When I was growing up, I was often asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I’m certain that those who asked meant well, but I was not qualified then to answer that question intelligently, and I’m not sure I can answer it intelligently now. If “growing up” means that I’ve finished my education, that I know everything I need to know, that I will no longer be curious, and that I ...

My friend Barry Sweet is a junk man. He’s a third-generation junk man, and he’s proud of it. He should be because Barry is in the sustainability business in a time when society is in a sustainability crisis. Our oceans are loaded with plastic, garbage dumps are becoming scarce, and we haven’t figured out how to get people to pay for the hidden costs of the obsoleted cell phones, computers and routers that we’re discarding. ...