People disagree on how great or not great America is. Some say we’ve lost our edge in this area or that. Others say we excel in everything. By some measures like GDP we’ve outperformed others for generations. Our military dominates others in total size and firepower. We’ve almost never been invaded. What makes us excel when we do? I’ll answer this question from my perspective not to say good, bad,[…] Keep reading →

I was here when Obama replaced George W. Bush. People were dancing in the street. This time is bigger. Lower Manhattan hasn’t been this happy for years. Friends and colleagues from around the world are emailing congratulations. For me personally, since I love my sustainability work, I look forward to losing the government pushing to sell public lands to fossil fuel interests, disregarding pollution, and such—not having to swim upstream[…] Keep reading →

I see more people in my neighborhood, especially my neighborhood park—Washington Square Park—addicted to I don’t know what. My whole life, I’ve never been far from seeing addiction. I don’t think I’ve known anyone uncontrollably addicted. Lately, in my daily picking up litter from the northwest corner of Washington Square Park, regulars there have started conversations with me. Our longest conversation lasted about thirty to forty-five minutes. One guy made[…] Keep reading →

People ask “How bad does it have to get for people to act?”, “How many once-every-five-hundred year storms must we face in back-to-back years before we do something?”, and similar questions. These questions arise from the belief that we only act to allay our own suffering, as best I can tell. I used to ask them too. They, and the model prompting, them aren’t the only places we can start[…] Keep reading →

When the pandemic began, New York City began a program of giving free meals to anyone—no one turned away. The meals usually consist of a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a bag of chips, some cookies, some baby carrots, a tub of hummus, and about eight ounces of milk. In other words a mix of food and doof. Partly the program feeds hungry people, partly I suspect it funds doof[…] Keep reading →

As Rob Harper asked in the YouTube page: Can only white people be racist? Can black people be racist? What do you think when you see the police? What exactly is white privilege? Can blacks be privileged? Do all lives matter or just some and whose black lives? As Rob and I speak more (here is his appearance on my podcast and my appearance on his, among many other recordings[…] Keep reading →

People constantly suggest they have to balance different values as if I didn’t. It came up in a recent conversation so I shared about it today. An element I factor in is how my pollution affects others—not just what I know about or wish I contributed, but what I actually contribute. Yet people think I factor in nothing else. It’s weird to learn people see you as one-dimensional. If they[…] Keep reading →