Episodes
Dec. 20, 2024
797: Alden Wicker, part 2: Try and Try Again: E-biking in Vermont
Many people think sustainability requires fixing everything or else we'll collapse. The Spodek Method creates a mindset shift followed by continual improvement, not, as they might hope, a mindset shift followed by perfection…
Dec. 18, 2024
796: Jack Spencer, part 3: Authenticity on Acting on Sustainability (also Project 2025)
We start by talking about the internal challenges Jack felt about acting to do something he wouldn't have otherwise. He cares about the environment and lives accordingly. Still, he wouldn't have done what he committed to whe…
Dec. 14, 2024
795: Lorraine Smith, part 1: Leaving mainstream "sustainability" to pursue actual sustainability
Lorraine is one of the few people I know who saw mainstream sustainability efforts for what they are: ineffective and often counterproductive but self-congratulatory. I call most of them "stepping on the gas, thinking it's t…
Dec. 12, 2024
794: Lorna Davis, part 3: Before taking the sustainability leadership workshop
Lorna first appeared on this podcast in 2021. We became friends and remained so, though we challenge each other, as you'll hear in this conversation. We don't try to. Just things about the other annoy us. But how much we res…
Dec. 10, 2024
793: Nick Loris, part 1.5: Heartwarming nature, family, and fatherhood
People I talk to on the political left who care about the environment see people on the political right as opponents to defeat. When I share that I talk to people from Heritage Foundation, where Nick worked, they sound skept…
Dec. 7, 2024
792: Travis Fisher, part 2: The spirit that America was founded on, Cato, and sustainability
We recorded this conversation just after the election. We talked about it, especially Travis's and the Cato Institute's views. One of his main views is that the US puts too much executive authority in the president. I'm also…
Nov. 19, 2024
791: Sustainability Leadership Is a Performance Art
I'm following up my recent solo post, 790: Talking to a guy injecting on the sidewalk , with another extemporaneous one. This one is also with a former podcast guest and fellow teacher of our sustainability leadership worksh…
Nov. 16, 2024
790: Talking to a guy injecting on the sidewalk
On a beautiful sunny Saturday, 9:50am, I was walking to Washington Square Park to charge my battery and talk at 10am to my friend Dan McPherson ( he's been on the podcast , where he shared about his heart attack at age 46 th…
Nov. 14, 2024
789: Solomon Schmidt: Author of Legal Gladiator, on Alan Dershowitz
As a podcast host, I get pitched a lot of authors, books, and more. Most aren't relevant or are counterproductive to sustainability. I received an email promoting the author of Legal Gladiator , a biography of Alan Dershowit…
Nov. 13, 2024
788: Susan Liebell: John Locke, Stewardship, and the US Constitution
I quote Susan in my book, Sustainability Simplified . In it you'll see how much John Locke influenced my long-term vision for the US to understand and solve our environmental problems. Learning about the Thirteenth Amendment…
Nov. 11, 2024
787: Travis Fisher, part 1: A nonpartisan, libertarian view on the environment from the Cato Institute
I've been curious in what ways libertarian views on the environment and sustainability differ from conservative views. Travis worked at the Heritage Foundation, which is more conservative, and now works at the Cato Institute…
Nov. 8, 2024
786: Jan Mulder, part 2: The joy of finding and leading community
Usually when someone does their commitment with the Spodek Method, they enjoy it. Nearly always they do more than they commit to. Sometimes someone really enjoys it. Jan went to town on his commitment. You might wonder if th…
Oct. 30, 2024
785: Josh Bandoch, part 1: Teaching persuasion and leadership
I participated in an online workshop in influence and persuasion that Josh led. We got in touch afterward and found our approaches to the practices and how to learn them overlap. We start this episode talking about his backg…
Oct. 11, 2024
784: Serving in Uniform on September 11, 2024
If you haven't listened to episode 781: My New Major Life Volunteering Community Project, four years in the making , listen to it first for context. That episode describes my journey to start volunteering as an auxiliary pol…
Oct. 9, 2024
783: Jan Mulder, part 1: Listening to every episode of this podcast, starting from episode 000
Jan is a listener of this podcast who contacted me about how it changed his life. He is listening to each episode, starting from the beginning . I invited him to be a guest and he accepted. We've also crossed paths through w…
Sept. 17, 2024
782: Jane Muncke PhD MSc: Toxins in your food from plastic packaging. You'd rather know.
Toxic chemicals leach from food packaging into your food. Some of these chemicals disrupt your hormones. Some cause cancer. Some affect your children more. Some disperse into the environment and harm wildlife. For 300,000 ye…
Sept. 13, 2024
781: My New Major Life Volunteering Community Project, four years in the making
I started a new project volunteering in my community that is also a big life change I wouldn't believe I'm doing except that I am. In a sense I started the project over four years ago and it's only seeing the light of day no…
Sept. 5, 2024
780: Jack Spencer, part 2: Policy and the Individual Choosing
Jack shares his love for nature and passion to care for it, how central it is to his life, how much of his time and focus he devotes to it. He shares his principles of individual choice over top-down regulation. He especiall…
Sept. 2, 2024
779: Nick Loris, part 2: Freedom to Explore, Freedom to Choose
Nick and I talk about freedom, liberty, personal action and, however paradoxical to most people, how important personal behavior is in changing systems. Then we talk about markets, regulation, and democracy and how they inte…
Sept. 1, 2024
778: The Entrepreneurial Strategy to Restore Sustainability Globally Without Waiting for Governments and Corporations
This episode follows up the last one, on how you can learn sustainability leadership through our workshops, so you can practice sustainability joyfully. You can teach others to, and teach others to teach others. If the proce…
Sept. 1, 2024
777: How the Spodek Method Workshop Differs From Other Sustainability Work
If you've listened to a lot of this podcast, you've heard me walk guests through sharing their values on sustainability and acting on them. Why do they enjoy what most people consider deprivation and sacrifice? You can learn…
Aug. 31, 2024
776: Chuck Marohn, part 1: Strong Towns and Sustainability Leadership
I'd heard of Strong Towns for years, mainly through guest Jason Slaughter 's Not Just Bikes video series, and finally joined the community by taking a couple of their courses . I can't recommend them enough. Chuck Marohn fou…
Aug. 29, 2024
775: Bruce Alexander, part 4: The Spodek Method clicks at last!
You've probably listened to Bruce's past three episodes, so you probably know he wants a path to exist that leads people to want to live more sustainably and spread that change to others. It would mean them overcoming their …
Aug. 27, 2024
774: Alden Wicker, part 1.5: Foraging Is Fun
I ask guests to do episodes 1.5 when they tell me they couldn't do their Spodek Method commitment or keep postponing. Sometimes they say they don't want to share that they didn't do it. But experience has shown that talking …