A few words on growth and how people misunderstand it, especially economists. I start by talking about my window garden cherry tomato plants and how the inability of the insects eating them to regulate their growth and up destroying the plants and thereby their own population. Can we outdo bugs? I’m not sure. An educated friend showed surprise to me that his having four or five kids is one of[…] Keep reading →

Today I gave my talk at TEDxWaltham, “What Everyone Gets Wrong About The Environment.” Before I got home, an attendee emailed one of the most encouraging and heartwarming reviews I’ve received: “I just wanted to tell you, I was extremely inspired by you and your talk today. I can’t remember a time when I was more impressed by someone’s philosophy and dedication to action. I hope we can chat soon[…] Keep reading →

Between insects, kelp, vertical farming, lab-grown meat, and other clever options, why didn’t we think of them before? Because we had better options! Few meat eaters choose crickets over steaks and hamburgers, but we’ve squandered what was once plenty with overpopulation. We’ve become more efficient, but we’ve lost abundance. With a lower population we could keep abundance.

Between insects, kelp, vertical farming, lab-grown meat, and other clever options, why didn’t we think of them before? Because we had better options! Few meat eaters choose crickets over steaks and hamburgers, but we’ve squandered what was once plenty with overpopulation. We’ve become more efficient, but we’ve lost abundance. With a lower population we could keep abundance.

Bugs will infest a plant until they kill it, then when it dies, they die. It’s happening to the fig tree and cherry tomato plants in my windowsill garden. If they could keep their population low enough to avoid killing the plant, they could live longer. We seem to be doing the same with Earth’s non-renewable resources. From a species perspective, what benefit do we get from fast cars and[…] Keep reading →

Bugs will infest a plant until they kill it, then when it dies, they die. It’s happening to the fig tree and cherry tomato plants in my windowsill garden. If they could keep their population low enough to avoid killing the plant, they could live longer. We seem to be doing the same with Earth’s non-renewable resources. From a species perspective, what benefit do we get from fast cars and[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday was Earth Overshoot Day, the day humans used up for 2019 the resources the Earth takes a year to regenerate. I consider the connotations of being in overshoot, in the language of people who study complex systems like our population. Here’s Your Daily Environment, covering overshoot, collapse, aliens, and more. And here is the scene from Independence Day I mentioned.