Apr 20, 2021Member-onlyIn which a groundhog asserts his rights to my gardenThis broad field which I have looked at so long looks not to me as the principal cultivator, but away from me to influences more genial to it, which water and make it green. These beans have results which are not harvested by me. …Gardening2 min readGardening2 min read
Oct 6, 2020Member-onlyA Constitutional Amendment for the EnvironmentGiven our imminent turn to a more conservative Supreme Court, and Given the skepticism that our conservative justices have shown about the constitutional footing of even the most necessary environmental regulation, and Given the urgency of the climate crisis and widespread ecological collapse, The time seems right for a constitutional…Environment1 min readEnvironment1 min read
Oct 1, 2020Member-onlyRefusing to Apply the Law: A Critique of Conservative JurisprudenceA friend recently shared a comment on social media to the effect that conservative justices apply the law, while liberal ones make it up. This is a common view, which I once bought in to. I no longer think this is the case at all, and I would like to…Supreme Court3 min readSupreme Court3 min read
Aug 20, 2020Member-onlyWarrantless Border Detentions are Illegal: a brief argumentHuman rights, as recognized in international and US constitutional law, are routinely infringed by our border policies and infrastructure, in ways not clearly tied to any compelling state interest that might be able to justify that infringement. It is the border, in other words, and not the crosser that is…Borders3 min readBorders3 min read
Jun 4, 2020Member-onlyInequality Distorts MarketsI’m surprised by what is missing in popular debates about economic inequality. A few arguments get repeated over and over — namely, that nobody could possibly work hard or smart enough to deserve billions and, in reply, that envy and resentment of the rich is a poor basis for policy…Economics4 min readEconomics4 min read
Apr 24, 2020Member-onlyAbout the EconomyThere is a lot of discussion right now about how to save the economy, or whether certain trade-offs are permissible in order to save the economy, like foreseeable deaths. The animosity in this discussion is partly enabled by the vagueness of the term. People are using the same word, the…Economy4 min readEconomy4 min read
Apr 3, 2020Member-onlyThoughts on Public Science, Prompted by Corvid-19 and the Climate CrisisPublic science is an essential part of our democracy, but not one that is always so well appreciated or supported. This may be because we have not done that great at telling its story. But in times like these, it is important that we have a source of expertise devoted…Public Science2 min readPublic Science2 min read
Mar 31, 2020Member-onlyCOVID-19 and Mother NatureHere is this vast, savage, hovering mother of ours, Nature, lying all around, with such beauty, and such affection for her children, as the leopard… -Thoreau The corona virus is not Nature’s revenge on humanity, nor is it Nature’s immune system trying to flush us or put us in our…Coronavirus2 min readCoronavirus2 min read
Nov 19, 2019Member-onlyLocal Resilience as Climate ActionAs we face the awful exigencies of the climate crisis, there are choices to make in how we direct our limited capacity to respond. Our tendency, on the American environmental scene, has been to focus on our role as individual components of a destructive system. Respond to climate change, we…Climate Change2 min readClimate Change2 min read
Nov 8, 2019Member-onlyThe Anthropocene and the Perils of AbstractionThis essay is adapted from a talk first delivered at Akaki Tsereteli State University in Kutaisi, Georgia, November 1, 2019. It was part of the “International Multidisciplinary Conference: The Humanities in the Age of Globalization” and is forthcoming in those proceedings. We all know and love nature in the particular…Environment11 min readEnvironment11 min read
