This Sustainable Life

Food touches nearly all environmental issues, as well as health, social, economic, political, and cultural. Cities like New York and their governance do too. Regular listeners know I talk about food waste, doof, packaging, and related issues. I celebrate her boss, Eric Adams's dramatic change in his diet, which tells me his motivations to bring healthier food to New York are authentic and genuine.As the top food official in New York City's government, Kate is in the middle of it all. After covering her background, we talk about what New York is doing about food and doof, some initiatives guarded, some bold and visionary. As a New Yorker since the 1980s, you'll hear I want to offer my service. I want to help make doof go the way of cigarettes in the workplace---that is, no longer allowed. After New York banned them, the policy change received overwhelming support.While she speaks somewhat officially at the start, the conversation grew more personal as we spoke, in part, maybe because I shared with her an amazingly delicious local apple. Who knows, maybe I'll work with the city and get to help stop tragedies like this disgusting litter and this alarming litter, largely doof waste, from happening. New York is one of the most exciting and beautiful cities in the world when not covered with doof and its waste. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald committed to seeking out seeing a wolf. He shares about his experience on this commitment. He shares his deep connection and commitment to nature and how the project affected it.Donald thinks and acts in systems. We know we are a part of nature, but not all of us behave as if we understand what that means. Donald shares what it means to him, given his background in systems based especially in one of my great role models, W. Edwards Deming. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After I've read his recent book The Cloud Revolution, Mark and I continue our conversation on sustainability and what to do based on qualitative and quantitative understanding. I've also been listening to his podcast.I came to Mark for his thoughtful research on the problems with solar and wind power, which people call clean, green, and renewable but are none of the above. I mainly want to get his views in general, which he shares. Within that frame, and trying as a host, not an investigative journalist, I've tried to focus him on exposing the larger problems with fossil fuels, nuclear, fusion, and other sources.He doesn't seem to consider their problems seriously. I hear him motivated by the view that lower energy prices and greater supply have benefited society and the concern for society breaking down if energy prices increased or supply decreased.Regular listeners know I find huge potential life improvements in lowering energy use and that I see significant problems with our lives and future if we stay with oil, gas, coal, nuclear, and fusion so I support decreasing energy demand and supply, as I've lived and am living.As you can hear, we two physics-trained examiners of our environmental situation enjoy our conversations. I expect it won't be our last. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After I shared episodes on the hazards of solar and wind, as well as my experiment disconnecting my apartment from the electric grid in Manhattan (in month 8 as I type these words), a listener pointed me to Mark Jacobs. I can't believe I hadn't found him yet.I dove into Mark's prolific research and writing. He makes plenty free on his site. As a professor of engineering at Stanford with great passion, he researches what he's talking about and makes it all available. He's not just talking or hoping for the best.His research helps form the Green New Deal. He contributed to the IPCC work that won the Nobel Prize. Coincidentally, he criticized podcast guest Mark P. Mills article I linked to in More Hopeful Calculations for the Energy Transition.We talked about his roadmaps for transitioning the world, countries, states, cities, and towns to 100% clean, renewable wind, water, and sunlight in all energy sectors and his books, 100% Clean, Renewable Energy and Storage for Everything (2020) and No Miracles Needed (2023). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I almost couldn't believe someone could write a book like Carl Erik Fisher's The Urge: Our History of Addiction. It tells the histories of addiction in human society since antiquity and of him, addicted, including in medical school, jail, and recovery. I don't know how many people could have shared such vulnerability or connected his experience to the reader's so we feel empathy.Regular listeners and readers of my blog have witnessed my increasing focus on addiction. We live in a culture of addiction. We see it in alcohol, cigarettes, doof, social media, binge TV, gambling, drugs, and so on. We also see it in what pollution brings, I believe: comfort, convenience, and travel, for instance. Medical professionals may not yet recognize these latter addictions in their literature, but it seems clear to me they will.Solving our environmental problems requires each of billions of people overcoming their addictions. Carl shared some of what recovery takes, and it's not just talk or plans. It takes listening, empathy, and support, among other things.You'll hear me in this episode realize I haven't yet figured out how to extend compassion to addicted people, the people I want to help most, as there are billions of us and our addicted behavior is lowering Earth's ability to sustain life.Carl's home page, linking to his bio, book, podcast, and more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second part of my conversation with Noah, going into more detail about Uruguay and sustainability. The first part was episode 646. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The more I learn about electronic waste, the more disgusted I feel at how huge the problem is that we are exacerbating, often in the name of increasing efficiency or reducing waste. I've watched many documentaries, but here's a short video showing the problem in just one place in Ghana. Look at the land in the background that was once verdant and lush, now poisonous. Or read The Dark Side of Congo's Cobalt Rush in the New Yorker.If your comfort and convenience come at the price of others' suffering, wouldn't you rather know than hurt people in ignorance? The way out of that internal conflict is through action. Read Brian Merchant's The One Device the secret history of the invention that changed everything-and became the most profitable product in the world, which tells the story of what goes into our devices, focusing on the iPhone, though it applies to our laptops, Teslas, and so on. In our conversation, he gives his back story to his book.At the very least, you'll find reasons to hold on to your phone for a few years longer than you would have otherwise. You'll save money, but the greater effect will be improving your quality of life, especially your mindset, helping resolve that inner conflict.Brian's home page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I answer a question a listener emailed:Can you share more details on what exactly prompted you to make the switch to acting more sustainably and if it was abrupt or gradual. And perhaps more practical ideas on what to do if you have kids, especially picky eaters, or if your schedule is just too busy to prepare meals 100% of the time.If you have questions on leadership, sustainability, sustainability leadership, doof, a guest, or anything I cover on the podcast, email me.Episodes with guests I mentioned, who are inspirationalBea JohnsonJoshua Becker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Regular listeners know I'm thinking about applying Abraham's Lincoln solution: a constitutional amendment banning pollution. Here's an earlier episode on it: 613: Our Next Constitutional Amendment.It sounds crazy, but we'd be crazy not to consider it and learn from the idea. Even if the United States takes a long time to do it, other countries would likely do it first. It turns out others are organizing for a similar amendment, for the right to a clean environment.Michael's expertise in constitutional law and environmental law make him perfect to give context in those two areas.One day even the U.S. will show overwhelming support for an amendment making pollution illegal, a modern version of the Thirteenth Amendment. Future generations will lament how we took so long to conceive and pass it. It begins with conversations like this one.Michael's Home Page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kris created and runs what I consider one of the top sites online. It has influenced my behavior and expectations to enjoy living more sustainably, including unplugging my fridge, which led to unplugging my apartment, and start seeing that solar and wind aren't sustainable any more, though we could make them more so.I've looked forward to connecting with Kris for years. In our conversation, he shares his transition from reporting on new technologies for others for pay to reporting on technology from the view of improving life and how we keep losing the purpose of technology helping us.He also shares how he lives by the values he writes about, or writes about the values he lives, showing integrity and credibility lacking in most people working on sustainability or technology, also understanding from hands-on experience the systemic effects that Silicon Valley and political types misunderstand nearly every time.Low Tech Magazine: Low-tech Magazine underscores the potential of past and often forgotten technologies and how they can inform sustainable energy practices.Some articles that influenced me or I enjoyed:Vietnam's Low-tech Food System Takes Advantage of Decay (this article led me to unplug my fridge, which led me to unplug my apartment)How Much Energy Do We Need?Fruit Walls: Urban Farming in the 1600sUrban Fish Ponds: Low-tech Sewage Treatment for Towns and CitiesMany moreNo Tech Magazine: We believe in progress and technology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.