The chemical society and its discontents: Ozone layer edition
The solutions to our problems so often simply create more and different problems.
Featured
The Misunderstood History of CO2: The Science Behind Earth’s Most Controversial Molecule
In this episode, Nate is joined by science journalist Peter Brannen, who reframes CO2 from an industrial pollutant to a miraculous substance whose critical role within the carbon cycle makes Earth habitable.
Healing the Earth, One Community at a Time: Highlighting ERC’s Global Impact
Eight years ago, the Ecosystem Restoration Communities (ERC) movement began with a simple but powerful belief: that everyday people everywhere could restore the land beneath their feet and, in doing so, restore hope for our shared future.
Humanity Is Not the Problem!
True climate action doesn’t require vast data centers, billions of liters of water, or mineral-intensive hardware. It requires shorter distances, stronger communities, healthy soils, local food webs, and diverse, place-based economies that reduce demand at the source.
Why Scientists Are Still Puzzled by Consciousness
Despite several theories proposed by scientists and philosophers, there are no conclusive answers.
The Commons in Practice: Case Studies From Around the World
From alpine pastures and salmon fisheries to offshore wind farms and online encyclopedias, commons take many forms. This article explores a wide range of real-world commons that span geographies, culture, and domains.
Restoring Water to Arid Lands: Rethinking Dams and Soil in the MENA and Global South
Why water scarcity is not a climatic inevitability, and how nature-based solutions can rebuild life in landscapes under stress.
We Don’t Need Any More Renewables
The claim is ubiquitous: if we’re to meet our climate goals, we need a mass buildout of renewable energy production. But this claim is false, and worse yet, attempting it will accelerate climate collapse.
What’s with this cold?
These temperatures used to be normal. This winter is similar to an average winter in the 1980s, but the reason for this once-average cold is entirely new — and, paradoxically, it is completely because of global warming,
The free market adorns a hierarchical and unjust system
This would not be the first time a system has an ideology or an official cause for existence that is contrary to the actual workings of the system. That has rather been the rule during most of human history.
Plastic Fantastic (documentary review)
This is a timely, informative, often unsettling documentary, one whose power comes from juxtaposition rather than argument. It refuses easy villains or fixes and challenges viewers to think less about individual consumption and more about systems of responsibility.
On A Lark
What I want to do in this post, just for fun (well, more than that), is use the rules of this game to show how hard it is to make a strong and clear case for a point that would still be tough to make if I could use all words. I think/hope we can learn from it.
