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: 34 (and counting)
Loads of garbage I filled in 2025 so far: 0
Loads filled in 2024: 0
Loads filled in 2023: 0
Loads 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: 2,966 and counting
Years not flying: 9 (110 months) and counting
2024-25 grid electric grid use at home: 0 kilowatt-hours
Annual carbon emissions: about 1 ton
Daily burpees: 250,031 and counting
Resting pulse: 46 bpm

LATEST BLOG POSTS

828: Richard Reeves: For Boys and Men: More support and love, less misunderstanding

on July 19, 2025 in Podcast

When people talk about helping men, a lot of people think any and maybe every man might just have latent misogyny, so helping him risks augmenting misogyny. Richard Reeves has researched the situation extensively and for whatever advantages they (we) once had in some areas, still have in some of them, society has been kicking us down, especially in education, income, medicine, and law. A big part of his job[…] Keep reading →

Which person has more love in their life?

on July 18, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience, Relationships

Two people are walking down the street. There’s litter on the ground. One picks up some of the litter. The other doesn’t. Which person has more love in their life?

827: Chris Berdik: Scientific American loved his book Clamor (so did I)

on July 17, 2025 in Podcast

Sound pollution is pollution. You know it’s been growing for your whole life with little sign of decreasing. I wish I lived in a world with less sound pollution, but given that I do, I’d rather be aware and conscious of it than not know. Ignorance of how much sound was affecting me wasn’t blissful. Noise still affected me. Awareness enables me to act. But it’s not what you think.[…] Keep reading →

To conservatives and libertarians annoyed at trash strikes: Sanitation systems are socialist. Most of your garbage promotes socialism.

on July 16, 2025 in Doof, Freedom, HandsOnPracticalExperience

Sanitation systems across the nation are on strike. It started in Boston: and expanded to the west coast in solidarity: Since people who are conservative and libertarian often don’t like strikes, which they may see as socialist, communist, or moving in that direction, Today I want to clarify for them: Sanitation systems are socialist and motivate waste, violate Enlightenment thinking and practice, and violate the original intent of the Constitution.[…] Keep reading →

I love developing resilience and strength: AI version, part 1

on July 15, 2025 in Addiction, Awareness, Creativity, Freedom, HandsOnPracticalExperience, Perception

A recent article on artificial intelligence in the New Yorker wrote about how people who are suffering from loneliness are finding help from artificial intelligence. Some people can’t help loneliness, not out of character defect but circumstance. It gets the reader thinking about the elderly, for example, who outlive everyone they’ve been close to, or it describes as worse, if those who remain are senile. Sorry to give away the[…] Keep reading →

I love where I live. A perk of volunteering: July 4th fireworks up close (also Thanksgiving)

on July 14, 2025 in Freedom

Common roles for auxiliary police officers include crowd control and traffic control during big events, like parades. July 4th fireworks is another big one (scroll down for pictures from last year’s Thanksgiving parade). This year my patrol during the fireworks was right next to the water. I took a video toward the beginning (after ensuring it was okay with the officer I report to). Should I say it’s only a[…] Keep reading →

This week’s selected media, July 13, 2025: Eichmann in Jerusalem, Madison, Akhil Reed Amar

on July 13, 2025 in Tips

This week I finished: Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, by Hannah Arendt: I heard about this book a long time ago. I wondered if I’d ever read it. I took it on now while learning how people came to do things so contrary to what seems human we can’t believe they happened, in particular after The Lucifer Effect. For a book about one of the[…] Keep reading →

I love where I live. How it’s being destroyed, part 3: Drugs

on July 12, 2025 in Addiction

I’ve posted plenty on the heavy drug use in my neighborhood. The police and parks department recently cleaned the northwest corner of Washington Square Park, but, as they predict, the junkies move to other nearby places. I believe the effort is worth it. I talk to neighbors about forming local groups to occupy spaces the junkies would go to before they get there and make it hard for them to[…] Keep reading →

I love where I live but it’s being destroyed, part 2: Online delivery

on July 11, 2025 in Visualization

Amazon: save pennies, ruin your community. My neighborhood is filled with delivery trucks taking up public space delivering tons of stuff daily, followed by sanitation trucks hauling tons of garbage. Meanwhile, there are no produce stores almost anywhere in the city. People shopping online wreck communities. First, they mostly buy less-than-useless things that will end up poisoning landfills. Click any result from a search on “most popular purchase on amazon”[…] Keep reading →

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