Category Archives: Leadership

I don’t mean to be melodramatic, but if I succeed at changing culture, what are the odds of me being shot?

on November 4, 2024 in Freedom, Leadership

[EDIT: I had no idea the New York Times would post its profile of me the day after this piece] Sorry for the in-your-face title and I don’t mean any time soon, but I think it’s a fair question. Other people have asked me the question when I describe my mission. Maybe you think I’m kidding myself that I could be so successful as to create enough animosity in others[…] Keep reading →

The reviews for Sustainability Simplified are coming in and look great.

on November 2, 2024 in Art, Freedom, Leadership, Nature

The paperback has been up about a day, and the reviews are coming in. It’s not Malcolm Gladwell level numbers yet, but a couple dozen reviews and all 5 stars so far. Making the book available feels great, as do the reviews so far. I wrote this book to help my mission, which is big, so putting the book up for sale is just the start. As much time and[…] Keep reading →

Sustainability Simplified became available in paperback this morning!

on November 1, 2024 in Leadership, Stories

Word got out about ahead of time about my new book, Sustainability Simplified: The Definitive Guide to Understanding and Solving All (Yes, All) Our Environmental Problems. It would normally have come out in paperback later, but media attention has prompted us to make it available earlier. In particular, I’ve been interviewed lately for prominent media and expect people will want to read it sooner. My publisher moved mountains to make[…] Keep reading →

I have been to the mountaintop and I have seen the promised land.

on October 28, 2024 in Freedom, Leadership

I experiment on how more effectively to describe changing culture from mainstream American to more sustainably. I’m not talking about some abstract “environment.” I’m talking about restoring living by doing unto others as I would have them do unto me and of loving my neighbor as myself, the opposite of polluting. I found a better way of describing the shift than just saying I’ve changed culture, I’ve passed a cusp,[…] Keep reading →

Serving in Uniform Podcasts and Pictures

on October 15, 2024 in Leadership, Visualization

I was at first nervous about sharing about my new major life volunteering community project, hence made the podcast announcing it, number 781, longer than most solo episodes I put the important information at the end. Still, if covers comprehensively my process in starting volunteering as an auxiliary police officer. Partly I wanted to make it hard to learn, so only genuinely interested would listen. Instead, everyone reacted positively. I’ve[…] Keep reading →

Environmentalism, Coercion, and Authoritarianism

on October 14, 2024 in Education, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Tips

Interviewers often ask “If you were a benevolent dictator, what would you do to solve our environmental problems?” They all frame sustainability as something you have to convince people to do or use coercive, authoritarian tools like passing laws that don’t yet have popular support. I identified a big fork in the path of people promoting sustainability. It comes if you’ve found, as I have, that the more you live[…] Keep reading →

“We’re Running Out of Time—Can Sustainability Save Us? with Joshua Spodek” Hear me on the Compassiviste Dialogues

on October 10, 2024 in Audio, Leadership, Nature

Ali Horriyat and I have become friends since we started recording together. He hosts the Compassiviste Dialogues podcast. Friendship doesn’t mean always agreeing. On the contrary, I consider one of the roles of friendship—true friendship—is to disagree when appropriate and to confront a friend when you think they’re wrong, deserve criticism, or the like. People who aren’t friends may hold back from confrontation. That holding back may be polite, but[…] Keep reading →

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sustainability, Difficult Choices, and Right Choices

on October 8, 2024 in Choosing/Decision-Making, Leadership

I’ve written about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and you can learn more about him from my podcast conversation with Martin Doblmeier, who directed a documentary about him, which I learned a lot from. I included Bonhoeffer in my upcoming book as a historic role model. He could have passed through WWII unscathed. Instead he chose to engage. In particular, he participated in an attempt to assassinate Hitler. On the face of it,[…] Keep reading →

Climate Week 2024 Was Monticello 1776

on October 7, 2024 in Freedom, Leadership

I recovered from a week of events known as Climate Week 2024. It felt like 1776 Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s plantation home. Before reading why, I should tell you that I shared the views below with several attendees of several events and they all agreed. Climate Week brought bold pronouncements from CEOs, government representatives of cities, states, and nations, and cultural leaders. They said we could solve our environmental problems if[…] Keep reading →

Sign up for my weekly newsletter