We thoughtlessly value efficiency and chase it places it doesn’t make sense. I call it Speed reading bedtime stories to your kids. It makes sense: if you read your kids bedtime stories faster, you can move on to other things. Or rather, it obviously doesn’t. Yet we do it with takeout food, doof, packaging, social media instead of spending time with people in person, flying around the world when there’s[…] Keep reading →

A colleague wrote about how she used to act more but now feels like giving up. I responded What you wrote reminds me of how I feel nearly every day. I can’t say I feel the same as you, but I know the numbers and projections. I see the overwhelming majority of humans not acting — an even greater majority of Americans. Many revel in not trying. Many of those[…] Keep reading →

How many times have I heard about polluting and depleting less, “You can do those things because you’re single.”? I know when people rationalize and justify their inaction, say by saying it’s easier for me or particularly harder for them, they aren’t speaking rationally. They’re protecting their vulnerabilities, suppressing and denying that they are hurting others, acting against their deepest values. Still, it seems worth it to list a few[…] Keep reading →

What is imperialism? Imagine two cultures. One lives within the means of its environment—that is, sustainably. The other lives beyond its means—that is, unsustainably. The sustainable culture will live in abundance. Being sustainable means it isn’t living in scarcity. Everyone must have enough—actually, more than enough, as evidenced through sustaining through periods of drought. Eventually the unsustainable culture will run out of resources. If it keeps to itself, it can[…] Keep reading →

Doof brings you predictable, reliable pleasure. It works every time. You don’t have to think about anyone but yourself. You don’t have to prepare anything. It’s clean. Local fresh produce takes more effort to select. It can be bad sometimes. It’s messier. It takes planning. It’s different every time. You have to think about other people. You may have to put their considerations before yours. Doof disrespects other people. It[…] Keep reading →

My recent podcast guest Whitney Tilson and I joked about how we connected through cursing emails. From his perspective, some recipient of his emails started cursing at him. Usually he deletes them, but mine he kept reading. He saw my email responded to an email of his that cursed in a friendly way at some of his readers. I repeated his technique, which worked for him, since it used his[…] Keep reading →

In a podcast post last week where I shared how history, anthropology, and archaeology contradict many of our views that we are living in the best times. This view leads us to think, “we may have pollution, but at least we live better than any time before,” which leads us to fear reducing our consumption, which leads nearly everyone to focus on increasing solar, wind, and nuclear first, reducing fossil[…] Keep reading →