This Sustainable Life

AJ is in some ways a kindred soul, actually doing things many people hear about or even talk about, but rarely do. Regular listeners might remember our mutual friend Mike Michalowicz suggesting we talk. We start by talking about things AJ has done and written about. He read the encyclopedia cover to cover. He lived a year following biblical instructions as literally as possible. He practiced radical honesty.

He shares behind the stories too, the fun and learning that came from it. I believe I heard some resonance and more meaningful respect for my trying to live more sustainably.

Underneath it all from AJ, you'll hear a curiosity, thirst for life, and enthusiasm to experience life to its fullest, the opposite of watching it happen or letting it pass him by. You'll want to live more thoroughly too.

• AJ's home page

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Stephen's book, Trust & Inspire, recounts today's effective way to lead, by creating trust and inspiring. He laments people still relying on the old techniques of commanding and controlling, which may have worked in more industrial times, but not today. They provoke resistance, the opposite of trust and inspire.

Those familiar with my work have heard me lament what people do in sustainability: CCCSC, my shorthand for convince, cajole, coerce, and seek compliance. They rely on extrinsic rather than intrinsic motivation, which provoke resistance.

From the start of our conversation, I tell him how valuable his book's message is for sustainability. We explore each other's approach and share how much we like them.

His descriptions of what the environment mean to him and his commitment I found touching.

• Stephen's book page for Trust & Inspire
• Franklin Covey

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In our third conversation, Whitney and I get more friendly and conversational, fun conversation.

He's been picking up more garbage, which I hope is part of a journey of continual improvement. Since long before we met, he rides his bike to get around the city. Otherwise, he's focused on other things in life than sustainability. He's examined a lot of parts of his life, but not his impact on other people mediated through the environment.

I'm not trying to change people who don't show they want to change, so we just talk. You'll hear a very thoughtful, active leader speak with me about his views and environmental values.

• Not Just Bikes YouTube channel

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Listening to an episode of Sam Harris's podcast featuring Roland Griffiths, Johns Hopkins neuroscientist researcher, on psychedelics revealed that much of their benefit sounds a lot like my guests talking about their experiences of nature. I think we don't know how much we're missing by paving over and cutting off as much as we do from nature.

I'd guess people before we cut ourselves off from raw, wild nature so much would never have guessed we could deprive ourselves from forests, beaches, and birdsong so effectively. As I'm typing these words, cars are driving by with noise engines blasting music you could hear from blocks away. How can we experience the sublime or transcendent under these conditions? I suggest we can't.

By contrast, our ancestors generally lived a few minutes' walk, maybe a couple hours, from solitude.

I play a couple clips from that podcast and compare their description of the effects of taking psychedelic drugs to simply experiencing nature, commenting on how much we've isolated ourselves from it, having paved over the most abundant parts.

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Most second conversations on this podcast come weeks or months later, after the guest does his or her Spodek Method commitment. In Michael's case, our first conversation was so engaging, we kept talking almost two hours, so I split the conversation into two parts.

The first mostly covered Michael and his research. This part covered applying his research and my leadership to sustainability. What can we learn from cultures that lived thousands of years or longer? What can we learn from cultures that thrive without polluting? What benefits do we enjoy that they lack and vice versa?

How can we apply answers to those questions? Can we change our culture?

We also discussed Michael's research on the forager population paradox. Quoting from a UCSB article on his research that links to his peer-reviewed paper:

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*"The average modal age of adult death for hunter-gatherers is 72 with a range of 68–78 years. This range appears to be the closest functional equivalent of an 'adaptive' human life span."

Would you be surprised that humans evolved to live to 72 years old? Wait, isn't one of the greatest results of our technology and progress to advance human lifespan from 30 years old?

How long do humans live naturally? Of course, the question and its answers is complicated, but I found Michael through a paper he co-wrote with Hillard Kaplan: Longevity Among Hunter-Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural Examination, that researched the question through populations all over the world. Read the paper for their full research, but the quote at the top suggesting 72 years resulted from extensive research and analysis.

Michael lived among many cultures that live more traditionally than anyone you've probably met. Not France or Japan, but the Tsimane, Ache, and Mosetene, and researched a world of others. In this conversation he shares how a guy from Philadelphia ended up there, as well as running a lab at UC Santa Barbara. Then we talk about how much we don't know about how our distant ancestors used to live but also how much we do know.

I don't think I downplay the richness and complexity of this subject to ask why we so commonly believe all our ancestors used to live to around 30 but we lived much longer, at least if we lived past childhood.

How did 30 become old age? What does progress mean if the system and culture that restored our lifespan lowered it in the first place? What if that system and culture is now lowering our lifespans? It forces me to reevaluate the values my culture promotes.

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Janet shared how she found This Sustainable Life, what kept her coming back, the guests she liked, and how it's affected her. I wish I had recorded episodes with listeners before to learn what you all like, don't like, and want more or less of.

Listening to it after recording, I consider our conversation one of the most accessible for new listeners. Janet described various aspects of it that I suspect will resonate with many listeners.

One thing that hit me was how the podcast restored her enthusiasm to act. Years ago she acted as much as she could on sustainability, to the point of picking up fruit rinds people had littered to put in compost. She didn't act for internal reasons but external, so she burned out and stopped acting. Then she found This Sustainable Life and it restored fun to acting. She does it for the joy of it, which keeps her going, gives her energy, not feeling like giving up.

Plus she did the Spodek Method, so you'll hear what she commits to do more.

If you are a listener and would like to be a guest, contact me and let me know.

• Blake Haxton
• Tom Szaky
• Bob Langert
• Behind the Mic / Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll
• James Rebanks

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Leaders who know how to lead and change culture know culture eats strategy for breakfast.

This concept figures strongly in Michael's book, Gridiron Genius. When most people watch football, they see the game, maybe the game plan and strategy. We see it on the scale of a play, maybe a game involving twenty-two men on a field, maybe also the coaches and trainers.

Michael sees each play in the context of the game, season, and overall culture of football as it evolves over decades. He knows the key players, coaches, owners, past players, their careers, their relationships, and their families if relevant.

To understand and change culture doesn't come from just telling people what to do. It means listening, understanding, testing, trying, failing, coming back, succeeding, relationships, and using tools like stories, beliefs, images, role models, not just carrots and sticks or instruction.

To hear Michael talk football reveals levels of leadership and culture beyond what most of us ever see, honed through decades of living and loving the game and everything in it. I hope the application to sustainability is obvious. You'll hear in his sharing what fans miss when television hides the full game why I can't stand people thinking they're leading in sustainability by coercing, cajoling, convincing, or seeking compliance.

Give everything you've got because you love it. Reach your potential. Break past what you thought your potential was to new possibilities.

• Michael's podcast: The GM Shuffle with Michael Lombardi and Femi Abebefe
• His book: GRIDIRON GENIUS A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL 

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Regular listeners know I started an experiment disconnecting from the electric grid. I began May 22. Then on July 22, I posted an episode that the solar panel or battery broke, or both. I didn't see how I could continue so said that after I finished recording, I'd declare victory, reconnect to the grid, cook lunch, and move on.

Regular listeners and readers of my blog know that I posted about keeping going. What gives? Did I stop or not?

I'd meant to record an episode explaining that I kept going without even solar power, though still using my "cheat" of allowing plugging my computer and phone at NYU. Recording my second episode with Michelle Nijhuis, I got to share that story, so I'm posting it here. She lived off the grid for fifteen years, so had plenty of relevant experience.

Past posts on the off-the-grid-in-Manhattan experiment:

• 586: My Kitty Hawk moment, on the way to a Moon Shot
• 584: Freedom, continual improvement, fun, and curiosity: day three only solar in Manhattan
• 593: How I disconnected from the electric grid in Manhattan for 2 weeks (and counting)
• 609: Finishing My Off-the-Grid-in-Manhattan Experiment in Month 3

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Where was Michelle Nijhuis all my life?

She lived off the electric grid for fifteen years and I was about two months in, so we shared stories of the experiences. She did it much longer and her fiance had to assemble everything from scratch. I'm only two months in and can use off-the-shelf parts, but I'm in Manhattan, so can't set up a permanent system. Some similarities: connecting with nature, learning to respect power, living with less resulting in living more. Michelle shares her challenges of connecting with the human world when disconnected to a power grid, but I don't think you'll hear regret.

I have to correct myself: I said kilowatt-hour when I meant watt-hour. My battery isn't 1,000 times bigger than I said.

It's hard to put into words the benefits of living without electrical power at the touch of a button. I recommend turning off your power every now and then. I wish I had earlier.

• Michelle's home page, which connects to her book Beloved Beasts, other writings, connecting to her, and more

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