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 →

Hitler was vegetarian. If you want to work on sustainability, you will face people pointing out this history. They don’t point out that he also promoted larger families, but many feel like it checkmates all cases for changing diet. Beyond diet, I’ve talked a lot about population since reading podcast guest Alan Weisman‘s Countdown and learning of guest Mechai Viravaidya‘s lowering Thailand’s birth rate through purely voluntary, often fun, means.[…] Keep reading →

We can dance around our environmental problems all we want. Understand them enough and we eventually reach overconsumption and overpopulation. These overshoots contribute to everything. We at least talk about overconsumption, even if few are acting. Decades ago, the public talked about population, but didn’t act. Today we don’t talk about it. All the numbers I see suggest the Earth can sustain two or three billion people with roughly western[…] Keep reading →

We can dance around our environmental problems all we want. Understand them enough and we eventually reach overconsumption and overpopulation. These overshoots contribute to everything. We at least talk about overconsumption, even if few are acting. Decades ago, the public talked about population, but didn’t act. Today we don’t talk about it. All the numbers I see suggest the Earth can sustain two or three billion people with roughly western[…] Keep reading →

Through voluntary, noncoercive, even fun ways, enabling couples to decide their family sizes, many nations have lowered population growth leading to prosperity, abundance, and stability. Think the opposite of the One Child Policy or eugenics. Most of us don’t know these success stories. Many people would have considered such changes impossible, including myself until recently, or would have thought it resulted from a so-called demographic transition that resulted from economic[…] Keep reading →

Why do you think energy from wind and solar have become cheaper than from fossil fuels lately in so many places? I’ve asked many people lately. Most people answer economies of scale, technological advances, simplifying production, and factors about manufacturing solar and wind tools. I’d like to point out how expensive fossil fuels have become. Have you heard of the La Brea tar pits? Here’s Wikipedia’s description: La Brea Tar[…] Keep reading →

Walking around my neighborhood during Thanksgiving, the streets are nearly empty, the city quiet. I can think with less interruption. There’s still too much litter from too many people buying disposable things. Various sources tell me that without artificial fertilizer, which require fossil fuels, the Earth can support a population of 3.7 billion people. Since we can’t use fossil fuels forever, I don’t know how we think we’ll get by[…] Keep reading →

Frankly, I don’t see many signs of hope for us to handle the environment. Walking around my neighborhood, I’d say maybe 20 percent of people are wearing masks. Bars and restaurants are packing people within six feet of each other. Headlines about Texas, Florida, and Arizona show people’s cavalier attitudes leading to opinion over nature. Still, here are a few signs of hope. Ozone: humanity banded together to ban CFCs.[…] Keep reading →

I just finished watching Planet of the Humans, a documentary on people working on the environment, as well as many people claiming to, who aren’t, though many mean well. As you might expect, many people have told me about it. It was uncomfortable but I’m glad I watched it. It’s free on YouTube. Here it is to save you a click: My thoughts My mom asked me what I thought[…] Keep reading →