I just ran into a Norwegian couple here in the U.S. on vacation. As previously mentioned, I like to compliment Scandinavians on their standing near the top of the World Happiness Rankings, and then ask them to explain how they …
Category: Sustainability
‘Honestly Terrifying’: Yosemite National Park Is in Chaos
I was always eager to accept invitations to chaperone my kids’ class trips to various parks around California, and especially Yosemite with it’s unequalled grandeur. Perhaps I’ll get the same opportunity when my grandchildren come of age, but that seems …
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Tagged with: Yosemite National Park Is in Chaos
Is the World Truly Getting Worse?
The “word of the day” today is “pejorism,” the belief that the world is becoming worse. If a survey were taken of all literate people on Earth, I’d bet that a good 80% would identify as pejorists, primarily on the …
Tagged with: Trumpism
U.S. Drops in World Happiness Ranking
Why has the U.S. fallen to its lowest happiness ranking ever? Well, most Americans harbor at least one, often many, deep concerns about their country’s ongoing capacity to support a strong quality of life. Some of us are worried about …
Understanding the Mindset of Perverts
On an almost daily basis, readers send me news articles like the one at left that raise the question: why are Trump supporters so much more likely than progressives to be involved in criminal activities, and, as an example, sex …
Tagged with: Supporting Trump
What the World Needs Now
There is no question that the world needs a bumper crop of peace-makers, rather than a few more billionaires demanding tax cuts at the expense of the common man. But how could this possibly come about? In particular, who are …
Tagged with: What the World Needs Now
Why Poor People Die Young
Bernie Sanders has this to say on the graph here: “Stress kills.” To that I would add the multiplicity of other stuff that kills poor people: malnutrition, shoddy healthcare, living in communities whose air and water are polluted, dangerous professions, …
Tagged with: Bernie Sanders
Choosing Sides
This reminds of us of what Tom Joad said at the end of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, when someone asked him where he was going: I’ll be everywhere, wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be …
Tagged with: Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
Are We Alone?
Human civilization finds itself at a crossroads, where it needs to choose between things like democracy vs. authoritarianism/fascism, and environmental sustainability vs. eco-collapse. Until and unless “the good guys win,” I’m just as happy for this planet to remain unengaged …
Travel May Be “Fatal to Prejudice,” But . . .
In an earlier post, Destroying America, I speculated that it is the decline in U.S. educational standards that is responsible for our electing “a conman with the IQ of a jar of mayonnaise.” At left is a slightly different take …
Tagged with: Travel is Fatal to Prejudice
