spodek

> what happens is that the next election will definitely be stolen, and no one will be able to do anything about it

People were open to evidence for some time, but none emerged. I expect people would react differently to claims backed with evidence.

I did thirty days only cold showers, minimum 5 minutes, in December 2014. I found the experience rewarding so decided to continue, but not every day. I did them every fourth day for a few years and dropped down to every fifth in 2018. My spreadsheet says I've taken 538.

I coordinate them with my cardio days, since I find they go well with being hot and sweaty finishing rowing or running.

You know how lifting (or any exercise) develops more than just what you work -- things like discipline, resilience, grit, self-awareness, etc? Cold showers gives all that benefit but at zero cost in time or money and no risk of injury.

Also look up Joel Runyon's TEDx talk, which inspired me to start.

You're right about geography.

My record for cold shower temperature was 39.9F (4.4C), here in New York City. Five minutes at that temperature bordered on pain. My fingertips turned purple.

The warmest cold shower I took was in Brazil. Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy it because I was sunburned.

Also the East India Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company

> most of what stalled the progress of the subway happened above ground, in offices, where politicians made backroom deals and bold promises that rarely came to fruition . . . By the time the 1920s were in full swing, cost overruns, construction errors, property damage, and political finagling had shut down the Cincinnati subway for good.

American exceptionalism!

> in 2002 a proposal was put before voters for a half-cent tax increase that would fund a regional light rail system, which have used parts of the already-constructed tunnel system. Voters defeated the issue

Sigh. We never learn.

Hollywood makes a valid comparison for being nearby, but the more meaningful comparisons are to more unionized countries like in Europe or America in the past, where unions increased productivity, safety, and living standards.

Less profits would go to shareholders, which could lower its stock price, but that doesn't mean the company would produce less. More share of profits going to employees could increase productivity and social good to the world. I'm not calling that result inevitable, but possible and up to the company leadership.

Not making Styrofoam in the first place is a better answer.

Among other problems, Wikipedia states: "The EPA and International Agency for Research on Cancer reported limited evidence that styrene is carcinogenic for humans and experimental animals, meaning that there is a positive association between exposure and cancer and that causality is credible, but that other explanations cannot be confidently excluded." (with links to EPA reports)

A quick search found NoMoreStyrofoam.org http://nomorestyrofoam.org, which says a lot more.

Maybe off-topic, but I can't help commenting on this sentence:

> it’s telling that no authorized English translation of the essay existed before 2012

I think the author was commenting on anglophones and a lack of interest, more criticizing, saying the anglophones are missing something. The word authorized changes that meaning, turning the criticism to the creator for not authorizing, saying the Japanese were missing something.

How to stop endless discussions is another variant of xkcd's How Standards Proliferate https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/standards.png

Low Tech Magazine, one of my favorite sites online, has written a few articles on wood and biomass:

- Well-Tended Fires Outperform Modern Cooking Stoves: https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2014/06/thermal-efficiency-c...

- Too Much Combustion, Too Little Fire: https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2019/12/too-much-combustion-...

- How to Make Biomass Energy Sustainable Again: https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/09/how-to-make-biomass-...

I saw the point of the video was to call out the annoying habit of correcting with pedantry, focusing on words instead of meaning, showing off how smart you are at the expense of meaningful communication -- the opposite of "yes, and". It's incredibly annoying to talk with people like that except if you like being a pedant back. So it has its place, but it undermines teamwork.

I see it as a property of nerds, which I say as a nerd myself with a PhD in physics. I still do it and feel the tug to, but I've worked hard to learn to listen and reflect with more empathy and generosity.

> Bill Gates said somewhere that steel and cement production are the key factors for stopping climate change.

Baby production is the greater key, as noted with his promoting the solutions of Mechai Viravaidya, who helped bring Thailand's birth rate from around 6 or 7 to below 2 children per woman using methods the opposite of the One Child or eugenics policies: voluntary, non-coercive, educating, and fun.

> Bolsonaro narrowly beat two other populist leaders, U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, for the dubious prize.

An impressive feat.

Sadly,

> “It’s hard to choose. There are so many worthy candidates,” said OCCRP co-founder Paul Radu. “Corruption is a growth industry.”

Systemic change begins with personal transformation. Individuals acting doesn't replace systemic change, it helps create it. You and I acting here and now helps us develop the skills to lead others, including corporations and governments.

I agree the person you responded to shouldn't have written "Or", but that doesn't change that individual actions and systemic change aren't exclusive but additive.

Glad to hear.

This Sustainable Life: https://joshuaspodek.com/podcast

Here's a list of popular guests based on downloads: https://joshuaspodek.com/leadership-and-the-environment-top-... though I recommend the solo episodes of my reflections without guests, starting here: https://joshuaspodek.com/guests/solo-episodes-volume-15.

My three TEDx talks: https://joshuaspodek.com/tedx

Systemic change begins with personal transformation.

On a personal level, online calculators tell me I've reduced my footprint about 90 percent. More than the material change, I didn't expect it would improve my life so much -- saving money, time, increasing connection to family and control over my career, plus being invited to communities like food deserts who can benefit most from such transitions. I would bet most Americans could reduce about 70 or 80 percent with simple improvements they wish they did earlier. Most Silicon Valley types maybe 90 percent before any difficult decisions.

My podcast and nonprofit's missions are to help people realize they'll like the change. Everyone presents sustainability as a burden, chore, or sacrifice. In practice, it's the opposite, but no one tries so haven't experienced it. They think not flying means not working or seeing their family.

We're creating systemic change by leading well-known people to change, publicly so listeners have role models. Community influences people more than facts and figures, so we're focusing on people in everyone's communities.

Many opportunities for rewarding change.

Toxic fumes seep into the air we breathe everywhere. Coincidentally, planes are a major cause, as part of a system that has lost its value of health and safety in favor of craving and profit.

> I wish I could gather up more stories and write a better post but work.

Publish in the New Yorker!

They still value GDP growth, which they believe requires population growth, so they promote growth overseas and immigration, so most countries with below replacement rates are still growing in population.

People seem to understand that if you move a factory from one country to another you haven't decreased its pollution, especially if the new country has laxer environmental regulations. If you offshore population growth, you haven't decreased population growth either.

I'm not that optimistic either, but hope we learn from examples like Mechai Viravaidya in Thailand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgMNhMRgkHE that nations can manage populations voluntarily, increasing stability, peace, and abundance per person -- no eugenics, One Child policy, or racism. More like the opposite.

The threat of communism is different than environmental destruction, but for those looking for historical precedent to illuminate today's problems, I recommend Bury The Chains by Adam Hochschild. It's on British abolitionism, especially Thomas Clarkson, also William Wilberforce and Granville Sharp, in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Their actions and success seem inspiringly relevant to our times. Here's a podcast on the connections: https://shows.acast.com/leadership-and-the-environment/episo....

Has anyone tried to improve eyesight using the techniques in Getting Stronger: https://gettingstronger.org/2014/08/myopia-a-modern-yet-reve... ?

They seem plausible -- certainly that populations that don't look far away seem to need to correct their vision more, which implies behaving differently could lessen or reverse the effect. But I don't know of them being tested. I'm curious to get n higher than 1 before devoting resources to it.

I like it, even though it doesn't have my two books.

How about a browser extension that tracks the articles, videos, discussion boards, HN threads, etc one reads and in real time suggests other anti-bubble ones?

Not sure if your engine would support it, but I'd use it.

Put a person each at the corner of a square, each facing the person in the corner in the clockwise direction. Have each walk at the same time at the same speed toward the person they're facing, so they all keep adjusting their direction as the person in front moves.

Describe the shape of the spiral path they trace.

Any time. I'd love to hear your experience. I'm just back from my neighborhood's weekly cleanup.

I've only seen it increase. If you haven't seen the movie The Story of Plastic, I recommend it. Eventbrite lists free screenings all the time, which is how I saw it: https://www.eventbrite.com/d/online/story-of-plastic and eventually hosted my own screening. Here's the video of the panel discussion following the screening, featuring some important panelists: https://joshuaspodek.com/the-story-of-plastic-panel-video, all surprised by how much more plastic we create than they expect.

To your point, it also documents that we're increasing virgin plastic production, to say nothing of all other sorts of litter and waste.

I recommend picking up litter while you walk (or run, aka plogging). I recently passed my 1,300th day in a row picking up at least one piece of litter per day. Since the pandemic, more like 20 or 30 since there's so much more litter.

You'll be surprised at how much you learn about your world and community. The goal isn't to fix the world as only one person, but to raise awareness and humility. Lots more. I ended up on TV a couple times for it https://joshuaspodek.com/im-on-tv-again-for-plogging and approached by politicians.

I don't use gloves, but you can. In Manhattan I carry it to the next wastebasket I pass, but you could also bring a bag.

“Zhuangzi's wife died. When Huizu went to convey his condolences, he found Zhuangzi sitting with his legs sprawled out, pounding on a tub and singing. "You lived with her, she brought up your children and grew old," said Huizu. "It should be enough simply not to weep at her death. But pounding on a tub and singing - this is going too far, isn't it?"

Zhuangzi said, "You're wrong. When she first died, do you think I didn't grieve like anyone else? But I looked back to her beginning and the time before she was born. Not only the time before she was born, but the time before she had a body. Not only the time before she had a body, but the time before she had a spirit. In the midst of the jumble of wonder and mystery a change took place and she had a spirit. Another change and she had a body. Another change and she was born. Now there's been another change and she's dead. It's just like the progression of the four seasons, spring, summer, fall, winter.

"Now she's going to lie down peacefully in a vast room. If I were to follow after her bawling and sobbing, it would show that I don't understand anything about fate. So I stopped.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuang_Zhou

Low Tech Magazine wrote a piece on how to make turbines more sustainable and addresses blade material.

https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2019/06/wooden-wind-turbines...

> wind and solar energy can provide the electricity to power homes and electric cars, green hydrogen could be an ideal power source for energy-intensive industries like concrete and steel manufacturing

It's not a power source. It's a different battery. The sun is still the source in these cases.

Nothing works as well as reducing consumption and demand. While we'll always need power, we should always at least mention the higher goal of reducing demand.