The building with the clock tower in the picture below is my local public library. The iron fence behind the guy in the white hat encloses a park behind the library. It had two crab apple trees in it. As far as I could tell, nobody else knew it produced crab apples. The branches were higher than you could reach or even see the crab apples since they were the[…] Keep reading →

This photograph shows a guy employed by a local “business improvement district” to pick up litter, the “BID” on the gray trash bag and his coat/uniform show. How do we reach this level of failure? In principle we shouldn’t litter. For that matter, with all the talk about circular economies and reaching “net zero,” shouldn’t we not produce goods that could become litter? Doesn’t New York City have a sanitation[…] Keep reading →

I see these plots a fair amount from people on the right. They come from Bjorn Lomborg. They’re a straw man and a distraction. Global warming is a problem, but it’s one of many. As I’ve written, I recommend Only specify fixing climate and carbon if you want to wreck everything else (forests, biodiversity, rivers, etc) because that happens when you do. There are other places where our behavior mediated[…] Keep reading →

I just found this opinion piece in the New York Times from 2023: The World’s Population May Peak in Your Lifetime. What Happens Next? It starts: The global human population has been climbing for the past two centuries. But what is normal for all of us alive today — growing up while the world is growing rapidly — may be a blip in human history. Children born today will very[…] Keep reading →

The winter solstice is in one month. During the summer if I need to charge, I can go to the roof any time from around 8am to 8pm, weather permitting. This time of year, the sun only rises high enough to charge from about 9am to maybe 3pm. It’s cold. It’s windier so I can’t leave the panels alone because if the wind catches them, they blow like a sail.[…] Keep reading →

When did a 5,000-year-old practice to attain liberation and promote physical and emotional well-being come to hurt people for centuries, even millennia? Here’s a definition of yoga I found online: Yoga : a Hindu theistic philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of body, mind, and will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation : a system of physical postures, breathing techniques, and[…] Keep reading →

In a decade of picking up litter daily I’ve seen about five other people picking up litter. I’ve seen many litter. Since buying packaged food supports what becomes litter, nearly everyone who buys packaged food or takeout, or shops online causes litter. In the park, I see tons of people bring packaged food then act as if it wasn’t their fault when the wind blows their napkins away, they forget[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been increasingly realizing and pointing out that I am not an environmentalist. I surprised myself to discover it. I had long felt misunderstood when people asked, “If you like nature so much, why don’t you go to the woods live in nature?” It had long been obvious to me that we needed to change culture, not escape it, and New York is an influential cultural center. Then I checked[…] Keep reading →

Following up July’s post on The social cost of gratuitous plunder and destruction of life, liberty, and property, here are more examples of people flouting the US Constitution’s claim to protect citizens from being deprived of life, liberty, and property. Pollution and depletion aren’t victimless crimes. They hurt everyone. Let’s start with the venue I did the last post American Bar, again blasting the outdoors with air conditioning nobody benefits[…] Keep reading →