This Sustainable Life: All Episodes

101: Seth Godin: Work that matters for people who care

101: Seth Godin: Work that matters for people who care

I’m posting this conversation today because Seth just launched his book, This is Marketing, already a #1 bestseller. As he points out, his marketing is close to what I call leadership: how to influence people, to discover your passion, and such. Helping…

100: Michael O’Heaney: Story of Stuff

100: Michael O’Heaney: Story of Stuff

Michael is the Executive Director of an organization that inspired me as much as any—The Story of Stuff. They continue to inspire me to think bigger and to focus on the details it would be easier to ignore but that matter. If…

099: Jethro Jones: No Excuse Stewardship

099: Jethro Jones: No Excuse Stewardship

Stewardship is Jethro’s core message, as I heard—of his community, especially children in it, his country, and the natural world we share. This world is a beautiful, abundant gift we could wreck if we don’t steward it as we know we can.…

098: Would You Free Your Slaves?

098: Would You Free Your Slaves?

Imagine you were born into a slave holding family. You didn’t ask to be born into it. You didn’t create the system. You didn’t make slavery legal. Every landowner around you would own slaves. You would inherit yours. Would you free your…

097: Sir Tim Smit: Changing the World with No Special Skills

097: Sir Tim Smit: Changing the World with No Special Skills

Tim Smit is the co-founder and Vice Chairman of the Eden Project in Cornwall, in the southwest of England. He turned a lifeless, poisoned abandoned mine into a bountiful green world-class garden people love to visit. Eden has attracted millions of visitors…

096: Chris Bailey: Hyperfocus, The New Science of Attention

096: Chris Bailey: Hyperfocus, The New Science of Attention

Chris Bailey shares how to focus and create intention—how to become more productive on the outside and live with more meaning and purpose on the inside by focusing on what is important to you. Focus isn’t necessarily easy, but Chris shares from…

095: How Would-be Leaders Are Moving Us Backward

095: How Would-be Leaders Are Moving Us Backward

I want to differentiate between telling people facts and what to do or what they should do on one side, and leading them on the other. I see a lot of people telling others what to do. Not a lot of people…

094: Where Reason Fails and Leadership Works

094: Where Reason Fails and Leadership Works

Many people think if you just reason enough, you’ll get to what’s right and wrong in a way everyone will believe. This happens in the environment and many other places in life. In the environment, you may believe we should pass a…

093: Want to win elections? Clean your neighborhood. Be a steward.

093: Want to win elections? Clean your neighborhood. Be a steward.

How do we elect people, including a United States President, who act on and steward the environment? I’m going to present a plan that I believe can win the next election that transcends the usual divisions that led to today’s political situation,…

091: What Works That We Can Build On

091: What Works That We Can Build On

People ask if I think we can make it out of our environmental mess. I don’t know, but I act on my values. Many examples of cultural change suggest we can make it, including Smoking Drunk driving Seat belts Leaded gas and…

090: Obesity and the Environment

090: Obesity and the Environment

How we treat our bodies is how we are treating our environment. How we treat the environment is how we are treating our bodies. The fat and CO2 concentrations aren’t the cause of the problem. The are the effects. The cause is…

089: Evelina Utterdahl, part 1: Traveling the world without flying

089: Evelina Utterdahl, part 1: Traveling the world without flying

Evelina Utterdahl travels more than most. She writes travel columns. She loves travel as much as anyone, maybe more. Yet she chooses not to fly, as she wrote in Why I have chosen to travel the world without flying. If you’ve had trouble aligning your life with…

088: Bea Johnson: The Priestess of Waste-Free Living

088: Bea Johnson: The Priestess of Waste-Free Living

Bea has become a role model, maybe even a hero to me. People keep saying they’re impressed with my waste. It’s easy to allow your standards to slide. One problem: my fellow Americans waste more than nearly anyone in human history. I…

087: The U.S. Constitution guides my environmental behavior

087: The U.S. Constitution guides my environmental behavior

Why do I think about the United States Constitution when my pressure cooker finishes cooking? Or when I leave a room? The U.S. Constitution guides my environmental behavior and has since I learned it in elementary school. Today is U.S. Constitution Day…

086: Awareness means nothing. Or less.

086: Awareness means nothing. Or less.

Neither the environment nor your life responds to your awareness. They respond to your behavior. People who speak the truth say, “I’m telling the truth.” People who lie say the same thing. People who are aware say they are aware. People who…

085: Daniel Bauer, part 2, Going car-free is liberating

085: Daniel Bauer, part 2, Going car-free is liberating

Going car-free is liberating. Daniel got rid of a car! He chose to from Texas! And he thanks me for inspiring him. Would you think losing a car would cripple your life? Listen on to hear how it brought him joy and…

084: Geoffrey West, part 1: Simplicity beneath it all

084: Geoffrey West, part 1: Simplicity beneath it all

Geoffrey West’s work beautifully and elegantly ties biology to how we interact with our environment. Amazingly, his unique views lead to the same conclusions as mine, though coming from totally unrelated directions. You’ve never seen work like his. If you love nature…

083: Alisa Cohn, part2: Gurus are people too

083: Alisa Cohn, part2: Gurus are people too

Alisa shares what happens behind the scenes to everyone, including world-ranked coaches and speakers. Listening to a podcast with leadership in the title means you’ve probably read many gurus’ books and watched their videos, which are all edited and produced to make…

082: Ben Feder, Part 1, Take off your shoes

082: Ben Feder, Part 1, Take off your shoes

Ben Feder is a high level executive who realized he was losing the things that were important to him due to his pursuit of success — until then defined by others’ values. We talk about him taking a year sabbatical with his…