Pollution and Depletion

The Left’s and environmentalists’ folly: “They don’t care”

Nonjudgment / Pollution and Depletion

The Left’s and environmentalists’ folly: “They don’t care”

In fairness, the following dialogue would happen with people from the Right or those who disagree with claims that humans are seriously degrading the environment's ability to sustain life. In that case, we'd substitute something like "They hate America!" for "They don't care!" though the problem would be less about the environment and more about the loss of liberty, freedom, equality, democracy, and national security, which they're contributing to. Those who purport to protect, conserve, or restore the environment, or fight for "environmental justice," all pollute and deplete more than most people. They seem to shun personal responsibility or acknowledge the effects of their actions to undermine their work. Here's a typical dialogue, or at least the meaning if not the exact words: Me: "We…

September 2, 2026

Fiji Water or Piss?

Addiction / Pollution and Depletion

Fiji Water or Piss?

Do you drink bottled water? What do you consider more unhealthy in the picture below: the plastic, the yellow liquid contained in it, or the water that was in it that was shipped around the world. I wish I could convey how disgusting the plastic and shipped water are to me. I don't want to touch urine, but the plastic and shipped water hurt people more. Bottled water is the cause of polluted water, not deliverance from it, just like gambling causes gamblers to lose, amphetamines cause users to have less energy. That is, dependence and addiction lead those who depend on something to live with less than what they get that jolt of, but the rest of the time crave. Over three years ago…

September 1, 2026

Might I Be Wrong About Artificial Intelligence? How Wrong Could I Be?

Addiction / Artificial Intelligence / Pollution and Depletion

Might I Be Wrong About Artificial Intelligence? How Wrong Could I Be?

I've written about AI, mainly problems. In Extreme Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence I explored the idea that AI offers no benefit, only the jolt of the feeling of accomplishment like the jolt of euphoria of opiates and solving problems created by the system and philosophy that created it. Let's say I'm wrong. Let's say AI offers many benefits I'm missing. How wrong might I be? What difference to us would we see if we stopped using AI compared to if we kept using it? Would we miss it? Would we think, "Darn, my life suffers for lack of AI"? If we stopped using eyeglasses or pressure cookers, I'd miss them. They represent technologies that seem to benefit people without harming others. You could argue that…

August 28, 2026

Is peace possible when nations deplete?

Pollution and Depletion

Is peace possible when nations deplete?

I don't think I'm skipping too many steps in this question: Is peace possible when nations are depleting resources? I don't think it's possible in the long term. I've been looking. Please tell me if you see something I'm missing, though the possibility of stopping depleting seems to solve the problem. So far, as nations depleted resources, at least some of them could expand into new territory that had resources they lacked, usually arable land, access to ports, minerals, fresh water, forests, and such. For the past few centuries, fossil fuels and uranium could enable them to produce alternatives and substitutions for many resources, or to recycle some, to provide the service the resources provided. Today, there isn't much land that is arable or could…

August 27, 2026

Is the only way to reduce litter and garbage anywhere to overhaul American culture, maybe global? I guess we’ll have to do it then.

Habits / Pollution and Depletion / SIDCHAs

Is the only way to reduce litter and garbage anywhere to overhaul American culture, maybe global? I guess we’ll have to do it then.

Regular readers know I pick up litter every day, in particular in Washington Square Park, effectively my back yard. It's one of my sidchas. Today I must have arrived in the park just after a cleaning crew's shift because I saw almost no litter. Was I excited that the park might be clean for a day, even if just for when I happened to be there? No. Experience taught me not to be disappointed. I went with my computer to work. I knew if I sat and worked, then by the time I left, even a few minutes later, plenty of litter would arrive. I'm sure if I asked anyone if they littered, they'd all say no, but within a few minutes of sitting, I…

August 24, 2026

Externalities versus violations of the Constitution

Freedom / Pollution and Depletion

Externalities versus violations of the Constitution

People call pollution an externality---that is, a cost imposed on someone who wasn't part of the choice. It may be an externality, but that identification misses a bigger point. It also violates the consent of the governed, deprives people of life, liberty, and property, and violates the Declaration and Constitution in other ways. Pollution is not just an economic issue. It's also political and the political ramifications are much greater. Violating the Constitution is important, especially when everyone in the nation does it, the government profits from it, politicians become corrupted by it, and more. If you don't fix the economic problem, money gets distributed not to those who solve problems best but to those who coerce the most. You distort the economy and inhibit…

August 17, 2026

If we want an energy transition we don’t need more so-called “renewable”. We need less fossil fuels, which we aren’t doing.

Pollution and Depletion / Visualization

If we want an energy transition we don’t need more so-called “renewable”. We need less fossil fuels, which we aren’t doing.

I came across these graphs and had to share them because they reveal how counterproductive the plans of many environmentalists are, at least those who keep saying how percentages of so-called "clean," "green," or "renewable" energy sources are increasing. Wind, solar, and electric vehicles may pollute, deplete, and misappropriate less than fossil fuels, but less than fossil fuels doesn't mean zero. But for the sake of discussion, lets' imagine they were clean, green, and renewable. The plots below show that humans are using as much oil and fossil fuels as ever. Only using less fossil fuels uses less fossil fuels. Using more solar doesn't reduce the pollution, depletion, or misappropriation of oil. When we add back that they do pollute, deplete, and misappropriate, we gain…

August 5, 2026

Syringes on a Sunday afternoon, following doof on a Sunday morning

Addiction / Doof / Pollution and Depletion

Syringes on a Sunday afternoon, following doof on a Sunday morning

I haven't posted about finding syringes and people shooting up in a while. Last fall or winter the city decided to increase the police coverage of Washington Square Park and the neighborhood. Nobody thinks it decreases the use of fentanyl and other drugs of despair, but they moved it away from this particular park. Yesterday afternoon, while picking up litter in the park, I saw a couple syringes, the first I saw in that park in several months. This tree happens to be close to the temporary police office, sort of a mobile home parked by the northwest corner of the park. The park is like my neighborhood's back yard. Who wants discarded used syringes in their back yard? Yesterday morning started with other addiction,…

August 3, 2026

“There is no place that I’d rather be,” I thought, until the ATV and used diaper

Nature / Pollution and Depletion / Stories

“There is no place that I’d rather be,” I thought, until the ATV and used diaper

This post is about inspiration. Parts may look dark, but since I developed a vision for a desirable future with a rewarding, doable path to it, greater challenges just motivate more. I was in Philadelphia over the weekend and got to walk in the park along Wissahickon Creek. Regular readers know that it's one of my favorite places on Earth. Here are a couple maps of it: and a friendlier one. Growing up in Mt Airy and Germantown, I recognize all the neighborhood names around it, which remind me of where friends lived, where I played little league or soccer, rode my bike up incredibly steep hills, worked at my first job, and so on. Also, where I got mugged, my life threatened, mugged again,…

July 27, 2026

People call cities noisy and dirty, but suburbanites create the noise and mess

Doof / Pollution and Depletion

People call cities noisy and dirty, but suburbanites create the noise and mess

I wish you could experience the pollution of Friday and Saturday nights in my neighborhood: sound pollution and litter in particular. If I go out the following morning before the street cleaners do their work, at taxpayer expense, there is garbage all over. Pizza boxes, beer cans, plastic cups, sometimes bar glasses but they've mostly been replaced by plastic, doof wrappers, often pieces of clothing, takeout containers often with food in it, and plenty more. It's on the street, the gutter, the planters outside my building, in the trees, overflowing from garbage cans. At night they honk, rev their engines, yell at each other, sing, and so on. None are from this neighborhood. They are from other places---New Jersey, Long Island, upstate, as well as…

July 25, 2026

America’s largest release of radioactive waste wasn’t Three Mile Island. It was Church Rock, mainly affecting the Navajo Nation

Pollution and Depletion / Stories

America’s largest release of radioactive waste wasn’t Three Mile Island. It was Church Rock, mainly affecting the Navajo Nation

Following up what I learned about The Hanford Nuclear Site a couple months ago, I learned of the Church Rock uranium mill spill. I think the biggest point to remember about the following is that several sources say that it was one of multiple incidents that received minimal coverage. It may be the biggest, but may only be the biggest reported or known. According to Wikipedia [my emphasis]: The Church Rock uranium mill spill occurred in ... New Mexico on July 16, 1979, when United Nuclear Corporation's tailings disposal pond at its uranium mill in Church Rock breached its dam. The spill remains the largest release of radioactive material in U.S. history, having released more radioactivity than the Three Mile Island accident four months earlier. This article…

July 23, 2026

Elon Musk says “Those without children lack a stake in the future” but lives the opposite.

Pollution and Depletion

Elon Musk says “Those without children lack a stake in the future” but lives the opposite.

Elon Musk wrote a few months ago, "Those without children lack a stake in the future." He implies he has a stake in the future for having kids. On the contrary, if you want to know who does not have a stake in the future, people who build doomsday bunkers. They are at best hedging their bets. A quick search showed Mark Zuckerberg built bunkers in Hawaii, Palo Alto and Lake Tahoe Elon Musk in Texas compound Sam Altman Jeff Bezos Peter Thiel Andrew Tate and many others are betting against humanity. There's a whole industry of people betting against you. What do you know, my search turned up a book on this topic by podcast guest Doug Rushkoff, Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of…

July 22, 2026

Slippery double standards about harming people

Pollution and Depletion

Slippery double standards about harming people

Yesterday's post How we view the suffering we cause others today versus 200 years ago prompted me to think of a different view on our culture's double standards of whom we consider when we do things that harm others versus when others do such things. When I say I don't use air conditioning, people respond, "But what can I do when it's hot?" About not flying, "But I have to see my relatives" or "But I need to for my job" etc. About not using a fridge "But I don't have time to cook." In other words, regarding perks, they concern themselves about themselves. They might say flying is for their kids' education or other distraction, but it's always how it affects them at the…

July 21, 2026

How we view the suffering we cause others today versus 200 years ago

Awareness / Models / Pollution and Depletion

How we view the suffering we cause others today versus 200 years ago

This post describes how to face a challenge we all face in a way that leads to deep reward, though it requires introspection that may feel uncomfortable in the short term. When I talk to people about hurting others less by reducing how much they pollute and deplete, they talk about themselves. They might say something about helping people by spreading culture or education or their mother being sick, but they want to fly. They may say something about other people not having access to fresh produce, but they want takeout, and the concern for others is just a smokescreen or diversion from their personal responsibility. Mention personal responsibility to anyone regarding pollution and depletion and they'll launch into huge diversions about BP if they're…

July 20, 2026

Women-Founded Garbage

Doof / Pollution and Depletion

Women-Founded Garbage

Regular readers know I pick up litter every day. The point isn't that my actions will change much. It seems about 8 billion people around the world don't seem to mind buying and disposing of plastic so I'm a tiny minority. One of the biggest values in picking up litter is that it makes it easier for me to avoid spending money on doof and other stuff that ends up filling landfills. Did I say "easy"? That's an understatement. I feel disgust and repugnance for the common stuff I find. I just got home and four Modelo empty beer cans were in my building's garden on the way in. McDonalds, 7-11, Amazon, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Coca-Cola ... All of those brands and their peers…

July 17, 2026

Environmentalists: Are you proud that to get back at BP, you don’t stop buying their products?

Oil refinery

Pollution and Depletion

Environmentalists: Are you proud that to get back at BP, you don’t stop buying their products?

It's been nearly a year since I posted Do you think BP tricked us? Here’s a way to respond. and I'm still as aghast as ever at how counterproductive the environmentalist response to personal responsibility. Everyone knows the story of BP promoting personal footprints to distract from their responsibility. How exactly does their being responsible for what they did remove responsibility for what you do? But my main response to environmentalists: Are you proud that to get back at BP, you don't stop buying their products? You're promoting that people keep buying what BP and their peers as much as ever. Am I missing something that you aren't responding in the most counterproductive way possible?

July 16, 2026

Secret video of Beth picking up litter goes viral in Mexico

Habits / Hands on Practical Experience / Pollution and Depletion

Secret video of Beth picking up litter goes viral in Mexico

The background: Longtime podcast listeners may remember episode 754: (Aunt) Trish Ellis and (Niece) Evelyn Wallace, part 1: Not Even Cancer Holds Her Back. We mentioned Beth, Evelyn's mom and Trish's sister. All three of them took the workshop. Beth has been picking up litter ever since. She lives in Mérida, Mexico, where she organizes others to pick up litter too. They created a web page: Yo ❤ Mérida limpia. ¿Y tú?, which states their mission and vision: Mission: To promote the care, cleanliness, and respect for Mérida's public spaces through community actions that strengthen environmental awareness, a sense of belonging, and citizen participation. Vision: To build a Mérida where every person takes pride in caring for their surroundings, making cleanliness and respect for nature part…

July 14, 2026

Can the Constitution Save the Planet?: A professor of environmental law’s view, part 1

Freedom / Hands on Practical Experience / Pollution and Depletion

Can the Constitution Save the Planet?: A professor of environmental law’s view, part 1

I met a professor at Pace University who told me that its law school ranked number one in environmental law. It turns out it does: My upcoming book approaches problems we face today, including environmental degradation as one of many, as resulting from not understanding how the Constitution applies. More precisely, they result from not enforcing the Constitution. I was interested in talking to lawyers with constitutional backgrounds. I should note that I've learned that constitutional lawyers don't tend to be trained in leadership. When I proposed the APPLE PIE amendment in Sustainability Simplified, I learned that the creation of new amendments doesn't have to come from lawyers. As far as I can tell, they seem to train to look back at existing ones, precedent, and…

July 10, 2026

Last week’s heat wave, air conditioning, and fragile, entitled people

Pollution and Depletion

Last week’s heat wave, air conditioning, and fragile, entitled people

Last week the temperature went above 100 F (38 C) for two days and close to it for a day or two before and after, plus it was humid. Everyone talked about the heat. I didn't try to bring it up, but my not using air conditioning led people to the same questions over and over: how did I make it, did I use a fan, etc. Everything always about me, never about the people hurt by my polluting and depleting. Then most comment on how they couldn't make it. Occasionally an old person will mention how they grew up without air conditioning and don't like it, though they use it when it gets hot enough. I point out that people have lived on this…

July 8, 2026

Recent peer-reviewed research that when people live as I do, they prefer it and don’t want to go back

Hands on Practical Experience / Pollution and Depletion

Recent peer-reviewed research that when people live as I do, they prefer it and don’t want to go back

A friend and workshop graduate sent me a news article that described and linked to primary research published last month in a journal called Communications Sustainability within the family of Nature journals. The journal article: The undervalued quality-of-life benefits of demand-side energy and climate strategies. The news article in plain language: Cutting energy use may improve quality of life more than cleaner technology. The news article described the main result of the journal article. It compared how people felt about acting on different strategies to reduce polluting and depleting. Some strategies reduced behaviors that polluted and depleted or otherwise used less (demand-side strategies). Others relied on new technologies, like heat pumps and electric vehicles (supply side strategies). When different strategies achieved similar environmental results, how did…

July 6, 2026

Why I avoid polluting and depleting

Freedom / Leadership / My Favorite Posts / Pollution and Depletion

Why I avoid polluting and depleting

Media coverage on me mostly presents me as an environmentalist. When they report on my disconnecting my apartment from the electric grid, avoiding flying, and taking a decade to fill a load of household garbage, they post pictures of solar panels. They know what readers look for. I tell them that focusing on my solar panels and how I make do is like going to Martin Luther King during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and asking what shoes he wears, what routes he takes, and how exercise is healthy. They would miss that the point of the boycott wasn't shoes, walking, or exercise but liberty, freedom, equality, democracy, and national security. Everyone misunderstands why I avoid polluting and depleting. Also liberty, freedom, equality, democracy, and national security.…

July 2, 2026

Beyond no electric bill: Money returned from allegedly fraudulent overbilling

Freedom / Pollution and Depletion

Beyond no electric bill: Money returned from allegedly fraudulent overbilling

This post is about my home being disconnected from the electric grid. Everyone misunderstands why I disconnected, so first a few words for context. I'm not an environmentalist. Environmentalists make my skin crawl. I disconnected for a few reasons. First, I don't want to hurt people without their consent. Polluting and depleting hurt people without their consent, therefore I try to avoid polluting and depleting. Second, polluting and depleting violate the Constitution by depriving people of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, as well as the Declaration, which says that for a government to be just requires the consent of the governed. This nation has a cancer alley, death mile, and other sacrifice zones, as well as many other ways people are…

July 1, 2026

Environmentalists fund pollution and depletion

Pollution and Depletion

Environmentalists fund pollution and depletion

I value the Washington Post's Climate Coach newsletter. It has featured me and my voice several times: Read my plucky quote in today’s Washington Post and See me in the Washington Post’s Climate Coach again, for example. I email with its author, Michael Coren. I also know the Post serves its customers. Last I checked, Jeff Bezos runs it and does so actively. I presume the publishers know their readers and deliver what they value, even if those readers don't include many past readers. The newsletter includes ads. That's business. I'm not complaining. I suspect Coren doesn't choose the newsletter's ads. I presume some tracking and profiling determine who reads it and what they spend their money on. With a name like Climate Coach, I suspect the readers consider…

June 30, 2026

Do you still believe in an “energy transition”? Learn Alice Friedemann’s research

Pollution and Depletion

Do you still believe in an “energy transition”? Learn Alice Friedemann’s research

Someone posted about Alice Friedemann in an online community I participate in. I found her book Life After Fossil Fuels and blog energyskeptic.com influential. The book may be expensive and the blog dense, but she cites all her sources and her publisher is Springer, which holds a high reputation for science publishing. I haven't yet read her book When Trucks Stop Running, but she's described a lot of it in her interviews and conversations. I've mentioned her in several posts: Reader question: Why do I say solar and wind aren’t clean, green, or renewable? Renewables are less renewable than we thought. That’s the starting point. Overwhelming research: “Green Growth” is a scam that accelerates lowering Earth’s ability to sustain life. Following or propagating it hurts us.…

June 27, 2026

Do you believe Exxon and peers were wrong to sell and burn fossil fuels when they knew the results?

Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Nonjudgment / Pollution and Depletion

Do you believe Exxon and peers were wrong to sell and burn fossil fuels when they knew the results?

Do you believe Exxon and peers were wrong to sell and burn fossil fuels when they knew the results? I hope you do. Why? Because today, June 24, in 1988, the New York Times published those results on its front page news. Since then, you and everyone in the world have known at least enough to know the important part of what they knew. Actually before then, since the Times story was far from the first widespread publication about it, but it was a big one. It's tempting to say that they are different because they are bigger than you. Tempting but specious. If you do something that hurts people, who else but you is responsible for your actions? If you can't change the world, are…

June 24, 2026

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