The paperback has been up about a day, and the reviews are coming in. It’s not Malcolm Gladwell level numbers yet, but a couple dozen reviews and all 5 stars so far. Making the book available feels great, as do the reviews so far. I wrote this book to help my mission, which is big, so putting the book up for sale is just the start. As much time and[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been remarking lately that every message I’ve heard on our environmental problems says that acting more sustainably means making my life worse for little chance of gain. I ask people if they know of counterexamples. If you do, please tell me, because no one has so far. Context Even ardent environmentalists suggest living more sustainably means giving up things I value for the possible benefit of someone else somewhere[…] Keep reading →

I experiment on how more effectively to describe changing culture from mainstream American to more sustainably. I’m not talking about some abstract “environment.” I’m talking about restoring living by doing unto others as I would have them do unto me and of loving my neighbor as myself, the opposite of polluting. I found a better way of describing the shift than just saying I’ve changed culture, I’ve passed a cusp,[…] Keep reading →

People who agree with me that to achieve sustainability, we have to change our culture, still struggle to see why making things more efficient not only doesn’t change our culture, it accelerates it. That is, it will lead us to create more of the results we get now. Imagine going back to 1942. We are fighting the Nazis and imperialist Japanese. We know every German isn’t a Nazi nor does[…] Keep reading →

The opposite of pollution is loving your neighbor as yourself. After all, do you keep your garbage in your house forever? No, you get rid of it. That means you have your neighbors deal with it, as you would not deal with it yourself. Does it matter that those neighbors aren’t your next door neighbors but are poor and distant? How can you love your neighbor as yourself except not[…] Keep reading →

In this post I’m going to show how many accusations of environmentalists being anti-human would tar the accusers more. I’ll build up to the point by describing the accusers first. Let me start by saying I love reading Steven Pinker’s books and wrote about him and them in my upcoming book, especially Better Angels of Our Nature (2011), which Bill Gates described as “the most inspiring book I’ve ever read,”[…] Keep reading →

I recovered from a week of events known as Climate Week 2024. It felt like 1776 Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s plantation home. Before reading why, I should tell you that I shared the views below with several attendees of several events and they all agreed. Climate Week brought bold pronouncements from CEOs, government representatives of cities, states, and nations, and cultural leaders. They said we could solve our environmental problems if[…] Keep reading →

Sustainability doesn’t promise you’ll live forever or that it will end all suffering. I don’t want to shock you or hurt your feelings, but we will all die. People we love will die. We will conflict with neighbors forever. No matter what advances we make in medicine, at some point a doctor will be unable to prevent you from dying. Worse, for all the advances made in extending life, other[…] Keep reading →

On September 30, 2021, I unplugged my fridge, aiming for 8 months. I had unplugged it based on an article on one of my favorite sites, Low Tech Magazine: Vietnam’s Low-tech Food System Takes Advantage of Decay. I learned much of the world uses less refrigeration than Americans. We think of fridges as keeping food fresh, but other places have The first time I unplugged, I made it 3.5 months.[…] Keep reading →