A friend wrote Your perseverance in not flying around is beyond impressive. 🙂 Are you still not consuming normal packaging? The longer you live outside a system, the less its goals and values control you. As with fitness, my skills living by my pollution-related values becomes easier all the time. I responded I’m no longer “not flying” or avoiding food packaging. I’m living by my values, which means creating adventure,[…] Keep reading →

I decided to have fun with a spreadsheet and calculate how much I’ve lived of historical times. I’m surprised to find I’ve lived a meaningful fraction of historical periods—all the more so if I live to 100. See the tables below. First, I’ll share some highlights. How much of history I’ve lived For example, I’ve lived 2.3% of the time since Jesus. 2.3% is small, but I wouldn’t have expected[…] Keep reading →

Normally when I think of human achievement, I think of our cultural history. For example, of New York City’s history and value, I think of the Met, MoMA, Columbia, NYU, Central Park, its various other museums, concert halls, and so on. This Manhattan looks like quite an achievement: From another perspective, we as humans have turned nature into culture but also lifeless concrete. We came into a world full of[…] Keep reading →

Working on leadership and the environment, I’ve thought of people trying to reduce pollution. People my age and old will remember the public service announcements of the 70s with the Native American amid scenes of garbage and pollution, a tear rolling down his face at the tragedy of what we’ve done to the land, blithely ignorant of it. Here are two versions: and The Opposite of Progress These announcements came[…] Keep reading →

I’ve delivered this talk a lot lately. It continues to iterate and I’m years from being able to deliver it at the I-Have-A-Dream-level quality to motivate people as the cause demands, but I consider it ready. Please share! (with @spodek) I welcome suggestions to improve. This is the 90-minute version. I will create shorter versions too. Most of all, please contact me to join the movement. I’d love to hear[…] Keep reading →

There are plenty of books on habits. Too many, if you ask me. You don’t need books to start habits. In my experience, self-awareness will get you farther. In particular, starting new behavior creates new emotions and reactions. Paying attention to them will guide you how to follow up to improve them more than reading—if you pay attention to everything you can. That level of self-awareness takes time and effort[…] Keep reading →

Some people have told me I make some memorable short statements, which I find flattering. I’ve also thought about using picture-based social media sites, so I made some simple graphics of some of the statements I like. I don’t know much design, so I welcome suggestions to improve. Otherwise, enjoy, and share them if you like them.

I finally watched Gone With the Wind. People routinely rate it one of the top movies. Watching it, you automatically rate it by the standards of its time. But watch the acting these iconic scenes. The morning after watching the movie, I woke up realizing how ungenuine and inauthentic the acting was. Sure, by the standards of its time, the acting was probably great. But watch this scene, the opening[…] Keep reading →

I noticed when I shop at the grocery store, I use a lot less of it than I used to. I hardly use any of it any more, by floor space. I couldn’t find a floor plan of my local market, but this one looks fairly representative: When you avoid food where you have to throw away packaging and food with fiber removed, you only use the two circled parts[…] Keep reading →