Wednesday Linkdump

Here are some things I've been looking at on the internet recently.

'Zero waste' news

A lot of sites are promoting "Plastic Free July" - ZW's version of "Meat Free Monday", but for a month, not just a Monday, making it a better idea.  Try not using any "single use" plastic packaging for a month, with encouragement from Treehugger, goingzerowaste.com and the obligatory Facebook page and twitter account.  Why?  Here's one reason.  Here's another.

Minimalism

The inevitable backlash against minimalism is brewing...

Trying to Live With Less When Minimalism Sounds Horrifying is explored at fromroses.co.uk while maximummiddleage.com comes out In Defense of Stuff  Over a different rainbow, Catholic Exchange addresses Minimalism, Poverty and Simplicity.  (Meanwhile, in Japan...)  And perhaps the last place you might expect to find a celebration of the simple, distinctly non-capitalist art of wearing the same thing every day, Forbes magazine gives five reasons to do exactly that.

Things to read and think about

How conspiracy theories feed political fragmentation at The Conversation

Climate Change Will Hurt the Poor and Help the Wealthy at Newsweek

I've been taking a journey across the boundaries between science and pseudo-science in The Secret Life of Plants, which begins with the strange tale of the "experiments" of Clive Backster, excellently summarised here.

Essentialism vs. Presentism: How Soon is Now? asks the ever-stimulating Esoterx

Elon Musk's big battery brings reality crashing into a post-truth world, according to the Guardian.

Do we matter in the cosmos? asks aeon magazine  (Spoiler alert: no.  Well, yes and no).
The Baffler holds our hand and gently guides us through the shitstorm of the alt-right in, An Oasis of Horror in an Internet of Boredom

David Lynch is the Picasso of our time, and we should celebrate the true privilege it is to be alive while such an artist is at work.  If you haven't been following the new series of Twin Peaks, even if you've never seen an episode of Twin Peaks in your life, stop what you're doing immediately and watch episode 8.  It's the sort of thing I might get round to exploring at my long neglected side-project of a blog, which you can read here, if you want.  If you don't, but just fancy a quick tumble down the neo-synchromystic rabbit hole, have a read of, This is the water: Twin Peaks, Roswell and the Siren's Song over at The Secret Sun.

But that's quite enough of that for now thank you very much.

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