I met Etienne on a holiday conference call of Flight Free UK, which celebrates what life brings when we enjoy people, culture, cuisine, and so forth around us, not flying all over. The concept would have sounded crazy to me before trying, but the attendees had made that transition. Etienne spoke joyfully about his working with Extinction Rebellion in the UK, a wonderful contrast with two things. First, his Olympic[…] Keep reading →

You’ve heard me speak and bring guests who are experts in the history of abolition and slavery, particularly in England. I learned about well-known abolitionists like Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce. Manisha Sinha, today’s guest, goes into more depth and nuance to movements in North America and beyond. She is the Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut and a leading authority on the history of slavery and[…] Keep reading →

If you’ve followed my development on how to view acting on sustainability, you’ve seen a marked change when I learned about the British abolition movement of the late 1700s and early 1800s. Today’s guest, Adam Hochschild, wrote about that period comprehensively in his book Bury the Chains. We talked about it in our first episode and in more depth this time. Until I learned about this movement and this group[…] Keep reading →

The latest offshoot of This Sustainable Life launched today from Kyoto, Japan, This Sustainable Life: Solve for Nature, following branches coming from Andreas in Sweden, Alison in England, Nicola in Italy, and more soon. The host, Eugene Bible, already hosts a blog, Verdant Growth, and a video channel, both on sustainability. As an engineer, he focuses on solving our environmental problems through science and engineering. I subscribed. I recommend you[…] Keep reading →

Many people talk about responding to threats or people they disagree with with empathy, compassion, treating everyone with respect. In practice, I see people doing the opposite. They don’t feel, “I’m right, you’re wrong.” They feel “I understand reality, you don’t. I have to teach you.” or often they feel they have to force them. Likewise, on the environment, nearly all environments try to convince people who disagree with them[…] Keep reading →

What do you do if you use less power? No social media? No listening to music? No TV? Sound like a fate worse than death? Inspired by guests on my podcast who find amazing activities to live by their environmental values, I committed to turning off all my electronics to sing every day. I’ve almost never sung in my life beyond Happy Birthday and The Star Spangled Banner so I’m[…] Keep reading →

In the midst of several episodes on religious approaches to sustainability I learned of today’s guest, Rabbi Yonatan Neril’s book The Eco Bible: An Ecological Commentary on Genesis and Exodus. He founded and directs the international Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, including its Jewish Eco Seminars branch. He wrote the book to shine new light on how the Hebrew Bible and great religious thinkers have urged human care and stewardship[…] Keep reading →