Isn’t a refrigerator essential? Isn’t life with them better? I thought so. I’ll quote my mom from my podcast to illustrate where I came from: I grew up where it was easily ninety degrees every single day. In fact, where I worked, the store if it got ninety degrees outside we got to close the store and go home because it was that unsafe. To me, air conditioning was wonderful.[…] Keep reading →

Mark Goulston hosted me on his podcast My Wakeup Call. He is the bestselling author of Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior and Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone among other books. Recent guests on his podcast include Ram Charan, Jordan Peterson, and the CEO of the 76ers (I grew up in Philadelphia). We’ve also overlapped many, including Jeff Madoff and Dorie[…] Keep reading →

Environmentalists today like to try to enlist conservatives and republicans by pointing out how Richard Nixon started the Environmental Protection Agency and other environmental initiatives. As summer begins, I propose citing him to enlist environmentalists to take personal responsibility—a necessity to lead others. Would you like to influence others? Air conditioning It’s not yet summer. Have you turned on your air conditioner? I can hear them all over my neighborhood.[…] Keep reading →

I’ve taught a half-dozen people the technique I use in this podcast—the hosts of the other branches of the This Sustainable Life podcast. They started calling it The Spodek Method, so now I do too. It’s enabled me to reach amazing people, many of global renown, who enjoy the experience. It doesn’t alone solve all the world’s problems, but it works. The Spodek Method leads a person to share and[…] Keep reading →

Imagine yourself back in the 1950s and 60s during the civil rights movement. People traveled across the country to sit at lunch counters with people of different skin colors, walk for a year to avoid segregated buses, and so on. Most people didn’t do anything. They must have talked about it since it made the news, but most people watched from the outside without acting. Not everyone can do anything.[…] Keep reading →

I uttered these words in regular conversation with a friend about living in a polluted world. I didn’t ask to be born into so polluted a world, nor a culture so ignorant about what’s happening and what they can do about it. I’d rather people took more responsibility and acted in stewardship more. But the world is polluted and nearly everyone is polluting it more. Most of my life, I[…] Keep reading →

“But what I do doesn’t matter” “Only governments and corporations can make a difference.” These excuses are the top Addictions Speaking people use to lie to themselves to abdicate responsibility for acting on their environmental values. Well, note this timeline: 1955: Private citizens organize Montgomery Bus Boycott 1956: Court rules segregated buses unconstitutional and bus company changes 1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964 Does anybody think the Civil Rights Act[…] Keep reading →

Working on the book proposal, I finally saw how to illustrate what’s missing from sustainability. It’s simplicity almost embarrasses me that I didn’t think of creating it before, except that I remember that simplicity comes from more work, not less. The Venn diagram below illustrates what we’re missing. We don’t lack facts or bold ideas. We lack leaders experienced in Leadership Science and complex systems Living sustainably, not just talk.[…] Keep reading →

Which came first, the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott or the 1964 Civil Rights Act? No trick question. The boycott was closer to grass roots people-led project and it preceded the Civil Rights Act, as big a step as governments make. We may not have reached the Civil Rights Act had they not boycotted. Government action results from people acting first, which we can do. Corporations react to people too. We[…] Keep reading →