Germany and Japan seem wonderful cultures today. Not so much in 1944, when they were committing among the most grievous atrocities ever. Everyone else wanted to stop them. Nobody considered stopping them by making them more efficient, advancing their technologies, or promoting legislation within them passed by their people. No allied general or politician promoted changing them by offering new technologies or helping them innovate. Making them more efficient would[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know I haven’t filled a load of garbage since 2019. The most common reactions are surprise, asking me what’s in my garbage, and calling it “extreme.” Being five years into a habit, it doesn’t feel the least bit extreme any more. On the contrary, since what motivates me is alleviating suffering in the people in whom I would increase it for my lifestyle, not acting to pollute much[…] Keep reading →

Since I’ve been studying so much American history and seeing American presidents as role models, I couldn’t help stumbling on a characterization of my development. Before I acted, when I knew the problems with pollution and depletion but contributed to them as much as everyone around me, I was like Thomas Jefferson speaking about freedom while owning slaves. Today I still pollute and deplete, but far less than before. I’m[…] Keep reading →

People freak out when talking about population. Many seem unable to talk about deliberately choosing smaller populations from the litany of hating humanity, thinking humanity is like cancer or a virus, eugenics, Nazism, fascism, racism, or sexism. Did I forget any? Steven Pinker wrote that people who talk about population control “repudiate technology and economic growth, and to revert to a simpler and more natural way of life” and are[…] Keep reading →

What role in the Star Wars universe best describes you, your nation, or your culture? I think most people would like to think of themselves as Luke, Leia, or someone in the rebellion against the empire. Or someone outside that conflict, maybe just living on their own. Let’s see. Context: A culture living unsustainably means it will run out of at least one necessary resource. If it can trade for[…] Keep reading →

Did America’s founders know they’d win in 1774, say, at the time of the Intolerable Acts? Did the other colonists? Did people think independence was possible? Nobody knew. Probably most would bet against their fighting the greatest empire in history. We who work on changing culture to sustainability are like America’s founders in 1774. Obviously I’m not saying exactly. There are many differences, but in that we are taking on[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know I pick up litter every day. The other day I found this garbage wedged in the scaffolding of a building under construction. (Come to think of it, a topic I should write more about is this bizarre practice of litter being wedged and stuffed into places and why people do it. I’m not sure, but I have some ideas. In any case, all this littering is socializing[…] Keep reading →

There’s no two ways about it: Flying = Funding Lobbyists Not just lobbyists, fossil fuel lobbyists. Flying lines their pockets, along with the pockets of executives and shareholders of the fossil fuel-extracting companies that own them. It’s 93F (34C) in Manhattan and not yet 11am. Congratulations to those who fly, buy plastic, and buy things needlessly shipped across oceans in container ships, like cars, fast fashion, and food that isn’t[…] 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 →