This Sustainable Life

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,...

Why do I think about the United States Constitution when my pressure cooker finishes cooking? Or when I leave a room? The U.S. Constitution guides my environmental behavior and has since I learned it in elementary school. Today is U.S. Constitution Day since today in 1787 the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia and that's why today I'm sharing why I love...

Neither the environment nor your life responds to your awareness. They respond to your behavior. People who speak the truth say, "I'm telling the truth." People who lie say the same thing. People who are aware say they are aware. People who are unaware say the same thing too. Only we're all unaware of what we're unaware of. Saying we're aware only reveals our ignorance of our unawareness. That's p...

Going car-free is beautiful Daniel got rid of a car! He chose to from Texas! And he thanks me for inspiring him. Would you think losing a car would cripple your life? Listen on to hear how it brought him joy and happiness. Yes, that's right. Getting rid of what Americans associate with freedom and independence brought him more freedom and independence. Daniel discusses enjoying not having a car. B...

Geoffrey West's work beautifully and elegantly ties biology to how we interact with our environment. Amazingly, his unique views lead to the same conclusions as mine, though coming from totally unrelated directions. You've never seen work like his. If you love nature and science, you'll love Geoffrey's approach. You'll see life and death in new ways. I hope you'll also catch my enthusiasm for his...

Alisa shares what happens behind the scenes to everyone, including world-ranked coaches and speakers. Listening to a podcast with leadership in the title means you've probably read many gurus' books and watched their videos, which are all edited and produced to make them look perfect. We know they aren't perfect. Alisa is humble, open, and generous enough to share what few top leaders do. I bet yo...

Ben Feder is a high level executive who realized he was losing the things that were important to him due to his pursuit of success -- until then defined by others' values.  We talk about him taking a year sabbatical with his whole family in Africa, Asia, and Bali, and how it transformed his life and his family. I share how much I’m enjoying his book and how even though he wrote it for his fam...

I met Jonathan at the World Science Festival and recorded a  podcast interview of him  that changed my approach to leadership—in principle and in practice. I seek more opposing views. I listen more. I look to learn their intent and the beliefs and values motivating that intent. I challenge myself more. As he colorfully  said to me : We are going through an extraordinary time in whic...

Happier Now Nataly starts by sharing her personal story of her family escaping Russia to America, navigating life with immigrant parents. She shares some vulnerable and raw experiences. Even so, she shares feeling blessed to be living in Detroit projects. Listen for why. She talks about taking many wrong turns, decades chasing happiness through achievements and success, trying to hide from feeling...

I met Andrew Revkin through the World Science Festival this year, then recorded at my visited me in my New York apartment. I wish I could have brought you the whole conversation. You get the highlights. We covered global warming, pollution, history, relevant people, and why he is hopeful, even seeing the challenges he sees from the vantage point of National Geographic and the New York Times. Andre...

People seem impressed when people don't pollute. They say, "That's so good of you!" If not polluting is good, doesn't that mean polluting is normal? I don't think we should see not polluting as special. Let's view it as normal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes what looks like a hurdle activates your team. Scott details how he launched his book---last I checked at 96% 5-star reviews. He tells it from the trenches, so if you lead, hope to lead, or want to write a book, you’ll want to tune into this episode. We also go into his challenge of saving electricity. He found that he was probably the biggest offender in the house. So he had to be humble...

Which is more common - an athlete becoming a leading political figure, or a political figure becoming an athlete? After talking to Marquis Flowers of the New England Patriots, I still say that leadership lessons from sports stars are some are some of the best I hear. Listen in to this episode to hear about teams, commitments, riding highs, and getting through lows. As Marquis puts it, what's going...

Even leaders need to remember to check-in and communicate with their closest friends. In RJ's third conversation here, he shares what integrity, listening, and communication mean for leaders. He acts with these skills in his professional and personal life. From running mentorship camps to sticking to his values on something so seemingly small as a disposable cup at a bus station, RJ puts actions b...

Scott takes on a three-part challenge in this episode . . in the middle of a book launch! We discuss how Scott is bringing his experience running multibillion dollar companies within Proctor and Gamble to helping people make sense of how they see work . . . and to create meaning and purpose in a world that doesn't do it for them any more. We discuss the life of a leader, speaker, and leadership sp...

Jared and I have deep, engaging conversations, starting from before my appearances on his podcast a year before we recorded this one. You’ll hear we quickly get deep on this one. It follows an earlier conversation a topic that many won't talk about or listen on, but that we consider essential, at least to talk about. We discuss resources per person as our populations grow. Some societies controlle...

(Spoiler alert: Daniel takes on the biggest challenge so far. You could argue his circumstances make it easier than it sounds, but he's coming from Texas!) Leadership education and practice can begin in school. Sadly, in most systems it doesn't. My K-12, college, and graduate school nearly completely lacked training in the social and emotional skills of leadership, and I went to some of the world'...

Jordan and I got to be friends over a decade ago before he moved to California. We'd get burritos around the corner from my place. In the meantime we toured North Korea not once but twice together and I've seen him in Los Angeles. This time I hosted him and his wife for my famous no-packaging vegetable stew. You get to hear from him how it tasted (spoiler alert: he says it tastes great). He shared...

This short recording is a teaser for my full interview with Seth Godin, who needs no introduction. It begins and ends with messages from Seth, sandwiching my top-level impressions from meeting with him at his home and talking at length. He talks about his new book, This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See , in our conversation so the full recording will come out when the book do...

2 minutes and 53 seconds to show you the trends people are following back to what used to be normal and healthy. Fight against clean and pure all you want. You'll follow eventually. Why not start now and lead? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.