In September, I wrote “Normally I avoid quick and dirty posts, but I’m tired from carrying home a used 70-pound kettlebell I bought from Queens by subway. That’s many blocks of farmer’s walks and carrying that thing down stairs into the subway, back up to the surface, and up the stairs to my apartment. Maybe half a mile walking plus six or seven flights of stairs. It’s almost midnight and[…] Keep reading →

I used to find people annoying who complained about how supermarket tomatoes and vegetables available even out of season because they’re shipped from California. The difference wasn’t that great, I thought. The organic stuff was too expensive, inconvenient, and hard to find, I thought. Then I started buying local and fresh. Until then, I didn’t know what I was talking about, as, I figure, most people who haven’t learned to[…] Keep reading →

I didn’t know if I wanted to write about a tawdry subject, but I keep seeing Maxwell treated as an accomplice only when she sounds like a willing participant doing horrible things herself. [EDIT: I wrote this piece a day or two ago, then put it in the trash folder, but the articles keep continuing the pattern: not treating Maxwell as a full human. The timing may be off relative[…] Keep reading →

The TEDx people posted my fourth TEDx talk: Don’t call Doof Food: systemic change begins with personal change. I think you’ll like it. If you do, please go to YouTube and upvote, comment, and share it. When it resonates, you start using the term doof, and you never call food doof, let me know. I recommend using the term. It will simplify and clarify a lot in your life. Thanks[…] Keep reading →

I see a strong sentiment, especially among youth, of capitalism being the source of our environmental problems. I’m not sure if everyone agrees on what capitalism means. On the scale of the myriad ways thousands of human cultures have lived over hundreds of thousands of years, communism and socialism are pretty close to capitalism, compared to say, how hunting and gathering societies lived. I think most Americans can’t imagine an[…] Keep reading →

Katie Redford is the Executive Director of the Equation Campaign. From the Equation Campaign’s About page: The Equation Campaign is a new ten-year funding initiative working to bring about a safe and just future by enhancing the power of movements to keep oil and gas in the ground. The science is irrefutable: to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis, carbon emissions must be cut in half by 2030.[…] Keep reading →

James Rebanks’ first massively bestselling book, The Shepherd’s Life, and the images of that life he posts online, at first make you think he hails from another time. It describes a life both almost unimaginable to most city dwellers like myself and more than half the Earth and traditional, going back centuries or even millennia. He illustrates his relationships with his father and grandfather, the land, the sheep, and history.[…] Keep reading →