Do you value getting consent for actions one person does that affect another? When you use plastic, fill up a tank of gas, buy an airplane ticket, did you get consent from the people whose air, land, and water your actions pollute and deplete? Do you think you should? Do you wish people who polluted and depleted your world had tried to get your consent?

It’s natural to think of our environmental problems as issues of science, technology, or markets. We learned of them from scientists. Technologists and business people said they could solve them, but they’re social. The environment isn’t changing on its own. We’re changing it. Pollution destroys life, liberty, and property, mentioned throughout the US Constitution. We feel anxiety not from an effectively abstract “climate,” but because people can unilaterally destroy our[…] Keep reading →

People seem concerned about microplastics. They’re in all our bloodstreams. The endocrine disrupting chemicals they leech out probably contribute to globally rising birth defects and globally falling sperm counts. You’ve probably read about it all. Since plastic doesn’t change to non-plastic when it breaks down, but it all breaks down, all plastic will become microplastic. I guess we might burn some and it becomes other pollution, but nearly all of[…] Keep reading →

People freak out when talking about population. Many seem unable to talk about deliberately choosing smaller populations from the litany of hating humanity, thinking humanity is like cancer or a virus, eugenics, Nazism, fascism, racism, or sexism. Did I forget any? Steven Pinker wrote that people who talk about population control “repudiate technology and economic growth, and to revert to a simpler and more natural way of life” and are[…] Keep reading →

A lot of people on the left and right seem to want to solve our environmental problems with the solutions they promote for all problems. People on the left want to fight environmental problems with government regulation, to end systemic racism, and to smash the patriarchy. On the right they want to liberalize markets and decrease regulation. Does it seem odd to anyone else that their solutions to these new[…] Keep reading →

I love nature. Sometimes I have to share my love for quirky parts of it. Did you know alligators can live 3 years without eating? I find it amazing. They’re cold blooded, so don’t need little energy to keep their bodies going. In the water, they need little energy to move. I think they can digest more parts of what they eat than many other animals. Still, imaging going three[…] Keep reading →

The title and the pictures speak for themselves, though can’t capture the beauty of seeing it in person. Also, when you see a rainbow, pointing it out to people creates fun and connection. I was in Washington Square Park and I saw not one person see this rainbow except people I showed it too and the people who saw the joy and amazement in the people I showed it to.[…] Keep reading →

Strategies and tactics based in convincing, cajoling, coercing, and seeking compliance that may sound nice, but step on the gas, thinking it’s the brake, wanting congratulations. That is, they exacerbate the problem. Compare this list with tomorrow’s list of emotions that emerge from the Spodek Method about nature that, when acted on, lead to people doing more than they said they would, expressing gratitude, and being happy to share. I[…] Keep reading →

The title says it all, but for clarity, I’ll generalize: if you choose to do something that requires polluting, depleting, or plundering, you don’t get to claim your life requires living unsustainably. You don’t get to then make claims on others’ resources. A life requiring hurting others is not liberty. Its’ the opposite: it’s destroying other people’s liberty. Why don’t I spend all my money and then claim you have[…] Keep reading →