Best and Brightest … Genius — Esquire

A once-in-a-lifetime game-changing advance
in our field everyone else will follow
— Marshall Goldsmith

Astrophysicist turned new media whiz — NBC

Passionate … confident … — Forbes

You don't just learn theory from
him, you improve your life.
— Inc.

The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard University, Standford University, Princeton University, MTV, IBM, US Army

My Mission

My mission is to help change American (and global) culture on sustainability and stewardship from expecting deprivation, sacrifice, burden, and chore to expecting rewarding emotions and lifestyles, as I see happen with everyone I lead to act for their intrinsic motivations.

In my case the emotions have been joy, fun, freedom, connection, meaning, and purpose.



Systemic change begins with personal change.

Some of my values. What are yours?
Months living off the grid in Manhattan: 25 (and counting)
Loads of garbage I filled in 2024 so far: 0
Loads of garbage I filled in 2023 so far: 0
Loads of garbage I filled in 2022: 0
Loads filled in 2021: 0
Loads filled in 2020: 0
Loads filled in 2019: 1
Loads filled in 2018: 1
Loads filled in 2017: 1
Days picking up litter: 2,667 and counting
Years not flying: 8 (100 months) and counting
2024 grid electric grid use at home: 0 kilowatt-hours
Annual carbon emissions: about 1 ton
Daily burpees: 234,085 and counting
Resting pulse: 47 bpm

LATEST BLOG POSTS

Advanced discoveries in sustainability

on October 2, 2024 in Leadership, Models

I recently hit on the following observations. I shared them with a few people with experience in the overlap of experience in leading, science, and living more sustainably. They understood the concepts after some explanation, but suggested they wouldn’t be accessible to many people outside that zone. I’m not sure how many people they’ll make sense to, but I consider them big discoveries. Some day I’ll write essays on each.[…] Keep reading →

Fridgeless Means Fresher Food; Day 1 Year 4 without a fridge (like all humans before about 100 years ago)

on October 1, 2024 in Addiction, Freedom, Nature

On September 30, 2021, I unplugged my fridge, aiming for 8 months. I had unplugged it based on an article on one of my favorite sites, Low Tech Magazine: Vietnam’s Low-tech Food System Takes Advantage of Decay. I learned much of the world uses less refrigeration than Americans. We think of fridges as keeping food fresh, but other places have The first time I unplugged, I made it 3.5 months.[…] Keep reading →

New resting heart rate: 46 bpm

on October 1, 2024 in Fitness

Before this morning’s colonoscopy, they checked my resting heart rate. The nurse let me keep the tag they wrote it down on. There it is: “HR 46”. Unlike earlier pulse measurements taken after treatment that included anesthetics and other medications that may have slowed my pulse, they took this one before anything else. I had just walked to the hospital. It was actually lower Actually, for a while the reading[…] Keep reading →

One Year Without Plugging Anything In, Even Not At Home

on September 30, 2024 in Freedom

Several responders my Ars Technica article from January 2023, I disconnected from the electric grid for 8 months—in Manhattan, commented things like “You mostly shifted a fair portion of your energy needs onto the surrounding city. Not all, but your electrical bill or lack thereof doesn’t reflect your true energy usage. The city could not function at all if half the people did what you did.” That is, they said[…] Keep reading →

This week’s selected media, September 29, 2024: Teaching White Supremacy, Woke Inc

on September 29, 2024 in Tips

This week I finished: Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity, by Donald Yacovone: I was curious about this book. I watched a few of the author’s talks. He reviewed American history textbooks and found they promoted white supremacy. I’m glad I read it since I learned yet more about this country’s inequality. He covered a lot of history, but like the 1619 Project[…] Keep reading →

The odd, capricious gratitude and anger of Crack Row addicts to picking up litter

on September 28, 2024 in Addiction, SIDCHAs, Stories

The reactions of people on and around the area they call Crack Row—the northwest corner of Washington Square Park—varies and changes. Earlier today, while doing my sidcha of picking up at least three pieces of litter from that corner, one guy thanked me and said he appreciated when people did nice things like that. Not long after, one woman from another group of about a half-dozen people got angry at[…] Keep reading →

Why changing culture to sustainable must come first, only then pursue efficiency, technology, and laws.

on September 27, 2024 in Freedom

Germany and Japan seem wonderful cultures today. Not so much in 1944, when they were committing among the most grievous atrocities ever. Everyone else wanted to stop them. Nobody considered stopping them by making them more efficient, advancing their technologies, or promoting legislation within them passed by their people. No allied general or politician promoted changing them by offering new technologies or helping them innovate. Making them more efficient would[…] Keep reading →

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