My phone is going crazy again this morning. The Times put the story on me on the front of the Metro section today. I wonder if the Times felt its readers could use some news they felt would brighten their days. showing a brighter future.
The story behind the story
Here’s what I’ve shared with people about the piece, if you don’t mind my copying an email I sent to some people who read my book, Sustainability Simplified, and posted reviews on it:
Hi,
Great news! The Times posted the story today!
It portrayed my daily life, though missed my mission and purpose. Like a pianist playing scales, the point isn’t just to practice the basics but to play Carnegie Hall. In my daily life I practice the basics of sustainability leadership. The point is to lead, to change culture.
So my blog post, The Story Behind the Story of the New York Times: “Who Says You Can’t Live Off the Grid in Manhattan?” , describes what the story missed. As a friend emailed me: “I thought it was a pretty good article. I would have liked them to promote your book a little more, and talk more about some of your philosophical attitude towards changing culture, etc. But overall it did the job of explaining what you’re doing pretty well.”
I’m not complaining! An article can only cover so much and what it covered, it covered well. It also put the book at #9 in its category on Amazon, which will probably keep rising. This is just the start.
To those who posted reviews: THANK YOU AGAIN! You delivered. To those who haven’t, more reviews will still help. Some people had trouble posting. If you did, let me know and I’ll help.
The article: This “gift” link should bypass the paywall: Who Says You Can’t Live Off the Grid in Manhattan?
What do you think?
Josh
Back to this blog post, if you liked the Times story, I recommend following up with
I saw the piece in the Times and wrote a blog post about it the same day. I love what you’re doing and want to thank you for what you’re doing! Obviously, you’re not doing it for yourself but out of concern for posterity. Thanks again.
One suggestion. Even though it’s exceedingly common for some reason, I hate it when blogs only show a small handful and one must keep scrolling down and hitting the “Show more” button to see earlier posts. Might I suggest a scroll down way of displaying blog posts. Or perhaps a separate scroll down page for each individual year?
Glad to hear from you. I recommend following up the New York Times piece with my followup.
But by far my greatest resource on sustainability is my most recent book, Sustainability Simplified. It covers sustainability more and in more depth than any blog posts.
Regarding old posts, this page shows all their titles and this page shows my favorite posts, though regarding sustainability, I recommend Sustainability Simplified. I may be biased, but I consider it the most important work on understanding and solving our environmental problems. I wouldn’t have tried writing it if anything else came close.