Category Archives: Nature

If you believe living more sustainably makes your life worse but you want sustainability, you’ll help your cause by shutting up (until you practice).

on October 30, 2024 in Freedom, Nature

I’ve been remarking lately that every message I’ve heard on our environmental problems says that acting more sustainably means making my life worse for little chance of gain. I ask people if they know of counterexamples. If you do, please tell me, because no one has so far. Context Even ardent environmentalists suggest living more sustainably means giving up things I value for the possible benefit of someone else somewhere[…] Keep reading →

“What about ambulances, fire trucks, and hospitals?”

on October 23, 2024 in Choosing/Decision-Making, Nature

“What about ambulances, fire trucks, and hospitals?”, some people ask. “Don’t they help us and require polluting?” “Checkmate,” I can almost hear them thinking. “We can’t get rid of them, so we have to keep culture going as is.” Meanwhile Hawaiians lived sustainably over centuries, long past when Malthusian collapse, if inevitable, would have happened. Hawaiians lived on their own for centuries, longer than the time since the Enlightenment to[…] Keep reading →

What is the opposite of pollution? Loving your neighbor as yourself.

on October 22, 2024 in Freedom, Nature

The opposite of pollution is loving your neighbor as yourself. After all, do you keep your garbage in your house forever? No, you get rid of it. That means you have your neighbors deal with it, as you would not deal with it yourself. Does it matter that those neighbors aren’t your next door neighbors but are poor and distant? How can you love your neighbor as yourself except not[…] Keep reading →

How to pave a state

on October 19, 2024 in Nature, Visualization

I once read about two percent of the US is paved. Two percent of fifty is one, implying about one state worth of the US is paved. How do we reach the point of paving an entire state’s worth of land? It seems to me: First we tread over similar land to create dirt paths. Then we tread over them enough that rain makes them muddy enough to make them[…] Keep reading →

Everyone looks for holes in sustainability, expecting it to unravel, but it’s self-consistent. Unsustainability has holes and doesn’t work.

on October 18, 2024 in Nature

One of the more common responses to my suggesting eight billion people live sustainably, along with governments and corporations, is to suggest thing after thing the other person thinks wouldn’t work. “What about cars? How will people get around?” “What about family?” “But they won’t be able to create energy.” “What about police and ambulances?” The list of attempts to challenge sustainably goes on. They aren’t being rational. They’re just[…] Keep reading →

“We’re Running Out of Time—Can Sustainability Save Us? with Joshua Spodek” Hear me on the Compassiviste Dialogues

on October 10, 2024 in Audio, Leadership, Nature

Ali Horriyat and I have become friends since we started recording together. He hosts the Compassiviste Dialogues podcast. Friendship doesn’t mean always agreeing. On the contrary, I consider one of the roles of friendship—true friendship—is to disagree when appropriate and to confront a friend when you think they’re wrong, deserve criticism, or the like. People who aren’t friends may hold back from confrontation. That holding back may be polite, but[…] Keep reading →

Mark 12:31: “The second command is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

on October 6, 2024 in Choosing/Decision-Making, Leadership, Nature

Would you drive a car that sent its exhaust into where you sit? Would you fly in a plane that sent its exhaust into the cabin? Would you dispose of all your garbage by digging a hole in your yard and keeping it there forever? If you send the exhaust and garbage into the rest of the world, it doesn’t go away. You’ve made your problem your neighbors’ problem. If[…] Keep reading →

Fridgeless Means Fresher Food; Day 1 Year 4 without a fridge (like all humans before about 100 years ago)

on October 1, 2024 in Addiction, Freedom, Nature

On September 30, 2021, I unplugged my fridge, aiming for 8 months. I had unplugged it based on an article on one of my favorite sites, Low Tech Magazine: Vietnam’s Low-tech Food System Takes Advantage of Decay. I learned much of the world uses less refrigeration than Americans. We think of fridges as keeping food fresh, but other places have The first time I unplugged, I made it 3.5 months.[…] Keep reading →

How and why to fix the standard greenhouse effect diagram

on September 24, 2024 in Models, Nature, Visualization

You know the usual schematic diagram of the greenhouse effect. Here are a couple for reference: and What’s missing? Humans creating power for ourselves creates heat. It happens if we create it through burning fossil fuels, using nuclear power, and even fusion. Using solar panels absorbs extra heat. I hope you respond that whatever heat we produce is negligible. Today it is, but since industry and our current lifestyles require[…] Keep reading →

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