Here are the notes I read from, responding to this op-ed piece and this review for a book I’ve talked to the author about but haven’t read. Geoengineering Prologue or Epilogue for Humanity? Introduction, context Geoengineering is becoming a more common topic as people feel more desperate. The common theme is that when things get serious, we have to put everything on the table, even things that may not work.[…] Keep reading →

I’ve seen this phrase more lately: “touch grass.” When someone starts sounding stir-crazy—that is, sounding as if they’ve been cooped up too long—someone will say “touch grass.” They mean, go outside and connect with nature. When did you last walk barefoot on land that humans didn’t manicure, or even that they did, like a lawn? It’s fall here, so maybe you walked on the beach. How about in a stream[…] Keep reading →

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 I want to post[…] Keep reading →

A sixth branch of the This Sustainable Life family tree has started. Michèle Watson started This Sustainable Life: Biodiversity & Conservation. Congratulations and welcome aboard, Michèle! She posted the first two episodes. As usual, the first episode featured me, as first episodes emerge from the podcast host training I provide. The second episode features an impressive Tony Frost. Among more conservation work, he served as a member of the Minister[…] Keep reading →

If you’re considering changing practices to live more sustainably, how can you tell among different practices suggested by different groups, often self-serving, which are more effective or even effective at all? Does recycling work for paper, metal, glass or plastic? Does changing your diet help? How about carbon offsets for flying? One measure matters more than almost any other, I contend: How much fossil fuel does the change keep underground?[…] Keep reading →

When I talk about living sustainably, one of people’s main objections is that we need to keep developing and pushing the envelope on research on nature and science. Without pushing science and technology: How will we cure disease? Won’t children and mothers die in childbirth? What about getting off this planet if an asteroid comes? Don’t you value computers, airplanes, and other discoveries that came from science? What about learning[…] Keep reading →

The notes I read from for this episode: I asked many questions on the last episode. The core ones were “why aren’t we switching to renewables and not polluting faster?” I know we can’t switch overnight, but what sets the pace? Do we know if the limits will go away, like we just need to build more factories, or maybe they won’t, like what led us to retract from supersonic[…] Keep reading →