

Yes, I shifted my lifestyle a bit and did things not everyone can, but for the overwhelming majority of people living in cities and rich cultures minor compared to that I’m not living in the woods or separate from society. I lived in Manhattan, maintained a professional lifestyle and used zero electricity from the grid to my apartment for a month with minimal planning and only a portable solar panel[…] Keep reading →

The end of today marks the end of one month off the electric grid in Manhattan. Like the experiments before it, including avoiding packaged food for a week, avoiding flying for a year, and unplugging my fridge, before starting, I didn’t think I would make it, I thought it would worsen my life, and I didn’t know what challenges I’d face. Also like those experiments, I enjoyed the results and[…] Keep reading →

I’m in the middle of trying my first month disconnected from the electric grid. I started that month on May 22, so it only half affected my most recent bill: May 6 to June 7. Sixty-two cents plus fixed charges: My average so far this year: 11.8 kWh per month ($1.162 per month + fixed costs)