The rich have nothing — Eighteen years ago, I befriended a wild coyote in the California desert. I don’t think you’re supposed to do that, but it was the happiest moment of my life at that point. I was 18 and slightly stupid. For most of my adult life, I had one bowl. I had…

It’s not about you, either — Margaret Klein Salamon has some advice for you: Use your imagination to explore what it will feel like while civilization is collapsing: No water coming from the tap; not knowing whether to stay or go; mass starvations and migrations growing. She has some more advice: Stop hiding from the news…

Are we really doing this again? — In 1932, something terrible happened. A Russian-American named Bernard London published an essay called “Ending The Great Depression through Planned Obsolescence.” He said it was horrible for business that Americans used things for so long, and that consumer products were too durable. He said companies should design products to wear…

There’s nothing wrong with quitting. — A famous author walked up and introduced himself. I wanted to say, “I know who you are.” I wanted to remind him that I’d interviewed him three different times, in person. I’d been to his house. I’d reviewed his first book, back when he was a nobody. I’d reviewed every…

It’s just as selfish and arrogant. — I never thought I would say this, but someone finally got under my skin worse than the climate deniers. It was a woman who lectured me for making a simple list of things ordinary people could do to help live more sustainably. There was nothing brilliant about it. That was…

Women are not to blame. — Recently, an influencer launched an AI version of herself as a girlfriend for lonely young men. She believes her chatbot/sexbot will save humanity from its loneliness and isolation. Well… Once again, our tech overlords and influencer brats have failed to predict all the ways their ideas can go off the…

You can just be. — There’s one thing a teenage girl can always count on, and it’s some rando telling them to smile. It happened to me all the time. One guy was fond of saying, “You look like a lost little kitten.” Every day, I looked forward to going home and listening to sad…

It’s not a super great idea — Let’s face it, men aren’t doing so well. They’re having meltdowns when they find out their attractive coworkers already have boyfriends. They’re posting anime girls on their dating profiles, telling women not to bother contacting them unless they meet the standards of a cartoon. They’re falling behind in school. They’re…

There’s been a war on education for decades. — When my father-in-law found out I was a professor, he had some things to say. “Can you believe they get summers off? Who on earth gets summers off?” My spouse had to explain it to him, because he wouldn’t listen to me. No, we don’t get summers off. We don’t…