This Sustainable Life

Shaun Donovan is running for Mayor of New York City. Technically not a national or global position, but in practice it is. Many call it the second hardest job in America. Most New York City mayors affect the nation and world.With a city this size, there are many issues. I focus on two: leadership, which means character and social and emotional skills, and sustainability.Regarding leadership, character, and what motivated him, I heard Shaun share vulnerability. I’m impressed, considering his experience in the White House and beyond, and how many politicians share prepared messages more than themselves. I’ll share his bio and then our conversation.Regarding sustainability, I asked him about litter, biking, farmers markets, and more.Shaun for NYC: Shaun's campaign page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My friend bought a sailboat, I mentioned to him my goal of sailing off North America, he told me about this guy posting weekly videos of circumnavigating the planet without using motors. I watched a bunch of videos. I had to learn more.He's "traveling in one consecutive journey around the world by as many motor less means as possible, including rowing, swimming, kayaking, standup paddleboarding, sailing, running, biking, skiing, skateboarding, velomobiling, walking backwards, and pogosticking. Friends and fellow adventurers join for support throughout the journey and help to create change through communication, education, and entertainment."I caught him in India soon to sail to Africa.People describe my behavior as extreme. Extremely fun! Actually, it’s more like most humans. Most westerners are extreme in our dependence, separation from family, separation from nature, obesity, addiction, heart disease, diabetes, working long hours, and so on. From their extreme position, normal me looks extreme.I keep going further because I find role models like Markus. Can you guess if he’s miserable or having the time of his life? I think you know the answer, but listen to find out how.Routes of Change, with videos, blogs, and everythingMarkus's YouTube channel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are the notes I read from for this episode:6 months with fridge unpluggedMom's advice, her fridge2 articles: Vietnam and power grid safetyExtreme? Extreme fun200,000 years"Heirloom tomatoes" used to be "tomatoes"Connect with peopleOff grid in Manhattan?Solar batteryWhy LeBron practices free throwsTo become world class you have to practice the basicsOtherwise you don't know what you're talking about and lose credibility Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brad isn't just a longtime elected legislator, he's also a neighbor who represents me. Most campaigning politicians speak in talking points. Maybe for being neighbors, maybe just out of his personality, I heard him opening up and sharing about the man behind the campaign.We spoke about what motivates him, his vision, New York City, Greenwich Village, and government leadership. He spoke thoughtfully, with reflection on political topics but also other personal ones, like the environment, drugs, and drug dealers and use in our "back yard,"---that is, Washington Square Park. I would have expected a politician to dodge some of those questions.Here is Brad Hoylman, the person behind the campaign.I hope our conversation helps lead to New York City legislating decreasing the supply of plastic and packaging choking our oceans and air.Brad's campaign page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Heartwarming is the best word to describe Bill's experience that I can think of.In today's episode, Bill and I start by talking about the incomparably larger impact of having fewer kids, especially in a country that pollutes as heavily as the U.S.Then we talked about Bill exploring his snowy yard with his grandson. The opportunity to do so was there for years, but he didn't act. You'll hear how he loved it.What natural experience might be sitting waiting for you to discover and enjoy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My notes I read from:What I did:Kathryn Garcia in Washington Square ParkFarmers market (compost, oregano)Ride to BrooklynGrain de Sail sail boatVisit with friendCalisthenics by candlelightWake up, no clockThink, reflect, calmMeet to pick up garbageNotes on no power:29 to 30 hours since recording last episode, 26 with circuit breaker for apartment disconnectedLess of a big deal than I expected, though the fridge already being off probably lessened effectTemptationTimeDarknessLightOutdoorsEatingCalm, relaxedMy values Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are the notes I read from for this post:---I posted the other day an exercise to think about going twenty-four hours without using electrical power. To clarify, that exercise was to think about it. I don’t think many people would do it. Even orthodox Jews leave their refrigerators plugged in, as well as clocks. The meters to their homes would register power being used. I’m talking about the meter reading zero. They often leave lights on. Personal choices may mean some don’t use any power.I don’t know Amish, who might do it, or people in societies without power. I spoke to someone who lives where her power drops for days at a time, but she says everyone gets in their cars, which use spark plugs, to go places to charge their phones and use the internet. I don’t know anyone who lives off the grid.Even during the blackout in 2003 and after Hurricane Sandy, I still used battery power. My ten-day meditation retreats and two two-week trips to North Korea still used plenty of electrical power each day.Here’s that post: Exercise: Imagine a Day Without Using Electric PowerYou know me. If it’s possible, I’d prefer to try than speculate. People talk too much and live too little.As I’m recording now, I’m looking at my circuit breaker for the apartment. I have a call after posting this. After that call, I’ll flip the circuit to cut off power to the apartment and turn off my phone and computer. Not just sleep mode, but power off. I won’t go so far as to disconnect the batteries, which I think would be symbolic.I’m scheduled to meet a friend at Union Square at the farmers market, where I’ll drop off my compost. We’re also scheduled to ride bikes to Brooklyn. I got an email from Grain de Sail, a company that built a sailboat to transport goods across the Atlantic, mainly coffee and chocolate eastbound and wine westbound. So I have some off-the-grid activities. My next obligation is about twenty-four hours later, which is to meet my city councilman organized group that picks up litter together tomorrow at 11:30am.Otherwise, I have to figure out what to do with my time that I’m used to filling with internet or writing on my computer. I have plenty of scrap paper to write on and a book to work on. I know I write differently when disconnected from the internet. I’m curious if I’ll write differently if that much more disconnected. I haven’t written much by hand in a while.I had thought to borrow some books from the library to help prepare, but the one near me is closed for the pandemic. I’ve been reading and listening to books online from the library during the pandemic, but I don’t need books. Maybe I’ll go outside more. I have a feeling I’ll go to sleep early since I won’t know the time. I won’t go to another building, like a bookstore, to read by its lights.My building has lights in the hallway and stairway. I was thinking of closing my eyes there to avoid using those lights, but I’ll make exceptions for them. The library’s clock tower has a clock. I think I’ll avoid using it so I don’t know how I’ll tell time. I’ll probably go to the park early with things to write and just be there when the rest of the group to pick up trash shows up, though it will probably be over twenty-four hours from now. It occurs to me now that going outside at night will make it impossible to avoid street lights. I don’t know the phase of the moon in case a full moon could in principle light my way. I guess I’ll stay inside. Come to think of it, I have some old candles I never use. I’ll probably go to sleep when it gets dark and wake up when it gets light, around 5am.I also have a sidcha to make my bed, cross the room, and turn off the alarm within sixty seconds of it going off. I haven’t missed it since starting, though occasionally a second or two late, so maybe I should say sixty-five seconds. With my phone off, it won’t go off tomorrow morning. I’ll probably get up and make the bed within sixty seconds of waking up and cross the room anyway.Walk/don’t walk signs and stoplights I’ll use while riding. While walking I’ll try to avoid looking at them and go by people’s behavior.Other than that, maybe I’ll go for walks or a run. I’m not sure, but people lived without electrical power for hundreds of thousands of years and many people go without it today. I see no reason why technology designed to help us should make us less capable.We’re a pretty needy, dependent, entitled, spoiled society. This is an exercise in resilience, freedom, and deliberate choice.Exercise: Imagine a Day Without Using Electric Power Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonathan and I have a good rapport. We joke around. I love his expressiveness as an artist. I think he values stewardship more than he's behaved so far in life, so I hear him enjoying aligning his behavior with his values.In this episode we review his leading his kids and wife in The Spodek Method from last time. You'll hear touching family interactions.The I teach the second interaction with guests---how to lead that conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I’ve taught a half-dozen people the technique I use in this podcast---the hosts of the other branches of the This Sustainable Life podcast. They started calling it The Spodek Method, so now I do too. It's enabled me to reach amazing people, many of global renown, who enjoy the experience. It doesn't alone solve all the world's problems, but it works. The Spodek Method leads a person to share and act on environmental values.You can do it too with communities you’d like to join. You would contribute to a mission of changing culture from seeing stewardship and sustainability as a burden, chore, deprivation, and sacrifice to wanting to do it based on experience, expecting joy, fun, freedom, community, connecting, meaning and value.   Why Learn the Spodek Method?Before: Deprivation, Sacrifice, Burden, ChoreAfter: Joy, Freedom, Fun, Community, Connection, Meaning, PurposeIf you would like to lead your community, try it. If you’d like to grow yourself, have others do it on you.This episode presents my teaching Jonathan Hardesty The Spodek Method during our second conversation. No planning. It happened spontaneously because we had a great rapport, he loved his experience, and was interested in leading a community craving leadership on sustainability instead of being told what to do.If you want to start a podcast branch and join the family, contact me. It takes practice, but once you start, you’ll love the experience, the team, and being changing culture.Think about the people you’d like to meet most in the world. The Spodek Method enables you to lead them in a way they enjoy and invite you into your life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon is famous for bringing people together and creating community, see the New York Times article on him below. He invited me to a few of his events before the pandemic and they lived up to the reputation.His latest book, You're Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence comes out the day I'm posting this conversation, May 11. We talk about how the book came to be. We're both geeky and prone to talking theory, but neither of us would stop there. He shares how he put theory into practice. At first he makes it sound simple, but he also talks about the challenges and struggles he went through and how far back he had to start from.For our common interests in creating community, I've wanted to bring him here for years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.