"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.”

Henry D. Thoreau

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Thursday
Dec192019

How About Trains?

Dang! Now I have to change my mind again. I began my research into the energy efficiency and carbon footprint of different modes of transportation with a preconceived notion. That notion was that rail would be the best. I was wrong. It turns out (unfortunately for comfort and time) that the bus is most efficient in terms of miles per gallon of fuel per person (MPGPP). Buses give about 150 . Trains give only 50, very similar to cars. Planes are only slightly less efficient giving 41 MPGPP.

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Friday
Dec132019

What Alternative is there to the Car?​

Surely living sustainably is important. We have a moral obligation to live in a way that passes a habitable planet on to our descendants. Seriously! Were we to take this moral obligation seriously, what would we do differently?

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Tuesday
Dec032019

Why don't we hear about acid rain or the ozone hole any more?

I overheard a conversation this week. The person speaking was denying climate change. The basis for his argument was that in the ’80s we were warned about acid rain, in the 90’s it was worries about a hole in the ozone layer, and now it's trendy to scare us about climate change. No one talks about acid rain and ozone anymore and it will be the same for climate change soon. It's all a fuss about nothing.

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Wednesday
Nov272019

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

When I was a kid, my mom never ever made bread. I doubt that my grandmother even made bread because they lived in a city with bakeries and grocery stores. Don’t get me wrong – Mom home-cooked everything for us. She gardened, she canned and she baked… but when it came to making anything with yeast, that was just too much.

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Sunday
Nov242019

Non-violent crisis prevention and treatment

Whether our lifestyles are sustainable gets tested during a time of crisis. Is it possible to live in a way that will prevent chaos and suffering during a major crisis? If it is, you might say we have discovered a non-violent mode of existence.

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