The loudest voices these days seem to come from protesters because they design their actions for attention. They aren’t necessarily the most effective. Many of us are outraged. Our emotions become intense. Emotional intensity drives us to do what we want most,…
Here are the notes I read this episode from: I see human population decreasing the Earth’s ability to sustain life and human society. I have a goal of increasing that ability. Actually two goals: my other goal is for people to enjoy…
Here are the notes I read from for this episode. I’ve talked about what I call The Worst Problem in the World for about ten years, so I’m used to it and worked from scarce notes. The problem Example: Germans and Jamaicans…
The notes I wrote and read from for this episode: Leadership means changing beliefs and goals. If you’re doing anything else, you’re following and perpetuating the system that created the results. Greater efficiency, recycling, reusing, etc are following, just accelerating, unless you…
Here is the text I read from for this post, but I would just listen to the recording. My environmental role models Why my role models? Because people keep saying what I do is inaccessible. That it’s too much or extreme. That…
People littering is creepy, like a tick or other parasite. It gets under my skin. I don’t like it, but if I want to help people stop their parasitical, tick-like behavior, I feel it helps to understand them. Leadership rests on empathy,…
Here are the notes I read from to make this episode, sometimes diverging from them. Why I don’t call our environmental situation a crisis. People think scientists will solve something or engineers will create a solution and we can go back to…
I’ve been sharing the sentiment of how people today seem to think of our times versus how people from other times would see now. I expect they’d view us with horror, disgust, and disdain. We can change how we act. We can…
Since recording this episode, Michael has become Google’s Lead for Circular Economy. Michael took on a challenge many people consider: biking to work for a month. He challenged himself amid product releases at work and family obligations as his wife traveled, so…
When we pollute, we think we act for the reasons in our minds that justify that behavior, but those reasons generally come after we choose, motivated to justify behavior we consider wrong. Most environmental analysis looks at the science of what pollutes…
Brad identified the problem of people acting or not as our emotions and behavior, which many forces contribute to. We also talk about media and scientists. This refinement of the understanding to emotions points to what to work on that I see…
I believe many people believe we live in an age of wonder and that people from any other time would envy us. I believe future generations will not look at our flying and pollution not with envy but with horror, as we…
People keep describing my environmental actions as praiseworthy. I think they do it to make it seem harder and less accessible to do themselves what they expect will be hard, deprivation, sacrifice, and not what they want to do. Making what I…
A few words on growth and how people misunderstand it, especially economists. I start by talking about my window garden cherry tomato plants and how the inability of the insects eating them to regulate their growth and up destroying the plants and…
Today’s episode with guest Brad P, a dating coach and guru—well, former, since he’s moved on, as he’ll share—partly reveal a major part of my social and emotional development as an adult. He was in a sense my boss when I coached…
Polio terrorized the world. People died and became paralyzed and there were no defenses to it. Science understood it and eventually Jonas Salk found a vaccine. Just having a vaccine wasn’t enough. They needed massive global public projects to disseminate it. Is…
People commonly misunderstand the goals of this podcast. I tried in this episode to clear up two common misunderstandings: They mistakenly believe my goal is individual change—to influence one person at a time. They mistakenly believe I act on my environmental values…
This episode is two thoughtful, intelligent people sharing environmental thoughts. I think the thoughts we share are what a lot of people think but don’t share enough. We cover action, leadership, motivation, caring, beliefs, integrity, and Adam’s challenge on “imperfect” (which I…
Between insects, kelp, vertical farming, lab-grown meat, and other clever options, why didn’t we think of them before? Because we had better options! Few meat eaters choose crickets over steaks and hamburgers, but we’ve squandered what was once plenty with overpopulation. We’ve…
Here are the notes I work from for this episode: From climate march Went 3 times: Before lunch to participate in organizing group, went to Foley Square. Seemed like tens of thousands, maybe six figures. On my way to a meeting, walking…