LATEST BLOG POSTS

People keep asking if eating vegetables is expensive. They rarely believe the opposite, which I find. Farmers markets rock When I only knew how to shop in supermarkets, I didn’t know how affordable and accessible fresh fruits and vegetables were, even if you live in a food desert. Some people will never get past their blinders to keep acting as if they know better, as if it’s only possible for[…] Keep reading →

I posted a few Clips from my speaking at Google to my blog. They didn’t video record the whole event, but I did get the audio, so today’s episode is my talk there on how to start a podcast on the environment. My first goal was for attendees: How to start a podcast—in particular, how to create your first episode. The difference between zero and one episodes is huge, so[…] Keep reading →

People talk about leadership causing ripple effects and hope that environmental action may lead to ripples. I see the potential for more. People like acting on their environmental values when they do. They just don’t like being coerced or being made to feel shame or guilt. Few like going first. If most people like acting by their environmental values, someone going first may cause everyone else to crystallize into the[…] Keep reading →

My perspective on personal action continues to evolve. In conversation with someone at an event this evening, I started realizing the meaning in asking what each of us can do and the meaninglessness of asking hypothetical questions, which make up a lot environmental talk. It this episode I talk about meaningful questions to ask instead of theoretical ones about things you can’t do anything about.

Salt I wrote about my salt experiment of going a month adding no salt to any food. As I expected, though was still surprised at the result, when I added salt after that month, my normal amount tasted horribly over-salted. Adding maybe twenty percent made things taste as salty as before. Besides reducing my salt without using as much, I also became more sensitive to all the other flavors of[…] Keep reading →

I started this podcast with the goal of creating a Mandela of the environment—a role I considered essential but saw no one remotely approaching it. Lately I’ve seen the opening for an easier but more effective role—a Muhammad Ali of the environment.

After resetting during conversation 1.5, Caspar returns with his son and wife—Columbus and Nicola—for a touching proper second episode. The three of them approached the challenge as a family, though you’ll hear how Columbus led his parents in many ways. It sounds like he had tried for some time to guide his parents. Now that they committed to act, they heard him more. I see this trend a lot when[…] Keep reading →

After recording three episodes (248, 250, and 251) on Alan Weisman’s Countdown, I read his earlier book, The World Without Us, which I found equally tremendous. In it, he considers what would happen to the Earth if humans suddenly disappeared. How isn’t the point, but what the difference between a world without us from that world with us tells us about ourselves. The book and author won many awards and[…] Keep reading →

Following up yesterday’s post, Universities don’t teach as well as they think they do, I’ll offer a big way they could improve. Learning social and emotional skills requires facing and overcoming social and emotional challenges, at least in my experience. Most active, social, emotional, expressive, performance-based (ASEEP) fields train people through practicing the basics—footwork in dance, groundstrokes in tennis, and scales with musical instruments. Universities teach wonderful facts but regarding[…] Keep reading →