It is not length of life, but depth of life.Ralph Waldo Emerson

Inner Life Directions

Expanding Reality

Governance

  • Auto Debt and Inequality

    Seven million Americans, according to numbers from the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York, are at least three months behind on their car payments. By the summer of 2018 Americans owed more than   1.26 trillion, more than they did at the end of the recession in 2009.  It paints a troubling picture. Car delinquencies usually come after housing but nevertheless are used to reflect a measure of inequality. While some do own cars they cannot afford, car ownership which is a necessity for many to be able to go to work, is associated with more stability and a bank account that may have a  bit of a balance. Experts say that the number of people defaulting on their car loan points to “financial duress”. People are delinquent on their house first, their credit cards second and their car third. So the increase in delinquencies with car debt is more significant than it first appears. It means that too many people are not able to hold on to something they consider an important or necessary asset.

    We hear about near full employment, about the economy doing well and it’s easy to forget about income inequality and how it manifests itself, but it is a mistake to do so. It’s not only a question of remembering those who are struggling, it’s also seeing what lies behind a prosperity that benefits too few.

  • Web Access For Those With Disabilities

    If someone close to you has a disability then you know the importance of their having access to any number of things, things we don’t think about or take for granted. A few years ago we didn’t realize how important wheelchair ramps were. And lawsuits prompted by the Americans With Disabilities Act gave us ramps, wider doorways and lower counter tops.  Now the issue is web access and the number of lawsuits has tripled in 2018.  Henry Tucker, A blind New Yorker is systematically suing New York City art galleries because as it stands he does not have access to their websites. While this latest slate of lawsuits is aimed at art galleries, in alphabetical groupings, any business has been or will be affected, yoga studios, moving companies, fashion stores, wine shops, insurance companies, colleges… The cost of making a site accessible to those with disabilities varies from a few hundred to a few thousands. And often businesses comply and settle because it’s cheaper than the costs of a lawsuit.  With the art galleries the settlement may be around $10,000 to $15,000 per.  Many of these lawsuits, sometimes called “drive-by lawsuits” come from just a few law firms which seem to specialize in them. They can be lucrative. I remember meeting a lawyer a few years ago, who made his living this way.  While on the whole these lawsuits have widened the experience of those with disabilities, there are at least two problems. One is that despite adjustments and changes, some websites remain inaccessible to the visually impaired. Another lies in how these actions are being carried out and perhaps why. Lainey Feingold a disability rights lawyer who specialized in digital accessibility says that they give a bad impression of the Americans With Disabilities Act and give a bad impression about web accessibility. If I were blind, for example, I would be willing to make some allowances but I would want access to the web like anyone else. Wouldn’t you? But I don’t think I would approve of lawyers using my disability as a means to enrich themselves.

  • Biosolids Into Bricks

    Biosolids are the disinfected remains from the water treatment process once we’ve flushed. It’s a good fertilizer but now it can be made into bricks, the bricks used in construction. Civil engineers at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia developed the process. They look the same as fired bricks and when processed locally can save land, energy and reduce carbon emissions, thus becoming a green alternative.  Daily, for example, New York City has 1200 tons or 50 truckloads of what would become biosolids. As it is, what’s not used as fertilizer goes into the sea or landfills. Since population is growing and human waste grows with it, there is pressure to find alternatives. Although biosolids bricks meet industry requirements, they may not be as durable. A proposed usage would be for biosolids to be mixed with soil in some proportion. And given that we make a trillion bricks a year incorporating some biosolids into them would not be a small contribution to the environment.  As they decompose biosolids emit carbon dioxide, so the advantages of turning them into a green alternative become clearer and more compelling.

    I may have a soft spot for viable green alternatives, but what impresses me about this one is that somewhere people had to overcome our usual reaction to human waste. They saw beyond!

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