We’ve all read stories about how algorithms, polarized media, and so on are leading to situations where people with different political views learn such different information about the world we might as well be living in different worlds. If one person watches only liberal media and another only watches conservative media, they view events through different lenses. One may view the environment as an issue about protecting wildlife while the[…] Keep reading →

People like hearing me share my vulnerabilities. I’m not special. People like hearing anyone share their vulnerabilities too, but I noticed it this week about myself. At the beginning of this week, I thought about blind spots. We all have things we do or don’t do, or know or don’t know, and we aren’t aware of the consequences differing from what we expect. Learning about them can help us improve[…] Keep reading →

Living true to our deepest values is its own reward. Fewer rewards are greater, all the more so when it requires struggle. All the more so when it deepens our closest relationships. Living by the values of sustainability—community, health, reciprocity, liberty, freedom, and stewardship, for example—is challenging today. No matter what I do in trying to live more sustainably and leading systemic change toward sustainability, people say others can’t do[…] Keep reading →

Almost ten years ago in this blog I wrote about an experience of art expressing something I didn’t know could be expressed. Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander captured an emotion I felt with my father and no one else. That emotion hit me hard. It was powerful. It influenced big decisions in my life, especially to learn and teach the social and emotional skills of leadership. I just experienced a[…] Keep reading →

A friend reminded me of a life lesson we could all use in facing our environmental symptoms. In her words: “I never had a more optimistic outlook than when things were going to shit.”

The dictionary defines imperialism as: The policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas. Making something disposable means when you’re done with it, you put it into someone else’s space. Likewise with pollution. In principle, if the disposable thing biodegrades, it might decompose, but most disposable[…] Keep reading →

I heard someone speaking on nature conservation. After he spoke someone in the audience described how people who promote conservation in words but don’t practice it in deed often call people who also practice it pushing too hard, too self-righteous, or the like. The speaker responded: “Yes, they blame me for their guilt.” The statement rang true. People acting against their own values feel guilty not because others who act[…] Keep reading →

To all of you out there who say that polluting companies should pollute less, if you pollute an unsustainable amount—that is, 20 percent of what the average American does—why should they change an not you? It’s tempting to say that since they pollute so much, they should stop more, but first: they aren’t polluting for the sake of polluting. They are serving customers who pay them, including you. Second, if[…] Keep reading →

If you think living in an apartment disconnected from the electric grid in Manhattan is hard, you haven’t had to deal with talking to people about sustainability when you’re doing it. People seem compelled to tell me their half-assed “sustainability” practices, nearly always self-righteously, as it they want my approval. I don’t look forward to people bragging, even less when their bragging doesn’t follow from whatever half-assed thing they did.[…] Keep reading →