Michael Jackson’s song, Man in the Mirror, got stuck in my head: I’m starting with the man in the mirrorI’m asking him to change his waysAnd no message could have been any clearerIf you wanna make the world a better placeTake a look at yourself and then make a change It’s clear: If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make[…] Keep reading →

Do you avoid asking for help because you feel like it might present you as not knowing something you should, or lower in status than the person you ask for help? I would. I felt like it made me look ignorant and lesser. But asking someone for help is an act of leadership. It leads them to help you. I’m not saying this is a deep realization, but I think[…] Keep reading →

The chart below on the left shows why America can’t lead anyone on sustainability. People mistakenly believe America can influence others on sustainability. Why do they think so? Maybe because of our large GDP, military, or population, since they enable us to influence in other areas, but they don’t help here. Note our average per capita emissions almost five times the world average, nearly ten times mine, and ten times[…] Keep reading →

New: Systemic change begins with personal change. Old: Systemic change begins with personal transformation. What difference does a word make? I believe the bigger one is that unifying the two changes through repetition highlights the contrast between them. Making one a change and the other a transformation made one big complex concept. This way simplifies and calls attention to the action of personal change on systemic. My goal in this[…] Keep reading →

Following up my podcast episode 516: Geoengineering: Prologue or Epilogue for Humanity?, I rewatched the documentary The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. The movie is fascinating, relevant, and poignant to our geoengineering question, particularly Robert McNamara’s approach to major decisions he played major roles in. The big ones were firebombing Japanese cities in World War II, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and escalating the[…] Keep reading →

Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2021: 5 October 2021 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems” with one half jointly to Syukuro ManabePrinceton University, USA Klaus HasselmannMax Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany “for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming” and the[…] Keep reading →

Those who listen to my podcast or attended my workshops know The Spodek Method, my two-stage interaction to lead someone to share their intrinsic emotions about the environment, think of a way to act on them, and share their results. I find people enjoy the process and results. They share them openly. I contrast it with nearly all other techniques I see people trying to influence others’ environmental behavior. I[…] Keep reading →

Imagine India in the time of Gandhi, but without him. Without nonviolent civil disobedience and all he led the nation with, could the nation have gained independence? Most people at the time questioned or criticized what they saw as not fighting back. But England was stronger, so fighting back was a losing proposition. I think most people scoffed at their prospects. Yet he created a strategy that worked. I don’t[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know I first called my podcast Leadership and the Environment because I saw our response to the environment lacking leadership. As a leadership coach, I’m in touch with many leadership coaches, including some of the most renowned who have been guests on the podcast. Leaders and leadership coaches could play the most important role addressing our environmental problems. Instead, nearly none act. Those who act to so ineffectively,[…] Keep reading →