If you don’t know my apartment, this picture and why it makes me feel so joyful and free will take some explanation. You’re seeing the space below my window, which faces nearly due south. For the past two months, the sun hasn’t shone directly into my apartment. On the solstice one month ago it rose almost exactly to the left, went overhead, and set to the right. Now, a month[…] Keep reading →

New York City is supposed to hit 102 F (39 C) today. So far it’s 95 F (35 C) and since my battery was drained and the rest of the week is forecast to be cloudy, I’m out in the park charging. The park is mostly empty. Here’s my view right now, showing a fraction the number you’d see when the temperature was lower. You can also tell I’m sitting[…] Keep reading →

Today in 1988, the New York Times front page headline said “Global Warming Has Begun.” Today today, Americans blame, rationalize, and justify, but pollute more than ever. They blame CEOs, companies, and politicians, denying and suppressing that they pay them to do what they do. We can stop if we choose to. It would mean valuing other people’s suffering over our convenience.

It’s tragic what people throw away in our culture that rewards and values disposability. Across the street from my building I saw this apple tree being thrown away. It looks nearly dead, maybe past gone, but there are some hints of green if I look. I don’t know who bought it, but why bother watering a tree when you can just throw it away and buy a new one, right?[…] Keep reading →

Juneberries are just going out of season. I love their taste. I love the process of picking and eating them. I don’t know their nutritional value, but I understand that purple in the plant kingdom usually means lots of antioxidants and that berries in general are very healthy. [EDIT: I got lucky and found a couple pages on juneberry nutrition and it turns out they rank near the top of[…] Keep reading →

I was out in the park along the Hudson River picking juneberries. Not only was the food not packaged, I picked them myself. They’re incredibly delicious. The tree evolved to provide fruit to be eaten. I saw a lot of people picnicking on the grass, eating at the outdoor bar in the park, and eating while they walked. Every piece of food or beverage I saw them eating was bought[…] Keep reading →

If “transition” means we stop using the old fuel then there has never been an energy transition. You can hear more details when I post my next episode with Mark Mills, but it deserves more publicity. I recorded with him again after reading his recent piece We’ll Never Have an Energy Transition, in City Journal from the Manhattan Institute. I find his results compelling, as always. Every fuel we’ve ever[…] Keep reading →

We have never decreased using any fuels. When we find new energy sources, we use the old one and the new one. Our plans to increase solar and wind have nothing to do with lowering fossil fuel use. This ordering doesn’t work: The only ordering which can work: (Though, according to Adam Smith and the US founders, we don’t need to create new energy sources to create the most opulent[…] Keep reading →

You probably know about the effect called the tragedy of the commons. The classic case is shepherds and a common grassy area. If each lets their sheep graze so they consume grass as fast as it grows, then each has the incentive to graze more, privatizing the extra profit while everyone else loses a smaller amount, but if all do it, everyone loses. Here is Wikipedia’s definition: The tragedy of[…] Keep reading →