Education

When I talk about living sustainably, one of people's main objections is that we need to keep developing and pushing the envelope on research on nature and science. Without pushing science and technology: How will we cure disease? Won't children and mothers die in childbirth? What about getting off this planet if an asteroid comes? Don't you value computers, airplanes, and other discoveries that came from science? What about learning about the universe? What about all the progress from moving away from superstition and myth? Do you want to return to the Stone Age? I have a PhD in physics and work on nature so I know a bit of what humans know about nature, but as it turns out the forefront of science is…

I pick up litter every day. My old yoga teacher, Eunnye, invited me to introduce her children's group to the practice. Her group is Critical Learning Club: Essential Education for Sustainable Living. We met by the Gandhi statue in Union Square, NYC, to pick up litter together. We had fun picking up litter together, though sad at how much litter we found. Here's the a video of it: https://youtu.be/am418Hs92iU We hope watching us will lead you to pick up litter daily too. We hope it leads you to buy less packaging so retailers tell manufacturers to stop making it, and everyone tells the extractors to leave the oil in the ground. The more you pick up the more you want to pick up more. I'm…

Alexandra Paul has risen to the top of my list of the few people who live in the intersection of experience necessary to lead effectively on the environment. She has experience leading, she knows the science, and she lives the values she suggests for others: She was a recent guest on my podcast, This Sustainable Life. She mentioned a presentation she has since given at Sand Diego State University. I consider it among the best resources on population I've seen. I recommend it as much as I can recommend videos, especially if you are considering having more kids or know anyone who might. She's considered the issue from many angles and speaks from experience, research, and compassion. It's the future. Here it is: https://youtu.be/FPHcKaOPxxM I'd…

My books and courses get stellar reviews because they teach how to lead and take initiative effectively---not through lecture but through practicing the basics and advancing as we improve, sometimes to mastery. We learn all performance-based fields that way---sports, dance, music, military, and so on. I approached coaching acting sustainably similarly. It hit me the other day that some things we don't need structured learning for---things we love without any training and can pick up with practice. To learn them we need only start. We love indulging in the environment---walks in the woods, playing at the beach, watching a sunset or rainbow. I've now led hundreds, maybe over a thousand people to sample acting sustainably and the overwhelming majority enjoyed it. Most continued in some…

You might think with a physics degree I'd feel strongly that we should require students to learn a fair amount of math and science. I love the subjects and consider them as beautiful as any art or music, but until recently didn't consider them beyond simple calculations important for most people. The pandemic and environment changed that view. The U.S. response to the pandemic exemplifies what happens when a nation that hasn't learned math or science for a few generations faces a natural problem. The mainstream seems to consider math and science important for engineering, which creates innovation and jobs. I have no problem with them, but they miss the value of math and science. I don't think most people understand their roots. Science is…

Even people who understand that overpopulation exacerbates every environmental problem refuse to see that lowering the population---which has been done successfully on national scales purely voluntarily, creating abundance and stability for all, as I spoke of here---can improve nearly every environmental problem. People mistakenly point out how birthrates are below replacement in many countries, including the US, missing that we promote population growth and immigration. Moving factories overseas doesn't decrease pollution and moving baby-making overseas doesn't decrease population. Both cases increase pollution and inequality. "Educate women"? People routinely suggest that educating women helps lower population. It does, but I finally realized what people meant when they propose it. They mean, "get other people to change, not me." They mean "stop bothering me." They mean "don't…

I watched two presentations by Dennis Meadows, one of the authors of Limits to Growth, a book I consider fundamental to understanding how humans interact with finite resources. Until I read it, I harbored hopeful but erroneous misconceptions of how technology might save us. I apply leadership to the environment instead of technology because I understand technology, science, and how they work, not because I don't. Few people read the book, sadly. It seems accessible to someone with a high school education, but I think most people see a few graphs and give up. I've read many criticisms and found not one coherent. The book stands the test of time, especially since they updated it and subsequent research, which I wrote about in my post…