Today, picking up litter, it occurred to me that the more I act, the more I care about what I do. The less I act, the more indifferent, apathetic, and complacent I become. It could apply to picking up litter, avoiding packaged food, or many things I learned to do after childhood. I care (second) because I act (first). If you want to get technical, caring and acting are parts[…] Keep reading →

I’ve held back on sharing this because it felt too presumptuous. To remind you the context, I’ve found that to lead on sustainability, you need experience in three areas: Leading Science Living the values you promote I know of almost no one with experience in all three. Not Gore, DiCaprio, Thunberg, or any of the big names people associate with sustainability. Previous guest Alexandra Paul fits the bill. For a[…] Keep reading →

Everyone who knows me knows every morning I make my bed, cross the room, and turn off the alarm before it turns off, meaning within sixty seconds. I have other sidchas, like picking up litter daily, which I’ve done without fail since 2017. People ask why, which seems obvious. Doing something with a measure of quality and a time limit gives a sense of purpose. For a cash cost of[…] Keep reading →

The New York Times posted an article, How Exercise May Help Protect Against Severe Covid-19, by Gretchen Reynolds. I enjoy her pieces, partly because she wrote the story I learned about burpees from that prompted my sidcha. First I was going to comment only on my different way of looking at this characterization, “regular exercise—whether it’s going for a swim, walk, run or bike ride—can substantially lower our chances of[…] Keep reading →

I remember the first time I saw an old person doing burpees. Her body didn’t have the flexibility or strength to do them how a younger person could. When I started mine, around 40 years old, I knew I couldn’t do them like guy in his thirties or twenties. I didn’t think about how they’d feel later. Over the years, as I’ve grown stronger and with experience, I’ve added to[…] Keep reading →

Once I was getting ready to leave my apartment and trying to remember what to bring. My friend said “phone-wallet-keys” like a single word and since then I’ve thought of them as the basic what to carry. I go for a walk every day, at least to pick up my daily pieces of litter, which also brings me to the park. I also sing with all my electronics turned off[…] Keep reading →

You might remember my writing about the needles I’d find in Washington Square Park last fall. I presumed they came from heroin users, though I don’t know what drugs people inject. You may have noticed I haven’t written about them for a while. Well, I’ve continued my sidcha of picking up at least three pieces of litter from the northwest corner of the park and the cannabis dealers have been[…] Keep reading →

This episode started talking about sidchas and the episode one of the hosts did on my podcast, involving biking in minus 40 degree weather, but the meat of it was what traps us online and to devices, which also traps us polluting: people design everything to make us want more. First they promote craving, then ways to mollify the craving but that recreate the craving. They try to addict us.[…] Keep reading →

After writing a dozen or so blog posts starting from 2008, on January 23, 2011 I wrote a post, Why I avoid proprietary software. I hadn’t posted the day before, but the next day I wrote Crowding out beats letting go. And I kept posting without missing a day until today, ten years later. As my friend who set up my WordPress blog said, “If you miss one day you[…] Keep reading →