I hear people say “we have to have a conversation about…” some controversial topic like racism, abortion, and the usual topics. Yet the controversy shows we’re talking about them. So what do they mean if the conversation is already happening? What they don’t mean While I can’t read anyone’s mind, I know they aren’t saying they want to learn new views. They can learn by reading and watching. If they[…] 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 →

In Sustainability Simplified, I clarify that a culture being indigenous doesn’t mean it’s sustainable. An indigenous Indian group that puts up a casino is pushing addiction. An African politician who finds oil and gets cozy with the global oil industry is too. Any culture that doesn’t live sustainably will find itself running out of something, leading it to conflict with others or collapse. But indigenous cultures that endure tend to[…] Keep reading →

I recently was invited to speak to grade school children about great physicists. The teacher asked me to speak about Newton, Einstein, and Hawking. Since I didn’t have any personal connections to Isaac Newton, I focused on Einstein and Hawking, since I knew people who knew them. I love knowing that I know someone who knew some of the most influential, famous people who lived, whose work was mind-blowing. Though[…] Keep reading →

A longtime friend and I disagreed during a phone call yesterday. We raised our voices at each other and interrupted each other. After the altercation, we resumed regular conversation, but at the end of the call I apologized. Then he apologized back, but I said he didn’t need to apologize. A consider it an act of friendship to argue with someone when you feel they deserve it. Someone who isn’t[…] Keep reading →

People tell me over and over, “You’re a single man. You can make unilateral decisions so it’s easier for you to live more sustainably. If you had a wife or kids, you’d see you couldn’t do what you do.” Yet people in marriages, with kids, or both who succeed at their dreams often tell me their spouses were their greatest sources of support and their kids motivated them. Most recently,[…] Keep reading →

My father died last year. I got this scam email from people trying to scam someone grieving a loss. I’m posting it so if people get a similar email and aren’t sure, they know someone is trying to scam them. Is “scum of the earth” is to harsh a term for such behavior? I don’t think so. Dear Joshua Spodek, I trust this message finds you well amidst the challenges[…] Keep reading →

When I started working on sustainability instead of hoping someone else would fix our problem, I saw my goal as restoring nature, also conserving and protecting it. Learning that our environmental problems result from our behavior, which results from our culture, has taught me that we have to work on ourselves. I see how much our culture promotes addiction, pollution, depletion, and plunder. I see that we are abandoning or[…] Keep reading →