Leadership And The Environment

Have you ever tasted an heirloom tomato so delicious it was almost a religious experience? I used to think people who complained about supermarket tomatoes sounded full of themselves. How different can they taste?Then I tasted heirloom tomatoes with so much flavor, I couldn’t believe my taste buds. The next time I ate a mainstream tomato it felt like eating wet cotton.Do you know what they used to call heirloom tomatoes?They used to call heirloom tomatoes tomatoes. Our post-industrial values of growth, efficiency, externalizing costs, comfort, convenience, and extraction turned something divine into something available year-round at an affordable price but a fall from grace to say the least. In the way that my rare sips of scotch today give me more appreciation of spirits than the larger quantities I drank of beer in college despite drinking less alcohol, my net appreciation of tomatoes is greater now, despite spending less overall on them and only eating them in season.I mention this contrast for context.Eve

Frederick was a great sport in allowing me to explore working on a patterns that happens sometimes but that I had let slide before.We started talking about nature, then his commitment. About halfway through I noticed that his motivation to the commitment from his first episode didn't seem to come from inside, which I believe led to him doing the task for extrinsic, not intrinsic, reasons, resulting in him doing his task perfunctorily.Then came the part that may be uncomfortable to listen to---or may be intriguing or fun. I can't tell because I was in the conversation. I tried to find a new sledding hill of his to ground a new activity. From then on we had a cordial conversation, but at cross-purposes. I don't think he understood what I was getting at and I couldn't see how to explain my point any better.I'm grateful to Frederick for maintaining his interest. Those interested in starting a podcast may find a lot to learn since guests often disconnect from their sledding hill and feel they have to fix something

Longtime readers of my blog know how much James Suzman's first book influenced my thinking and views of possessions, community, ownership, modernity, and a range of similar topics. A top question I've asked anyone who might know is how populations that didn't grow despite sharing our biology that has grown exponentially for centuries.If knowing history is wise and knowing history farther back wiser, James's living with the San Bushmen of southern Africa gave him a few hundred thousand years to know. We can't know exactly how their lives today resemble their ancestors, but the overlap is greater than zero and suggests a huge alternative to the knee-jerk dichotomy people can't see past today of capitalism versus communism. Human beings lived for two hundred thousand years, maybe three, in ways that were neither.You can imagine the changes in climate, other species, terrain, and more in that time. Their stability endured a thousand times longer than the time since the Industrial Revolution led us to put our whol

Andrew co-hosted me on MAGAMedia with past guest Rob Harper, so we've spoken there several times, but this conversation is our first one-on-one.We start by talking about our meeting and how talking to each other means talking about issues we normally don't in our usual circles, but that we enjoy learning from each other, not getting angry despite different viewpoints. We both want to increase meaningful communication as opposed to the more prevalent mutual provocation and dismissal in American political conversation between people who vote differently, to the extent they communicate.Andrew shares his growing up in a Democratic household and what transitioned him to appreciating and supporting candidate and then President Trump, as well as meeting Rob, partnering, and starting their show together. I suspect most listeners to a podcast with the word 'sustainable' in the title don't talk to many Trump supporters. He also talked about division within parties and commonalities across parties. I wish I had more con

Isn’t a refrigerator essential? Isn’t life with them better?I thought so. I’ll quote my mom from my podcast to illustrate where I came from:I grew up where it was easily ninety degrees every single day. In fact, where I worked, the store if it got ninety degrees outside we got to close the store and go home because it was that unsafe. To me, air conditioning was wonderful. And to my mom and my grandmother, not having to use ice box refrigerators was great. I really appreciate all of that today and I understand that we’ve gone overboard with air conditioning. It’s really bad for the environment and one should learn how to get along with these temperatures.But Josh, it was really hot in South Dakota. Unless you had really, really good screens, when you opened the windows you were covered with mosquito bites. I don’t want to revisit that at all ever. I am willing to use fans and cut out a lot of air conditioning but to me it means giving up a lot that made my life a lot better.I didn’t have much but what I had w

The average American watches 5 hours of TV per day. Many fly or drive around for fun. If we want to pollute less, will we lose the ability to enjoy ourselves?I've written before how Vincent Stanley's commitment to turn off his computer Friday mornings and Nicola Pirulli's walking me through The Spodek Method led to me turning off all my electronics and practicing singing daily. Since starting, I've missed a couple days, but have loved the results.Until recently I only sang songs, nothing attempting to learn, just to enjoy. Now I'm moving to voice exercises. I resisted doing them partly because I need to use my computer to play the recordings so decided to relax that constraint the days I practice my exercises. I expect that doing them enough will improve my singing. For now, here is the "before" version of my practicing beginner voice exercises.When I listened after, I was mortified at my inexperienced voice. I have a long way to go. But I expect that practice will make perfect, or better, and it will be hard

I didn’t think of how small my building’s elevators were when I bought a sofa after moving into my current apartment. It didn’t fit. The deliverymen tried to bring it up the stairs too. They made the first landing, but couldn’t make the turn to go up the next flight.They had to take it back. I ended up paying a $300 restocking fee plus big tips for the deliverymen’s extra efforts. Plus I lost weeks with no sofa. Now I know my home’s limits. Living within them is no problem when I know them, only when I didn’t. A few minutes of measurement and geometry could have saved me that trouble and improved my life.Can homo sapiens’ elevator, also known as Earth, fit us all in? As with my sofa, maybe a bit of calculation is worth saving the trouble of finding out if our sofa can fit. We’re past the point of eyeballing it. Our sofa is civilization and billions of lives.I doubt even those who study sustainability most can answer Important questions likeCan fusion save us? Will it?What works between solar, wind, nuclear, g

Alexandra's commitment illustrates a result I keep finding. People who have acted to live sustainably the most already find new ways to act more than people who haven't. People who haven't done much, or acted for extrinsic reasons like an article suggested "one little thing you can do for the environment" instead of intrinsic, say they can't think of anything.I conclude that reducing polluting is skills you learn, not a target you reach. As with all skills, mastery brings joy, self-awareness, satisfaction, and expectation of more success through more practice. Alexandra has been mastering these skills for decades and shows mastery in this episode. How does mastery show in sustainability? In this case, I heard her having fun, connecting with people, learning, and enjoying the process.When last we heard from her, she shared how much she loved a particular hummus. She and her husband ate a container a day. A plastic container, that is, meaning a pile of plastic that would exist for centuries, maybe millennia, be

A topic making among the most headlines these days are digital mobs and their justice reacting to what people say. I've touched on it somewhat in this podcast and on my blog and I feel the risk teaching at NYU, which has kept me from expressing myself as openly as I could in the past. Another way of looking at this phenomenon is that we have become more vigilant about respecting groups that society hasn't stood up to before.We all see it. We all have opinions. Frederick approaches the phenomenon from a less partial, legal standpoint: what is going on? What risks are there? Who faces them? How can we respond? How should we respond for what reasons? How is technology changing our discourse?What do Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake have to do with it?What was appearing on Jon Stewart's Daily Show like?A reason I wanted to bring him on was to learn his views on my talking about abolition, a movement we can learn from, and attraction coaching, which informed my leadership practice. So I got to ask him his experi

Shaun Donovan is running for Mayor of New York City. Technically not a national or global position, but in practice it is. Many call it the second hardest job in America. Most New York City mayors affect the nation and world.With a city this size, there are many issues. I focus on two: leadership, which means character and social and emotional skills, and sustainability.Regarding leadership, character, and what motivated him, I heard Shaun share vulnerability. I’m impressed, considering his experience in the White House and beyond, and how many politicians share prepared messages more than themselves. I’ll share his bio and then our conversation.Regarding sustainability, I asked him about litter, biking, farmers markets, and more.Shaun for NYC: Shaun's campaign page See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My friend bought a sailboat, I mentioned to him my goal of sailing off North America, he told me about this guy posting weekly videos of circumnavigating the planet without using motors. I watched a bunch of videos. I had to learn more.He's "traveling in one consecutive journey around the world by as many motor less means as possible, including rowing, swimming, kayaking, standup paddleboarding, sailing, running, biking, skiing, skateboarding, velomobiling, walking backwards, and pogosticking. Friends and fellow adventurers join for support throughout the journey and help to create change through communication, education, and entertainment."I caught him in India soon to sail to Africa.People describe my behavior as extreme. Extremely fun! Actually, it’s more like most humans. Most westerners are extreme in our dependence, separation from family, separation from nature, obesity, addiction, heart disease, diabetes, working long hours, and so on. From their extreme position, normal me looks extreme.I keep going

Here are the notes I read from for this episode:6 months with fridge unpluggedMom's advice, her fridge2 articles: Vietnam and power grid safetyExtreme? Extreme fun200,000 years"Heirloom tomatoes" used to be "tomatoes"Connect with peopleOff grid in Manhattan?Solar batteryWhy LeBron practices free throwsTo become world class you have to practice the basicsOtherwise you don't know what you're talking about and lose credibility See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brad isn't just a longtime elected legislator, he's also a neighbor who represents me. Most campaigning politicians speak in talking points. Maybe for being neighbors, maybe just out of his personality, I heard him opening up and sharing about the man behind the campaign.We spoke about what motivates him, his vision, New York City, Greenwich Village, and government leadership. He spoke thoughtfully, with reflection on political topics but also other personal ones, like the environment, drugs, and drug dealers and use in our "back yard,"---that is, Washington Square Park. I would have expected a politician to dodge some of those questions.Here is Brad Hoylman, the person behind the campaign.I hope our conversation helps lead to New York City legislating decreasing the supply of plastic and packaging choking our oceans and air.Brad's campaign page See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Heartwarming is the best word to describe Bill's experience that I can think of.In today's episode, Bill and I start by talking about the incomparably larger impact of having fewer kids, especially in a country that pollutes as heavily as the U.S.Then we talked about Bill exploring his snowy yard with his grandson. The opportunity to do so was there for years, but he didn't act. You'll hear how he loved it.What natural experience might be sitting waiting for you to discover and enjoy? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My notes I read from:What I did:Kathryn Garcia in Washington Square ParkFarmers market (compost, oregano)Ride to BrooklynGrain de Sail sail boatVisit with friendCalisthenics by candlelightWake up, no clockThink, reflect, calmMeet to pick up garbageNotes on no power:29 to 30 hours since recording last episode, 26 with circuit breaker for apartment disconnectedLess of a big deal than I expected, though the fridge already being off probably lessened effectTemptationTimeDarknessLightOutdoorsEatingCalm, relaxedMy values See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Here are the notes I read from for this post:---I posted the other day an exercise to think about going twenty-four hours without using electrical power. To clarify, that exercise was to think about it. I don’t think many people would do it. Even orthodox Jews leave their refrigerators plugged in, as well as clocks. The meters to their homes would register power being used. I’m talking about the meter reading zero. They often leave lights on. Personal choices may mean some don’t use any power.I don’t know Amish, who might do it, or people in societies without power. I spoke to someone who lives where her power drops for days at a time, but she says everyone gets in their cars, which use spark plugs, to go places to charge their phones and use the internet. I don’t know anyone who lives off the grid.Even during the blackout in 2003 and after Hurricane Sandy, I still used battery power. My ten-day meditation retreats and two two-week trips to North Korea still used plenty of electrical power each day.Here’s tha

Jonathan and I have a good rapport. We joke around. I love his expressiveness as an artist. I think he values stewardship more than he's behaved so far in life, so I hear him enjoying aligning his behavior with his values.In this episode we review his leading his kids and wife in The Spodek Method from last time. You'll hear touching family interactions.The I teach the second interaction with guests---how to lead that conversation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I’ve taught a half-dozen people the technique I use in this podcast---the hosts of the other branches of the This Sustainable Life podcast. They started calling it The Spodek Method, so now I do too. It's enabled me to reach amazing people, many of global renown, who enjoy the experience. It doesn't alone solve all the world's problems, but it works. The Spodek Method leads a person to share and act on environmental values.You can do it too with communities you’d like to join. You would contribute to a mission of changing culture from seeing stewardship and sustainability as a burden, chore, deprivation, and sacrifice to wanting to do it based on experience, expecting joy, fun, freedom, community, connecting, meaning and value.   Why Learn the Spodek Method?Before: Deprivation, Sacrifice, Burden, ChoreAfter: Joy, Freedom, Fun, Community, Connection, Meaning, PurposeIf you would like to lead your community, try it. If you’d like to grow yourself, have others do it on you.This episode presents my teac

Jon is famous for bringing people together and creating community, see the New York Times article on him below. He invited me to a few of his events before the pandemic and they lived up to the reputation.His latest book, You're Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence comes out the day I'm posting this conversation, May 11. We talk about how the book came to be. We're both geeky and prone to talking theory, but neither of us would stop there. He shares how he put theory into practice. At first he makes it sound simple, but he also talks about the challenges and struggles he went through and how far back he had to start from.For our common interests in creating community, I've wanted to bring him here for years. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is really two.Remember that he started art late in life, so the first two-thirds talks about art. Also his experience with his kids and family picking up trash. You'll enjoy hearing his and his family's joy doing it. I imagine you'll also feel sober about his unpleasant surprise at how much trash there was to pick up.I hope you'll feel inspired to pick up trash too. I think you'll find yourself surprised at how much more trash you'll find when you pick it up than you expect from just looking.The second part, I walk him through how to lead someone in my technique for this podcast. He's considering starting a branch in the This Sustainable Life family, specifically to reach evangelicals, especially in Texas, a group I'm enthusiastic to connect with. Most environmentalists approach them judgmentally and critically, which prompts division.As you'll hear, Jonathan and I expect to connect with them so they enjoy acting.If you're interested in starting a branch of This Sustainable Life, this episode sho