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Don’t Drink the Water!

In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson argued that unintended chemical reactions and interactions could have a profound effect on the natural world and human health. Researchers have discovered that one such chemical reaction may come from our tap water, which is laced with prescription drugs: There’s a good chance that if you live in an urban area, your tap water is laced […]

March 15, 2013/by dpogreba

Will Fewer Possessions Mean Richer Lives?

Daily Wisdom

Former Internet entrepreneur Graham Hill believes reducing our material possessions will: We live in a world of surfeit stuff, of big-box stores and 24-hour online shopping opportunities. Members of every socioeconomic bracket can and do deluge themselves with products. There isn’t any indication that any of these things makes anyone any happier; in fact it […]

March 14, 2013/by dpogreba

Don’t Drink the Water!

Daily Wisdom

March 15, 2013/by dpogreba

Will Fewer Possessions Mean Richer Lives?

Daily Wisdom

March 14, 2013/by dpogreba

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Don’t Drink the Water!

Daily Wisdom

There’s a good chance that if you live in an urban area, your tap water is laced with tiny amounts of antidepressants (mostly SSRIs like Prozac and Effexor), benzodiazepines (like Klonopin, used to reduce symptoms of substance withdrawal) and anticonvulsants (like Topomax, used to treat addiction to alcohol, nicotine, food and even cocaine and crystal meth). Such are the implications of environmental studies that have been leaking out over the past decade. Whether or not this psychoactive waste has any effect on the human nervous system remains unclear, but when such pharmaceuticals are introduced into the ecosystem, the fallout for other species is demonstrable—and potentially dire.

March 15, 2013/by dpogreba

Will Fewer Possessions Mean Richer Lives?

Daily Wisdom

Former Internet entrepreneur Graham Hill believes reducing our material possessions will:

We live in a world of surfeit stuff, of big-box stores and 24-hour online shopping opportunities. Members of every socioeconomic bracket can and do deluge themselves with products.

There isn’t any indication that any of these things makes anyone any happier; in fact it seems the reverse may be true.

For me, it took 15 years, a great love and a lot of travel to get rid of all the inessential things I had collected and live a bigger, better, richer life with less.

Others are not as certain that Hill is the person who should preach the gospel of simplicity:

The problem here is not the message. The problem is the messenger. More specifically, it is the messenger using his own life as supporting evidence for the message. Were Graham Hill to simply write a fact-based essay arguing that Americans should cut down on material possessions in order to save the environment and gain peace of mind, he would doubtless hear a chorus of support. But for Graham Hill, a young millionaire who was fortunate enough to sell his "pre-Netscape browser" at the high point of the internet bubble, to say to the average American, "My journey through the perils of great wealth has bestowed me with wisdom that is directly applicable to you" is simply false. It is no wonder that Hill loved the recent TED talk by millionaire musician Amanda Palmer, in which she argued that it was perfectly fair for her to, for example, accept a free night of lodging in the home of poor Honduran immigrants and not pay them for it, because the beauty of her music is payment enough. Both are insulated enough from the realities of personal finance to forget about them entirely.

March 14, 2013/by dpogreba