Thousands of miles from friends and (most) relatives, as well as my clients and colleagues, I've been less isolated than I can ever remember. Assuming a device and connection, there are so many ways to work and play, it's hard to keep track. Here's a day-in-the-life this week as my town, Ho Chi Minh city, locked down tight.

A cross-country trip via Greyhound occasioned a stop in the blasted moonscape of Sudbury, Ontario. It was a weird place in 1975, with a giant Canadian nickel presiding over a town with no trees, no animals or birds, just rock stained black by metals. What led to the destruction of greater Sudbury's environment, and the 40-years of painstaking, award-winning repairs, bears examination.

The New Jersey Palisades, magnificent cliffs along the lower Hudson river, in Autumn. In 1976, I stood about here and watched the Tall Ships tack up […]

The air in the developing world is worsening, while the United States atmosphere - once very dangerous - is as clean as it's been in a long time. Can the Clean Air Act and the EPA be models for action in less developed countries? Let's hope so.