As you know, I pick up litter daily, including at least three pieces from the northwest corner of Washington Square Park since the pandemic brought such hopelessness to it in the form of syringes, pipes, and the community and police abdicating responsibility to it. I don’t expect to revitalize the area by myself, but I’m not going to do nothing. I’m going to do something. As I walked along yesterday,[…] Keep reading →

I’ve meant to list the things I avoid. I can’t keep track sometimes. I’ll try to update it as I think of things. If you’re reading this post soon after I posted it, it’s probably incomplete. Animal products Owning books Owning things I don’t need Air conditioning Heating when it’s not too cold out Lights when I’m not in the room Fiber-removed foods Long showers Cars Planes Food packaging Keeping[…] Keep reading →

On March 22, 2016 my flight from Paris landed in New York. Before embarking on that trip, I had started to second guess how I had weighed my values to conclude flying was overall good. Today marks the first day of my seventh year without flying. I’ve traveled and seen more of the world and its people more in this time than when I flew. I grew up flying. My[…] Keep reading →

How much does this pattern I see correlate, or am I just looking for patterns? If they correlate, is there causation? I see many industries driving growth to the point of defining historical eras as based in craving, even addiction. Look at some of the biggest: Refined Sugar, which drove the growth of plantations in the Caribbean. Coffee, likewise Fashion, likewise, for indigo and cotton Drugs, likewise for coca, poppy,[…] Keep reading →

Living sustainably is easy. All humans did for most of human history. Animals do it. Living differently than everyone else can be hard, even when you live how they want. People push hard against people who remind them they aren’t living by their values. Alison, the host of This Sustainable Life: Untethered, wrote to ask me how I handled the challenge around the time she wrote a post, The Diary[…] Keep reading →

If you receive an email from me or browse my home page, you see I note I haven’t filled a load of trash since 2019 and last flew in 2016. I have also picked up litter daily since 2017. People tell me it sets too high a bar for people. They tell me people feel like they can’t catch up so why start. Recently I realized why I say it:[…] Keep reading →

I share the numbers below because people react to my cooking as if I’ve sprouted a third arm or somehow magically have extra time or money. Never mind that home cooking saves time and money, look at how much people spend on these polluting activities, much of which I suspect they themselves would say doesn’t improve their lives. I’d bet they’d say much of it worsens their lives. Meanwhile, I[…] Keep reading →