A glimpse of life as an inchoate reality-surfer riding waves of awe and ridicule — I peel back layers of reality to understand things that don’t make sense. Then I compare notes with others and share what I find out. This is how I seek a path towards healing our industrial system. I feel wedged between those who are way ahead of me on the…

A journey into ancient history guides the modern spirit — Interviewing Manda Scott the other day was literally a dream come true. For the last few weeks, each night before I go to bed, I have been taken on a wild journey by way of her Boudica series. As I drift off to sleep my mind is flooded with vivid…

A look back at how planting deforested and sustainability apologized for continued devastation — I am going to compare the experience of working as an industrial treeplanter in the 1990s in Northern Ontario, Canada with the ongoing unlearning of my experience in international corporate sustainability. I will be gentle although it is a journey fraught with discomfort. There is lots I could say but…

But I’m going to do it anyway — I don’t know how to change the global industrial complex so that it works in service of life. It seems an unfathomably daunting task to tee up for a given Tuesday afternoon. But I’m going to do it anyway. Otherwise, any corner I might paint myself into leads to…

Bring on the magic, let go of the fantasy, notice the difference — When I think about the future I want, I use my imagination a fair bit. I have a lot to draw on because the imaginal cells of what’s to come are already here. I am not expecting any magi to show up…

That’s a big question — here’s what my gut tells me — This is a conceptual look at what to eat, centering a healthy gut within a healthy world. As I seek an economy that works in service of life, this is what my gut tells me, based on decades as a sustainability professional, as an eater, and as a person who…

How I got my own height wrong, and other tales from the unlearning trenches — This is going to get uncharacteristically personal. Boys and dating and stuff. I promise I’ll tie it to our regular program of shifting to an economy where all industry is a force for healing. It’s also a bit long so let me give you the headlines. …

And it can’t be outsourced either — (This piece was first spoken, unscripted. Below is the transcript, with audio and video links.) I’m going to try to talk myself out of the rafters. I have this feeling that industry wants to buy its way out of the reality we’re in. That’s why consultants get paid a lot…

It’s 4.7 — Modern humans: literate on stuff, semi-literate on life Back when we modern humans* were cosmically young and immature, toddling into the early stages of perceiving a world beyond industrial captivity, we mostly thought in integers. Whole, simple, easy-to-remember numbers gained ground as attractive “answers”. And so the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything being pronounced as 42…

You see the madness, you’re not buying the endless growth narrative, and you want to help. Now what? — This is no time for recycling and double-sided printing If you read another sustainability report touting 25% emissions reductions by 2025 when you know what is needed was more than 100%, decades ago, along with a complete rethink of business’ relationship with the rest of the natural world that isn’t hyper-focused on carbon and is hyper-focused on supporting life…

Coming clean on what I really think about “corporate climate action” — We were driving — my boss, J and I — on a wide swath of highway towards a client site just outside Atlanta, Georgia. It was 2012, early days for us. I had been freelancing for the firm where he was a senior leader. I then got hired on as…

Business leaders are feeling the pressure from employees who are just as confused as the rest of us on matters ESG — There are a few things I miss about living in New York City. I miss jaywalking without getting dirty looks. I miss those huge trees at the north end of Central Park, and the turtles in the south end. …

Exploration and examples that show we are already hard-wired to take this approach — A few weeks back I wrote about what I would do If I Had a Trillion Dollars. The prompt came from recalling a budget I drew up to prepare for the unlikely event of my having a billion dollars, and then realizing I needed to move the decimal a few…

Yes please! Here’s a quick reminder of what that means — When I state my vision, I often get two reactions. First, laughter — a sort of nervous snort. Second, a reminder that things have to make economic sense. My vision is a world where the entire economy is a force for healing, where all human needs and wants are met…

When industry treats diverse humans and communities like a topic, an urgent opportunity is missed and harm continues. — Sorry we stole your car — now, how do we drive it? I remember a conversation with my Mohawk friend Chuck. I asked, “Do you ever feel like we stole your car, and now we’re driving out of control towards a cliff with no operating manual, so we’re calling you to ask how to drive this thing?”

Urban roadways contribute to heat islands, toxic runoff and stressful humanscapes. With vision, we can change this. — Passenger pain prompts possibilities for pathways Two things are colliding here: Noticing that a lot of our urban and highway infrastructure is designed so as to practically guarantee accelerated global warming and species decline. Accepting a challenge to put more time each day into envisioning better, alternative outcomes.

But it’s way more elegant than staying with an abusive psychopath who has no interest in our wellbeing — We are what we choose I hear a lot of hand-wringing these days. “The world is on fire.” “Big corporates are making things worse.” “We’re out of time.” But when ideas — or living examples — of better options are offered, a common response is something like, “It’s all so complicated…” and “people aren’t going…

The long run One day in October 2020 I went for a run along the St. Lawrence River. My plan was to explore its banks more closely than I could zooming past in a car or train, and to hold a few questions as I went. Not expecting any particular answers, I wasn’t…

A conversation with friends late last year keeps coming back to me. We were talking about the global youth climate strikes in which Greta Thunberg had emerged as a celebrity figure. My friend Chuck reflected, “People want her to be the next Messiah. …

And Other To-Do’s — I can only imagine how people first reacted to Copernicus when he claimed the Earth revolves around the sun. Heliocentric? Pff! What’s with this guy? It turns out that assimilating new evidence and realigning one’s fundamental beliefs is difficult for most people. …