About this site

Climate Change is not only the greatest challenge of our era, but also of the human species. Since the Industrial Revolution, human activity has caused widespread destruction of the natural environment - deforestation and desertification, overfishing, chemical spills, biodiversity loss, and of course, the emission of gigatonnes of greenhouse gasses. Although the effects of this activity have been visible for decades, they are starting to catch up with us in a very real way - floods, wild fires, droughts, change in growing seasons, loss of pollinators, increased pests leading to increased pestilence.

For a while, I felt extremely depressed about it all, and then I began to ponder a very important question: how do humans live and thrive on the planet without destroying it?

Specifically, how do I live and thrive on this planet without destroying it?

Don't get me wrong, decisive action by governments and corporations is absolutely necessary and essential. But I am not a government or a corporation, and I live in a capitalist democratic country that has enshrined the rights and power of the individual. The world needs a new vision for how to live well, and no people in the history of the world have more power to make a difference than us. In the immortal words of Bill Pullman: "We will not go quietly into the night!"

Thus, several years ago, I began a conscious effort to learn how to live better and more sustainably. Not just for the planet, but for myself. A crucial insight was the definition of what is sustainable.

Sustainable (adj.) - able to be maintained at a certain rate or level, able to be upheld or defended.

Not only should I aspire to a level of resource consumption that might prove sustainable for the planet if adopted on a wide scale, but any changes to my behavior or lifestyle also had to be sustainable for me. Humans are selfish creatures, after all, and I am no exception. I had to choose behaviors that I could realistically sustain long term, without giving up. It was also important that my choices be reasoned, understandable for me and my life, if they were to withstand scrutiny and the test of time.

That said, I also knew it was going to be a tricky process. I would make mistakes and have lapses, some backsliding. Undoubtedly I would get it wrong sometimes and have to re-evaluate. But, if humans are selfish creatures, we are also extremely adaptable. I knew that if I could sustain the effort, keep caring, keep trying, I would be better off. And honestly, isn't that what being human is all about?

So now, three years later, I have decided to make this website to help others along - to share my approach and struggles, my sources of inspiration. Because one thing that I have learned about sustained change is that nobody does it alone.

Anyway, here are some things I think are important about this site.

Science and citation

I will do my best to cite things where I can and be as true to the science as possible. I welcome good faith attempts to improve or correct content. I don't promise perfection. I only promise to do my best. If you want to make it better, help me!

Structure

The structure of this site mirrors how I have approached my own journey. I can't focus on everything at once, so I divide up my life into big pieces that I can approach holistically. That is also how I have organized this site.

Each major section will have some preamble, perhaps a main directive, and then opportunities to dive deeper on specific subjects. These dives (love a good dive, don't you?) will be primarily informational with a goal towards action.

Feel free to browse, and then I encourage you to pick a section of interest and read through it. They are not that long. You may find something intriguing. Follow it. The world is not made of neat layers, but woven together like a tapestry. Each thread provides opportunities to see it from a different perspective. When you keep going, you begin to see the whole picture. Change happens along the way.

Personal and contextual

I consider myself to be a multi-faceted environmentalist and naturalist. I care about carbon emissions as well as biodiversity. I care about advocacy as well as personal change. This site reflects a broad set of interests. When you start looking, you find that most good choices have beneficial knock-on effects, and its easier to build momentum than you think.

By trade, I am a software engineer and I work for a company called Commons, which helps people spend more sustainably. Although I may reference blog posts or publicly-available research by Commons where it seems useful, this site is my own and reflects my priorities and approach to climate action. It is not better, and in many ways it is probably not that different, but this is a personal endeavor.

It should also be noted that, because I live in the US, a lot of my research and specific solutions are relevant to living in the United States. That said, Climate Change is a global issue, change must be sweeping, and ultimately human beings turn out to be quite similar everywhere. Its almost impossible to take a myopic view, and I will do my very best to provide examples, insight, and inspiration from across the world.

Emotional overload and realism

Climate Change is not the only issue in the world today. Racism, inequality, and war are age-old challenges, and they still haunt us. For many people, they are more real and immediate than Climate Change. I will not tell you what to value or what is more important. All I can say is that: if you value the planet and our natural heritage, then you might find some interesting or inspiring stuff here.

It should also be noted that I am a realist, and I try to be a pragmatist. When I acknowledge the status quo, and seek to work within the bounds of what seems realistic, that does not mean I am endorsing the existing systems or that I don't wish to change them. We have to start somewhere, and I choose to start now. Opting out is not my form of protest.

Keep on keeping on

Life is short. We are but a brief ordering of molecules in an infinite universe. To be human, and to live now, is a real gift. We could have died as peasants in rural Egypt, or been entombed at Pompeii. We could have lived our lives in a frozen tundra in medieval Russia, or collapsed of the Black Death in Europe. We could have been subjugated in Josean Korea, or been killed by dysentery on the Oregon Trail. But we live now - in the age of the internet, vaccines, and space ships. So don't forget to keep enjoying life. We do our best. We make mistakes. We learn to do better, and together, we keep on keeping on.

Reach out!

I'm a real person out here, and I'd love to hear from you. If you like the site, or if you think its missing something, please let me know!