The ability to assert control over other people may satisfy in its own way, but it is a slow-dripping poison One of the eternal frustrations in trying to make any kind of widespread change is that people with even a teensy bit of power or control generally do not want
There seems to be something indelibly broken in the heart of this country that allowed us to get to this place We’re now on the way to having not two, but three vaccines, pharmaceutical solutions to the pandemic that came both sooner and with greater efficacy than most optimists
'Engineers ought to understand how complex systems can have feedback loops that go awry' This week I read a bunch about Texas and Bill Gates, so I’m going to touch on both topics today. Let’s talk Bill Gates first bleh but stick with me I promise
Who we presume to be the heroes in this story, and who we presume to be merely obstacles in the way So Politico ran this big article recently about tensions within the environmental movement, and I had tweeted some criticisms of it earlier, but wanted to discuss some of them
A critical threshold has been crossed I got a late start on the old newsy today, and I’m still trying to get my head around the Biden administration’s spree of climate change-related executive orders and cabinet appointments, so I’m going to take this week’s newsletter as
'Don’t confuse what goes on in this building with democracy.' So much happening in national climate news my goodness but today I’m actually going to talk about something happening here in Massachusetts—an effort to fix the lack of transparency in the State House. In part
'I often wonder whether, a few years from now, we will really be able to remember what it was like these past four years' On Wednesday, at the end of a very full to do list, because sometimes when working in media the moments when you could really
'Evil must be attacked by a counteracting persistence, by the day-to-day assault of the battering rams of justice' There’s this thing that probably always happens during big societal shifts, where for fleeting moments, the bulk of the public seems to share this remarkable clarity that something has
Wednesday was not a blip or a culmination or a last gasp of Trumpism There is much to be said about Wednesday, not the least of which involves what we should even call it. An insurrection, a coup, an attack, a violent mob, a failed assassination attempt, this last one
A bunch of things I loved in 2020 OK that is that for 2020. I am normally not one for blaming a number in the Gregorian calendar for our hardships, because remember when everyone was like ah fuck you 2016 worst year ever how dare you rob us of David
When a point in the distance becomes the entire space in which you exist, in all of its complexity For as long as I can remember, the discussion around climate change has been constructed out of a series of strict binaries. The biggest one being—is it happening or is
The second annual Crisis Palace feel good guide to year end giving This week I have been thinking a lot about philanthropy because as the year winds to a close we are doing some 2021 planning for Inside Philanthropy, the site where I am currently an editor. I’ve been