This Sustainable Life

Why a military general? Isn't the US military one of the greatest polluters on the planet?My goal is to bring effective leadership to the environment and your life because spreading facts, figures, doom, and gloom isn't doing it. Leadership is about people. Technology and innovation have historically increased pollution, as I described in other episodes. Nearly everyone promoting technological solutions is unwittingly continuing the drive toward efficiency that created our environmental situation and continues to augment it.They miss that increasing efficiency doesn't necessarily lower total waste, which is our problem, as a glance at any plastic-covered beach or Beijing sky will attest. Again: efficiency has overall increased total waste.I invited Rip after reading about the Millennium Challenge, where, in preparation for Desert Storm, the military invited him to come out of retirement to lead the "red team"---a ragtag group to fight the "blue team", representing the 21st century US military strategy using every advantage they could---technology, data, weaponry, size, intelligence, and so on.It sounded like a setup---not a test but a cake walk to showcase what they considered an unstoppable, titanic force.Titanic might be the best term because he mopped up the floor with them. I'll put links in the text for write-ups on this historic David and Goliath exchange.You'll hear in this conversation why they so miscalculated and how he saw things differently that worked. More importantly, I hope to focus you on the value of focusing on people.Rip shares the inside story you won't find in those accounts. I was rivited, and he built it up from talking about his beginnings as a lieutenant, learning strategy like Von Clausewitz that remains timeless, US military development since WWII and Vietnam.If the relevance to the environment isn't obvious, I'll clarify. Acting environmentally means facing an apparently unstoppable juggernaut. It's not CO2, plastic, and mercury but the beliefs and goals driving people to keep doing what they used to---meat, flying, having as many kids as they feel like, buying SUVs, and so on.Everyone who says that's human nature is confusing following a system. Systems can change. Growth wasn't always a goal, nor did people ship their garbage halfway around the world, nor did it take centuries to decompose. Cultures that had to deal with their garbage learned to live sustainably.So can we. We can learn from Rip's teamwork, historical knowledge, vision, and all the things that make up leadership to lead ourselves and humanity to overcome our Goliath: the beliefs keeping us doing what got us here.Rip has made a big impression on me. I don't know what makes a general. Talking to him, I think it means learning at a cultural level, or learning deeply about people.I think we who want to influence human effects on the environment can learn from this experience and view. He talked about senior leadership. In my view, we lack senior leadershipPBS Frontline interview with Paul Van RiperPBS Nova interview, The Immutable Nature of WarWikipedia on the Millennium Challenge 2002 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The loudest voices these days seem to come from protesters because they design their actions for attention. They aren't necessarily the most effective.Many of us are outraged. Our emotions become intense. Emotional intensity drives us to do what we want most, which doesn't necessarily lead to what's effective. As I see it, people are venting more than leading.I criticize the lack of leadership around the environment because people overwhelmingly spread facts, figures, doom, gloom, and telling people what to do. In no area besides the environment do effective leaders say, "Here's how to lead: spread facts, figures, doom, gloom, and tell people what to do."Effective leadership works when based on the views and motivations of the person you're leading. For many that's uncomfortable. But it works.Fred and EDF's sober, thoughtful approach of working with big business is accessing the biggest potential change and leading them.I wrote a friend on a group geared toward confrontation:They seemed heavy on demands. I hope that style works for them. It felt domineering to me. I consider protest important. At the same time, I consider it important to offer help to people and organizations we'd like to change but that don't know how to on their own, which is my strategy. One of my definitions of leadership is to help people do what they want to but don't know how.Fred and Environmental Defense Fund's strategy isn't designed for maximum attention, but for maximum effect in one area---in particular, those with large potential for change, even those not appearing environmental. This strategy is close to mine.Without organizations like EDF helping, companies that could change might instead protect themselves by hiding potential problems. I've been trying to meet Exxon, for example, but the "Exxon Knew" campaign motivates them to protect themselves and hide information. That campaign may be for the best, I don't know, but I see the need to offer a hand too, to help them come up with strategies they couldn't have.EDF does more that just work with corporations. For example, they're launching a satellite to detect emissions. Having helped launch a satellite as part of my PhD, I love the audacity and effectiveness.In my conversation with Fred, I focused on the leadership part, but we cover more, including his personal background and EDF's.After you listen, I recommend applying to EDF's internship he described. Organize, vote, and lead politicians, corporate executives, and others with authority to act environmentally.By the way, I met Fred Krupp, the head of the Environmental Defense Fund, through past guest, Bob Langert, McDonald's former head of corporate social responsibility.The Making of a Market-Minded Environmentalist, in Strategy+Business Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are the notes I read this episode from:I see human population decreasing the Earth's ability to sustain life and human society.I have a goal of increasing that ability.Actually two goals: my other goal is for people to enjoy the process. This isn't about coercion but joy.If our human population is over what the Earth can sustain, then restoring that balance.Many people view CO2, methane, plastic, and the like as the enemy.We use them, we like them, or making them.They have no volition anyway. They react to our behavior.Some identify Exxon, Trump, or other people. But we spend money on Exxon and we do what Trump does.Paris Agreement example, SUVs, take outSome identify inequality. Poverty and outsourcing make it easier to polluteBut we had inequality before without so much destruction.Some identify lack of education, but scientists pollute. US is educated and pollutes.Not an intellectual issue. An emotional issue.Our emotions and motivations result in part from systems, but we could change the systems and we aren't. Sure some people are changing systems within their companies to make them more efficient, but I've spoken in many episodes how increasing efficiency doesn't lead to reducing total waste.Our emotions result from our beliefs, which are the goals of our culture.The enemy, if that's the right term, are beliefs driving our economic system, driving growth and externalizing costs.Also beliefs leading us to keep doing what we're doing.Here are the biggest enemies against maintaining or restoring Earth's ability to sustain life and human societyFirst the common ones, then the biggest of allIf I act but no one else does, then what I do doesn't matterThese little things aren't worth doing but these big things are too bigI'll make this process more efficient (while making the overall system pollute more efficiently)Satisfying this desire now will lead me to do it less later.Government should change, or corporations, or others first.There should be a law to change my behaviorActing sustainably is a burden, a chore, a distraction from what I really want to doActing sustainably hurts jobsMaybe in general I shouldn't but this time is justified.Not growing means stagnation, instability, a return to the stone age, early deaths, women in chains, and losing all progress.I can't change my values. Society can't change its values.I'm behaving this way for logical, rational reasons (as opposed to wanting an outcome and rationalizing it however your mind can, however unconsciously)These enemies are within us. Being in us makes them insidious but it also makes them completely within our abilities to change.Change these beliefs and everything will follow. There's still the question of time, since we don't have long and manifesting the change takes time.But if you hold these beliefs, you are almost certainly decreasing Earth's ability to sustain life and human society.If you think changing your beliefs won't change much, I suggest that not changing them vetoes everything you do.More importantly, life with the opposites of these beliefs is happier, more joyful, less guilt-ridden, connects you with people more, creates community, builds community, and is healthier.The opposite isActing on my environmental values creates joy, community, and connectionTaking responsibility for how my behavior affects others connects me with people and creates communityStewardship brings joy and connectionPollution and waste create disgustWhat I do matters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are the notes I read from for this episode. I've talked about what I call The Worst Problem in the World for about ten years, so I'm used to it and worked from scarce notes.The problemExample: Germans and JamaicansIn environment: people say others don't careMakes people feel misunderstood, disengage, makes you seem judgmentalRepels people we want to help mostWhat to do instead: respond with curiosityWhen I don't understand someone, I can learn from themMy multi-month conversation with a skeptic taught me more about my understanding than with any supporterMore than improve understanding about environment, helped me improve my ability to lead othersMy original post from almost ten years ago, The Worst Problem In The WorldA video I did on The Worst Problem in the World Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The notes I wrote and read from for this episode:Leadership means changing beliefs and goals. If you're doing anything else, you're following and perpetuating the system that created the results. Greater efficiency, recycling, reusing, etc are following, just accelerating, unless you change the goals. Are you clearly and overwhelmingly opposing growth and externalizing costs? If not, you're polluting.My most important goal is not efficiency. It will come if I achieve my goal. I talk a lot about how growth and externalizing costs produce pollution. My goal is not to reduce population and take responsibility. They will come if I achieve my goal. My goal is to change the beliefs that cause the behavior that produces the results. If you lower the population but keep the beliefs, we'll get back here. If we change our beliefs, the change will come. Only if we change our beliefs will change come. "Be fruitful and multiply" and "you have dominion" and "growth is good" and "a rising tide lifts all boats" . . . these are the causes of environmental problems. And one more, beneath them all: "acting in harmony with nature is a burden or chore." Change that one belief to "It's a joy, delicious, community, and connection" will change everything in time. Absent that change, any other change will revert, unless it changes that in some way.Nobody is doing it so I am. Whether I am succeeding or not I don't know, but I consider it the most important goal, now that the science is clear. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here is the text I read from for this post:My environmental role modelsWhy my role models? Because people keep saying what I do is inaccessible. That it's too much or extreme. That they need to balance. Well everyone believes they're balanced. I have to balance too.My difference is that I keep moving toward my values. Instead of letting Americans, the most polluting people in history, be my comparison, I find new role models.It's community. Once you start polluting less, actually putting effort in, not just straws or the latest trendy thing, but based on your passion, you'll find role models and keep doing more to live by your values because you'll like it.Bea JohnsonAuthor of Zero Waste Home, which I read and recommend as well as 4 TEDx talksFamily of four, less than a load per yearMy response to everyone who knee-jerk responds, "Oh, you don't have kids. If you had kids then you'd understand." Well, she has two kids and avoiding garbage brings them together, as it will everyone who tries instead of claiming helplessness.Her book on zero-waste living led me to find new waste to get rid of, including cutting down on mailings. Emailing and calling places to remove me from their lists is satisfying and returns control.Her TEDx talk on why we should recycle less is the first big public statement I know of to avoid recycling as much as possible in favor of not polluting, since recycling is polluting unnecessarily. Of course all living requires polluting, but recycling is closer to full waster than to benign.Her clean home and family camaraderie inspire me.She's been a guest on this podcast and we email periodically.Kris De BergerHis site called Low Tech magazine inspires simple living minimizing relying on fossil fuels.He shows what is possible, especially what we used to do, often easily, that we then replaced with fossil fuels, like how to move 100 ton blocks of stone, growing plants before greenhouses, and many fun things we've traded for a sedentary, polluting lifestyle.You know how it took decades for people to realize building roads created traffic, not relieved it? He finds similar patterns, like how our push for energy security is making us less secure and increasing efficiency often leads to greater total waste.He does what he talks about. For example, he runs a solar-powered server, he installed a shower that uses a fraction of a regular shower.He shows a low energy future is possible and desirable.I invited him to be on the podcast but haven't heard back.Lauren SingerDid a TEDx talk, probably the first I saw of all the people's here so inspired me earlyShe also cites Bea Johnson as a role modelShe was the first person I'd heard of creating a mason jar of landfill waste per year, which enables me not to compare myself with Americans on my waste, which is meaningless because they are about the most trash producing in historyShe went to NYU and students of mine knew her or were connected. I forget the details.I invited her as a guest, but we haven't finished coordinatingShe started a store for products that replace disposable stuff. I've met a couple employees from the time I cooked for 50 people in Brooklyn North Farms with almost nothing to throw away afterRob GreenfieldHis YouTube channel is the best source of his work. Reminds me of MorganSpurlock of Supersize Me.Rob is nearing the end of a year eating only food he grew or foraged.He did a lot of attention-getting stunts to call attention to our culture's waste. This project shows a level of maturity that suggests significantly more to come.He rides his bike a lot. I've considered moving to Orlando to participate, especially when I interviewed Orlando's mayor for this podcast.He's been a guest on this podcast and we email periodically.David GardnerHost of the GrowthBusters podcastBesides running for office, he's one of the only people I know to promote reducing the populationIt's his passion. He's taking on one of our biggest taboos, or sacred cows, which is also the most necessary change necessary to pull out of our mess.It also may be the most misunderstood or overlooked part of our environmental problems.People just assume because the population is increasing less -- not decreasing -- that things will work out. All relevant signs I know of say we're over the carrying capacity already, making collapse imminent.He's been a guest on this podcast and we email periodically. I've been on his too.My mom and sisterFor food and gardeningLinks:Bea Johnson's video page and book, Zero Waste HomeKris De Decker's Low Tech MagazineLauren Singer's TEDx video and other videosRob Greenfield's videos and web pageDave Gardner's Growthbusters podcast and movie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People littering is creepy, like a tick or other parasite. It gets under my skin. I don't like it, but if I want to help people stop their parasitical, tick-like behavior, I feel it helps to understand them.Leadership rests on empathy, which sometimes means understanding the feelings and motivations of people who do things you consider disgusting or creepy, like buying coffee in disposable cups knowing it pollutes but acting ignorant or like it doesn't. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are the notes I read from to make this episode, sometimes diverging from them.Why I don't call our environmental situation a crisis. People think scientists will solve something or engineers will create a solution and we can go back to before. We will never return to this lifestyle, which, by the way, is a tremendous advance if you value happiness, stewardship, enjoying what you have, and compassion over craving what you don't have and not caring how you affect others.Within your lifetime, planes will never fly you without severely hurting others. Same with having more than one child, eating meat, eating to being overweight especially eating factory farmed or industrial farmed food, and you know the top things. Some rich people will be able to do what they want because edge cases always exist, but for most people, today's way of life is nearly over. I repeat, you'll be glad after the transition for the same reason cocaine users are glad to kick their habits even if it meant the end of partying like they used to.The sooner we get this shift into our thick skulls, the sooner we'll stop trying to retain what is resulting in opiates, sugar, alcohol, other addiction, poverty, dissatisfaction with our communities where everyone feels like they have to get thousands of miles away several times a year, etc. Never in human history could we get far from home without major effort. Now we feel entitled to it. And the result is dispersing what would be community into I don't know what to call the opposite of community. Loneliness? Why are we surprised at all the addiction?I'm familiar with Steven Pinker's work that we're living in the best time ever, but I'm not comparing to a past including two world wars and dropping atomic bombs on each other but a future in which we steward the land, air, and water based on cultural values and practices currently talked about but actually practiced by nearly no one.When we get it through our thick skulls and actually practice them, we will replace growth, meaning always wanting more never content with what you have, with enjoying what you have. Plenty of human societies have lasted far longer than since the industrial revolution without growth, whereas ours is destroying the Earth's ability to sustain wildlife and human society in a couple centuries. Economists removed from regular life don't get this.We will also replace externalizing costs, which means dishing off your waste to others, generally who are helpless to defend themselves, with stewardship, or taking responsibility for how your behavior affects others. Any parent knows that taking responsibility means that yes, you can't party and travel like you used to, but the joys and rewards are greater. It's hard to start, but when you say, "I'm going to do whatever it takes to make this baby healthy" you overcome every challenge that comes, no matter how prepared you felt. In fact, the bigger the challenge, the greater your feeling of reward. The challenges of environmental stewardship is nothing compared to parenthood.Today polluting pollutes not only defenseless, but ourselves. We have filled the world withs that much garbage, greenhouse gases, and poison and we have so filled the world with ourselves that we can't escape it.The result of that shift will be a world with abundance for all, with a stable population well below carrying capacity, for reasons I described in episode ?. That means for several generations we'll have on average below 2 babies per couple and our economies will shift to a steady state economy, as other, more enduring and stable cultures have done for longer than we've been around and without the opiate addiction.There will be problems. There will be wars, but not threatening all of human society or millions of species.Anyway, I wanted to share why I think of the environmental situation as a shift or transition, not a crisis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've been sharing the sentiment of how people today seem to think of our times versus how people from other times would see now. I expect they'd view us with horror, disgust, and disdain.Today's post reprises that perspective.Here are the note I wrote that I worked from:People say homeless live better than kings before. TVs, fly around the world, any fruit or vegetable any time of the year, music any time you want, meat without meat, etc.They think any one from any time would prefer now to then. That we live in the most wondrous of times. Sure there are some disagreements, might not like this politician or that social problem, but materially, they think we're better than ever.I think future generations will not envy us but look at us with horror and disgust, maybe disdain. That we chose to go to Paris all the time and destroy Earth's ability to sustain life and human society for our fleeting selfish pleasure. If they live in a world we polluted, I suspect they will wonder how we could have neglected caring for others in exchange for polluting with little to show for it but social media pictures that look like everyone else's, addiction, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, not seeing our families under the guise of seeing our families because flying separates us, otherwise we wouldn't have to fly to see them. Eating whatever we want and not caring that we destroy the land and water.On the flipside, those of us who change, I believe they will look back on as heroes if we turn things around. If they live in a world only a little more polluted than ours because some of us, maybe you, took a stand against the prevailing winds, stood our ground, and dare I say, enjoyed our communities, connected with people around us. What does it say about your community if like most people with a certain amount of discretionary income, you say "I have to get away from here sometimes?" Annually. Probably more than annually?Today is our chance to enjoy each other, unmitigated by material junk, craving to be elsewhere, neglecting others, and externalizing costs. If you haven't, give it a shot. Create your world. Think of something you care about, think of a way to act on it, and act, without waiting for someone to tell you what. The more you figure out the more value you'll find.Let me know how it goes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since recording this episode, Michael has become Google's Lead for Circular Economy.Michael took on a challenge many people consider: biking to work for a month. He challenged himself amid product releases at work and family obligations as his wife traveled, so he couldn't just start. He had to plan and work at it. Even so, he created cheerleaders of his riding at Google among his coworkers.He led them by doing what others wanted to but didn't.I can't help wonder if his biking contributed to his promotion to a role of environmental leadership.Before all that, you'll get to hear about his spectacular blow out.Michael clearly explains his plans, actions, and results -- what worked and didn't -- so if you're thinking about biking more or any environmental action, you can use him as a role model.I'm curious if he'll follow his personal experience with leading people more at Google or steering Google beyond where he would have otherwise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.