Addictive Technology, Land Use, and Saving the Amazon

Most of my reading time this week went to poring over proofs for the first issue of the FPR print journal. We should have copies fresh from the press at the Louisville conference, and if you won’t be able to join us there, stay tuned for ways you can get your hands on what is an excellent inaugeral issue.

“New Bill Would Ban Autoplay Videos and Endless Scrolling.” Makena Kelly reports on Josh Hawley’s proposed bill: “’Big tech has embraced a business model of addiction,’ Hawley said. ‘Too much of the ‘innovation’ in this space is designed not to create better products, but to capture more attention by using psychological tricks that make it difficult to look away.’”

“In Defense of Hometowns.” Charles F. McElwee responds to the fact that Americans are now moving less than anytime before 1948. While some people see this as a sign of an economic decline, McElwee notes that “a packed U-Haul, a vacated property, and a new, unknown locale can engender loneliness and disorientation, not emotional renewal or economic relief.” (Recommended by Jeff Polet.)

“This Land Is the Only Land There Is.” Robinson Meyer unpacks the new IPCC report on land use and climate change.

Toni Morrison died this week at the age of 88. I read several tributes to her life and work, but Ekemini Uwan’s is particularly good.

“Who Will Save the Amazon (and How)?.” Stephen Walt raises challenging questions about foreign policy and environmental decisions whose effects extend beyond national borders: “What should (or must) the international community do to prevent a misguided Brazilian president (or political leaders in other countries) from taking actions that could harm all of us?”

“Pacific Standard Magazine is Shutting Down after Losing Main Financial Backer.” James F. Peltz describes the closing of another independent online journal.

“With a Focus on Food Sovereignty, Rural Appalachian Ohio is Rebounding.” Nicole Rasul reports for Civil Eats on a variety of ways—from food buses to produce auctions—that communities in Ohio are re-imagining more sustainable and local food systems.

“Why I’m Not a Liberal.” Michael Brendan Dougherty offers a history of liberalism and identifies a contradiction at its core.

“A Better Country.” Brad East reviews Michael Brendan Dougherty’s memoir, My Father Left Me Ireland, and puts it in conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates. The result is a meditation on nationalism, fatherhood, and love.

“Wendell Berry and Friendship.” Richard Bailey talks about Wendell Berry, particularly his correspondence, with Tom Martin for Eastern Standard.

Elizabeth Warren seems to be attempting to claim a chair on the Front Porch Republic. (Thanks to Russell Arben Fox for pointing this out.)