Be the Climate Change You Wish to See #1

Climate change is really happening. We’ve had “500 year” storms every couple months lately. People are having to relocate whole communities because of rising water and erosion. An old, radioactive military base is melting right out of the ice. Even mainstream outlets like Rolling Stone are talking about climate change. Sure, there are deniers, but the


On Poop and Politics

Our infrastructure, as Hillary Clinton pointed out recently in her economic plan, is old. We’re “living off the investments that were made by our parents and grandparents’ generations,” and many of those investments are starting to show their age. The functionality of municipal sewer systems is increasingly questionable: they’re falling apart because we don’t maintain


The Gift of the Migrant Workers

Our two main presidential candidates (and their political tribes) have very different visions for the future of immigration in the United States. Clinton favors a path to citizenship, while the more xenophobic Trump claims he’ll build a giant wall. Both sides fail to perceive why we have a schizophrenic situation where migrant workers are simultaneously




War is Over, If We Narrowly Define It

An article by Angus Hervey in Medium recently made the bold claim that war is on the decline throughout the globe. A ceasefire between the Colombian government and rebel groups meant that war is over in the Western hemisphere, leaving less than 1 in 6 global citizens in war-torn areas, mostly in an arc of


Minimum Wage and Walmart: A Match Made in Disgrace

While watching TV the other night, I saw a commercial featuring a man perched atop the front of a humble desk while donning a smart sweater, hands folded peacefully in front of him, backlit by soft lighting, with a smile that seemed desperate to proclaim, “let’s be friends.” It was somewhat reminiscent of an old



Amusement Rides Are Scarier Than Clowns

People go to amusement parks and county fairs to experience harmless thrills in relative safety, but several recent news items have left me even less likely to want to go to the carnival the next time it rolls into town. These three high profile accidents make it seem that amusement rides are scarier than clowns, which is


A Daily Beast, Indeed

People like having sex. All kinds of people. Sex is good. Sex is healthy. And as long as it’s consensual, it’s a helluva lot of fun. I can’t imagine this comes as a surprise to anyone who has engaged in mutually agreed upon sexual activity. That’s apparently not the case for The Daily Beast reporter