Last night didn’t go exactly as planned. After work, I headed to the New York City Society for Ethical Culture on the Upper West Side. My intention was to attend the Food and Water Watch New York chapter’s monthly meeting, where we would discuss how to stop the Williams pipeline that is supposed to carry…
GreenThumb: Starting a community garden in New York
Last week I attended a panel discussion put on by GreenThumb at Project Farmhouse. Six gardeners, each representing a different community garden in New York, spoke about how they started their gardens, and the challenges and victories they encountered along the way. One gardener even told us about his more controversial days of illegally squatting…
How hard could it be to shop the zero-waste way?
Very hard. But you probably already knew that. I’m not living a zero waste lifestyle but it’s my goal to get close without burning out, alienating my friends, or driving myself insane. A recent evaluation of my grocery shopping waste shows where I’m at in the journey. I had Saturday free, which is rare for…
First Impressions of Precycle, Brooklyn’s Zero-Waste Grocery Store
I’ve been mostly operating under a “Never Go to Brooklyn (Except in Case of Emergencies)” kind of mindset since I arrived in the city several years ago. I’ve found Brooklyn to be overly full of no-income-yet-somehow-rich MFA grads rocking wardrobes that are by turns normcore, DGAF, tongue-in-cheek, and full-on man-repeller. When I think of the…
Islands That Will Be Swallowed by Rising Seas Before the End of the Century
Across the Globe: 1. Maldives (could be uninhabitable by 2030) 2. Palau (much of the island is on higher ground but this area is currently largely uninhabitable due to its rocky and inhospitable terrain) 3. Solomon Islands* 4. Micronesia* 5. Fiji** 6. Tuvalu 7. Seychelles (could be uninhabitable by 2030) 8. Kiribati (expected to be…
The Power of Produce Bags
The best move I ever made was to transfer to a different university. The second best move I ever made was to stop eating dairy. And the third best move I ever made was to start using reusable produce bags. Seven or eight years ago, I bought a set of reusable produce bags from the…
The Book I May Never Finish
In 2014, Naomi Klein published a book called This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate. In 2019, I checked it out at the New York Public Library. A month later, I was filled with a fathomless weariness and was ready to lay down on the floor and never get up. When I started reading This…
The Awakening
Sooner or later, all good sleeps must come to an end. And so, although the hour is late, I’m waking up. You know those mornings when you open your eyes and the sun is already in the sky? It’s on these mornings that I’m filled with a kind of dread. “I’ve already wasted half the day,”…
Climate Conscious 