Designing cities for silence

by | Jan 7, 2020 | beyond idealism, beyond liberalism, Biophilia, Communication, conservation, Decolonization, Environmental Political Theory, Fake Freedoms, Harm Reduction, Naturverlassenheit, Normal is Over, permaculture, silence, Systems thinking

As an academic, I crave silence. In fact, without silence, I can’t think. And since thinking is my job, in our current media blitz steal-your-attention economy, I’m often miserable. When I don’t wish to work from home or my office, or am on the road,...

The Failure of COP25

by | Dec 15, 2019 | beyond idealism, beyond liberalism, Biophilia, Climate Change, Communication, Dante Alighieri — 'The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.', death, Decolonization, deep ecology, Discursive Gap, duh, Energy, Environmental Justice, Environmental Political Theory, Fake Freedoms, folly, Greenwashing, Industrial Epidemics, Normal is Over, Oil Barons, parasitism, Perverse Incentives, pollution, Priorities, Syndemics, Systems thinking

I recently read – from afar – the sorry state of the UNFCCC #COP25 in Madrid. According to 350.org, instead of barring fossil fuel companies from engineering the COP, the security guards at the UNFCCC forcibly removed hundred of activists and scientists...

Stanford Talk on Industrial Epidemics

by | Dec 5, 2019 | Climate Change, Extended Producer Responsibility, glyphosate, Industrial Epidemics, Industry Documents, philosophy of science, pollution, Syndemics, Talks, Tobacco Industry

Today I gave a talk at the Stanford History of Science and Technology Workshop on Industrial Epidemics. It was a pleasure to discuss the ins and outs of public health, corporate malfeasance, and glyphosate in particular with the students and professorate of the...

National Geographic and Guardian Articles about Ecigarette Waste and EPR

by | Sep 6, 2019 | beyond idealism, Discursive Gap, e-waste, Extended Producer Responsibility, Greenwashing, Industrial Epidemics, normalization, pollution, Publications, Side-effects, Systems thinking, Tobacco Industry

In the flurry of the semester starting, I’ve been remiss in updating this blog with a couple important articles that have come out in the press discussing the environmental harms of electronic cigarette (ecig) electronic waste (ewaste). Both The Guardian and...