This Sustainable Life

Aren't we living in the best time in history? Don't we have to keep pressing forward to avoid returning to medieval serfdom or the Stone Age and everyone dying young? No. History, anthropology, and archaeology show these beliefs wrong. Humans weren't living on the verge of starvation or nonstop working all day long. Other cultures than the one we descended from enjoyed more health, longevity, abun...

You've heard every politician pay lip service on the environment. They talk abstractly about carbon dioxide levels, solutions to spend more money, and something about a future improved by electric cars and solar panels (conveniently missing how these "solutions" pollute). How many share their personal experiences? How many share their vulnerabilities we know they have? Derek shares his personal ex...

This episode is available on video . Before our conversations, I tended to see Warren as mainly focused on issues where men and boys suffer that society doesn't see, downplays, or ignores. I still see him as a rare luminary on such issues. As he mentions, many people, up to the White House, seem unable or unwilling to consider the possibility. But I'm seeing him focusing on solutions, both systemi...

If you've been following Michael and my conversations so far, you know to expect thoughtful, considerate conversation coming from different perspectives. Each time we find deeper understanding, share more, and listen more. You won't be disappointed this time. In this episode we talk about concepts from the book The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels and the philosophy behind it. Since I've started readin...

Nakisa talks about her community in Charlotte, North Carolina, the environmental and social challenges it faces, the level of engagement, the biases in difficulties in engaging for people who work long or unusual hours, advantages to big businesses, and other challenges. She also talks about her work facing these challenges, organizing and enabling people to solve them. We talk about civic engagem...

Doug is the opposite of the catastrophe we've made of the food industry. He created a restaurant with no trash cans; not for the customers, not for the staff, nor for suppliers. Talk about a role model. You can do it too. He can't do it for you. Neither can I. Only you can do it for yourself, but now you know you can. Step one: try. Step two: don't stop. Regular listeners know my disgust and disda...

We spend most of our time talking about Frances's latest book, Daring Democracy . I couldn't help sharing how, decades after reading Diet for a Small Planet , I realized it was the first source that started me on the path to embracing and loving sustainability. I started by describing that path and my gratitude. If you haven't read the book, if you wonder why I'm so impassioned and feel so much jo...

Scott went above and beyond acting on his sustainability commitment to run. He battled covid during training. Did the extra effort bring him down? On the contrary, since he did it for personal, intrinsic motivation based in his connection to the environment, he valued it more. I read curiosity on his part so shared my personal actions and systemic strategy different than the typical ones to switch...

Geoff's story of his commitment to act on his childhood memories of playing along the Missouri River in South Dakota starts off interesting, then turns exciting, thrilling, and ultimately life-changing. One of the things we most fear happened to him and he loved it. I think our conversation then grew more interesting. He's a storyteller and educator. He learned from the experience beyond what read...

Dan Barber is helping revitalize our food system. We start by going over his background, how fear drove him maybe most of all. Then we get into what drives food: farms and soil combined with creativity. His goal is supporting farming from the most basic level. He doesn't oppose people shopping farmers markets. He comes alive describing discovering what farmers who know the land learned to practice...

If you agree innovation and technology has its drawbacks, you may still worry: if we don't press onward, aren't we risking reverting to the stone age with thirty becoming old age and mothers and children dying in childbirth. Don't we store fat so well because our ancestors never knew when their next meal would come? I used to think that way. Learning about cultures that haven't adopted our technol...

People and nations are funding Russia's invading Ukraine, where tens of thousands have died and millions have become refugees. The laws of supply and demand dictate that any use drives up price, so any use helps fund Russia, being such a big supplier. Everyone acts like the only alternative to burning fossil fuels is burning different fossil fuels, as if humans haven't thrived for hundreds of thou...

Etienne starts by sharing how his government in England is beginning to increase how much it threatens punishment for people protesting, including what he does as an MBE working with Extinction Rebellion. He sees that reaction as showing they are making a difference. I hear it is similar to what is happening in my nation, the U.S. In our first conversation, Etienne was already acting and protestin...

Nakisa describes herself as naturally loving science, born into a hip hop world, combining these starting points. She starts by describing her journey growing up not learning that much about our environmental situation, seeing it as abstract and unrelated to her world, to being discovered for her ability to communicate, organize, and influence. The more she learned, the more she saw it as more tha...

"What I do doesn't matter," say many environmentalists as they order steak or buy tickets to fly some place. That's the addiction speaking. I recently heard Alan Mulally speak on how he led turning Ford around from losing tens of billions of dollars to number one in many categories creating joy, teamwork, and fun despite challenging work. Before being CEO of Ford, he led Boeing, among the two grea...

In one of the highlights (lowlights?) of our second conversation, Sam shares that fentanyl users don't like its experience as much as heroin's. On the contrary, it's worse. It pops them out faster from the euphoria, which makes them want to take more. It's a worse experience that addicts them more. Their suppliers don't care about the experience. They care that it sells more, which makes them more...

Lauren's unusual knack for attracting a refined mix of brilliance and emotional unavailability created a storied dating life from 2010-2019 which included actors, pick-up artists, doctors without borders (or was it boundaries?), CIA agents (who shouldn't have confessed that), astrophysicists, and Daniel J. Jones, author of the 2014 CIA Torture Report, who was portrayed by Adam Driver in The Report...

Derek is looking to flip a district that has been moving more Democratic through demographic shifts and redistricting. Can he pull it off? He reached out to me partly to share and explore environmental and sustainability issues. After we cover more of his background, he shared the environmental situation of a potentially stunningly beautiful region, including Joshua Tree and Death Valley, but exur...

You'll hear why Sam's books win so many awards: he deeply, personally explores fascinating, critical, current topics, then tells rich, detailed stories that get to their heart. He cares about the people he writes about and our tragic era as you the listener and reader. Meth and fentanyl, you can look in any small town, rural area, or big city---that is, everywhere---to see them sweeping and devast...

Scott emailed me that he didn't explore wilderness meaninglessly listening to birds as much as he committed. From experience, I know some guests overcommit or for some reason don't complete their commitment. I asked him to share anyway, describing how I'm looking to share actual experiences. I don't want to imply it's easy for everyone. He magnanimously agreed to share. Nobody is perfect, but not...

My first week's assignment to my leadership classes at NYU for years has been to watch Geoff's conversation with Charlie Rose. Geoff got his MBA at NYU, but somehow I took years to connect with him. He was delighted to be a guest. I assign Geoff's work because he communicates a message that you can become an expert and how to do it better than anyone. He speaks simply, eloquently, citing research,...

I decided to avoid putting screens on while I ate for a month. I expected to enjoy my food more, to find the euphoria I often feel from fresh, healthy food. I was surprised to find more the feeling of wanting to open a screen: a silky, seductive feeling that said, "It's good to turn on the screen. It's bad not to watch. You'll waste time if you don't put the screen on." The feeling came from insid...

This conversation was one of the most fascinating I've had. I couldn't have had it when I was younger. Michael and I are learning each other's world view regarding population, our innate drives, how we create or deplete resources, and related topics. We both agree we want many humans prospering. Our world views differ in what creates the resources we need to live: more humans to create the resourc...

I hope you know Climate Town . Watch a bunch of episodes if you haven't. This Sustainable Life listeners and hosts talk about the show. It's funny and fun, yet intelligent and informative. On top of the content, I watch the backgrounds, which often take place where I live in lower Manhattan and where I went to school, at Columbia, where Rollie went to. So I contacted him and his team. We spoke. Wi...

Judith shares her work, motivation, and vision on a problem everyone sees killing people and wildlife, but shies from applying themselves to, maybe because we value our polyester clothes, bottled water, laptops, and such. Have we lost the ability to imagine the world before plastic was invented? Her perspective, vision, and plans are common sense, sadly not common, yet, but she's working to bring...