A different kind of urban garden may be the key to feeding ourselves locally — Let’s talk about mushrooms. I’ve been comparing their underground stealthiness to Russian democracy, describing how they grow out of sight, keeping their peace until the right moment. I’ve pointed out that you never do know when they’re going to burst into the light and turn the world upside down. But…

Meta’s stock collapse revealed what I already knew — I quit Facebook, Instagram and every other property owned by what is now called Meta nearly two years ago. It was at the time a rash decision and at first many of my friends and family wondered where I had “gone.” Soon, though, the people who mattered “found” me. It…

My search for an acre of escape — It was the rock that caught my eye. Dappled with lichen and lighted by the afternoon sun, it appeared to be the perfect place for contemplation. …

This is the year to de-center your smartphone — For the sake of yourself and your country, it is time to get off your phone. Yes, I know you needed to see the latest inquiries into January 6th, the most recent QAnon theories, the debunking of those theories and then the debunking of the debunking. Then perhaps you’ll want…

The American Catch is often mysterious — In 1982 a Chinese aquaculture scientist named Fusui Zhang journeyed to Connecticut in search of scallops. The New England bay scallop had recently been domesticated, and Dr. Zhang thought the Stonington-grown shellfish might do well in China. His visit complete, he boxed up 200 scallops and spirited them away to…

I wrote the book “Four Fish” but now I eat a different four. — Seaspiracy, the buzzy, frenetic, slick, sloppy, confused and gripping documentary that premiered on Netflix in 2021, is often wrong but mostly right. Led by Ali Tabrizi, and produced by the maker of Cowspiracy, Kip Andersen, the film takes you on a bumpy ride with pit stops at every imaginable ocean…

I couldn’t find a real cartoonist so I asked an artificial one — For the longest time I’ve had a lot of captions but no cartoons. What I mean to say is that I have what I think are really pretty funny punchlines that would make equally funny cartoons that The New Yorker would surely publish. …

The only way to beat device dependence — This summer my flip phone died. The 3G network that powered my outdated little number was discontinued and a 5G flip phone hadn’t quite come along yet. So, really, I had a good excuse when I took an old iPhone out of a drawer. I had somewhat famously quit smartphones…

How a broken system confronted how broken it was — As we approach the end of 2022, I’ve asked a few people whose words and wisdom I deeply respect to share what’s been on their minds. Here is the electoral reform advocate and former New York City Council candidate David Gold with his thoughts on the meaning of the midterms. …