“What I do doesn’t matter,” say many environmentalists as they order steak or buy tickets to fly some place. That’s the addiction speaking. I recently heard Alan Mulally speak on how he led turning Ford around from losing tens of billions of dollars to number one in many categories creating joy, teamwork, and fun despite challenging work. Before being CEO of Ford, he led Boeing, among the two greatest promoters[…] Keep reading →

The situation: More people than ever are living healthy, happy lives yet Pollution and garbage are growing and accelerating Predictions suggest our waste is going to cause nearly everyone on Earth to suffer including many dying and, here’s the big confounding issue We can’t stop ourselves. With rare exception, everyone I know and even know of knows they are polluting, hurting people by it, so potentially contributing to the greatest[…] Keep reading →

When I list the people I think would benefit from my podcast and could use it to influence most, I think of the people with the greatest potential to lead the most number of Americans. The names roll off my tongue from mentioning them so many times and from trying to think of who would add the most value: Oprah, LeBron, Serena. Do I need to mention their last names?[…] Keep reading →

We look up to historical figures who opposed great atrocities of the past, especially helping people who couldn’t help themselves, which we consider on a different level than just helping ourselves, or at least I do. For example: Oskar Schindler Dietrich Bonhoeffer Frederick Douglass Thomas Clarkson William Wilberforce William Lloyd Garrison History shows that most people don’t help others in difficult times. For every one Oskar Schindler, maybe millions of[…] Keep reading →

Last week I wrote about my latest step in going a month off-grid in Manhattan: buying (used, off Craigslist) the solar panels to power the battery I bought last year. First: solar panels and batteries are not sustainable. They require fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources for manufacture, with no end in sight for that dependence. I don’t pretend using them is clean. Cleaner than burning oil or coal isn’t[…] Keep reading →

I’ll start with a liberal inconsistency relevant to sustainability, not that they monopolize them or are the most egregious, but I have to start somewhere. Mention anything related to my environmental footprint or personal action to many liberals and I’d better prepare for them to lecture me on how BP publicized the concept to deflect blame from them to individuals, or some similar reason why their or my actions don’t[…] Keep reading →

Months ago I bought a battery (used off Craigslist) to power my apartment. They call them power stations, partly to sound more impressive, partly since they can receive and deliver electric power in many ways. The process started years ago, when I started reducing my electric power demand to where a battery would suffice, and I dropped my demand to a couple dollars worth per month. The other day I[…] Keep reading →

People say they want to travel to explore different cultures and cuisines, but their behavior says otherwise. If people want to travel for cuisine and culture, why do so many tourist places have McDonald’s and Starbucks in them? Why do tourist sites look increasingly similar if people want difference? People say they travel to explore new tastes and cuisines. If so, why don’t people buy radishes when in season? The[…] Keep reading →

I just finished reading Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court. His coaching tells more how to live sustainably as individuals and a culture than anything else I remember reading or hearing. For those who don’t know, from Wikipedia: John Wooden (1910 – 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. He won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period as head coach for[…] Keep reading →