This Sustainable Life

Mark and my second conversation it about happiness, pleasure, meaning, and purpose, though it sounds like it's about personal growth, food, and environment.In our first conversation, he didn't really connect on the environment at the start. This time you'll hear it resonates with him, largely through health and food.I see the pattern over and over: people protect themselves from saying the environment means much to them but when they talk about it, they care deeply. I think mainstream strategies to act on the environment---"try this one little thing," "if you don't, you're destroying the Earth," facts, figures, doom, and gloom . . . none of which do I call leadership---lead to people protect themselves from revealing how much they care.Making it moral, about facts, right, and wrong and other ways that motivate people to protect themselves motivate people to protect themselves.Change will come from the opposite tactics: opening up, allowing people make mistakes and learn, not feel compelled to comply or to impose judgment on them.Environmental action won't come from people knowing more. Nobody knows everything, but nearly everyone knows enough to act on. Change will come from people feeling comfortable acting.I'm not saying Mark revolutionized his life and I don't know how often he'll return to farmers markets, but I heard that he meaningful enjoyed visiting it, activating a new aspect of food for him.Food was already a big part of his life, message, and journey. Yet getting fresh vegetables from the farm was outside his horizon.How many things are outside our horizons?It kills me that people treat things we talk about like chores or distraction. Acting on shared values creates connection and community. I can tell Mark and I will have a great time when he visits New York. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Outside the MBA world, not everyone knows McKinsey. Within it, and at the upper echelons of business and government, McKinsey advises some of the largest and most influential organizations, including governments and the world's largest companies.If a company wants useful advice, it has to share everything, which means McKinsey is privy to the secrets of the most influential people and companies.McKinsey is hierarchical. After business school people start as consultants, they move up in management to partners. Later directors. Eventually you end up at Global Managing Director.Today's guest, Dominic Barton, was the Firm's three-time Global Managing Director.Since effective leadership is fundamentally about influencing people's behavior, Dominic influenced the influencers of the most influential people and organizations, where the stakes were highest and repercussions greatest.High stakes and repercussions? Sounds relevant to the environment in 2019.One of this podcast's most important topics to me is our agreement that environmental change will come most effectively by leading people. Technology, innovation, regulation, taxes, and so on may change, but people drive it all.My goal in this podcast is to bring effective leadership to the environment. The more knowledgeable a person seems, the more likely to say, "We can. The question is will we." Will is the domain of leadership, not engineering, science, education, journalism, or the usual places people look for environmental guidance or change.Today's episode brings the upper echelon of global leadership to the environment.His schedule made phone was the only way to record. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nadya and I mostly talk about business and sustainability. She describes what she saw growing up in the dissolution of Kazakhstan, where she saw the opposite of sustainability.I can't describe what she saw, but you'll hear the craziness of collusion, economic collapse, political collapse, and so on.She talks about how business works best when sustainable. I tend to agree. Tangential to what Nadya and I covered, when companies influence government to distort a market -- say with subsidies for fossil fuels, paying for a military to maintain supply lines that everyone pays for, roads that I agree I benefit from but don't use nearly as much as others yet I pay for, and farm subsidies for meat, I could go on -- unsustainable companies can profit.So companies that pollute but the public pays to clean up, or for other reasons we don't accurately account for their costs, can sustain themselves profitably while not have a sustainable business model.As a matter of accurate accounting, a prerequisite for capitalism, I support taxing pollution and extraction. I can't believe people who support capitalism aren't clamoring for these taxes, while relieving taxes in other places -- I'm not saying more taxes: accurate taxes.Anyway, Nadya loves business, as she describes and she cares about environmental sustainability.We talk about this sort of thing: accurately, mutually beneficially, creating value.I'm glad she values meaning and how we can create it for each other in the style of Victor Frankl. She talks about how we treat sustainability as a chore. It's not enough.She talks about he we need to create meaning in everything, certainly our environmental action. I agree. That's why I name this the Leadership and Environment podcast, where leadership means involving meaning, value, purpose, passion, joy -- missing from the conversation, crowded out by coercion, compliance, doom, and gloom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Proctor and Gamble produces a lot of plastic and waste, which makes them very interesting to me. An old me would protest. The leader me sees the opportunity to support change if they aren't changing and help motivate it if they are.Not just reduce waste---also to help increase the joy, meaning, and purpose in the process---what the "leadership" part of this podcast's title alludes to.Steve Sikra has worked there nearly 30 years. He knows their history and practices backward and forward. He's very enthusiastic.He talks about systemic change and overall reduction. I'm not sure it's P&G's main goal. Or rather, we see the relevant systems differently. One of my main discoveries in environmental action is the difference between raising efficiency and lowering overall waste. I cover this difference in episode 183: Reusing and recycling are tactical. Reducing is strategic, which I recorded after this conversation with Steve. Probably this conversation with Steve helped me get to episode 183.Working on efficiency may lead to no change in total waste. Raising efficiency often increases total waste while making people think they're decreasing it, which leads them to do more. I'm not speaking about P&G since I don't know the data, just describing a pattern.I've read studies showing that our overall efficiency has increased and contributed to increasing total waste. I'm not saying don't increase efficiency, but to focus on lowering waste first, then increase efficiency if it helps.I'm glad to hear that P&G plans to decrease using raw fossil fuels. I'm also glad to hear Steve's passion and dedication. We had great conversations leading up to the recording, talking about sidchas, burpees, and other passions we share. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark seeks transitions---what most people avoid, certainly around leadership and the environment---and loves them. He shares them with the world. Listening to his podcast and reading his results, they're working.Change can make for a great life, as much as most people prefer to do what they always have. You'll hear him embracing challenges, learning, seeking understanding. He seeks action and people who act.He's just over 21, but I hear experience beyond those years, I think because of the challenges, and doing them publicly. Putting yourself out there forces accountability on you, which gets the job done. I recommend it.On personal change, he recognizes that emotion, not the outside world, is usually the biggest hurdle. This view, applied to environmental leadership, points to working on the beliefs and emotions driving our environmental problems for solutions.Too many of us look to others to act first or relying on technology---that is, not to where Mark looks. Our culture treats acting on your values as a chore. Listen to Mark to hear the joy, growth, meaning, purpose, and things I think we want in life more than plastic bags. Acting on your values is not a chore.Yes, parts of change are hard. Very hard. You'll hear the decisions he's had to make, though you have to listen hard because he's mostly overjoyed.I'm glad he was as open on the environment as he was because I think he shared what many are too scared to: that he doesn't know much about the environment.But for all he didn't know, he still cared. Environmental action isn't a matter of expertise or facts. Anyone can compare a garbage dump to a forest and figure out which you want more of. The question is do we act.Mark has acted so far in life. Let's hear how he approaches environmental action. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of D-Day.This post is about being a part of something greater than yourself, than all of us, benefiting us all, and benefiting yourself -- one of the great feelings and experiences available to humans.I happened to read four documents around the same time that illuminated each other and our attitudes toward acting on the environment. Our complacency in the face of a danger threatening many times more lives than Hitler is all the more glaring when compared to the honor and service of the men who defended the free world storming Normandy.The documents were'I count myself lucky': D-day remembered on the 75th anniversary, a compilation of interviews of D-Day survivors in The GuardianThe Uninhabitable Earth, a book describing the consequences of global warming, to say nothing of plastics, mercury, extinctions, and other environmental consequencesIf Seeing the World Helps Ruin It, Should We Stay Home?, a silly account of selfish mental gymnastics for how to deny responsibility for contributing to global warmingAn email exchange with a friend abandoning a plan to avoid flying, instead planning to fly to IndiaA Man Who Landed at Sword Beach, NormandyFrom the Guardian articleChelsea pensioner Frank Mouqué, 94, was a corporal in the Royal Engineers who landed on Sword beach and whose job was to dispose of bombs on a stretch of land beyond the parapet next to the beach.“We approached Sword beach in a landing craft. We had all of our gear on our backs and a rubber ring around our stomach to help keep us afloat. Let’s face it, the landing was very gory. You didn’t have time to think, survival instinct kicked in,” he said in his account published on the Royal Hospital Chelsea’s website.“After reaching the beach, I ran up towards a parapet, and searched for mines. After 12 hours of being on the go we were exhausted and then had to dig a foxhole to sleep in. We had to dig six foot down and two foot wide.“I slept outside for the next year or so, we had no protection from the elements. We had an oversized gas cape to go over our clothes and all our gear. We rarely slept lying down. Each time we slept in a barn we were ravaged by fleas – so even that was no good.“It was a different time: I wasn’t a hero, I was a little cog in a big wheel. When you add all those little cogs together – then we became important. We all worked together towards peace.”A Woman Who Supported the Normandy Soldiers from LondonFrom the Guardian article“We knew something big was afoot because there was an armada of boats in Portsmouth harbour. That was a giveaway.“The VHF radio was a one-way system. When you raised your lever to transmit, the recipient couldn’t make any interjections until you had finished, and said: ‘Roger and out.’ or whatever. Then they would raise their lever, and transmit their message”.On D-day she was in direct contact with the wireless operators on the allied invasion fleet as they stormed the beaches.“When they raised their lever, I could hear very loud, sustained gunfire. It was really so bad that you thought: ‘Oh my God. There’s a battle going on.’ You knew. You thought: ‘God, men are dying.’ The reality suddenly hit you. For a rather naive 17-year-old, I think it was terrifying. But it was a job. You got on with it.“The messages were all in code, so you didn’t know what was being said. But you could hear the gunfire, every time the lever was lifted. I’ve never forgotten what I heard. Never.”What the Earth Will Likely Look LikeI'm not going to copy the sections of the book I quote, but here's the long article its author, David Wallace-Wells, wrote that prompted the book, The Uninhabitable Earth,,Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.From Avoiding Flying for a Year to "But I Want to Go"Here are the passages from my email exchange.An excerpt from a friend who had stated intent to avoid flying for a year:I'm still investigating traveling to India via boat but so far, it seems to be very expensive (even on a freighter that accepts passengers) and not safe for single female travelers-my partner does not want to travel anymore so she's not flying as much as she used to. Most crew on freighters are men and the trip takes a month.An excerpt from my response:I don't understand how people can separate their actions from the front-page environmental news. How they can see pictures of, say, the air in New Delhi and not connect that they are polluting thousands of times more than the average person there. I'm surprised at how easily they can dismiss consequences they don't actually see.Anyway, let me know if I can support you. I didn't write the above about you but because you're one of the few people I can share such thoughts with who I think wouldn't take it personally but might also think about it.One thing that might help regarding India. North America is a stunningly beautiful, diverse land with equally beautiful and diverse people. No one could possibly sample it all in a lifetime. For whatever India offers, there's just as much unknown a train ride away. Before I sail to Europe, it looks like I'll sail to Mexico, Puerto Rico, or places near Florida, and probably at almost no cost, using Findacrew.net, where I've met friendly people offering spaces on their boats, though I haven't taken them up yet.If I always think of what I'm missing, I'll never be satisfied. If I enjoy what I have, I'll always feel joy.An excerpt of her response to mine:Hey Josh-- I hear you. Unfortunately, the research I'm doing in India is really important to me. I was invited to go back to India after last year's visit. I am doing my activist affordable housing work in my own city and doing much more walking to get places.SynthesisWhile it's easy to contrast the service and honor with our behavior today, concluding that we are acting with the opposite, which I guess would be selfishness and dishonorably, I see something different, focusing on the man's statement,"I wasn’t a hero, I was a little cog in a big wheel. When you add all those little cogs together – then we became important. We all worked together towards peace.”Our inaction on our environmental values robs us of our potential to transform ourselves from cogs who aren't heroes to becoming important, to work together toward peace.The opportunity of acting on our environmental values---which I have felt in picking up other people's garbage daily, creating community, meaning and purpose without the distraction of flying, discovering the deliciousness of nature by avoiding packaged food, and so on---is to be a part of and contribute to something greater than ourselves.We as a species will suffer from the ignorant behavior of our parents and our tragically informed but complacent behavior, but whatever disaster awaits us, we can ameliorate it. There are degrees of disaster, differences between a billion unnecessary deaths and five billion.The difference may come through arbitrary accidents of how nature unfolds or it may come from our acting together.The opportunity is for all of us to act as part of something greater than any of us or even all of us---one of the great feelings humans can experience---helping all of us and helping ourselves.We did it at Normandy 75 years ago. I can't wondering if the greatest legacy of the under-appreciated defenders of the free world might be to show how we can team up under adversity and become like brothers and sisters. Men risked their lives and died in that endeavor.All we need to do is replace flying with enjoying the area around our homes, as people have done since humans became sapiens, to lay off the air conditioning, to eat what food we buy and not let it spoil, to favor broccoli over Hot Pockets and beef.The greatest joy humans can experience versus throwing away another coffee cup every day. How is that choice not obvious?Why not make it for yourself once and for all? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As founder and CEO of iMiller Public Relations (iMPR), Ilissa Miller brings nearly two decades of experience in sales, marketing and product development to her clients in an effort to help them differentiate their messages and achieve notoriety within an ever expanding and evolving industry. With a wealth of experience and knowledge in the emerging global telecommunications and technology industries, her extensive expertise and practical skill set have allowed her to implement and spearhead and launch many companies as well as global product and marketing campaigns including that of international private line and networks, IP transit, peering, IPVPN, hosted PBX, cloud computing, Ethernet, managed services, colocation and data center products and solutions.She is a recognized leader in the global telecom and technology space where her knowledge and insights provide strategic guidance that enhance performance resulting in a remarkable reputation for effectiveness and client satisfaction.In addition to her aforementioned role, since 2013, Mrs. Miller has also served as the President of NEDAS where she functions as the driving force for the association’s annual programs including conferences, training sessions and networking socials. A key ingredient to the Association’s success is the Advisory Council, which was formed in 2013 consisting of industry executives and thought leaders who actively interact with the highly dynamic landscape of the in-building wireless industry.In 2012, Mrs. Miller was elected to public office as Trustee in the Village of Mamaroneck where she successfully ran for re-election in 2014. As Trustee, she sits on the Village’s Board with legislative and policy decision-makers, governing over 19,000 local residents and serving her community with steadfast dedication.Mrs. Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Writing and Literature from SUNY Potsdam where she also studied voice performance at Crane School of Music.iMiller Public Relations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sammy is a cofounder of Fitspot Wellness -- a fully managed solution for companies and properties, bringing on-site and digital workplace wellness programs and amenities to engage employees and tenants through community experiences.Sammy is an attention-to-detail aficionado who brings a blend of grit and imagination to the zillions of tasks that confront every startup. She has always thrived in operations, working as a production assistant in LA and managing operations in the fashion industry. Sammy wears many hats at Fitspot, doing everything from sketching app screens to managing the customer experience. Sammy has a B.F.A. from the University of Miami, and hails from Australia.Fitspot Wellness Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jezzibell is a co-founder and SVP of Business Development of PacketFabric. From their web site:PacketFabric redefines how companies build and use network services. The PacketFabric network-as-a-service platform provides instant connectivity between colocation facilities, to major cloud providers, and Internet Exchanges. PacketFabric is simple, cost-effective, and scalable network connectivity and all of our services are provided via our portal and API.She was an early stage employee of AboveNet Communications and Akamai Technologies, and previously served as VP of Operations at RoamData, as well as VP of Business Development for GTT. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his words, JV Bharathan cares about every single human being on the planet and celebrates the greatness of being human.He is an accidental author. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from India and received double masters of science degrees in software engineering and management from Brandeis University.JV is an avid traveler, people lover, and enjoys working with people from cross-cultures and around the world. He is passionate about motivating people to their greatness and remains committed to creating collaborative community settings.JV's book page on Undying Optimism Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.