Streets icy as skating rinks and other Arctic front symptoms have gripped my hometown and much of the country today. How are you staying warm? How much are you spending to do it? How much is the earth spending to do it? I had considered posting today on the historic, heartening climate change agreement between the U.S. and China to reduce emissions. But, Bill McKibben of ...
Top Six Reasons To BOLT To Freedom
Mainstream culture tells us to travel everywhere by car, one or maybe two people per car. This choice makes sense at times. But in general it just makes me yawn. Boring. Costly to people and planet. Confining. Unproductive. I’m writing this on the BOLT bus as Thor and I start a short vacation to Victoria, Canada. (Note: ...
Changing To Thursday Posts
Good morning! Starting this week, I'll be posting on Thursdays, instead of Sundays. The reason is that I want to get back to the swell old-timey concept of Sunday being a day of rest. (While I love to write, it's not the same as resting.) My next full post will be Thursday, September 18th. It's called "How To Find And Keep A ...
Convenience, Or Congruence?
I like convenience. I don't know anyone who doesn't. Our time and energy are valuable to us. The question is whether our choices are congruent with what matters the most to us. I find it convenient to eat out a lot, typically things that aren't very healthy. When I'm congruent with what matters to me -- ...
How To Make Happy Purchases, Part II of II
I write this blog because I love life and human beings, but reject the hyper-materialism of mainstream culture. It hurts our finances -- we spend billions annually on credit-card interest and storing our excess stuff. And it hurts our relationships, our planet and our climate. While we do need "stuff" in order to live, the joy ...
How To Make Good Purchases — Part I of II
My new dress: bike-worthy! Work-worthy! No ironing! It meets all my needs. When we buy a new item – whether a skirt, a couch or a car – we have a lot of choices, sometimes an overwhelming number of them. We think that our choices are along the lines of price, style, color, size, accessories and ...
How To Stay Cool Without Air Conditioning
When we’re rich in what matters we’re resilient. We create fun and comfort in ways that are sustainable. We've heard this will be a doozy of a hot summer. This week's post is on how to stay cool without using air conditioning, which burns lots of the fossil fuels that drive climate change. These self-cooling skills don't ...
Ten Ways To Help A Compulsive Hoarder
We can see hoarding -- being out of control with accumulated stuff -- as the reverse image of being rich in what matters. Chaos, lack of usable living space, sky-high storage costs, rodent infestations, shame and social isolation are some of the ways that compulsive hoarders suffer. The families and friends of compulsive hoarders suffer too, from ...
My Cheapest, Tastiest, Healthiest Menus
We in the fortunate First World eat 1,095 meals per year. We eat half our meals from restaurants, including fast-food chains -- at sky-high expense to our health and our finances. This post (a long one) is passionate encouragement on cooking and eating most of our meals from our own kitchens. Home-cooked meals make us richer in what matters: ...
When Sadness Morphs Into Joy
Like most people, I prefer happy paths. I don't seek out grief or sadness. But, sometimes grief ends up spurring joy, and making us rich in what matters. In my 30's, I made ruinous spending choices that led to a bankruptcy. I felt wrenching shame. Defaulting on my debts made me feel that I barely deserved to ...
