If you provide a product or service that is more environmentally responsible than those of more established competitors, how do you differentiate your offering? Part of the way you may do so is through education about the hidden costs of products or services that were created with little concern for the environment. When governments [...]

One of the great challenges faced by humanity is to wrangle in the unchecked power of for-profit corporations.  They have infiltrated our governments at all levels and rule supreme in the global arena where no enforceable laws exist.  Corporate profits flourish as death and destruction grow all around.
This has got to end and it is [...]

Direct causation is a common way of thinking about problems. It can work fine for simple dilemmas: “Listening to scary bedtime stories gives Sam nightmares.” Applying the same direct logic to complex problems, however, often falls flat. This mismatch is apparent in two attempts in the last few days to respond to rising [...]

Think of something high tech. Let me guess, a gadget came to mind. Perhaps it was the latest portable communications device. Or it might have been something for your computer.
A little known fact about how our brains work is that the categories we reason with are shaped by prototypes or “best examples.” [...]

The blog DIY Life has a new post up about green cleaning parties.  As I noted in my recent post about the We in DIY, connecting with others with shared interests and a shared curiosity is a vital part of the Do-It-Yourself movement.  The green cleaning parties conceived by Women’s Voices for the Earth appear [...]

Today, the New York Times published two articles about Maker Faire, an annual festival organized by Make Magazine as a celebration of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethos. This year’s Maker Faire featured presentations by more than 500 Makers and attracted more than 65,000 people to the San Mateo Fairgrounds in Silicon Valley over a weekend [...]

An article in Adweek sums it up nicely with its title, These Brands Build Community. Successful businesses on the web are finding that they needn’t pay huge amounts for advertising if they do a good job at serving their customers. The lovefest that ensues is strong enough to drive traffic to their sites.
This [...]

In his extraordinary book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan observes that the detachment of Americans from culinary traditions has contributed to a “national eating disorder”: for many, choosing among foods is a stressful ordeal that seems fraught with risks. While America’s diversity contributes to the lack of a cohesive culinary heritage, Pollan writes that marketers [...]

I have an addiction: I love books! My wife won’t let me near a used book store without an armed escort, and for good reason. I’d come home with another pile of paperbacks that have no place on the cramped shelves in the living room or the office. I calm my moral [...]

If you don’t read Celsias, you should. Don’t let the unconventional spelling fool you. Celsias’ blog is among the most insightful (and widely read) on the climate crisis and ways to avert it. (Full disclosure: Celsias has published articles that Joe Brewer and I have written separately in the past. Don’t hold that [...]