Nature

People keep complaining when I say I do something to pollute less that not everyone can do it. They lecture at me things like that not everyone has access to a farmers market and that there are single mothers in the world, as if anyone didn't know these things. Keep in mind that polluting, by definition, means hurting people. Stop complaining that trying to pollute less---that is, to hurt people less---is hard and change it. If you complain people don't have access to farmers markets, food coops, or CSAs, start one! People can make decent livings starting and operating them. The work will be incredibly rewarding, as will the community you form. Stop complaining about finance and start a credit union! Stop complaining people don't…

Today is day 100 off the grid, a nice milestone, about 98 days longer than I thought I could before starting. I'm not sure when I'll reconnect or why. I'm thinking about when my next bill comes, around September 9, which would give me three consecutive bills with 0 kilowatt-hours. My "cheat" I allowed before starting was to plug in at NYU, where I worked before the experiment. I wasn't trying to solve everything. I didn't even think I'd make a few days. Since I'm nearly two months into without even solar power, I've learned how to live with zero power. Dried beans I can eat by sprouting. Leafy vegetables I can preserve by keeping in water, which grows them, or fermenting them. Instead of…

For an informal survey, I went to a supermarket to observe the items in at least 100 shoppers' carts. I didn't make it all in one trip and lost count, but have passed 100 carts. Every item in every cart was packaged. Even fresh produce was put in plastic bags (plus all the ones I saw in the produce aisle had stickers). I'm sure some shoppers buy produce without packaging, but all the ones I saw put theirs in plastic bags. Polluting culture = Hurting others culture We have created a culture where the absolute basics of life require hurting other people. It bears repeating: We have created a culture where the absolute basics of life require hurting other people. Think about it: if simply…

I got my second bill with zero kilowatt-hours: Everyone's response includes speculating how it's easier for me because I'm (take your pick): single, male, in New York, or privileged in some other way. Nobody speculates why it would be harder for me, like I don't get economies of scale that I would if someone else were involved. But let's grant every possible advantage. If you didn't hear of me doing it and someone asked if you thought someone could draw zero electrical power in his apartment for a month, let alone two, admit it, you'd likely guess it was impossible, or if possible, not by someone still living his regular life. If you thought it was impossible, some belief led you there. That belief or…

What happens to a culture that doesn’t live by its values? It twists itself up, trying to rationalize what it considers wrong yet still does. In the case of slavery or denying women the right to vote, it creates stories that people who are equal really aren’t. Quoting the historian and former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams, Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery. That is, people being unwilling or unable to let go of slavery created stories that the people they were hurting and killing weren’t equal or whatever nonsense would help them sleep at night while patently violating the Golden Rule. We are following that path. Nobody loves their country more than I love…