Ordinary Abundance
What a beautiful website & a beautiful reminder of the absolute abundance that many of us live with compared to our very recent ancestors – https://ordinaryabundance.com/
Hey hey! Below are my most recent posts – see also popular & archives :)
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US Energy Cost Explorer
US Energy Cost Explorer is a classic website that takes open, publicly available data on energy costs and makes it usable, useful & interesting – https://energy-maps.com/
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America’s Driving Mandate: Don’t Call It “Freedom”
In the beginning, there was public right of way – the freedom of movement between & amongst property. And then, America decided to mandate a specific vehicle for the public right of way above all else – https://mateosfo.substack.com/p/americas-driving-mandate-dont-call
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The Individuals Who Championed Each National Park
Over the past few years, I’ve been able to visit a few of America’s National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other public lands in addition to reading several excellent histories. For the Parks that I’ve visited so far, it seemed like there was an outsize influence of either single individuals or small groups in getting the Park established.
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3 Useful Radio Resources for Streaming Live
Even in a world of Spotify, YouTube, Podcasts, etc – I still think radio is deeply underrated as a communications…
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The End of an Era [for Writers] via Hugh Howey
I thought this post was an evergreen take amongst the white hot discourse -> https://hughhowey.com/the-end-of-an-era/
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A Philosopher’s One-Word Theory for Why the World Feels So Weird
Derek Thompson interviewed Agnes Callard about the idea of the unicontext. I thought it was a useful framework for thinking…
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Roadless Rule Area Interactive Map
I don’t love posting about current events, but this resource is timeless -> https://www.onxmaps.com/onx-access-initiatives/roadless-rule
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5 Reasons You Should Use Mozilla Firefox for Your Browser
If you actually care about an open web, about real privacy, about making sure one company doesn’t control the entire internet – Firefox is still the only real choice.
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TIL about Prairie Remnants
This infographic from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota explains how much of the Earth’s prairie ecosystem we’ve lost over the past couple of centuries. More than 70% of America’s Great Plains have been lost to development, and what is left is all in pockets.
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TIL about the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s land classification system
What I did not know is that in 2008, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature – a UN-like body* – decided to create a formal system that countries can use to systematically conserve lands based on management objectives. It’s very similar to the US system, except that many US designations (like National Monuments) can span multiple IUCN categories depending on how they’re managed. It’s used by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
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TIL About The Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service
Exhibit 5000+ that Jimmy Carter was a brilliant President & was deliberately slandered by Ronald Regan -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_Conservation_and_Recreation_Service
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Clearing Blowdown on Conasauga River Trail
The most satisfying parts of volunteering with a Forest Service Trail Crew (specifically the amazing Cohutta Wilderness Trail Volunteers) is the direct connection between work and result.
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Doing More is Often Easier
Doing more is often easier -> https://www.raptitude.com/2025/04/doing-more-is-often-easier/
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It’s All a Blog. It’s All a Post.
A newsletter-shaped-blog, or a blog-shaped-newsletter? -> https://buttondown.com/blog/blog-vs-newsletter
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Lewi Blake – Remote Bikepacking Adventures on YouTube
Lewi Blake is a travel vlogger unlike anyone I’ve ever seen. He’s just an independent guy with some camera gear, a sense of storytelling, a skill for editing, and the wherewithal to post it to YouTube.
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Kids’ Freedom To explore
This is why kids are on their phones. They aren’t allowed to do anything else whether by law, by parents, or norms. -> https://ifstudies.org/blog/new-ifs-brief-more-screen-time-less-play-for-americas-kids
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The Case for Blogging in the Ruins
An excellent blog post on why blog posts are best -> https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-case-for-blogging-in-the-ruins/
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