84: No hero

"I understand the appeal of superhero stories, but I think they are problematic on a couple of levels. One is that they are fundamentally anti-egalitarian because they are always about this class of people who stand above everyone else."

83: Behavioral contagion 2

Changing societal norms leading to policy change, which leads to even faster-changing societal norms Portrait of an Extraordinary Musical Dog, Philip Reinagle, 1805 — Every now and then I'll read something in a book or an article in which the author at least seems to come to a conclusion

82: Near enemies coda

Recognizing that climate change and policing are a similar kind of problem, but also that really they are kind of the same problem Peonies, by Yun Shouping, via Wikimedia Commons -- There was one part in last week's issue that I didn't want to get too

81: Near enemies

Near enemies is a concept that I came across a few years back that I have found useful when thinking about climate change, but also just life in general. I can't even remember how I first heard the term, but it's actually a Buddhist idea that says for every desirable behavior or state of mind, there

80: House rules 2

Regardless of a community's politics, structures emerge to protect the status quo’s grip on power A lot happened this week. The Derek Chauvin murder conviction was, I guess I would say a relief, but I don’t know there are a lot of complex emotions in the

79: Breathing room

An interview with cartoonist and illustrator Madeleine Jubilee Saito of All We Can Save One of the many unique things about the 2020 climate justice anthology All We Can Save (see last week’s review here if you missed it), at the start of each section in the book, there’

78: Soul and soil are not separate

All We Can Save offers fertile ground in which readers can find their roots in the climate fight A great anthology takes a bundle of seemingly divergent works and assembles them together to represent a coherent form of their own—a creation greater than the sum of its parts. In

77: Can we have nice things?

The trains are clean and spacious and run on time, but the destination is not always clear Back when the pandemic was first really getting fired up, I did a little communications work on the need to ensure that public transit doesn’t waste away as people flee to their

76: Catalytic cooperation

Not one giant intractable problem, but many complicated, winnable conflicts in our backyards Last week I was going to write about a couple of poli sci papers that have been getting some buzz because they suggest big shifts in how we view local climate action as a path to global

75: Lessons of Arrakis

Let's talk about Dune (and climate change) -- Wow it’s hard to believe a whole year has passed. Such an overwhelming experience, so many ups and downs, tragedy and triumph. That’s right, it’s been a year of reading Frank Herbert’s Dune. And now I

74: Reprieve

Warms some poor name that never felt the sun Hi fam, I had a good week and we’re up to 63 degrees here in Boston today so I decided to give myself the day off. No thinky stuff up top but I wanted to send you something just so

73: Dance of contempt

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