This Sustainable Life

Bethany made her name as the first to report that Enron was overpriced, which meant going deep into the numbers and people, understanding them, and then facing overwhelming criticism. Turns out she was right, but can you imagine the friction and hostility she must have faced? Now she's looking at fracking. We want journalists like her investigating and reporting what's happening that we don't know...

Marion Nestle is a hero for me. Food may be the greatest interest that got me into acting on my environmental action. Avoiding packaged food emerged from avoiding fiber-removed foods, which emerged from reading Diet for a Small Planet in the 80s, which also motivated her. She, her books, and blog, Food Politics , are voices of sense in a crowded field. Her most recent book is The Unsavory Truth: H...

My third conversation with Geoff covers using his research to figure out what to do. I start with a few questions on how to create a vision for the future based on his research. Can we change our growth trajectory, currently leading to ever-accelerating growth, without sacrificing the superlinear growth that makes cities and presumably culture stable? Recall that sublinear growth leads to companie...

This episode is for people who detest Trump. I'll speak to people who love him in future episodes. If you pollute and emit greenhouse emissions beyond the IPCC recommendations, which one round-trip cross country coach flight will nearly do, you personally pulled out of the Paris Agreement so many people criticized Trump for pulling out of. If you defend your flying and other pollution as necessary...

I talk to a lot of people who aren't acting on their environmental values. They explain their inaction in many ways, but one of the top ones is that they claim they first have to raise their awareness or become more conscious. To claim unawareness of an issue making global front page news monthly, maybe weekly, when anyone who has ordered takeout or considered eating less meat or driving fewer mil...

Beth personifies whom this podcast is designed to showcase: someone whose hard work, risk-taking, and personal challenge brought her to the pinnacle of her craft, which she is willing to share. That is, someone who did what leaders in the environment have to---to work hard before you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, having faith in yourself. She shares inside views of cultural change to...

Many people believe that technology will save many of our environmental problems. I've written and spoken on how making a polluting system more efficient will lead to it polluting more efficiently. My recent cross-country trip by Amtrak, which prompted me to wonder what it would take to transform Amtrak into a first-world train system, illustrated the challenges of systemic change and how pushing...

Evelina said she'd avoid plastic for a month before she could think twice about it. Did she complain or back out? You'll hear in this episode, but the big picture is that instead of giving up, she worked harder. I've spoken to a lot of people who started from less and took on smaller projects, if anything. A lot of people talk. Evelina acted. She did a lot. And what do you know? She enjoyed acting...

Since appearing on his podcast, he and I have become friends. You can't hear it in this recording, but since meeting on line, I've met him in San Diego, where I stayed in his guest bedroom, meet his family, and cooked my famous no-packaging vegetable stew together. So this episode is more personal. Jared has acted more than most to live by his environmental values, so you'll get to hear someone no...

In our second conversation, Geoffrey and I continue to pursue his unique approach to viewing the environment. I find it fascinating because he approaches the environment from a different direction, but he arrives to the same conclusion---the need for leadership to change cultural norms. Talking here gave him the chance to explore ideas he raised in his book but didn't pursue. He wanted to do so, a...

Many who serve in the military become leaders in business, politics, entrepreneurship, sports, and many other places. Why? What does the military teach so well? Few people can answer better than Everett, as the head of West Point's leadership department. To say he and his department have extensive experience and knowledge leading and teaching others to lead is an understatement. You'll also find f...

I'm posting this conversation today because Seth just launched his book, This is Marketing , already a #1 bestseller. As he points out, his marketing is close to what I call leadership: how to influence people, to discover your passion, and such. Helping people change is what this podcast is about. We recorded this conversation months ago, so you get to hear previews of his book. We talked a lot a...

Michael is the Executive Director of an organization that inspired me as much as any---The Story of Stuff. They continue to inspire me to think bigger and to focus on the details it would be easier to ignore but that matter. If you want to avoid plastic, waste, and other stuff , you'll find Michael's perspective and experience helpful. Having cut my waste a lot, talking to Michael leads me to cut...

Stewardship is Jethro's core message, as I heard---of his community, especially children in it, his country, and the natural world we share. This world is a beautiful, abundant gift we could wreck if we don't steward it as we know we can. He cares about being an effective steward---not just talk but action. Wait until you hear this Alaskan's commitment to live by this value. WARNING: if you're ful...

Imagine you were born into a slave holding family. You didn't ask to be born into it. You didn't create the system. You didn't make slavery legal. Every landowner around you would own slaves. You would inherit yours. Would you free your slaves? Have you considered how hard it would be? It's worth thinking about -- how much it would change your life. If you would, without a second thought, no matte...

Tim Smit is the co-founder and Vice Chairman of the Eden Project in Cornwall, in the southwest of England. He turned a lifeless, poisoned abandoned mine into a bountiful green world-class garden people love to visit. Eden has attracted millions of visitors and billions of pounds. Tim is a consummate doer---not complainer or blamer---and an environmental campaign and entrepreneur, Tim tells how he...

Chris Bailey shares how to focus and create intention---how to become more productive on the outside and live with more meaning and purpose on the inside by focusing on what is important to you. Focus isn't necessarily easy, but Chris shares from personal experience that anyone can improve theirs. He shares to slow down and focus on less in order to make a larger impact. Modern society motivates t...

I want to differentiate between telling people facts and what to do or what they should do on one side, and leading them on the other. I see a lot of people telling others what to do. Not a lot of people leading. Martin Luther King led people to choose and want to go to jail to create freedom. That's leadership. He had no authority over them. He didn't convince them to do it. He didn't change thei...

Many people think if you just reason enough, you'll get to what's right and wrong in a way everyone will believe. This happens in the environment and many other places in life. In the environment, you may believe we should pass a law limiting emissions. When you hear another person suggest that that law might hurt jobs, you might think if you convince the other person through reason, they'll come...

How do we elect people, including a United States President, who act on and steward the environment? I'm going to present a plan that I believe can win the next election that transcends the usual divisions that led to today's political situation, political misery, feelings of futility, and filth that we live in in air, land, and water, as well as our bodies. The links and images I referred to: 'Di...

First world people pollute hundreds of times more than third world people yet the material prosperity doesn't translate to greater happiness. We could reduce our waste by 75% while improving our quality of life, yet we claim we can't do it. Yet we travel to the third world to change them! Leaders are more effective when humble than proud. Paternalism rarely helps any relationships. In this post I...

People ask if I think we can make it out of our environmental mess. I don't know, but I act on my values. Many examples of cultural change suggest we can make it, including Smoking Drunk driving Seat belts Leaded gas and paint The ozone layer Bike lanes in New York City My podcast guests My podcast Starting a sustainability committee and more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

How we treat our bodies is how we are treating our environment. How we treat the environment is how we are treating our bodies. The fat and CO2 concentrations aren't the cause of the problem. The are the effects. The cause is our behavior. Our behavior is rooted in our beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. If we want to change the effects, we have to change the causes, which is our behavior and changi...

Evelina Utterdahl travels more than most. She writes travel columns. She loves travel as much as anyone, maybe more. Yet she chooses not to fly, as she wrote in Why I have chosen to travel the world without flying . If you've had trouble aligning your life with your values, you may learn from her. Part of a growing number of people who think before they fly, she chooses no...

Bea has become a role model, maybe even a hero to me. People keep saying they're impressed with my waste. It's easy to allow your standards to slide. One problem: my fellow Americans waste more than nearly anyone in human history. I don't want to relax my cleanliness and integrity. Bea has reduced waste for longer and has spoken more about it. She knows what works, what doesn't, how to express it,...