I’ve described what I’m doing practicing sustainability as being an explorer, the Wright brothers, and Roger Bannister. Each comparison had sense, but I think I found a better one: Being like Richard Fosbury creating the Fosbury Flop. He invented a better way to do the high jump. The videos below show how people did it before him and how he developed a new way. Compared to old ways, it looked[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written about Robert Carter III a bunch here. He figures in my book a lot, as someone who could have remained corrupted by slavery, as everyone around him did in Virginia after the American Revolution, but he freed his slaves. Thomas Jefferson didn’t, despite his brilliant words on freedom. Sustainability today is overloaded with Jeffersons: people who talk big on sustainability but act the opposite, undermining their credibility and[…] Keep reading →

The temperature was well below freezing (in the low 20s F or -5C), but today was sunny, the next few days will be overcast, and my batteries were low. So up to the roof I went. In fact, today works out to be a rare three-climb day, meaning close to fifty flights for my over-fifty-year-old bones, and a torn meniscus. But someone has to show it’s possible so we can[…] Keep reading →

I was invited to an event at NYU with the daughter and granddaughter of Nelson Mandela, Dr. Makaziwe Mandela and Tukwini Mandela. You don’t have to read or listen to much of my work to know his importance to me so I was interested to learn from family members who knew him privately and work for freedom on their own. It turned out the last question came to me. I[…] Keep reading →

I wrote the notes below while watching the documentary Bonhoeffer (2003) directed by Martin Doblmaier. I want to learn from history to apply what people did to now. I don’t want to sleepwalk into disaster that everyone can see happening. The tens of millions of people dying today annually from pollution and being displaced from their homes to get the fuel and minerals under their land are being killed not[…] Keep reading →

I’ve held off on writing this post since I think some people may misunderstand me. My goal is to help raise self-awareness. NYU has posted posters like this one all over campus. I think they are mostly responding to the Israel-Hamas situation, though could apply to others. I grew up not learning much about emotions or making myself aware of them. Leadership classes in business school moved me to increase[…] Keep reading →

Here’s just the segment with me: and the whole episode (I appear about 11:10). I liked it more than the New Yorker piece on me, though that’s not saying much. I laughed out loud several times, partly since I remember the recording. For example, after she put the Skittles in the kombucha, we saw their dye run off and they turned an unnatural ghostly white. I wanted to share about[…] Keep reading →