| | | | | Welcome. This week, sleepless nights and seafood pirates on the high seas. But first, does stuff make you happy? | |  | | You are not a cup. Sandra Goldmark of Columbia University's Climate School wants you to know this because it reveals something at the root of our distorted relationship with stuff. The author of "Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet," cites a 2019 study in which researchers wrote people's names on plastic disposable water cups. People with names on their cups were 48 percent more likely to recycle them than the people with unmarked cups. Why? Because we subconsciously identify with things as extensions of ourselves. Even plastic cups. | | Tossing such a self-identified object in the trash, the study's authors argue, "symbolically represents an identity threat, as in essence you would be throwing a piece of your 'self ' in the trash and by extension signaling to yourself that you must be worthless." We don't do this deliberately. What we buy is deeply personal. That's why it's so hard to let things go, why professional declutterer Marie Kondo has a job, and the reason it's not easy to slash consumption, especially clothes. "In my experience," Goldmark writes in her book, "that comes more with age and an increasingly honest awareness of what you actually look and feel good in." | | This is the real question. Does your stuff make you happy? Looking around my house, a few things do: my guitar, the painting my wife and I bought, a red maraca my son loves to shake, and even the convection oven where we cook many of our meals. Many others, I suspect, are expired attachments, belongings better off serving someone else. As I wrote in my most recent column, we're only now starting to view many "used" goods as socially acceptable. If we do that, we can put a dent in the 26 percent or so of emissions that come from the stuff we do buy. So what's your deal with stuff? Write me at climatecoach@washpost.com. | |  | | Today's high seas are a bit like the Old West: A wilderness too vast to police, writes The Washington Post's Harry Stevens. As much as 11 percent of U.S. seafood imports can come from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. A group of scientists is trying a novel patrolling method: tracking boats that disable their location transponders, whose signals are picked up by satellites. Commercial fishermen regularly disable these transponders, sometimes for innocent reasons but often to hide illegal activity. | | | Harry Stevens/The Washington Post | | The researchers discovered disabled transponders hide about 6 percent of the globe's commercial fishing activity. Read more about it in this week's Climate Lab column. | |  | | Helping the climate has never saved you this much money. After reading my column on buying used, George writes he was able to score an "essentially brand new" Burberry sport coat for $60 at a thrift store in Maine that supports charities. His find normally retails for more than $1,000. And the gardening tips keep coming. Mick and Lynn of Wisconsin recommended Albion everbearing strawberries, which keep producing during hot weather after other varieties give up. If you're looking for native plants, writes Sarah, look up your local county conservation district. These entities often sell bare-root trees and shrubs for just a few dollars. Finally Miska, who last appeared in this newsletter blissed out on the couch, appreciates your fan mail. "Miska, she has understood everything in life," writes D. Le Gall of France. "If our politicians could draw inspiration from it, it would be much better for the planet!" I couldn't agree more. Miska's secret to life: Walk often, sleep well, never miss a treat and give everyone a kiss. | |  | | From The Post: Ukraine's unlikely tool to resist Russia? Solar panels are supplying a critical source of decentralized energy as Ukraine starts to rebuild, reports Michael Birnbaum. As nights warm faster around the world, we're losing sleep — about 50 to 58 hours per year by 2100, a study estimates. Perverse incentives mean landlords are blocking a growing number of Americans from reducing their carbon footprints. We have a deal on the Colorado River drought crisis — at least until 2026. | |  | | The Climate Coach is taking his first vacation this year. I'll be off for a few days this weekend to hunt some wild mushrooms and hike around this mountain in Northern California. Can you guess which one it is based on this view from the International Space Station? One clue: It's a stratovolcano. There won't be a column or a newsletter on Tuesday, but we'll be back to our regular schedule on June 6. | | | Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get The Climate Coach in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. | | See you soon, Michael Coren, Climate Coach | | | | | | | | | |
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