Nature

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:…

I was sitting on a bench in the park. I looked up and saw the tree whose trunk was in front of me and branches above had lots of yellow berry-like fruit on it. All the branches were too high to reach. Then I looked down and saw fruits all over the ground. I know from experience last summer to respect wild berries, but I was curious. This park is curated and city-owned, so I doubt they'd take on the liability of growing a poisonous plant. Still, last August's experience was life-changingly awful. I picked up a few of the fruits, cleaned one off, and took the tiniest nibble I could. It tasted like apple, though more tart and stringent. It looked vaguely like an…

Often when someone tells me about flying somewhere, buying doof, or other polluting they apologize to me. I'm not being hurt, or not nearly as much as poor people, people in poor countries where we dump our waste and extract resources from, kids forced into child labor sometimes slavery, future generations, and wildlife. There's no question they're paying to accelerate these problems. They barely affect me. Why don't they apologize to the people they hurt? If they apologize to me, not them, I don't think they're really sorry. How can they confuse the messenger with their hurting others so much? I'm not promoting sustainability for personal gain. I can make a lot more money with a PhD in physics and an MBA than trying to…