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: 40 (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: 3,121 and counting
Years not flying: 9 (115 months) and counting
2024-25 grid electric grid use at home: 0 kilowatt-hours
Annual carbon emissions: about 1 ton
Daily burpees: 258,298 and counting
Resting pulse: 46 bpm

LATEST BLOG POSTS

An important perspective to understand the Israel-Gaza conflict

on November 25, 2025 in Models, Nonjudgment

Everyone seems to pick sides. Everyone who expresses an opinion seems to support one or the other but not both. I probably missed something or offended someone in what I write below. If so, I don’t mind being told my mistakes so I can learn. There are plenty of ways to look at the situation, and you may have heard more than I have, but I hear people describing the[…] Keep reading →

Simple math humor

on November 24, 2025 in Creativity, Education, Humor, Stories

Saturday I posted about a joke I did in a college math class. That math class did witness a great joke, but not by me, and it may only make sense to people who have done advanced math. The professor was going to prove that a certain group, which is a precise mathematical concept, had a certain property. The group is the set of symmetries of an icosahedron. The property[…] Keep reading →

This week’s selected media, November 23, 2025: Lesson Plan, Useful Not True, How to Live, La Grande Illusion

on November 23, 2025 in Tips

This week I finished: Lesson Plan: The Story of the Third Wave, directed by Philip Neel and David Jeffery: If you’ve followed my pursuit to learn about the pattern of how people are induced to act against their values by culture around them—also known as corruption—you’ll recognize the subject of this movie. It’s about high school history teacher Ron Jones, who in 1967, when his students asked how Germans could[…] Keep reading →

My first time doing a NY Times crossword puzzle

on November 22, 2025 in Addiction, Habits

Last week I was working at the library. I ran out of scrap paper. They have a bunch. On the other side of a sheet was something they provide every day: the New York Times crossword puzzle. It was a couple days old when I got it, hence it being scrap. I was about to use the back side, which was the side I wanted. I scanned a few clues[…] Keep reading →

One month to the winter solstice

on November 21, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience, Nature

The winter solstice is in one month. During the summer if I need to charge, I can go to the roof any time from around 8am to 8pm, weather permitting. This time of year, the sun only rises high enough to charge from about 9am to maybe 3pm. It’s cold. It’s windier so I can’t leave the panels alone because if the wind catches them, they blow like a sail.[…] Keep reading →

My short conversation with a guy injecting heroin into his neck in broad daylight, steps from my front door

on November 20, 2025 in Addiction, Relationships, Stories

I walked past this fire truck the other day. It was bright daylight, not nighttime, like when I took this picture. I saw a guy standing about where the “18” is on the truck’s bumper, facing toward the truck, doing something with some stuff on the bumper, keeping it hidden, looking at himself in the reflection on the chrome on the grill. He was focused on what he was doing[…] Keep reading →

Today’s business models: Why we fight to keep what makes us miserable

on November 19, 2025 in Addiction, Freedom

People have figured out business models to lock people in: Find what people want, deliver it, then become the intermediary. That is, cut them off from it without you. The results Now people think Facebook and American Airlines connect them with family even though they cut us off from them. They we Instagram brings us friends even though it cuts us off from them. We think restaurants bring food but[…] Keep reading →

When did yoga become so plastic?

on November 18, 2025 in Fitness, Nature

When did a 5,000-year-old practice to attain liberation and promote physical and emotional well-being come to hurt people for centuries, even millennia? Here’s a definition of yoga I found online: Yoga : a Hindu theistic philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of body, mind, and will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation : a system of physical postures, breathing techniques, and[…] Keep reading →

More garbage insanity: collecting leaves and sending them to landfill

on November 17, 2025 in Nature

In a decade of picking up litter daily I’ve seen about five other people picking up litter. I’ve seen many litter. Since buying packaged food supports what becomes litter, nearly everyone who buys packaged food or takeout, or shops online causes litter. In the park, I see tons of people bring packaged food then act as if it wasn’t their fault when the wind blows their napkins away, they forget[…] Keep reading →

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