Episodes
Sept. 3, 2022
623: AJ Jacobs, part 1: Be Curious and Act
AJ is in some ways a kindred soul, actually doing things many people hear about or even talk about, but rarely do. Regular listeners might remember our mutual friend Mike Michalowicz suggesting we talk. We start by talking a…
Sept. 2, 2022
622: Stephen M. R. Covey, part 1: Trust & Inspire
Stephen's book, Trust & Inspire , recounts today's effective way to lead, by creating trust and inspiring. He laments people still relying on the old techniques of commanding and controlling, which may have worked in more in…
Aug. 31, 2022
621: Whitney Tilson, part 3: Talking sustainability with a Harvard-Trained Investment Advisor Who Flies Monthly
In our third conversation, Whitney and I get more friendly and conversational, fun conversation. He's been picking up more garbage, which I hope is part of a journey of continual improvement. Since long before we met, he rid…
Aug. 28, 2022
620: Nature delivers what psychedelics do, but we don't know what we're missing (feat. Sam Harris and Roland Griffiths)
Listening to an episode of Sam Harris's podcast featuring Roland Griffiths, Johns Hopkins neuroscientist researcher, on psychedelics revealed that much of their benefit sounds a lot like my guests talking about their experie…
Aug. 24, 2022
619: Dr. Michael Gurven, part 2: The Forager Population Paradox and what do we do
Most second conversations on this podcast come weeks or months later, after the guest does his or her Spodek Method commitment. In Michael's case, our first conversation was so engaging, we kept talking almost two hours, so …
Aug. 23, 2022
618: Dr. Michael Gurven, part 1: Our ancestors evolved to live to 72 years*, and did (not 30).
*"The average modal age of adult death for hunter-gatherers is 72 with a range of 68–78 years. This range appears to be the closest functional equivalent of an 'adaptive' human life span." Would you be surprised that humans …
Aug. 19, 2022
617: Janet Allaker: A long-time listener shares what This Sustainable Life means to her
Janet shared how she found This Sustainable Life , what kept her coming back, the guests she liked, and how it's affected her. I wish I had recorded episodes with listeners before to learn what you all like, don't like, and …
Aug. 12, 2022
616: Michael Lombardi, part 1: Culture, Leadership, and Football
Leaders who know how to lead and change culture know culture eats strategy for breakfast. This concept figures strongly in Michael's book, Gridiron Genius . When most people watch football, they see the game, maybe the game …
Aug. 9, 2022
615: Living off the grid without solar either (as all humans once did)
Regular listeners know I started an experiment disconnecting from the electric grid. I began May 22. Then on July 22, I posted an episode that the solar panel or battery broke, or both. I didn't see how I could continue so s…
Aug. 9, 2022
614: Michelle Nijhuis, part 1: Living off the grid for 15 years
Where was Michelle Nijhuis all my life? She lived off the electric grid for fifteen years and I was about two months in, so we shared stories of the experiences. She did it much longer and her fiance had to assemble everythi…
Aug. 1, 2022
613: Our Next Constitutional Amendment
My proposal and rationale for the next amendment for the United States Constitution. It will sound crazy, impossible, and too hard at first, as it did with me. But the more you consider it, the more the objections will fade.…
July 29, 2022
612: Sebastian Junger, part 1: Humans Thrive on Mutual Dependence, Feeling Needed, But Our Culture Isolates.
When I wrote up my experiment to live with my apartment off the grid in Manhattan for a month, I looked up what I did the morning I started. My library records show I borrowed and listened to Sebastian's book Tribe , then my…
July 28, 2022
611: Etienne Stott, part 6: Activism and Leadership
In this sixth conversation between an Extinction Rebellion Rebel and a home-grown sustainability leadership (I hope) leader, we explore more of the life of someone who has devoted himself to solving our environmental problem…
July 24, 2022
610: Abortion and Sustainability
Here are the notes I read from: 40% of pregnancies are unplanned. Overpopulation is a major problem for environment so it's a topic for this podcast. Girlfriend who pressured me into unprotected sex and got pregnant Not only…
July 22, 2022
609: Finishing My Off-the-Grid-in-Manhattan Experiment in Month 3
Having just started month three of living off the electric grid in Manhattan, technical issues led me to stop the experiment. I'm not sure the problem, but connecting the solar panels to the power station, it doesn't charge.…
July 18, 2022
608: Parents Just Don't Understand
The notes I read from: Yesterday my mom suggested I move away from the city if it makes me feel so bad. Last week my dad reaffirmed that he wouldn't appear on the podcast without some vague conditions he was using my invitat…
July 17, 2022
607: Mike Michalowicz, part 2: Being the Icebreaker
Mike committed to a year-long task. Few guests go for so long. Since we're in a writing group together, I've seen him in between, but since I want you, the listeners, to hear guests' results first, I didn't ask him if he sta…
July 15, 2022
606: Nakisa Glover, part 3: The Joy of Gardening
Nakisa shared about the intersection of nature and its disappearance growing up, as well as her growing awareness of it, family, community, and a polluting cement factory appearing in her neighborhood. We recorded shortly af…
July 13, 2022
605: Etienne Stott, part 5: My Work from an Extinction Rebellion Rebel's Perspective
In Etienne and my continued exploration of each other's work, we look at my leadership work from his perspective. What are the differences between leadership and protest? What's the difference between a purity test and livin…
July 11, 2022
604: Whitney Tilson, part 2: Overcoming feeling uninformed about the environment to act on it
We start by my reading the emails where I invited Whitney to this podcast by cursing with a few f-bombs, showing how we started our interactions. Before recording our first episode we met in Washington Square Park and picked…
July 9, 2022
603: Mark Victor Hansen: Chicken Soup for the Sustainability Leadership Soul
You've heard of The Chicken Soup for the Soul book and series. I had to start this conversation by apologizing that I did the opposite of the advice everyone knows: "don't judge a book by its cover." Something about the titl…
July 6, 2022
602: Ash Beckham, part 2: How to Out-Boulder the Boulder, Colorado Crowd
Listen to the difference between Ash's tone, her level of engagement, and her type of engagement between what she talks about in the first few minutes and about fifteen minutes later. In both cases she shows a high magnitude…
July 3, 2022
601: Bill Benenson, part 3: Hadza Versus American Culture and Little Kids with Sharp Knives
Since Bill visited the Hadza in modern-day Tanzania, and I've been learning about cultures that have lived for tens to hundreds of thousands of years, I asked him about how they lived. We talked about their religion, rituals…
July 1, 2022
600: Etienne Stott MBE, part 4: What it's like rebelling with Extinction Rebellion
Following up last conversation with Etienne, on Extinction Rebellion's mission, strategy, and tactics, this time we talk about his path from disengagement to becoming a Rebel---that is, playing a significant role in Extincti…