Category Archives: Nature

The one thing in the universe that turns chaos into value and what it means for humanity

on February 25, 2025 in Nature

Yesterday in My favorite solar panel I wrote about the problems with the solar panels we produce. Since they require nonrenewable resources to make and don’t biodegrade, we lower earth’s ability to sustain life in making them and disposing of them when they stop working. As far as I know, that problem happens for all ways we create energy besides eating plants and fungi and using wood. We think we[…] Keep reading →

My favorite solar panel

on February 24, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience, Nature

Recall that all the electric power I use directly comes from my portable solar panels powering a battery. Indirectly I cause plenty more to be used, from lights in other buildings to the server farms bringing you this writing, to the manufacturing processes that build things I use. The more I learn about solar power, the more I learn of the environmental devastation in creating solar panels and batteries and[…] Keep reading →

Replacing “sustainability” with “not hurting people” and “polluting” with “hurting people”

on February 22, 2025 in Freedom, Nature

I’m starting to replace “sustainability” with “not hurting people,” sometimes adding “and wildlife.” I’m not doing it across the board, but increasingly. I’m seeing how people respond. Likewise, instead of describing an activity as “polluting,” to describe it as “hurting innocent people.” For example: Instead of “I’m trying to live more sustainably”: “I’m trying to hurt innocent people less.” Instead of “I value the environment”: “I value not hurting people.”[…] Keep reading →

Plastic: “between 400,000 and 1 million people die each year in low- and middle-income countries because of diseases related to mismanaged waste”

on February 19, 2025 in Doof, Nature

A group called the Tearfund published a report in 2019 on plastic waste called No Time to Waste. It states “between 400,000 and 1 million people die each year in low- and middle-income countries because of diseases related to mismanaged waste.” I expect that number has risen since. I expect I’ll quote this finding as a measure of our culture. Consider this point: there was once no litter on earth.[…] Keep reading →

Hear me on A Climate Change with Matt Matern

on February 14, 2025 in Audio, Nature

Matt and I have appeared on each other’s podcast before. He invited me back to talk about Sustainability Simplified. I recommend reading it. This episode will whet your appetite. Looking at Matt’s podcast page, the guest before me was Bill McKibben so I consider myself in esteemed company. Here at the liner notes:

Yet more cases where efficiency doesn’t help sustainability

on February 11, 2025 in Nature

If something destroys life, liberty, and property, making it more efficient leads it to destroy less life, liberty, and property, not zero. Stopping doing it would stop destroying life, liberty, and property. We know life doesn’t require pollution, despite our cultural beliefs. The quality of life of people who live sustainably doesn’t appear lower than ours and in many cases appears higher, also despite our cultural beliefs. Let’s look at[…] Keep reading →

Why complaining about “private profit and public cost” misses the boat.

on February 9, 2025 in Freedom, Nature

The difference between an externality and coercion. An externality is a cost imposed on someone else. A cost is something that if you pay for it, you undo the cost or make them whole. An example might be if in doing my work, I undo some of yours and it takes you an hour to redo it. You could in principle consent to the work if I compensated you enough[…] Keep reading →

The Spodek Method is like quitting smoking.

on February 5, 2025 in Addiction, Education, Nature

Some people in my workshops describe early times practicing the Spodek Method as causing them anxiety. From my experience with performance arts like acting or sports in front of a crowd or, in attraction, learning to approach women, I know performing where others can see you can cause people without experience anxiety. I also know that mastering that art can transform that anxiety into joy and glory. Everyone who became[…] Keep reading →

Plastic appears more poisonous than you think, especially to your brain. You’d rather know these findings than not.

on February 4, 2025 in Addiction, Doof, Nature

I try to avoid just quoting news. That’s for social media, which I avoid. But sometimes the news merits it. Quoting the Washington Post: Haven’t shown causation (yet) The original paper’s conclusion points out they’ve only shown correlation, not causation, though not showing it doesn’t mean it isn’t there: The present data suggest a trend of increasing MNP concentrations in the brain and liver. The majority of MNPs [microplastics and[…] Keep reading →

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