Category Archives: Nature

Examples of sustainability tactics based on extrinsic motivation that fail sustainability and drive unsustainability

on July 22, 2024 in Leadership, Nature

Strategies and tactics based in convincing, cajoling, coercing, and seeking compliance that may sound nice, but step on the gas, thinking it’s the brake, wanting congratulations. That is, they exacerbate the problem. Compare this list with tomorrow’s list of emotions that emerge from the Spodek Method about nature that, when acted on, lead to people doing more than they said they would, expressing gratitude, and being happy to share. I[…] Keep reading →

If you build or buy a home in Phoenix, AZ, your claims that you “need air conditioning” lose credibility, as do your claims to others’ resources.

on July 16, 2024 in Choosing/Decision-Making, Leadership, Nature

The title says it all, but for clarity, I’ll generalize: if you choose to do something that requires polluting, depleting, or plundering, you don’t get to claim your life requires living unsustainably. You don’t get to then make claims on others’ resources. A life requiring hurting others is not liberty. Its’ the opposite: it’s destroying other people’s liberty. Why don’t I spend all my money and then claim you have[…] Keep reading →

Are environmentalists nearly all science deniers?

on July 13, 2024 in Education, Leadership, Nature

Environmentalists call people who disagree with them “science deniers” and “climate deniers.” They get annoyed when people presented with the science don’t change their behavior when science shows it’s creating undesired outcomes. Meanwhile, I see environmentalists use ineffective techniques to try to change others’ behavior. When their techniques don’t work, they don’t change their behavior to ways that work. The science is clear that their techniques don’t work, yet they[…] Keep reading →

For every technology you think will help you, remember people who make you miserable will use it too

on July 11, 2024 in Nature

People keep asking how artificial intelligence (or blockchain, nuclear energy, fusion, or whatever the technology of the day) will help them. People think, “Oh, AI will help me do X or Y” where X and Y are things they want to do. Maybe in sustainability they’ll use it to make some process more efficient, thinking it will reduce energy use and therefore depletion. Well, everyone else will use that technology[…] Keep reading →

A Visual Representation of the Spodek Method in Venn Diagrams

on July 6, 2024 in Leadership, Nature, Visualization

I can’t think of a message I received from environmentalists that suggested I would enjoy the experience of trying to live more sustainably. Every message from every source, including the most ardent environmentalists, told me living more sustainably meant giving something up. We had to worsen our lives to possibly help someone far away or in the future. A definite loss here and now for a possible gain sometime somewhere[…] Keep reading →

Our culture: spring trash. Homeless don’t cause it as much as executives, elected officials, shareholders, and rich people

on July 4, 2024 in Addiction, Nature, Visualization

Litter isn’t a result of too little sanitation. It’s too much production and people still buying it. I’ve meant to post these pictures since I took them in the spring. I took them on a regular day. If you think cities mean more garbage, our per-capita environmental impact is less than Americans who live outside cities. If you think this garbage and treatment of public property is disgusting, as I[…] Keep reading →

McKinsey, Rightsizing, and Population: Businesspeople have the tools to get sustainability

on June 29, 2024 in Nature

Human ingenuity doesn’t mean all companies should hire as many people as possible. Business gets it. I’ve meant to write this post since reading When McKinsey Comes to Town and hosting one of its authors on the podcast, Michael Forsythe. A concept the book coversIs it the case that the “ability to is “rightsizing.” I had associated it with McKinsey, since the book documented McKinsey advising companies to do it,[…] Keep reading →

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