An observation based on my experience with physics and economics: both fields create models that predict how nature will behave, often people for economists. Then we observe nature and people. In physics if nature contradicts our predictions, we say we’re wrong and the model needs fixing. When people behave differently than economists predict, economists say people are wrong and need fixing. Economists claim that a country’s or the world’s population[…] Keep reading →

I posted on handling what people call pandemic fatigue to Thrive Global today: Pandemic Fatigue? How to Achieve Pandemic Thriving. Here’s the text of the article: When I learned I would be locked down indefinitely, knowing we were all heading into unknown territory, I looked for role models. Who had handled such a situation successfully? Nelson Mandela had been locked down for twenty-seven years, most of that time on a[…] Keep reading →

“Our finest hour” never describes a bright sunny morning with the birds singing, however fine such an hour. I associate the phrase with the movie Apollo 13. The flight director said the astronauts’ perilous state after an explosion in space on the way to the moon “could be the worst disaster NASA’s ever experienced.” His peer responded, “With all due respect, sir, I believe this is going to be our[…] Keep reading →

People disagree on how great or not great America is. Some say we’ve lost our edge in this area or that. Others say we excel in everything. By some measures like GDP we’ve outperformed others for generations. Our military dominates others in total size and firepower. We’ve almost never been invaded. What makes us excel when we do? I’ll answer this question from my perspective not to say good, bad,[…] Keep reading →

Corporations and governments are pledging to lower emissions, maybe to net zero (What “net zero” and “closed loop” mean.), by 2030 or 2050. Nearly everyone recognizes goals past the pledgers’ retirement close to meaningless. What will give them meaning is not hope or appreciation, but accountability, especially imposed from without. Even with accountability, these pledges could set earlier targets. We all know they can. The tragic message from everyone except,[…] Keep reading →

I don’t have to do what I do to act in stewardship to others. I get to. By avoiding flying and packaged for or by picking up others’ litter or training people for free to start offshoots of my podcast, I’m not missing out on better things or sacrificing my time. If you think stewardship to others, especially those helpless to protect themselves from my actions that hurt them, lessens[…] Keep reading →

I gave a book on men and how men experience the world to my girlfriend at the time, maybe five or ten years ago. After reading it, she asked me, “Do men have emotions?” Apparently she thought men didn’t have emotions. In fact, she clarified, “I thought men just did things.” I’m glad she asked if she didn’t know. I was surprised she didn’t. For context, she had graduated a[…] Keep reading →

Frankly, I don’t see many signs of hope for us to handle the environment. Walking around my neighborhood, I’d say maybe 20 percent of people are wearing masks. Bars and restaurants are packing people within six feet of each other. Headlines about Texas, Florida, and Arizona show people’s cavalier attitudes leading to opinion over nature. Still, here are a few signs of hope. Ozone: humanity banded together to ban CFCs.[…] Keep reading →

In physics, if your theory predicts one thing but nature does another, we know nature is right and we change our theory. In economics, if nature doesn’t fit theory, they stick with the theory and try to describe how nature is wrong. Sadly, economists don’t lose their jobs when their theories don’t work and they keep trying to push them, despite not creating the results they want. On the contrary,[…] Keep reading →