Nature

A reader wrote: You said that wind and solar " are not clean, green or sustainable". I am surprised, they seem to be better than the alternatives. What is the reason they are not sustainable? The short answer: The mining required will destroy and pollute ecosystems (and displace people from their homes, plus we can't seem to mine without sending children in them, which I consider inhumane) Solar and wind require fossil fuels to manufacture, transport, install, and decommission They need to be replaced every 20 years, so their problems persist Their end-of-life materials pollute The long answer is in articles like these: The Dark Side of Congo’s Cobalt Rush The Hard Math of Minerals by podcast guest Mark Mills. Why mining to make renewables…

Saying Malthus was wrong about population because global human population hasn't collapsed yet is like saying Columbus was wrong about Earth being round because he never reached China or India. First, everyone knows Columbus did brutal things you could call wrong. I'm talking about his belief you could sail to Asia by going west from Europe. He missed by two continents and the Pacific Ocean---big oversights about half the surface of the planet. He didn't reach Asia. But he was right about being able to reach Asia that way. No matter how big the oversights, you can go around a finite planet, it just may take longer than you expect. Thomas Malthus published An Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798 Malthus believed humans…

As a culture, we struggle to talk about population. Some consider more people better as a moral absolute. To them, more people solve more problems, so there can never be too many. Others consider Earth's resources finite. To them, more people means less resources per person, which means beyond an optimum number, more people means lower quality of life, ultimately leading to a collapse of population. The first group values more population growth. The second values less. Both believe their own route leads to more human health and happiness. Both believe the other's leads to death and destruction. I believe I can see where each is coming from and why their view makes sense, but I can't help coming back to Hawaii, in a way…

These floor stickers are showing up on sidewalks all over the city. I'll probably take more pictures of examples outdoors. They're litter. When I'm not in a hurry, since I pick up litter, I sometimes bend down, peel them off, and throw them away, though it's hard because they use strong glue and break apart so it's hard to get them all off. I took this picture not because I have a problem telling people where to vote, but because there were already tons of signs outside and no possible other direction than to go but down this hall. Someone put about a dozen things that will sit in landfills for a thousand years every few feet. If we didn't live in a polluted world,…

The Ukraine war struck fear in Europeans on how to stay warm this winter. Months ago, at the earliest sign of trouble, the German minister of energy flew to Qatar. Apparently burning fossil fuels to access more fossil fuels didn't solve their perceived problem of lacking fossil fuels. I haven't heard anyone comment that people have lived in Europe for over 50,000 years without burning fossil fuels, and no they weren't living on the verge of death all the time either. I grew up thinking we used technology to improve our lives, but I guess we used it to make us more dependent. In any case, New Yorkers have figured out how to help. Here's a restaurant with an open outdoor shed. It's empty of…

Here is a discarded bottle of Evian I found while picking up litter in Washington Square Park. If you can't tell, the bottle remains about three-quarters full. We live in a culture where we pollute at every step of creating plastic bottles, filling them with water, shipping them thousands of miles, refrigerate them, buy them for several dollars, then drink a few sips, and leave the nearly full bottle in a public park for others to deal with. That park, by the way, has water fountains that deliver for free water that consistently ranks among the best tasting and safest. I was worried if I should feel bad for my recent post Poor wittle American can’t wait to buy coffee in a mug or drink…

Abraham Lincoln's quote keeps becoming more meaningful: “Nothing is more damaging to you than to do something that you believe is wrong.” As long as we do something we know is wrong, we will do whatever it takes to avoid confronting our internal conflict. We will suppress, deny, and lie to maintain our false ignorance. He didn't say it's bad. He said it's the most damaging thing you can do to yourself. He saw what happens when half a nation does something it knows is wrong. We all pollute. We are seeing what happens when everyone does something we know hurts people, generally for our comfort and convenience. Every day, everywhere, people walk with disposable coffee cups, as if they didn't add up to quadrillions:…