Visualization

Following up last year's videos and images of Washington Square Park after the Pride March and Queer Liberation March, Here are videos and images of the park after this year's marches. Prepare to want to cry or vomit. I can’t see how any one could accept how we are treating each other and nature. It is a statement of our culture at every level. Not one item of trash in any image is necessary. Few, if any, were designed for long-term use. It’s all designed and used to be disposed. There are people and wildlife at the other end of this disposal. Watch this episode of Frontline on plastic if you think plastic gets recycled or is safely disposed of. And everyone disposed of all…

Readers from last year know my post last year "Pride Destroyed the Park" with images and video of how the Pride March destroyed Washington Square Park with garbage. You may have also seen I spoke this year on the podcast with Sandra Perez, the Executive Director of NYC Pride, who hosts one of the two marches, in particular not the one that ended last year in Washington Square Park. I also spoke with the head organizer for the Queer Liberation March, which organized that march. Both first spoke about cleaning up after, which hides pollution, not reduces, but seemed amenable to trying to reduce, but cited how close it was to the event and how they were primarily concerned with safety, which is what stopping…

I rode my bike from New York to Philadelphia over the weekend (day 1, day 2) and visited my sledding hill this morning. Before the pictures below, you can click to compare Tommy's Hill in March, less verdant. Here's a video from last November: https://youtu.be/rb0_WfiFzDY My sledding hill in May And below is my sledding hill in May. You'll notice I couldn't reach the creek at the bottom as it was marshy from Saturday's rain. The amount of plants made it hard to see. Stunning, except for the litter. The litter is only the symptom. Buying disposable, packaged, online goods funds this polluting system. To clarify: whether your litter appears in any spot or not is not the issue. When you pay for anything that…

As an over twenty-year Greenwich Village resident, I love the Pride Parade. I was on a float in it as an invited participant once. I watch it every year I'm home, though it passes a block from my home, so can't miss it. In the past decade or so, I've become more sensitive to litter and garbage. Last year, I happened to visit Washington Square Park the morning after the parade and saw it covered in more trash than I'd ever seen there. A woman there said what I saw was clean compared to a few hours earlier, before city employees cleaned a lot of it up. In her words, "Pride destroyed the park." I posted about it with many pictures. Here's a video of…

I visited home in Philadelphia this weekend and stopped by my sledding hill, also known as Tommy's Hill. I made a video last time. https://youtu.be/rb0_WfiFzDY This time I'll just show pictures for quick scanning with commentary in the comments. First the most jarring image as a preview, can you see the "word" McDelivery? Someone had McDonald's delivered, then littered the packaging. Packaging from someone who had McDonald's delivered. McDonald's delivered must be one of the most pathetic signals of loss of values. Consider getting McDonald's delivered. What rock bottom of self-respect has this person dropped through? . . . Or rather has our society dropped through that this concept exists? It serves only to impoverish the poor and make more sick the already sick. McDonald's…

Many people try to follow "have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth," interpreting 'have dominion' to mean steward nature to at least not degrade it; to keep it neutral or improve it. I don't know what people imagine, but what can a person do? Nearly not one person on Earth is living sustainably, maybe a few people in hunter-gatherer tribes. The rest of us are trashing the planet. I want to illustrate how far we are from dominion or stewardship. Or to activate you, the reader, I'll ask: can you draw the line from where crossed the line from dominion to trash? You've no doubt seen pictures…

Sorry to get grim, but remember as you read this post that I'm talking about abandoned property in public space. I didn't ask for it. I just found it. In my daily picking up litter, I picked up a brown paper bag sitting on a picnic table in Washington Square Park, amid some garbage from finished takeout (likely doof, but I didn't look close enough to tell) left by someone who, I guess, didn't feel like carrying their garbage to a trash can. Everything comes in disposable packaging. I find all the poisonous waste disgusting, but I seem to be a minority of approximately one. The table was in the northwest corner and it was nighttime, meaning the person who left the garbage was a…

I rarely post other people's content as the main part of my blog, but this video put together a lot of what is predicted to happen the way a few generations ago people predicted global warming and sea level rise. People doubted it not for disagreeing with the observations and predictions but because they didn't want to believe. It made them feel bad. The global economy and human population collapse, meaning billions of people dying, will make people feel bad if it happens. We're reeling from the effects of behaviors of people generations ago so what we do will keep affecting people for decades. Millennia, really. Even with all that damage locked in, there are levels of disaster and we can avoid the worst. https://youtu.be/YsA3PK8bQd8…

The Global Footprint Network posts an online calculator that tells you your footprint (the site defines the term. It's not vague.) It also shows footprints for every country. I've posted my results before, but didn't graph them, which makes them easier to see. If someone as addicted to modern life as I was could change that much, anyone can. The more resources someone has the harder to change, in my experience. People who are privileged believe it's harder for them, which makes sense. The heaviest users of something addictive tend to be the most addicted. I was. Imagine the people in the rest of the world hearing an average American suggesting how to lower their footprint. They must see the average American giving advice like…

I took another early morning walk last weekend to take pictures of our world. New York City seems intent on pushing more outdoor restaurants. They aren't the only cause of this situation, but they augment it. I'm sad anyone has to see things like this. If you want commentary, watch my videos in my post Pride Destroyed the Park. If you want to help, say by lowering litter in your area, please contact me. Systemic change begins with personal transformation. My big goal in this area is for people to stop buying packaged food and doof, the source of most of this litter, so they stop manufacturing it. (By the way, I'm pretty sure the guy next to the restaurant shed wrapped under the blanket…

I can't understand why I never see anyone picking up litter except people joining me. Do I sound like I focus too much on this issue? Look at this picture: Almost within living memory, plastic didn't exist. That scene may be in the third world, but we in the overdeveloped world are catching up. The issue isn't waste management, as the producers say, lying through their teeth. It's overproduction. As bad as that scene looks, we're increasing plastic production. That place used to be verdant and fertile, which is why people settled there. If you think that outcome can't happening where you are, you're lying to yourself as much as the producers. Can you not see your community is part of the way there? I…