Category Archives: HandsOnPracticalExperience

How can anyone imaging this self-indulgence a better life?

on June 20, 2025 in Addiction, Doof, HandsOnPracticalExperience

My building neighbors often have deliveries to their doors, which I presume happens all over New York City. Here are some recent deliveries, first, I think, coffee, pastry, and other doof: Next, unnecessary sundries: I know plenty of people who marvel at how convenient modernity has made life. I wouldn’t be surprised if I looked enough into my past if I found I liked the prospect of not having to[…] Keep reading →

Can I save this apple tree a neighbor threw away?

on June 20, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience, Nature

It’s tragic what people throw away in our culture that rewards and values disposability. Across the street from my building I saw this apple tree being thrown away. It looks nearly dead, maybe past gone, but there are some hints of green if I look. I don’t know who bought it, but why bother watering a tree when you can just throw it away and buy a new one, right?[…] Keep reading →

Juneberries, the law, and discovering local fruit

on June 18, 2025 in Doof, HandsOnPracticalExperience, Nature

Juneberries are just going out of season. I love their taste. I love the process of picking and eating them. I don’t know their nutritional value, but I understand that purple in the plant kingdom usually means lots of antioxidants and that berries in general are very healthy. [EDIT: I got lucky and found a couple pages on juneberry nutrition and it turns out they rank near the top of[…] Keep reading →

A quarter million burpees

on May 25, 2025 in Fitness, Freedom, Habits, HandsOnPracticalExperience, SIDCHAs

Regular readers know what a sidcha is and that my second daily habit that both became a sidcha and helped me conceive of the concept began with doing ten burpees a day. I think I started my burpee habit in early 2012. In time, that habit evolved into a twice-daily set of calisthenics. I agree that discipline equals freedom, so more than the sizeable gains of saving money, saving time,[…] Keep reading →

Year 4, Day 1 with my apartment disconnected from the electric grid

on May 24, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience, Tips

I only wish I’d disconnected sooner. Not needing something means more freedom, especially not needing something that hurts people. People often ask if everyone could live like me. If every American lived like me, we could reduce our electric grid to a tiny fraction of its present incarnation. Our national security would increase, as would our health, community, and safety. Wealth disparities would decrease among many other friendly social outcomes.[…] Keep reading →

Do I miss anything from when I polluted and depleted like the average American?

on May 17, 2025 in Doof, HandsOnPracticalExperience

People ask me sometimes if I miss anything from when I polluted and depleted like the average American, or more, really. They hear about not filling a load of trash since 2019, avoiding doof and packaged food, and not doing all the things mainstream culture considers normal and necessary and think I’m giving things up. The honest answer is that I don’t miss anything, at least I can’t think of[…] Keep reading →

The left denies science as much as anyone, just different science, but it denies enough to avoid facing that it promotes unsustainability.

on May 10, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience

The left denies “the science” as much as anyone. It attacks the right, calling them “climate deniers” and says “compassionate capitalism” is an oxymoron. But it promotes what it calls “clean,” “green,” and “renewable” energy and “energy transitions” and claims to protect BIPOC and indigenous. The science and technology are clear, though, that creating electric power from solar, wind, nuclear, or (if it were ever to work) fusion is not[…] Keep reading →

Watch me cooking my famous no-packaging vegan solar-powered stew at a workshop at Drew Gardens, Bronx NY

on May 8, 2025 in Fitness, HandsOnPracticalExperience, Nature

I just found a video of one of the workshops I led at Drew Gardens. I can’t believe I thought I lost it. If you’ve wondered how I make my famous no-packaging vegan solar-powered stews, watch the workshop: Some Reviews Read more reviews here, but some examples: When Josh first invited me over for stew, I didn’t jump at the opportunity. I recall thinking that a quickly prepared meal of[…] Keep reading →

Why do liberals and progressives so strongly oppose actually acting on sustainability?

on May 6, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience, Leadership

Working in sustainability leadership, I interact a lot with people working on sustainability. Most of them are politically liberal or progressive. I’m prompted to write this post after finishing This Changes Everything and What If We Get It Right, both books promoting those politics. They keep saying how individuals acting aren’t the answer. They imply or say that suggesting so is harmful. They all keep falling back on BP and[…] Keep reading →

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