The Daily Show aired their segment on my disconnecting from the electric grid in Manhattan! I just learned, so haven’t seen it myself yet so can’t comment on it. I hope it was funny, informative, and inspiring. EDIT: I posted the video and some comments on it: See the Daily Show’s segment on me: “Is it Possible to Live “Off the Grid” in Manhattan?”. The point isn’t my personal impact.[…] Keep reading →

We’re entering Christmas season, when Christians in the U.S. celebrate with a clearly pagan ritual of celebrating a birth in Bethlehem with chopping down fir trees. Presumably this tradition began in northern Europe, unrelated to the middle east. I propose instead of celebrating birth with death and mixing paganism in with Christianity, recognizing that cutting down trees was not likely ever appropriate, but not now. Look at this mess from[…] Keep reading →

Before I was born, the image of Earth from space changed not just a generation, but forever how humans saw the Earth and ourselves. It’s hard for me to imagine how seeing that image affected people seeing it for the first time. Here’s one: Here’s another: Projected images after sea-level rise Can you imagine how we’ll feel about the Earth and ourselves after more sea-level rise? I’m sure you’ve seen[…] Keep reading →

You might remember from my conversation with podcast guest Tony Hiss a passage from his book, Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth, that inspired me for the bold story it told. I’m finally copying that passage here. I’ll put in bold the bold part that psyched me up, to ask for what we fucking need: Back in 1997, [Steve] Kallick was with the Pew Charitable[…] Keep reading →

Tell most Americans that an airline is investing in “sustainable airplane fuel” and their ability to think critically flies out the window. They’ll believe anything you say that will let them tell themselves they can fly sustainably. Likewise with offsets, anything labeled recyclable, recycled, or compostable: people will presume anything is possible if it lets them avoid stopping polluting and depleting. Yet a few things they consider impossible. However much[…] Keep reading →

The Ecomodernist Manifesto talks about “decoupling,” meaning growing the economy and population without growing environmental impact. Techno-optimists talk about “green growth” and “closed loops.” Just giving an idea a name doesn’t make it possible. These concepts have been debunked like cold fusion and perpetual motion machines, yet people like to use them to rationalize and justify business as usual. But the people promoting decoupling, green growth, and closed loops don’t[…] Keep reading →

Flying a private jet to a climate conference seems the height of being out of touch and acting counterproductively. If you feel that way, have you considered how much of your expenditures pays for extracting, polluting, and depleting? What fraction of your spending goes to filling your gas tank, flying, air conditioning, heating, industrial agriculture, buying things that require pollution to make like packaged food, takeout, houses, cars, nearly all[…] Keep reading →