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: 12 (and counting)
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: 2,247 and counting
Years not flying: 7 and counting
2023 electric grid use: 0 kilowatt-hours
Annual carbon emissions: about 1 ton
Daily burpees: 211,685 and counting

LATEST BLOG POSTS

Another zero kilowatt-hour month: May 2023

on June 8, 2023 in Nature

You can do it too. Have you tried?

If your pollution causes extreme weather, you’re extreme, not me.

on June 7, 2023 in Nature, Nonjudgment, Visualization

There’s no mystery what causes more forest fires than ever: our polluting, depleting behavior causing global warming. If your behavior causes fires like humanity has never seen before, you are extreme for causing extreme results, not me for behaving traditionally. Not flying is normal. Jesus didn’t fly. George Washington didn’t fly. Abraham Lincoln didn’t fly. Power grids are not normal. The Buddha never plugged into an electric grid, nor did[…] Keep reading →

691: Oliver Burkeman, part 1.5: Embracing Our Inevitable Limitations on Time and Energy

on June 6, 2023 in Podcast

I’ve been recommending Oliver’s book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals a lot. When people ask about it, I have a hard time explaining what it says, only that it’s valuable. He has a way of communicating important things about values, time, intent, decision, and related concepts that are hard to express otherwise. In this conversation he shares more. One thing I can express that I value: what he[…] Keep reading →

Student reviews from teaching Leadership at NYU, spring 2023

on June 5, 2023 in Education

I post student reviews of my courses. I post all, no cherry picking. This year, I only received three qualitative reviews for teaching the Senior Seminar in Leadership: Thanks for such an amazing semester – you and your class truly inspired me and gave me a new perspective on leadership and how to lead. — Just wanted to thank you for this semester and for teaching this class. I believe[…] Keep reading →

This week’s selected media: June 4, 2023

on June 4, 2023 in Tips

I read and watched this week: Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa: A movie-buff friend recommended the movie. It’s almost 2.5 hours long so it took me a few nights to watch it. It’s from 1952. I didn’t know what to expect. At first I didn’t think much of it. Then for the next few nights I kept thinking about it: little details that fit together, things characters said, how it connected[…] Keep reading →

On living your values with kids and a job

on June 3, 2023 in Fitness, Habits, SIDCHAs

Tell someone with kids or a job that you pollute less and they will tell you they can’t because of kids and a job. Then they’ll lecture you about your ignorance and how you couldn’t understand what it’s like, never mind that humans have had kids and had to work to eat and for shelter for 300,000 years. Have you read about the woman, Candice Burt, who ran fifty kilometers[…] Keep reading →

A North Korea compilation of video from my second trip

on June 2, 2023 in NorthKorea

I’ve meant to post this video for a while. I haven’t posted in a while about my trips to North Korea. I found this video on my hard drive. I hadn’t thought about visiting North Korea in a while, not having flown since 2016. I hope Cyrus doesn’t mind my posting it. Plus you can see my long hair days. Here’s a picture of me in North Korea. Those were[…] Keep reading →

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