Do you consider acting on the environment hopeless? Even if you don’t consciously, many people don’t bother trying, feeling that if they change but industries don’t or billions of other people don’t then what’s the point? Success stories Several other large social changes have happened in my lifetime that suggest that change of the scale in time frame that addressing various climate issues needs is possible. Remember that climate change,[…] Keep reading →

Some environmental reading led me to a web page—The Global Footprint Network—that calculates your ecological footprint from your answers to questions about how you live your life. Go to the page and calculate yours if you want. I don’t know their assumptions or methods, so I can’t speak to its accuracy. With neither shame nor pride, I present my results: I seem to use less than many—little enough to leave[…] Keep reading →

Continuing my series of responses to the New York Times’, The Ethicist, here is my take on today’s post, “Can I Spread the Word About an Unvaccinated Child?” I’m pregnant with my first child, and concern for my unborn baby has prompted me to ask my friends if their children are vaccinated. One close friend, Y, has two young (vaccinated) children, and lives near another friend, X. Both Y and[…] Keep reading →

Anyone who has been stuck in a traffic jam has thought how an extra lane would open traffic and undo the jam. Anyone who has studied traffic knows that creating more lanes creates more traffic, not less. More efficient technology tends to increase consumption People think of technology as making things more efficient. More efficiency should lower power use, right? Sometimes it does, but in the long run in many[…] Keep reading →

With thousands of posts, where do you begin? I recommend scanning the archives. Here are some favorites: My TEDx talks Book page: Leadership Step by Step Book page: Initiative Webinar: Life Changing Habits Self-imposed daily challenging healthy activities (sidchas) Burpees Cold showers Avoiding food packaging I swam across the Hudson River Podcast: Top downloaded guest episodes Podcast: 500: This Podcast’s Next Milestone Podcast: I lost $10 million on September 11,[…] Keep reading →

Materially and economically speaking… Talk about problems with society today and someone will tell you that the poor today live better than kings of yesteryear, or even the rich in other countries. They seem to stop talking or listening then. This Forbes article’s headline, “Astonishing Numbers: America’s Poor Still Live Better Than Most Of The Rest Of Humanity,” is typical. The article looks at material wealth and GDP growth, stating:[…] Keep reading →

I can’t believe it’s not obvious to everyone that driving the problems of pollution, global warming, resource depletion, extinctions, conflict over resources, pestilence, and related issues is overpopulation. It’s not the only issue, but it’s one of the main drivers. Maybe the main one. People have a weird knee-jerk response to think the opposite of overpopulation is eugenics, Nazism, killing, giving up modernity, returning to living in caves, economic collapse[…] Keep reading →