Kate Raworth, Work, Clean India, Lead Poisoning, Sailing
Doughnut Economics
Brad Voracek | The Minskys | 21st May 2017
More on Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics, which aims to promote sustainability by means of narratives, rather than promoting GDP growth by means of models. “The market, the household, the state, and the commons all have a place in the big picture. We have to know where our food comes from, we have to know where our plastic is being disposed, we have to get familiar with the language of stocks and flows, the stores of resources and also their movements” (1,100 words)
The Advantage Of Being A Little Underemployed
Morgan Housel | Collaborative Fund | 17th May 2017
The eight-hour day was designed as a safe maximum for hard physical work; the limits of mentally exhausting jobs are more nuanced and less visible. “Tell your boss you found a trick that will make you more creative and productive, and they ask what you’re waiting for. Tell them that your trick is taking a 90-minute walk in the middle of the day, and the answer will be no, you need to work. Another way to put this is that a lot of workers have thought jobs, without much time to think” (1,100 words)
Down The Drain
Sagar | Caravan | 1st May 2017
Not for the squeamish. Epic account of India’s ambitious five-year programme to provide lavatories and sewerage for the whole population. The Swachh Bharat — “clean India’ — campaign aims to end the “open defecation” currently practised by half the country’s 246.7 million households, and abolish “manual scavenging” — a euphemism “for the disposal of excrement by hand that, for centuries, has been the exclusive lot of people at the very bottom of the caste hierarchy” (17,700 words)
The Poisoned Generation
Vann Newkirk | Atlantic | 21st May 2017
Damning account of lead poisoning among children in New Orleans housing projects exposed to lead paint at home and leaded petrol fumes outdoors. “When the blood came back, Billieson found out that both of her children were poisoned and likely had been for years. She called the lawyer who’d left his card with her. That phone call began a legal war of attrition that spanned more than two decades, three presidents, and one of the most devastating natural disasters in American history” (6,240 words)
Long Way Home
Ryan Bradley | VQR | 21st April 2017
Profile of solitary Dutch yachtsman Henk De Velde, who sailed six times round the world, and is about to resume after a few years on land. “I learned that any human record is meaningless. I realised I was part of my boat, that I was talking, although not loud, to the whales around me. I saw the birds looking at me and, the word enjoying is not strong enough. This was it, this was my sea life. Already I knew that the sea would never let me go again, that I was in its eternal grip” (3,900 words)
Video of the day: Lovestreams
What to expect:
Studio Ghibli-style fantasy of love in the age of Internet 1.0 with gifs, emojis,
and MS Messenger (9’50”)
Thought for the day
I believe in spectacles, but I think eyes necessary too
J.S. Mill