The number one topic of my book is freedom and liberty. In my view, science, technology, market reforms, and legislation follow from freedom and liberty. Without freedom and liberty, you can’t have the other things, but without them you can still have freedom and liberty. Pollution destroys life, liberty, and property. Our Constitution was built on a premise that a role of government is to protect life, liberty, and property.[…] Keep reading →

Researching more for my upcoming book and planning to write opinion pieces, I’m learning more limited government, free market thought and practice relevant to sustainability and the environment. It’s relevant beyond anything I expected. If only people asked questions of people they disagreed with and listened to their answers in 2024 as much as they tried to convince and defeat, we’d have solved a lot of problems where we mutually[…] Keep reading →

On May 24, 2022, I opened the main circuit to the electric grid, disconnecting my apartment from it. Two days before I had unplugged my appliances but noticed the outlets next to sinks have LEDs to show they’re safe. Despite what part-time vegetarians say, I don’t believe that not zero is zero, so to consume zero power, including those LEDs, I disconnected the whole apartment. My goal was not using[…] Keep reading →

I was reading an account of Martin Luther King during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and noticed how a few things he said, often quoting or paraphrasing Jesus, applied to today. The big one was “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword,” which doesn’t seem a stretch to say those who live by pollution die by pollution. Despite everyone saying their flying does so much good it’s worth[…] Keep reading →

Environmentalists talk about the possibility of a future collapse. They talk about the harm happening far away. I don’t want to take away from those problems and risks, but they are missing what’s happening here and now with all of us. We can’t look our children in the eye and tell them they’ll live in a safer, healthier, more secure world. Since we can’t, we tell them what we do[…] Keep reading →

I don’t have to tell you that front page headlines are reporting how students across the country are protesting. Universities are struggling with how to respond. The university I got my (five) diplomas from, Columbia University, seems to be making some of the biggest headlines. A few days ago it decided to cancel its commencement. I started college in 1988. Many students then opposed Apartheid. I boycotted businesses that did[…] Keep reading →

I attended an event last week in which the organizers began with a land acknowledgment. I’d guess most of you have witnessed one, though maybe not all. According to Wikipedia: A land acknowledgement or territorial acknowledgement is a formal statement that acknowledges the original Indigenous Peoples of the land, spoken at the beginning of public events. The custom of land acknowledgement is a traditional practice that dates back centuries in[…] Keep reading →

People jump to treating our environmental problems as rooted in science, therefore they look for solutions from scientists. I’m seeing the problem more as social than scientific in the following way. First, I want to clarify that understanding the mechanisms by which Earth’s ecosystems are changed depend on science. I’m not challenging that we understand the mechanisms through observation, experiment, debate, and the other tools of science. When I pollute[…] Keep reading →

On my seventh appearance on After Dark with Rob and Andrew, I share how I’ve been diving into conservative history, thought, philosophy, and community. Both hosts have been on my podcast and I meet Rob periodically in person in Manhattan, where he lives too. About the hosts: Rob is the founder of The Multicultural Conservative Foundation, whose mission is to promote the political diversity of conservatism through social media. He[…] Keep reading →