Sunday Review
My weekly curation of what I'm writing, reading, and watching
Good morning, welcome to my Sunday review issue of The Polymerist. This is primarily a curation driven weekly issue of the newsletter for those too busy to open things during the week. It’s also a way to for me to share what I think is cool on the internet right now and reflect on my own writing. The weather is warming up here in New England and I’m dreaming of the day I can take my new paddle board out on the local ponds and lakes. Until then I’ll dream of my future lake house #longtermgoals.
What I’m Writing
Living Next To Industrial Manufacturing Should Be Our Goal
It’s not secret that chemical manufacturing emits pollution and that housing near these manufacturing facilities could be dangerous. What if we changed this and what if chemical companies were seen as virtuous instead of a dirty necessity? I attempt to work through these questions in this post of the newsletter through the idea we might need to be living in a compact city with residential, commercial, and industrial production coexisting in harmony.
The Big Chemical Companies Are Getting Bigger, Faster, Stronger
The April Mergers and Acquisitions issue of The Polymerist. We are in full blown M&A season right now and there are a lot of deals flowing as economies look to be opening up. I cover some of the big ones in the chemical industry here.
What I’m Reading
The Case for Universal Creative Income
excerpt:
In the digital world, user rights are civic rights, and creator rights are worker rights. Today, creator-workers have little voice over their compensation, protections, and labor practices. Platform-sponsored basic income for creators would be one step towards facilitating a more worker-friendly environment. In turn, a richer and more diverse content environment would enhance the consumer experience.
Missing middle crunch requires all of us to solve it
excerpt:
The Thompsons don’t just create these living spaces – they live in one. The couple went from a 5,000-square-foot home in East Grand Rapids to an 800-square-foot compact dwelling in Grand Rapids’ historic Heritage Hill neighborhood.
Why? In Bruce’s words, this living space “just makes sense when Americans spend 80% of their time in the kitchen.” The couple wanted to get back to the way they lived in Barcelona, Spain, in the 1990s – when their compact space had everything they needed and was within walking distance to their favorite spots.
What I’m Watching
When I was younger How To Make It In America lit a fire under me. It probably help prompt me to apply to graduate school and inspired me to go live in New York City and is one of the reasons I did my PhD with Rich Gross (was at NYU Tandon School of Engineering at the time). We eventually moved to be at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, but I’ll always remember that year in NYC. Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk played the lead roles in the show and just teased us with this short video via Twitter and Instagram. It’s why I’m hustlin’ out here for myself via Substack.
If you have known me pre-newsletter then I’ve probably talked about this show at some point. My wife equates How To Make It In America as equivalent or worse than her reality TV and I understand why it got canceled. The spirit though of wanting to create something for yourself just gets me so fired up. I wrote about it on Medium back in 2016. Here is the Season 1 trailer:
Hope the rest of the weekend is relaxing. Don’t let the Sunday scaries get to you.
Talk to you Tuesday,
So maybe this isn't exactly a comment, but more of a hope, since you are closer to the field of industrial chemistry than I am. If anything comes to your attention that would help a small, rural community develop a local industry that uses recyclable plastics as a feedstock, it would be of great interest.