This Sustainable Life

Joshua Spodek: Author, Speaker, Professor
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Do you care about the environment but feel “I want to act, but if no one else does, it won't make a difference,” and “But if you don't solve everything, it isn't worth doing anything”? We are the antidote! You're not alone. Hearing role models overcome the same feelings to enjoy acting on their values creates meaning, purpose, community, and emotional reward. Want to improve as a leader? Bestselling author, 3-time TEDx speaker, leadership speaker, coach, and professor Joshua Spodek, PhD, MBA, brings joy and inspiration to acting on the environment. You'll learn to lead without relying on authority. We bring you leaders from many areas — business, politics, sports, arts, education, and more — to share their expertise for you to learn from. We then ask them to share and act on their environmental values. That's leadership without authority — so they act for their reasons, not out of guilt, blame, doom, gloom, or someone telling them what to do. Guests include: Dan Pink, 40+ million TED Talk viewsMarshall Goldsmith, #1-ranked leadership guru and authorFrances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, former CEO of the Girl ScoutsElizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning authorDavid Allen, author of Getting Things DoneKen Blanchard, author of The One Minute ManagerVincent Stanley, Director of PatagoniaDorie Clark, bestselling authorBryan Braman, Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia EagleJohn Lee Dumas, top entrepreneurial podcasterAlisa Cohn, top 100 speaker and coachDavid Biello, Science curator for TED Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Oct 14

    863: Robert Parkinson: Tyrants and Rogues: Understanding the Declaration of Independence

    I can't help but copy from my blog post on finishing reading Robert's book. It describes what to expect from the first half of our conversation and his book. The second half of our conversation relates the revolutionary era and leadership today applied to a situation that is far closer to their situation then than most people see. We can learn from them. It's tempting to think of our impact on the environment as an issue of technology, legislation, and stewardship. It's about liberty, freedom, equality, democracy, and security, personal and national, which means enforcing the Constitution that Robert's book conveys the foundation for. Here's my comments on his book: Wow, I’ve been learning a lot about the revolution, but didn’t realize how much challenge the colonists faced, nor did I learn about the people on the British side.I knew about the big events and interactions that make the history books like the Stamp Tax, Coercive Acts, Boston Massacre, Lexington and Concord, and the ones you know about. I didn’t know about events like the Gaspée affair, the burning of Falmouth, Gwynn’s Island, and all the British aristocracy and military acting. I had only learned about people like Hutchinson, Gage, Dartmouth, and so on as caricatures, not real people. I didn’t know what motivated them.Parkinson points out that as much as we value the timeless words of the start and end of the Declaration of Independence, the rebels and patriots acted on the 27 grievances. I’ve read them before and could pick up some of the meaning behind them, but knew little to no detail. This book recounts what all the colonists knew intimately.Before this book, I had wondered why farmers risked their lives for independence. Sure, they didn’t want to be taxed without representation or imperial soldiers quartered in their homes, but were those things worth dying for? From what I knew before this book, the offenses seemed problematic but something seemed missing. I learned there were far more incidents, many more deadly, and more people involved than I knew of before, yet they drove independence and the revolution.His writing ties many pieces together, so I kept finding names and places affecting each other and being affected by each other. The book read like a tapestry with a rhythm throughout the book. The head of King George from the statue on Bowling Green starts the book and reappears at the end. The boats and people using them going to and from Gwynn’s Island had me going forward and backward like I was reading a mystery novel or a Christopher Nolan movie. The numbers 42, 45, 88, and 92 recur (two refer to years of British revolutions, 1642 and 1688; one is the edition of a publication, 45; and the other is the number of votes supporting a Circular Letter in support of union, 92).Finally, each incident tied back to Jefferson, Franklin, the three other editors, and the congress learning about them, figuring out what to make of them, writing them, editing them, and sending the Declaration to the colonies.Robert's faculty page at SUNY Binghamton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    863: Robert Parkinson: Tyrants and Rogues: Understanding the Declaration of Independence

  2. Oct 13

    862: Andrew Levy: A role model for today: Robert Carter III freed more slaves than any other American

    Regular readers of my blog know how important Robert Carter III has become to me as a role model. He inspires me. I believe this episode will inspire many of you. If you don't know who he is, you're in luck. Here is a post of mine with links to many resources on him: Resources on Robert Carter III. Probably the top thing to know about him is that he is the American who freed the most number of slaves before the thirteenth amendment. Actually, you're in better luck because the first two resources in that post are by today's guest, Andrew Levy. In this episode we talk about Carter, slavery, slave culture, changing culture, his relevance to today, his relevance to my work, and more. It was a pleasure to speak with the person most knowledgeable about him. Andrew shares more than knowledge. For example, he's thought about Carter and today. He asks why we don't remember him more and what that burying says about us. The Anti-Jefferson: Why Robert Carter III Freed His Slaves (And Why We Couldn’t Care Less), by Andrew Levy: This piece was a journal article in the spring 2001 issue of The American Scholar.The First Emancipator: Slavery, Religion, and the Quiet Revolution of Robert Carter, Andrew Levy’s bookI can't recommend these works enough for two reasons: First, Carter exhibits values and actions we can learn from. Second, Andrew covers the man from many angles, all useful. Plus his writing is engaging and readable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    862: Andrew Levy: A role model for today: Robert Carter III freed more slaves than any other American

  3. Oct 7

    861: Cara Judea Alhadeff, part 1: Actually acting, the joys we feel, and the friction we face

    A mutual friend introduced Cara and me. He knew we both were doing our best to live by our values in avoiding hurting others through pollution and depletion. On the face of it, our living situations look different. Her family converted a bus into a home. I disconnected my apartment from the electric grid. We share plenty more in the conversation. Our motivations are similar, which it didn't take us long to bond over. We also face similar misunderstanding and friction from society, especially people who purport to share our values of not hurting people (or wildlife) without consent. Also, people confuse themselves into thinking that because we do what we do, we don't do anything else. More importantly, we also discovered similar joys, rewards, and ways to keep acting. In this conversation, we talk about the joys and challenges of living by our values in a culture that claims to share those values but often rewards behavior that violates them. I don't get to talk to many people with similar situations so it was very refreshing. Feeling understood feels great. I hope you pick up on it. I hope you'll join us too. Cara's homepageHer intersectional nonprofit: Radical Art in ActionHer family's eco-art converted school bus home, using 100% reclaimed materials: The Love Bus: Beauty & Waste In the Face of Climate Crisis (youtube.com), creative, affordable housingS.O.U.L. (Shared Opportunity Used Local) Commons that supports mutual aid economies and gift economies through the local free store she and her partner created for their communityHer book, mentioned in our conversation: Zazu Dreams: Between the Scarab and the Dung Beetle, A Cautionary Fable for the Anthropocene Era: Her cross-cultural, climate justice-through-alternative economies (includes a traveling exhibition and animated film adaptation) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    861: Cara Judea Alhadeff, part 1: Actually acting, the joys we feel, and the friction we face

  4. Sep 25

    860: Christopher Ryan, part 1: Civilized to Death

    The predominant responses to the idea of polluting and depleting less include fears of reverting to the Stone Age, losing civilization, being invaded by aggressive opponents, dying at 30, dying from small cuts, and reverting to a past viewed as worse than today. My upcoming book describes why we feel those fears and why what we fear losing is exactly what we can expect to get more of. A key part of that pattern is that all those fears are false, based on misunderstanding humanity's past. Christopher Ryan's latest book, Civilized to Death, is the clearest, most comprehensive single work describing the past accurately. I spent years researching, learning from countless sources. The results were conclusive, but difficult to communicate. What could I say, "Read these dozens of academic papers and books and watch all these documentaries"? Chris researched more and compiled it more clearly, concisely, and readably than I could have dreamed to. Now I can say, "Read Civilized to Death." I mean it: Read Civilized to Death. Our conversation covers the highlights. It will help you see why you believe legitimizing myths fear changes that when you do them you will only wish you had done them earlier. Things about yourself, humanity, culture, and life will make sense that never did before. Chris's home pageHis books, including Civilized to Death Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. Sep 8

    859: Jack El-Hai: The Nazi, the Psychiatrist, Nuremberg, and Why to Find Humanity in Those We Call Monsters

    How do you make sense of an entire society or nation violating its values? Consider Germany in the 1930s, in which a whole nation seemed to embrace Nazism. It's tempting to say they're all monsters, but how could over 50 million people change in a few years? Not genetics. They must have been no more or less human in 1940 as 1920. It's tempting to say that monsters took over and changed them. Many people thought so. At the end of World War II, a psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley, was sent to evaluate the highest level Nazis who had been captured and were to be tried in the Nuremberg trials. He believed that these leaders must have differed from most people. He wanted to find that difference in order to help prevent people with whatever traits he found from repeating what they did. He was deeply troubled to find no meaningful difference between them and normal results on his tests. Jack El-Hai told Kelley's story in his book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, including interacting directly with Herman Göring, at one point the second highest ranking Nazi. In our conversation, Jack tells the highlights of his book. I discuss the relevance to polluting and depleting today, where everyone is contributing, violating our own values, but contributing to much more suffering and death than even the Holocaust. We also talk about the movie Nuremberg based on the book, including its stars, Russell Crowe and Rami Malek. Jack's home pageHis book page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Aug 15

    858: Beth Bailey, the great-grandmother influencer leading the cleaning of Mérida, Mexico

    As a great-grandmother, Beth probably wouldn't describe herself as an influencer, but what else do you call it when videos of her go viral and prompt people to follow her? Longtime podcast listeners may remember episode 754: (Aunt) Trish Ellis and (Niece) Evelyn Wallace, part 1: Not Even Cancer Holds Her Back. We mentioned Beth, Evelyn’s mom and Trish’s sister. All three of them took the workshop. Beth and Evelyn also took my leadership and initiative courses that I offered to workshop alumni. Beth's initiative project was to pick up litter daily, but not just pick it up. She was inspired by an initiative she'd seen to restore pride in a community. For example, I pick up litter, but I just do it to clean where I walk. Her goal was bigger: to restore and inspire pride in where she lives, Mérida, Mexico. She planned things like a sign to invite favorable attention, what to wear, when to go out, how to talk to people. She's been picking up litter since. Then last month, at an alumni online lunch, she shared that someone secretly recorded her, posted the video, and by then the video had been seen over 1 million times. Plus, attention was leading to people joining her movement, opportunity to work with government, and more. I posted about it on my blog: Secret video of Beth picking up litter goes viral in Mexico. I invited her to share here. Listen for what happens when you persist. Beth's community page: Yo ❤ Mérida limpia. ¿Y tú?My post on her, linking to her videos and some media coverage: Secret video of Beth picking up litter goes viral in Mexico Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    858: Beth Bailey, the great-grandmother influencer leading the cleaning of Mérida, Mexico

  7. Aug 4

    857: Kim Stanley Robinson: Science fiction writing and leadership

    I met Stan in person at an event in Brooklyn. I had read Ministry for the Future a few years ago. He pointed out something I hadn't noticed since most people identify him as a science fiction writer. Ministry for the Future isn't exactly science fiction. He projects into the future, but he only includes plausible things---no flying cars or time travel. This practice invigorated my interest in his work. I also asked him how he handled water in New York 2140, since I knew it would have to be heavily polluted from sea level rise would flood landfills and cause their contents to disperse throughout the oceans. I enjoyed talking to him and invited him here. He has another identify besides as an author. He knows a lot about our environmental situation and attempts to address it. He's not an activist but more than an educator. I couldn't wait to engage with him on both identities. For him as an author, I found more to learn from him than I expected relevant to leadership, which I consider a performance art. As a writer, he has to create visions that readers accept and embrace. He has to express himself candidly but in a language the reader likes and feels engaged to continue. These points are relevant to leadership I asked him a bunch about the art and craft of writing from the perspective of someone wanting to improve his leadership. Naturally, we also talked about creativity regarding solutions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    857: Kim Stanley Robinson: Science fiction writing and leadership

  8. Jul 29

    856: David Jenkins, President of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship

    Most environmentalists that I know of consider themselves progressive or liberal. They propose solutions that increase regulation and grow government, often in the style of the New Deal. Their role models are generally also progressive and liberal. They present conservatives as opponents, even enemies, sometimes evil. They consider them interested in themselves and profit, not caring who suffers for it. Over and over, they say about conservatives, "They don't care." Meanwhile, they pollute as much as anyone. They fund future extraction, companies that extract and pollute, their politicians, and lobbyists promoting more. I don't think they actually talk to conservatives. They project their preconceptions onto them and treat them as straw men. David Jenkins helps lead a conservative group that promotes stewardship. I suspect many environmentalists would consider the combination impossible, wondering if it's a front group. What do you expect? Could conservative values promote decreasing pollution, depletion, plunder, and misappropriating nature? Listen and find out. Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship's web page Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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About

Do you care about the environment but feel “I want to act, but if no one else does, it won't make a difference,” and “But if you don't solve everything, it isn't worth doing anything”? We are the antidote! You're not alone. Hearing role models overcome the same feelings to enjoy acting on their values creates meaning, purpose, community, and emotional reward. Want to improve as a leader? Bestselling author, 3-time TEDx speaker, leadership speaker, coach, and professor Joshua Spodek, PhD, MBA, brings joy and inspiration to acting on the environment. You'll learn to lead without relying on authority. We bring you leaders from many areas — business, politics, sports, arts, education, and more — to share their expertise for you to learn from. We then ask them to share and act on their environmental values. That's leadership without authority — so they act for their reasons, not out of guilt, blame, doom, gloom, or someone telling them what to do. Guests include: Dan Pink, 40+ million TED Talk viewsMarshall Goldsmith, #1-ranked leadership guru and authorFrances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, former CEO of the Girl ScoutsElizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning authorDavid Allen, author of Getting Things DoneKen Blanchard, author of The One Minute ManagerVincent Stanley, Director of PatagoniaDorie Clark, bestselling authorBryan Braman, Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia EagleJohn Lee Dumas, top entrepreneurial podcasterAlisa Cohn, top 100 speaker and coachDavid Biello, Science curator for TED Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Joshua Spodek: Author, Speaker, Professor
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    871
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Joshua Spodek: Author, Speaker, Professor
  • Show Website
    This Sustainable Life

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