Best and Brightest … Genius — Esquire

A once-in-a-lifetime game-changing advance
in our field everyone else will follow
— Marshall Goldsmith

Astrophysicist turned new media whiz — NBC

Passionate … confident … — Forbes

You don't just learn theory from
him, you improve your life.
— Inc.

The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard University, Standford University, Princeton University, MTV, IBM, US Army

My Mission

My mission is to help change American (and global) culture on sustainability and stewardship from expecting deprivation, sacrifice, burden, and chore to expecting rewarding emotions and lifestyles, as I see happen with everyone I lead to act for their intrinsic motivations.

In my case the emotions have been joy, fun, freedom, connection, meaning, and purpose.



Systemic change begins with personal change.

Some of my values. What are yours?
Months living off the grid in Manhattan: 34 (and counting)
Loads of garbage I filled in 2025 so far: 0
Loads filled in 2024: 0
Loads filled in 2023: 0
Loads filled in 2022: 0
Loads filled in 2021: 0
Loads filled in 2020: 0
Loads filled in 2019: 1
Loads filled in 2018: 1
Loads filled in 2017: 1
Days picking up litter: 2,898 and counting
Years not flying: 9 (108 months) and counting
2024-25 grid electric grid use at home: 0 kilowatt-hours
Annual carbon emissions: about 1 ton
Daily burpees: 246,405 and counting
Resting pulse: 46 bpm

LATEST BLOG POSTS

Tina Tombstone, a friend I volunteer delivering food with, on Fifth Avenue with vegetables

on April 14, 2025 in Habits, HandsOnPracticalExperience

I’m posting today my podcast episode with Tina, who volunteers with me delivering food from stores that would throw perfectly good food away to a community fridge for anyone to take for free. This video was recorded by one of the TV crews doing a story on me. They didn’t use it so let me use it. She was more quiet and reserved when I turned the microphone on, but[…] Keep reading →

This week’s selected media, April 13, 2025: Matewan, This Changes Everything

on April 13, 2025 in Tips

This week I finished: Matewan: In college, a teammate on the ultimate Frisbee team was a graduate student in the film school and cited this movie as one of his favorites. I watched it a long time ago and re-watched it this week. I found it compelling as a movie. Having taken acting classes, I thought about how much fun an actor could have playing the bad guys since they[…] Keep reading →

Some of my creative writing and editing process

on April 12, 2025 in Art, Creativity, HandsOnPracticalExperience

I recently finished a book and a video course on sustainability leadership. Writing means editing. Any creative, expressive work means sketching ideas, composing, outlining, etc. Any creative, expressive work emerges from copious practice work—any painting, musical piece, novel, poem, etc. You’ve seen sketches by da Vinci, Michelangelo, and so on. I don’t keep a writer’s or artist’s notebook. I don’t start by writing on a computer. I start by writing[…] Keep reading →

Why treat doof as second hand smoke

on April 11, 2025 in Addiction, Doof, Freedom

If an adult wants to smoke in their home, that’s their business. If they give themselves lung cancer, that’s their choice, assuming their sickness doesn’t tax others who didn’t choose. Likewise, if people want to consume doof, that’s their business too. But if someone smokes where others who don’t or can’t consent to breathing that smoke, or if someone too young to know the long-term results of their choices smokes,[…] Keep reading →

We launched our minimum viable course: SpodekMethod.com. Check it out.

on April 10, 2025 in Education, Entrepreneurship, HandsOnPracticalExperience

Today we made SpodekMethod.com live. My book, Sustainability Simplified, mentions the page as a place for more resources and it came out last November, so it’s been almost painful for it not to be working. I couldn’t in good conscience promote the book on podcasts or elsewhere knowing it pointed to an incomplete page and therefore couldn’t enable someone to take the workshop. It’s ready now. I needed to make[…] Keep reading →

Democrats and Republicans are dancing together on sustainability for their mutual benefit, avoiding action, rallying their bases

on April 9, 2025 in Leadership, Models, Nature, Relationships

A brief political history of sustainability [If you’ve watched my Short Course on Sustainability Leadership, you’ll recognize the following from my session on the political opportunities. I’m putting only the main points here. I’ll develop it more in a future post. I wanted to start writing. If you haven’t watched the course, I think you’ll find it one of the most important resources on our culture, the environment, sustainability, and[…] Keep reading →

Windy and still cold, but starting to feel advantages of spring charging

on April 8, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience

After three or four days at least overcast, often raining, I got to charge outside today. Since I’ve also been charging through my window, today was my first time outside in longer than just since those rainy days. Unfortunately for me, it was 40F when I went out (4.5C), rising to 43F (6C) when I went home, but more challenging for charging was the wind. Panels are like sails in[…] Keep reading →

What happened to produce stands in America?

on April 7, 2025 in Addiction, Doof, Fitness

I passed through Chinatown this afternoon and passed countless produce stands selling fresh vegetables and fruit. A while ago I read in the New York Times that many stands there have a separate supply chain for their fresh produce that’s grown relatively locally independent of the supply chain for other grocery stores or farmers markets in the city. While Chinatown is full of produce stands, the rest of New York[…] Keep reading →

This week’s selected media, April 6, 2025: Troubled, The Message

on April 6, 2025 in Tips

This week I finished: Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, by Rob Henderson: I saw Rob Henderson speak about this book in person and met him briefly. I confess I didn’t know much about the book before learning about the event, but other attendees shared how much the book meant to them. It also sounded like it resonated with some experiences of my childhood. His sounds[…] Keep reading →

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