I have to add to what I wrote last month on How the liberation of living more sustainably feels. In that post, I wrote I left out scope and scale I left out the scope and scale of the difference. Taking off wet socks feels liberating and surprisingly pleasant if you forgot they were on, but it’s still just physical sensations for your feet, a part of your body. Unlike[…] Keep reading →

I walked past what was once likely a planter bed filled with lovely flowers or maybe a tree. I presume it was something nice because someone installed a plaque that began “In loving memory of.” Instead of flowers, a tree, or anything lovely or nice, the bed was filled with garbage. I’ve passed it before and seen it filled with garbage. It’s nice to think that environmental problems haven’t hit[…] Keep reading →

Want to know what living more sustainably feels like? Our culture is so dependent and addicted to things like takeout, cars, and flying that pollution and depletion enable, we forget that using them destroys life, liberty, and property. We don’t notice that our government benefits and grows in money and power from licensing and promoting one of its few core responsibilities nearly everyone agrees on. We don’t notice that they[…] Keep reading →

I can tell people consistently misunderstand what I’m doing from the questions they ask: how long does it take to charge the battery or what do I do for toothbrushes. Or they say it’s harder for people with kids. In 1930, Gandhi protested the British monopoly on selling salt. Did he attack them with weapons? No, they were too powerful. He marched to the sea, got some salt from evaporated[…] Keep reading →

A reader sent me a link to this video by an astronaut, Ron Garan. He shares how seeing the earth from space changes astronaut’s views on life and humanity’s relationship with nature. I don’t think it achieves the goal he wants. People can interpret it differently, but I conclude that he is saying seeing the earth from space offers a special and unique view of life that enables someone who[…] Keep reading →

The title says half of it: When you know someone will interpret everything you say their way, do you talk to them? The other half: What if they’re your parents? No, I didn’t just have a fight with a parent, but I do talk to a lot of people who interpret what I say as best I can tell based on preconceptions of what they expect someone talking about what[…] Keep reading →

Every time someone tells me they balance their behavior regarding the environment, guaranteed the next thing they say will concern only themselves. They want to help the environment but they want to live their life too. They want not to pollute but they can’t afford not to fly. They want to eat less meat but they want to stay healthy. For one thing, most of what they say doesn’t make[…] Keep reading →

Vegetables have been blowing me away with their sweetness lately. For years since stopping consuming doof nearly completely, I’ve been finding fresh produce increasingly delicious. I usually say how I used to consider Ben and Jerry’s delicious and apples relatively bland. Now apples taste sweeter than ice cream ever did. In time, more vegetables have come to taste sweeter than fruit used to. I don’t think their composition changed. I[…] Keep reading →

I finally found how to describe how the New Yorker and other outlets covered me: I’m pointing to a brighter future. They keep looking at my hand. The New Yorker wrote how I have dirt under my fingernails, which you get when you dig deep. I can’t blame anyone. It’s no one else’s responsibility for me to be understood. My book should help change this outcome, where I can clarify[…] Keep reading →