Joshua, Author at Joshua Spodek - Page 8 of 249

I’m not looking for them, but hours after my last post: more trashed Christmas Pagan Trees

I’m not looking for them, but hours after my last post: more trashed Christmas Pagan Trees

I'm not trying to make lots of headlines about this pattern, but I don't want to revise past posts. I'm not looking for these killed trees. On the contrary, that I can't avoid them suggests how many we kill, ostensibly to celebrate life and the birth of someone who promoted loving your neighbor as yourself. Hours after posting The last Christmas Pagan Trees of the Season?, which wasn't my last post this season speculating I'd seen the last of trees we killed and trashed this season, I saw another one. Then today, before I could post about it, I saw yet another. Here's the one from today, about as scraggly, sad, and pathetic as I could imagine a Christian would allow something to represent the…

March 28, 2026

The last Christmas Pagan Trees of the Season?

The last Christmas Pagan Trees of the Season?

I've already written a few posts this year wondering if I've seen the last discarded trees, but we cut down so many, it takes this long to discard them all. We could have left them standing. It’s almost April and people pay to chop down so many trees, I’ve seen them thrown out this month. I think I’ve seen the last for the season so I’ll post the last images of them. I’ll copy text from previous posts so people see I’m defending, not attacking, tradition. It’s sad how garbage-y they look. This long after Christmas, I think people have lost interest in connecting the trees with life. Anyway, the text for context: Every year, I take pictures of how people trash their trees. I…

March 27, 2026

More on Eric Williams’s “Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery”

Freedom / Nonjudgment

More on Eric Williams’s “Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery”

I found a piece that expanded on something I wrote in Sustainability Simplified about how racism developed. Since I found that we needed to change culture to restore sustainability, I've been learning about abolitionism and related issues, since abolitionism is an example of humans changing global culture where no one thought it possible, then it happened, started by a small number of visionary people. In my book, I wrote: Oxford-educated Trinidadian historian Eric Williams wrote, “A racial twist has thereby been given to what is basically an economic phenomenon. Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.” Recently, historian Ibram X. Kendi agreed. He wrote, “I had been taught that racist ideas cause racist policies. That ignorance and hate cause…

March 26, 2026

Did Paul Ehrlich Help or Hurt His Cause?

Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Leadership / Nonjudgment / Pollution and Depletion

Did Paul Ehrlich Help or Hurt His Cause?

Paul Ehrlich died two weeks ago. I read The Population Bomb a while ago and heard him speak in many interviews. I recently listened again to a few recordings of his and read a few articles of him. In each he was speaking to people who liked him and agreed with him so he spoke freely. In each he called people who disagreed with him "idiots" or something like "people who can't count to twenty without taking their shoes off." He wasn't perfect. Nobody is, but though he acknowledged he was wrong on some points, he didn't take responsibility for mistakes. He just said that he would be right in the long run. He didn't acknowledge that he didn't take huge factors that would affect…

March 25, 2026

See me in the Washington Post’s Climate Coach again

Doof

See me in the Washington Post’s Climate Coach again

The Washington Post‘s Climate Coach column by Michael Coren quoted me today. Scroll down in the image or pdf below and you'll see my comments on an app designed for packaged food and doof. They had to edit for space (asking permission, of course). Here's the full text I wrote: Hi, I recommend a solution I prefer to Yuka, which doesn't work for me since I don't buy packaged food. Fresh produce has no label to scan. Fresh, local, in-season produce and nuts, grains, and other things from bulk have the added benefits of costing less, being healthier, funding local farmers over remote industrial conglomerates, and tasting better. Avoiding packaged food is the main reason I haven't filled on load of garbage at home since…

March 24, 2026

Year 11, day 1 no flying

Addiction / Hands on Practical Experience / Nature / Pollution and Depletion

Year 11, day 1 no flying

I attended an event in midtown by Trump Plaza in midtown over the weekend. A friend who is very liberal said how uncomfortable the space made her feel. She also mentioned how she just got back from Mexico and planned to return there, as well as New Orleans, in the next few months. I didn't point out to her how much of the cost of her plane tickets is funding the lobbyists and industries that are driving the US government she is so uncomfortable with. I did start to speculate if there were places that made me uncomfortable. I thought about airports. It hit me that I've only been inside an airport once in the past ten years. A few years ago I met a…

March 24, 2026

Are we pseudoscientists?

Awareness / Nonjudgment

Are we pseudoscientists?

It's difficult to empathize with people we disagree with. It's difficult to look at the world as if you knew only what they knew and nothing of what you know that they didn't. Many people seem unable to distinguish understanding and empathizing with someone from agree with or supporting them. I think part of our inhibition comes from fearing that we'll find that we would have felt and done things we consider abhorrent. Psychological research shows most of us can be induced to act in violation of our values. I think many of us fear acknowledging what we would have done had we been born with white skin in the South before the Civil War or in Germany as a German to come of age…

March 23, 2026

This week’s selected media, March 22, 2026: Two documentaries: Ulysses S. Grant and Eugenics

Tips

This week’s selected media, March 22, 2026: Two documentaries: Ulysses S. Grant and Eugenics

This week I finished: Ulysses S. Grant---A documentary on the 18th President, part 1: Grant plays a big role in my new book as a role model. He was a broke farmer recovering from malaria. His wife's family owned slaves, giving him an easy way to recover if he chose it. Meanwhile, his father refused to help him as long as he stayed with slaveholders. He had acquired a slave from his wife's family. He could have sold the slave or let the slave buy his freedom. Instead he granted the slave freedom. Then helped win the Civil War and became president. Yes, to have owned the slave violated his values, but could he have done everything that followed had he not repented and freed…

March 22, 2026

Would you have acted in the gravest historical times?

Choosing/Decision-Making / Pollution and Depletion

Would you have acted in the gravest historical times?

People consistently say they don't do what they believe is right regarding pollution and depletion because it won't change the system. I point out that independent of what anyone else does, their personal pollution and depletion will hurt people who have not consented. They rarely even minimally decrease their pollution and depletion. I'm curious what people think they would have done under slavery, the Holocaust, Stalinism, or other dominance hierarchy. If you found yourself magically transported to being in the group that owned slaves in a slave culture---say to become a plantation owner in the US South---would you have freed your slaves even if you knew that nobody else would and your actions wouldn't change the system, but you would reduce the suffering of the…

March 21, 2026

Environmentalists argue against sustainability with me

Pollution and Depletion

Environmentalists argue against sustainability with me

I recently met with an environmentalist. The name isn't important, but this person founded an organization devoted to justice around climate. The person and organization are highly regarded in their fields. Our conversation followed a common pattern. This person is pursuing standard practices of legislation, market incentives, and innovation to promote things like more scientific research, innovating efficiency and new legislation, but most of all, a transition to "renewable" energy. When I talked about ending pollution and depletion, this person balked at what seemed to them impractical and undesirable: "how would we feed eight billion people without electricity?" and "But I have relatives on the opposite coast. How will I see them?" I suggested that we would all enjoy more freedom. The response: "I want…

March 20, 2026

Something important missing in my life

Exercises / Leadership / Relationships

Something important missing in my life

I was talking to a coaching client about leadership, which works with people's intrinsic motivations. Since our greatest motivations and passions tend to be our greatest vulnerabilities, we tend to protect ourselves by hiding them. A challenge, then, for the leader who wants to go beyond just managing, beyond just leading, to inspire people, is to learn their deepest motivations, which they often protect the most. I was working with the client on how to make people feel comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities. As much as we protect them, since they are passions we care about, we want to share them... as long as we feel the person we're talking to will support us, not judge us, make fun of us, manipulate us, or otherwise use…

March 19, 2026

TYMCALM: Common and Advanced Legitimizing Myths around polluting and depleting

Addiction / Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Pollution and Depletion

TYMCALM: Common and Advanced Legitimizing Myths around polluting and depleting

This post shares a long series of legitimizing myths. Why cover these beliefs so comprehensively? Recall the response of a wise person who was asked, “If you had one hour to save the world, how would you spend it?” The reply: "I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes solving it.” Another wise person said, “If I had 4 hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first 3 hours sharpening the ax.” This post is about understanding the problem and sharpening the ax. If you've thought any of the following, the thoughts may have felt personal, but they likely resulted from your having been induced to act against your values—that is, from being corrupted. You don't have to create legitimizing…

March 18, 2026

That’s Your Mind Creating A Legitimizing Myth (TYMCALM)

Addiction / Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Pollution and Depletion

That’s Your Mind Creating A Legitimizing Myth (TYMCALM)

I may update the acronym, but I've created one for my upcoming book that I've found relevant to many people's views on pollution, depletion, and the prospect of life and culture without either. I've found useful the acronym TYMCALM (pronounced: Tim-calm, for “That's Your Mind Creating A Legitimizing Myth”) useful for when people respond reflexively to rationalize or justify a behavior that violates their values. For example, when I say that I haven't flown since 2016, people often respond that I must not have family flying-distance away, or (outrageously) that I must not love them, or that must not have had to fly for my income. Now I think, “TYMCALM.” I don't begrudge them for their minds working the way human minds work. That the…

March 17, 2026

Another walk in the park with family Spodek Method commitment

Nature / Relationships / Stories / Visualization

Another walk in the park with family Spodek Method commitment

I posted last month about a Spodek Method commitment to walk in a park with my sister in Queens based on walking in the park with my dad. Yesterday, I walked in the same park I did with my dad, this time with my other sister, plus her husband and son, my brother-in-law and nephew. To refresh your memory, that post, Another Spodek Method commitment: a walk in the park with family, began: I’ve done a lot of Spodek Method commitments. I’ve loved them all, at least I don’t remember disliking any, but haven’t recorded many of them here, but liked posting My Spodek Method commitment to make water ice from snow: A photo essay last month. I did another one over the weekend and…

March 16, 2026

This week’s selected media, March 15, 2026: The Gulag Archipelago volume 2, The Battle Over Citizen Kane, Totalitarian Novels (course)

Tips

This week’s selected media, March 15, 2026: The Gulag Archipelago volume 2, The Battle Over Citizen Kane, Totalitarian Novels (course)

This week I finished: The Gulag Archipelago, volume 2, by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn: I think this book has changed my view of the world as much as it will, then it changes me more. The end of this volume becomes more reflective and introspective. It describes how it changes and corrupts society outside the archipelago. As horrific as the archipelago is on the inside, and how far beyond what I would have imagined, the changes to all of society, even those not in the gulag surprised me more. Everyone lies, which is just the start. I keep seeing more why people call this book essential and how it motivates people to protect freedom. I had plenty reason before, but far more now. A big part of…

March 15, 2026

Denial like ours

Artificial Intelligence / Awareness / Pollution and Depletion

Denial like ours

When I talk about pollution and depletion, people keep telling me about their reductions. They are invariably among the greatest polluters and depleters in humanity's existence, but they compost their food scraps, avoid meat, or some feel-good minor act. When they talk, it sounds like they're making a big difference. When you ask about it making a difference, if they see a path to making a difference, or if they are actually trying to avoid hurting people without their consent, they get defensive. They act like they're clutching their pearls: "Oh my goodness! Do you mean to tell me that my plastic cup actually ends up in the ocean? That can't be. My pollution doesn't actually pollute." They act as if ignorant of their complicity…

March 14, 2026

Unnecessary words that distract and detract

Unnecessary words that distract and detract

Maybe it's just me, but some extraneous words and phrases bother me like fingernails on chalkboards. I can't think of all of them now, but I wanted to start since if I wait until I think of them all, I might never start. I'll add more as they come to me. "Go ahead and...": These words add no value. I think the person using them thinks they make them sound special, but they're just an affectation. They add no meaning and distract. To say "I'm going to go ahead and start making dinner" means nothing different than "I'm going to start making dinner" except to make the speaker sound wordy and indirect. "Thank you for that": It's rare that it's not obvious what someone is…

March 13, 2026

Started a new razor today, my first in almost a year

Habits / Hands on Practical Experience

Started a new razor today, my first in almost a year

Regular readers know I pick up litter daily. I've gotten good at noticing things that people have left on the ground that aren't litter. I don't remember exactly when, but probably about two years ago, I saw a box just sitting on the sidewalk. It seemed connected to nothing and when I picked it up and looked around, nobody claimed it. Things like this box sitting there happen all the time. Sometimes the box is empty. Other times there's just garbage in it. Yet other times something valuable is in it. Inside this box was a brand new in the box, as far as I could tell never used black aluminum safety razor and a box of 100 sealed blades. It was simple, black, and…

March 12, 2026

Leslie Jones and the Daily Show getting votes for Trump

Inc.com / Relationships / Volunteering

Leslie Jones and the Daily Show getting votes for Trump

When Donald Trump was first elected President ten years ago, since I didn't know many Trump voters, I posted in the column I wrote then with Inc.com, "If You Voted for Trump, Let's Meet." The post led to several conversations with Trump voters across the US. I found the conversations informative and lovely. How could people who promoted compassion and tolerance so much be so mean? One comment that one Trump voter said stuck with me. She lived in San Francisco, where nearly everyone she knew disliked Trump. Many despised him. She told me she had to hide her voting choice out of fear of social repercussions. Yet all these people who attacked Trump voters with disdain claimed to value compassion and tolerance. Her comment:…

March 11, 2026

The last Christmas Pagan Tree of the season?

Nature / Pollution and Depletion / Visualization

The last Christmas Pagan Tree of the season?

I just posted The first warm day of the year means overflowing doof garbage, of course, which showed how Americans celebrate spring: polluting and depleting, funding the production of garbage, and driving themselves to obesity. We also celebrate winter by killing trees. I hope the picture below is the last Christmas Pagan tree of the season. It goes to show you how many trees we kill in our pagan rituals that we now practice, merged with Christian ones. Then it was wrapped in plastic, gratuitously, as if pine trees were toxic or dangerous, but the car behind it or garbage below it are safe. It's sickening, literally and figuratively. It's also American in 2026.

March 10, 2026

The first warm day of the year means overflowing doof garbage, of course

Doof / Fitness / Pollution and Depletion / Visualization

The first warm day of the year means overflowing doof garbage, of course

Sunday was the first warm day of the year. It was shorts weather. Do we celebrate the abundance of nature? No, that's not today's American values. What are today's American values? You can tell by our behavior. We buy doof, not food. We don't prepare it. We buy it pre-prepared, which means overloaded with salt, sugar, and fat, then packaged. We don't even eat fresh fruit on its own. We eat non-fresh fruit pre-chopped and assembled into plastic containers. Want proof? When I went to Washington Square Park for my sidcha to pick up at least three pieces of litter from the northwest corner, every trash can was beyond full. People weren't satisfied to fill the cans. They dumped doof packaging trash all around the…

March 10, 2026

The United States situation regarding pollution and depletion

Freedom / Nonjudgment / Pollution and Depletion

The United States situation regarding pollution and depletion

We are living in the wake of the corruption of otherwise great people, in particular George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, as well as their peers. They risked their lives to promote liberty, freedom, equality, democracy, and national security. They claimed those values were universal but defended them for themselves and their peers only. Their corruption was not to extend them to their slaves. The legacy of their corruption follows a direct line to John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis, then to Margaret Sanger, Henry Ford, and Ford's dear friend Adolph Hitler, through to today's persistent, enduring racism and greatest risks to national and global security. Still, I don't blame them. They didn't ask to be born into a slave culture. They couldn't help…

March 9, 2026

This week’s selected media, March 8, 2026: Gulag documentaries

Tips

This week’s selected media, March 8, 2026: Gulag documentaries

This week I finished: Gulag---The Story: A three-part documentary on Gulags made in France and posted on a channel called Free Documentary---History, which looks full of documentaries that look interesting, though I haven't watched any others. I'm about halfway through the second volume of The Gulag Archipelago. I'm curious other views of the Gulag system, the USSR, Stalin, and the system that I knew existed but hadn't learned about. Since I'm learning about how tyranny happens and how to stop it, learning about arguably the most totalitarian and deadly such system is relevant to my next book. So a couple documentaries are giving me alternative views from Solzhenitsyn. It's as awful as he describes, though the documentaries lack his personal inside view. They are more…

March 8, 2026

Why consistency? Self-awareness and integrity

Awareness / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Why consistency? Self-awareness and integrity

I write about sidchas and standard procedures a fair amount. I don't remember how often I clarify the main reasons for doing them. You might think the point of fitness-related ones to be fitness. I'm proud of fitness results, but they're more a side effect. One of the big benefits is mental freedom. I think many people consider diet and exercise sources of stress, never knowing if they're doing enough or if they're doing them right. Making sidchas for the most important parts of your life means you always know they're taken care of. You never have to worry about them. The most important parts of life are easy to put aside here or there, then soon you've lost them. I consider the three pillars…

March 7, 2026

The last Christmas Pagan Trees of the season?

Pollution and Depletion / Visualization

The last Christmas Pagan Trees of the season?

It's March and people pay to chop down so many trees, I've seen them thrown out this month. I think I've seen the last for the season so I'll post the last images of them. I'll copy text from previous posts so people see I'm defending, not attacking, tradition. It's sad how garbage-y they look. This long after Christmas, I think people have lost interest in connecting the trees with life. Anyway, the text for context: Every year, I take pictures of how people trash their trees. I find the waste and death tragic and the images of something that was supposed to celebrate life become garbage. This season, I started seeing trees trashed before Christmas: Ten days before Christmas people are already throwing away…

March 6, 2026

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