Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
- Margaret Mead
What Margaret Mead missed in the above fact is that even simple changes by a small group of people has the power to change the status quo for good. Nassim Taleb calls it "Minority Rule".
Let us conjecture that the formation of moral values in society doesn’t come from the evolution of the consensus. No, it is the most intolerant person who imposes virtue on others precisely because of that intolerance. The same can apply to civil rights.
Do simple changes to your life everyday instead of signaling, arguing and making language based noise which roughly translates to "I am a good human", "I am pro market", "I care for the planet, poor people animals, and nature" and other similar bullshit phrases.
Saul Griffith's Book Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future is meant educate us fast.
“Here, I will try to offer you dinner party-ready talking points for the main questions that people will inevitably have for the main argument of the book. Each topic is worthy of a book in itself. If I dispose of a favorite baby of yours too quickly here, or you think I have it all ass-backward, then we should grab a beer sometime.”
Read the excerpts here and some actionable items:
Stop the insanity of spreading "I love to travel" bullshit:
Flying is energy-intensive per minute, but not per mile. Per passenger-mile traveled, it requires approximately the same energy as driving in a car with a passenger. That said, reducing the number of flights taken is one of the most effective ways for individuals to reduce their energy footprints.
Embrace nuclear energy and vote for candidates who will help innovate in nuclear waste management:
America has led the world in nuclear power. The U.S. Navy operates the largest fleet of small reactors in the world, and it boasts an impeccable safety record. Nuclear is a form of electrification, and it fits squarely with the plan to fight global heating. Nuclear power currently delivers around 100 gigawatts of very reliable electricity to America’s grid. Maintaining or even ambitiously increasing this amount would no doubt make the climate solution easier. Today’s best estimates have nuclear energy at approximately double the cost of wind and solar. Without a doubt, those costs could be trimmed enormously given advances in engineering, since most of these plants were designed 50 years ago.
The health effects of nuclear power have been well studied. It is established that nuclear is not as dangerous as we tend to think. But like shark attacks, it’s the prospect of a low-probability event that could release radiation that drives our fears. We can lower that probability further by building dedicated infrastructure like the facility at Yucca Mountain, but the fact remains that for 40 years, policymakers haven’t been sufficiently able to convince people to invest in this kind of infrastructure. Nuclear power will remain a very difficult political topic unless we have a breakthrough in waste management.
Pick a shovel today and plant trees:
Yes, we should — at least a trillion. Grab a shovel!
The best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago. The second-best time to plant a tree is today.
Go plant a tree for your grandkids to climb on. Even better, go plant 30,000.
Remember - Electrify book is meant to enlightened you on how to help yourself not nature. Nature will do just fine with or without humans.
Gia Mora has small-little-beautiful changes you can make at home to help yourself and your health.
- Trade Beef for Beans - I eat lots of lentils and beans. Plus no meat in Max's house.
- Buy Local Instead of Commercial - I haven't been to the grocery store in years and buy everything in small farms.
- Turn Your Food Waste Into More Food - I cook beet leaves like spinach to all parts of cauliflower and broccoli. Start composting for other things. Read the book The No-Waste Vegetable Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for Whole Plant Cooking by Linda Ly.
- Trade Disposables for a Zero-Waste Kit - Since Max passed away, I have almost replaced all plastic items with bamboo or eco friendly products. Cancer and our health is a complex system, its easy to eliminate bad health triggers from micro-plastic.
- Select Experiences Over Things - This doesn't mean travel (I cannot get over this mindless act from most humans) but go for simple walk, workout, listen to music and zillion other simple pleasures. Read E. F. Schumacher's classic book Small is Beautiful - cross domains and apply to daily life.
- Get Your Shopping Fix Secondhand - I don't follow this when it comes to clothes. I retain my clothes for decades and donate every year. Quite a few kitchen items I still own are over 2 decades old bought from thrift stores when I had little money.
- Invest in Quality Instead of Buying Cheap - Prius, Dyson and Apple are expensive but they are worthy long term investments.
- Make Your Own Cleaning Supplies - I don't and opt to buy not tested on animals for 2 decades.
- Trade Plastic Cleaning Tools for Natural Alternatives - Covered in fourth point above.
- Choose Reusable Cloths Over Paper Towels - Been doing this for years. Unfortunately when Max got cancer, I had to buy lots of paper towels. Went back to minimal use of paper towels now.
- Store Food in Glass or Beeswax In Lieu of Plastic - Covered in fourth point above.
- Reuse (Don’t Toss) Your Old Water - I don't capture rain water. I should start doing it. Watch the classic national award winning Tamil movie Thaneer Thaneer (Water, Water). K.Balachander's insight of increasing awareness of preserving water will make you cry. And stop playing golf and eliminate your lawns.
- Wash Your Clothes in Cold Water Instead of Hot - Been doing this for 2 decades. Understand - there has been great innovation in the science of laundry detergents to clean effectively using cold water. Most people are unaware of (or under-rate) the innovations in home and body cleaning products.
- Flush Less - Pee-flush happens once or twice a day.
- Switch to a Sustainable Toilet Paper - I tried this a few times in the past years but it didn't work. I should try again since there are new products on the market.
- Unscrew Your Incandescents for LEDs - Done that over a decade ago.
- Control the Temperature Outside of the Thermostat - One of the first adopter of Nest thermostat and it works great.
- Don’t Just Turn Off—Unplug - I tried this decade ago and it worked. I took an alternate path - plug only lights, computers and coffee maker. I can be more conscientious.
- Switch to Renewable Energy - I am trying. Most solar companies are rejecting me stating I have too many trees - go figure the insanity.
- Trade Your Daily Drive for a Different Commute - I did car pooling to work for over a decade and now it doesn't apply to me.
- Trade Travel Emissions for Staycations - Read the book Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin to cure yourself of the cancer called travel.
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