Longer Step: Ideas for Justice and Sustainability

  "Earthship" homes in northern New Mexico are beyond cool. Made partly of trash (old bottles, cans, tires, etc.), these homes don't need heating or cooling--in the cold/hot desert! They can maintain 70F all year round (or a bit cooler, if you like). Earth-sheltering and great insulation are the keys. On a more-local level, governments should insist on a basement or daylight basement in every home! Even above grade on a flat lot, a daylight basement home is practicable. And saves hugely on energy costs. The design can be traditional (as our winery/farmhouse was--it was European traditional but earth-sheltered in back and on the sides, and solar-powered), or as wacky as you can imagine. https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/06/24/earthships-sustainable-housing?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20240626&utm_term=9551098&utm_campaign=news&utm_id=54187699&orgid=135&utm_att1=

I eat partly vegan. And due to my American upbringing, I love burgers and hot dogs. Read this: Numerous recent studies tell us that ultraprocessed foods are worse for us than we realized. Many of these are vegan: The list of highly-processed chemicals in Beyond or Impossible is a mile long. Impossible has: soy protein concentrate, soy leghemoglobin, coconut oil (highly-saturated; bad for you); textured wheat protein; methylcellulose, cultured dextrose, food starch, and modified yeast extract. My vegan LightLife hot dogs have soy protein isolate, yeast extract, 'natural flavor,' and glutamic acid, along with a couple of gums. Morningstar's black bean burger is pretty good: They're mostly beans, rice, onions, and oil. But they have some ingredients from a lab: soy protein concentrate, wheat gluten, and calcium calceinate. So, if you are a burger and hot dog lover, good luck. I note that grass-fed burgers have only one ingredient. BUT, even grassfed beef has saturated fa...

  Even at Costco, you get what you pay for: 3 lbs of Columbian coffee beans is only $14. That is an insanely good price, and it's the only medium roast coffee they have (all the others are dark roasts--doesn't Costco know that dark roast means "burned" and the best, most-delicate flavors come from a light or medium roast?). It is a pretty good coffee (I have no problem drinking it), but if you pay up for the "top tier" of the world's best beans, you will really notice the difference. 1. Costco Columbian : 3 lbs = 192 tablespoons, or 96-to-180 cups (depending on how strong you like it). Let's call it 140 cups of coffee, which is $14/140 = $0.10 per cup! This is FAR better coffee than the regular coffee at Starbucks, and you save $5 or so every time you make your own. If you hit SBUX 4 times a week, you'd save $1040 a year plus gas saved, if you make your own. Do that for 10 years and you've saved $11,000 plus gas saved, AND you've drunk fa...