We covered two main points: how I inspired him and how he inspired me. If I'm not too presumptuous to say I inspired him, that is, the first part is about his choosing not to fly. Several months into the pandemic at the time, we were all used to not flying, but when he committed, before the pandemic, most people I talked to called not flying impossible. Some backstory: Nir emailed me about 24 hours after our first conversation to say he had already substituted one flight with speaking remotely. In this episode, he shares about how he made it happen. Then we get into a back and forth about technology. We agreed on some and disagreed on other parts. Then I switched to what…

Michael wrote me the morning before we scheduled this conversation to say he ended up spending more time on the screen when he intended less. He wondered if we should skip it. Longtime listeners may remember similar results with guests Jim Harshaw and Caspar Craven. I told him I'm not looking for a Disney version implying that acting sustainable was easy. I believe listeners engage more with hearing the challenges than perfection, though it would mean him sounding human. He magnanimously agreed. So we'll get to hear his challenges. As it happens, his next book is called Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions, which overlaps with getting hooked on screen time. We ended up with some sneak preview of…

Announcing , a new podcast in the growing family from Leadership and the Environment, Conversazioni Sostenibili (Sustainable Conversations), hot on the heels of Leadership and the Environment: Sweden and This Sustainable Life: Untethered. The new one is hosted by Nicola Pirulli, based in Turin. Here is his description of the podcast: Conversazioni Sostenibili è un podcast con un'ambizione: ispirare chi ascolta.Come? Incontrando persone comuni e fuori dal comune che raccontano con leggerezza e passione successi, sconfitte, sfide e la loro idea di ambiente. E provano, nel tempo di una chiacchierata, a trasformare le parole in azioni per sostenere lo straordinario pianeta che abitiamo. Ci riusciranno?Forse, ma quel che conta è mettersi in gioco perché ogni piccolo cambiamento farà nascere connessione, gioia, consapevolezza, senso.Se anche tu…

"You heard it here first." We start by reviewing George's experience picking up garbage with a team he organized. We started creating a project. It spontaneously arose, but I see a chance that we'll make it happen. Maybe soon, maybe it will take time. Maybe it will go nationwide. Maybe it will fall apart. Maybe it will change culture. Maybe future generations will look back at these changes as what sparked the turning point. George's gym, Spartan, Litterati, SoulBuffalo, Generation 180, Living Lands and Waters, The Story of Stuff, . . . there are a lot of organizations that want to act who are part of this growing community. I want to contrast George's motivation from your typical gym's or most organizations'. Most gyms work…

The notes I read from: Missing messages on the environment we can learn from Churchill. I'll read from some of his most famous speeches, during WWII, then I'll play the close of one, from June 4, 1940 "We shall never surrender." Some points: It's bad. It's as bad as it's ever been. There's no escape. Your life is in peril.It's huge. Nations have been wiped off the map. The world is at stake.We are dying. Many of us will die.We must act, ourselves. You, me, everyone. We must put ourselves on the line.We can't delegate or pass this off.We can make it. We must join together.We have done it before. We are a great people.We are humble. "We" are just an island.We have a purpose,…

My second episode with guest Dan McPherson of Leaders Must Lead on race. Probably one more after this one. Say someone doesn't know something about race but wants to. If that person sees others talking about the subject get chastised and even fired, how can that person learn? If anything, won't they learn not to ask? If so, won't they remain ignorant? Doesn't ignorance contribute to racism. Dan and I discuss these questions and more. He shares some surprising personal stories of being attacked and more, as do I.

Everyone gets we have to change system, which means global economy. They think we have to start huge. If it's not big enough, it's not worth doing. History suggests otherwise, in particular Edwards Deming's results transforming Japan in the 50s, or the U.S. war efforts before that, or several American companies since. Kevin runs the Deming Institute, which trains people in the Deming philosophy and practice. Kevin speaks from experience as the grandson of Dr. Deming. They didn't start by doing big huge things. They started with a systemic perspective, understanding where and how to act. Kevin's personal project of changing light bulbs in his house illustrates how leading this way leads to results beyond what we see with just going big from the start.…

Here are my notes I read from for this episode: Just say no drugs winning Try telling smoker that cigarettes cause lung cancer and see if it stops. Doesn't. It takes work but rewarding Try giving more and more facts. They heard already. Now imagine Nancy Reagan was a smoker or cocaine user while saying just say no Imagine she smoked or did drugs while saying not to. That's Al Gore, DiCaprio, everyone! The problem isn't hypocrisy. I can't stand people making environment into moral issue. I'm not good for not polluting. You live by your values as much as I live by mine. If you don't value stewardship I'm not good by your values. If you value it as much as I do, then…

A few months ago I hadn't heard the names William Wilberforce or Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Now they rank among my greatest influences. Eric Metaxas's biographies of these two men were among the main reasons. Once I read them, I had to meet Eric and bring his view here. Read the books, learn about the men, what they did, and the environments in which they did it. Few who spend time with me would expect me to find inspiration from a man whom I heard describe himself as a "Jesus freak" or strongly promote President Trump, whose policies I haven't seen increasing Earth's ability to sustain life and society, but those who know me well know my intense curiosity for people with unfamiliar views. Those who know…

J. B. MacKinnon's book The Once and Future World influenced my view of nature as much as anyone's. I thought I knew what nature was, what we were trying to conserve or preserve, but I wasn't even close. I found his writing gripping and colorful. I'll link to a couple recordings I made that quoted the book at length. We've been talking about our work, his new book he's nearly finished, my book I've just started, and how he was thinking of acting on hisresearch personally. He was sharing so personally about the challenge he was considering for himself, impromptu, I asked if he would consider recording a podcast episode. We just jumped into it. Here's both of us unrehearsed, unprepared. I loved getting to…

Here are the notes I read from: No, it's not just a piece of cloth • Context â—¦ Mark Meadows and Ben Carson tested positive â—¦ US is spreading virus maybe most in world. White House more infections than Vietnam â—¦ In fact there are more people in Ben Carson with covid than in Vietnam. â—¦ Masks halt spread. â—¦ People say tragic that it's become political, but even so, it's just a piece of cloth. Just wear it. â—¦ "A mask is not a political statement, but it is a good way to start bringing America back together," Biden said on Monday. "The goal is to get back to normal as fast as possible." â—¦ From leadership perspective, couldn't be more counterproductive or for…

Michael Moss had already risked his life as a reporter in Baghdad, where he interviewed Islamic militants and exposing that US marines lacked body armor. He had also already won a Pulitzer prize for reporting on food. Then he wrote Salt Sugar Fat, which has become one of the core books on the field of the food and doof industries. For me, the title has become one word, SaltSugarFat, to which I often add convenience, SaltSugarFatConvenience. The book shows how the system evolved its incentives and motivations. They lead all players to create products and behavior that take advantage of our reward systems to induce craving, temporarily satisfy that craving while re-creating it, and continuing that loop. The book pulls you along with detailed stories,…