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: 43 (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: 3,169 and counting
Years not flying: 9 (117 months) and counting
2024-25 grid electric grid use at home: 0 kilowatt-hours
Annual carbon emissions: about 1 ton
Daily burpees: 260,858 and counting
Resting pulse: 38 bpm

LATEST BLOG POSTS

The Coldest Day of the Year

on January 25, 2026 in HandsOnPracticalExperience, Nature, PollutionAndDepletion

The choice to avoid depriving others of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, even though our government is not enforcing our Constitution, means choosing to pollute and deplete less, which means being more connected to nature and its rhythms. Winter is colder and darker than the rest of the year. The earth’s tilt makes it straightforward to know the darkest day of the year: the solstice, December[…] Keep reading →

Heating the outdoors, pure deadweight loss

on January 24, 2026 in PollutionAndDepletion

I learned the concept of deadweight loss in economics class in business school. From Wikipedia: In economics, deadweight loss is the loss of societal economic welfare due to production/consumption of a good at a quantity where marginal benefit (to society) does not equal marginal cost (to society). Here is a picture of the outside of a bar like probably hundreds of bars and restaurants in New York City and likely[…] Keep reading →

Year 16, day 1: posting here daily

on January 23, 2026 in Creativity, Habits, SIDCHAs

If you want to reach your potential simplify your life live by your values create mental freedom create more free time save money build a community of people doing similarly You can achieve all of the above more effectively with a sidcha than any other way I know. I created the sidcha concept inadvertently by creating each part, step by step. The first major step came on this day in[…] Keep reading →

The joy and satisfaction of a hand cart falling apart from so much use

on January 22, 2026 in Habits

In yesterday’s post about volunteering in the cold, I showed a picture of something that always reminds me of the Blues Brothers movie when the Bluesmobile falls apart: They’d taken that car through a lot and it meant something to them. It’s like it was telling them: I held myself together to give you all you needed. Note the wheels in the picture of my cart below. I’ve been using[…] Keep reading →

Wow, some hard work volunteering in the cold yesterday and today.

on January 21, 2026 in Doof, Habits, HandsOnPracticalExperience

I try not to complain about heavy work, especially since the physical labor I do is trivial compared to people who work for a living and I just finished One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, though I’m talking about volunteering, not work for pay. Still, over the past few days a few things conspired to make volunteering with delivering surplus food to give away to people who can[…] Keep reading →

There will always be something just beyond our grasp we crave. Or we can learn to stop craving.

on January 20, 2026 in Addiction, Choosing/Decision-Making, Freedom

Artificial intelligence is just the latest instance of a technology that, by polluting and depleting, deprive people of life, liberty, and property without due process of law. People think of the perks it might bring them despite violating the Constitution. So they convince themselves that it will actually benefit those it hurts. They can’t say exactly how, but they think if we just use more of it, it will somehow[…] Keep reading →

Where the problems with social media come from and the big result, part 1

on January 19, 2026 in Choosing/Decision-Making, Freedom

I’ve meant to start developing a view for a while but I keep not starting because I haven’t fully developed it. I’m going to bite the bullet and write a few ideas down, not yet complete and coherent. Sorry if it ends up confusing. When the internet was starting to become mainstream, say the 1990s, people looked forward to it democratizing communication compared to the press and broadcast since anyone[…] Keep reading →

This week’s selected media, January 18, 2026: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Myth America, Blow Out

on January 18, 2026 in Tips

This week I finished: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn: I’m sure I read this book before, but long enough ago that this time was almost anew. I’ve been reading about liberty, freedom, equality, and democracy. I’ve read and written about slavery and the Holocaust. Soviet / Stalinist gulags are on par, but different, and equally important to understand what a nation, or dominance hierarchy,[…] Keep reading →

Another big, passionate writing day

on January 17, 2026 in Creativity, Habits

Last week I finished the first draft of my next book, though more accurate I finished the most challenging parts. I took a couple days off after a couple days of intense writing, then got back to work. Regarding the word “work,” here, I talked to a friend who said he wouldn’t want to write because of deadlines and pressure. He sounded like writing sounded like a burden or obligation.[…] Keep reading →

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