American cuisine has two simple rules governing it, I found. You often have to step outside a system to see it with fresh eyes. First, I’ll describe that process. Stepping outside the system We’ve seen pictures of plastic choking once-pristine beaches and wilderness. One day three years ago I looked down at my kitchen’s garbage and saw that most of my garbage came from food packaging. I decided to try[…] Keep reading →

In this country, mentioning any deviation from capitalism flips people into communism and socialism. This black-and-white thinking explains why Reagan and Thatcher opposed Nelson Mandela fighting Apartheid—supporting a party promoting blatant, destructive racism. They supported the party started by supporters of Nazis—a term we throw around today to mean figuratively, but the creators of Apartheid supported Hitler in the 30s and 40s. Maybe because Thatcher was prime minister of empire[…] Keep reading →

In response to The Champion of Little Plans, an article on Jane Jacobs by Nate Storring, who edited a book of her short works, and having moved to Greenwich Village in 1999 partly influenced by her work, I wrote For those who have read Death and Life of Great American Cities and The Power Broker, most of this article tells history you already know.After that part, it’s about applying her[…] Keep reading →

When I turned 17 I received the letter from the federal government that they required me, by my next birthday, to register for what it called Selective Service and and that I call the draft. I don’t remember the details, but I remember something about punishment if I didn’t. I also remember thinking I didn’t feel I had the experience or maturity to comprehend this obligation imposed on me to[…] Keep reading →

I wanted to share some thoughts on reading The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf, one of the New York Times’ 10 best books of 2017. Who is Alexander von Humboldt? The New York Times review of the book explains: Alexander von Humboldt was the pre-eminent scientist of his time. Contemporaries spoke of him as second in fame only to Napoleon. All over the Americas[…] Keep reading →

I’ve mentioned many times how I considered the approach to the environment, economy, population, etc by the book Limits to Growth the most comprehensive and valuable, though I hadn’t read much critical of it that didn’t seem politically motivated or starting from disagreement. I’ve wanted to find alternative perspectives. I found more resources and perspective, especially in two papers in American Scientist written by Brian Hayes. Both articles followed publishing[…] Keep reading →

In this country, mentioning any deviation from capitalism flips people’s thoughts to communism and socialism. This black-and-white thinking explains why Reagan and Thatcher opposed Nelson Mandela fighting Apartheid, instead supporting a blatantly racist regime. In fact, they supported a party infused by supporters of Nazis. We throw the term Nazi around today to mean figuratively, but I mean literally. The creators of Apartheid included people who actively and violently supported[…] Keep reading →

Enron Environmentalism Enron looked profitable when it compartmentalized and hid its losses. Do you compartmentalize and hide your pollution? I just had lunch with a man who described himself as fanatical about the environment–in particular, about water bottles. He illustrated by describing how fastidiously he handled them. As he started his story, I expected him to describe how he never used water bottles. Americans have such clean and drinkable water that water made unclean makes front page[…] Keep reading →

One of my top resources on the environment is the book Limits to Growth. Reading it was revelatory. They approached the environment the way I thought made sense, then created a model, researched the numbers, plugged them in, and got answers. What made sense was what they call a systemic approach—not to look at one of all the interacting parts, but to look at the whole system, including how the[…] Keep reading →