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

821: Rob Reed MD, part 1: Learning leadership transforms your life and work

on May 28, 2025 in Podcast

Rob is one of my coaching clients. I asked him to be a guest here since many people perceive leadership and learning it as different than I mean. His work in medicine may not be at the center of sustainability, but I work in leadership, which I apply to sustainability. Listen to this episode to learn what changes to your life you can expect when you take my workshops. Listen[…] Keep reading →

Ayahuasca and psychedelics: I propose an alternative if you want to learn about ego, life, the universe, and everything

on May 27, 2025 in Awareness, Doof, Fitness, Nature, Tips

I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but in New York, people talk about psychedelic drugs a lot. Everyone is talking about microdosing (probably not as much as in California), going to shamans in Peru for ayahuasca, and so on. People describe the value of the experiences as life changing. I’m prompted by a recent New Yorker piece This Is Your Priest on Drugs: Dozens of religious leaders[…] Keep reading →

How the liberation of living more sustainably feels

on May 26, 2025 in Freedom, Models, Perception, Visualization

Want to know what living more sustainably feels like? Our culture is so dependent and addicted to things like takeout, cars, and flying that pollution and depletion enable, we forget that using them destroys life, liberty, and property. We don’t notice that our government benefits and grows in money and power from licensing and promoting one of its few core responsibilities nearly everyone agrees on. We don’t notice that they[…] Keep reading →

This week’s selected media, May 25, 2025: The Way Home; Right Thing Right Now

on May 25, 2025 in Tips

This week I finished: The Way Home: Tales From a Life Without Technology, by Mark Boyle: I learned of Mark Boyle probably years ago and I think watched his TEDx talk. Recently a guest suggested I connect with an Australian woman, Jo Nemeth, who is living with no money. I connected with Jo, which led to engaging conversations. Jo describes Mark as a hero, which prompted me to read this[…] Keep reading →

A quarter million burpees

on May 25, 2025 in Fitness, Freedom, Habits, HandsOnPracticalExperience, SIDCHAs

Regular readers know what a sidcha is and that my second daily habit that both became a sidcha and helped me conceive of the concept began with doing ten burpees a day. I think I started my burpee habit in early 2012. In time, that habit evolved into a twice-daily set of calisthenics. I agree that discipline equals freedom, so more than the sizeable gains of saving money, saving time,[…] Keep reading →

Year 4, Day 1 with my apartment disconnected from the electric grid

on May 24, 2025 in HandsOnPracticalExperience, Tips

I only wish I’d disconnected sooner. Not needing something means more freedom, especially not needing something that hurts people. People often ask if everyone could live like me. If every American lived like me, we could reduce our electric grid to a tiny fraction of its present incarnation. Our national security would increase, as would our health, community, and safety. Wealth disparities would decrease among many other friendly social outcomes.[…] Keep reading →

It’s not your job to end pollution and depletion. It was nobody’s job to end slavery or fight the Nazis either until it was too late. (Or maybe it’s everyone’s job)

on May 23, 2025 in Freedom, Leadership

Everybody acts like sustainability is someone else’s job. Sure, they’ll avoid straws or get triple pane windows on their third home, the one in Tuscany that they fly to a couple times a year (I sat next to someone at a dinner recently who was doing so), but actually changing culture? That’s too much to ask of anyone. Everyone acts like it’s not their job. Whatever their job is, they[…] Keep reading →

820: Andy Samuel CBE: From worry before the workshop to Fun and Community during and after

on May 22, 2025 in Podcast

Are you thinking about acting more but concerned about feeling guilty or judged that you aren’t doing enough? If so, you’ll love this conversation. I feel honored to work with people with Andy’s background and community, which you’ll hear about in our conversation. Despite his working with prime ministers and across Europe and the world, and acting in many ways already in his life, he was also worried about feeling judged[…] Keep reading →

The necessity of the APPLE PIE Amendment

on May 21, 2025 in Choosing/Decision-Making, Freedom

For those who haven’t read Sustainability Simplified, one of the main things it builds to is something that I thought crazy when I first thought it. The idea is a constitutional amendment in the style of the thirteenth, but instead of banning slavery, two main clauses, both traditional, both Enlightendigenous. One protects life, liberty, and property when the threat to them came through the environment. The other disallowing making property[…] Keep reading →

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