Adventures in Sustainable Living

#079 Recycling Part Three: 6 Common Household Items and How to Recycle Them

June 15, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 14 MB

Recycling is all about reducing the amount of waste that goes to the landfill. If you talk about recycling, most people instantly think about paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, and vegetable cans. However, there are a number of other things in our homes that can and should be recycled. For example, light bulbs. In this episode I am going to talk about how to recycle 6 common household items that most of us never even think about. It may require a little bit more work but it is something that ...

#78 Recycling Part Two: We Need to Ditch Performative Environmentalism

June 08, 2022 06:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MB

With all the talk about going green, I look at some of the things we do and question if we are doing more harm than good. Now more than ever we use every “R” word in the book: reuse, recycle, regenerate, reclaim, reabsorb, recreate, and even more. But is this all just a public performance. Are we just showing off instead of showing up. In this episode I want to discuss performative environmentalism. By doing so, I am going to make you feel bad about some of your green choices. Then I am goi...

#077 Recycling Part One: Recycling is Broken. How Do We Fix It?

June 01, 2022 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.6 MB

In today’s world you would think that recycling would be one of those no brainers. But then again you would think that climate action would be a no brainer as well especially since we have known about climate change for over 125 years. But yet here we are. Since I travel some for work I have the opportunity to live and work in different communities. I consistently work in places where it is almost impossible to find options for recycling. So why is it that recycling is so difficult. Why is...

#077 Recycling Part One: Recycling is Broken. How Do We Fix It?

June 01, 2022 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.6 MB

In today’s world you would think that recycling would be one of those no brainers. But then again you would think that climate action would be a no brainer as well especially since we have known about climate change for over 125 years. But yet here we are. Since I travel some for work I have the opportunity to live and work in different communities. I consistently work in places where it is almost impossible to find options for recycling. So why is it that recycling is so difficult. Why is...

#076 How to Thrive Outside of Mainstream

May 25, 2022 10:00 - 39 minutes - 27.5 MB

Living sustainably is really truly nothing new. Yet because our modern culture has warped our way of thinking and sense of values, most people think of it as an “alternative lifestyle”. When the reality is that living sustainably should be considered mainstream. But I have often said that when you find yourself in agreement with 90% of the people around you, pack your bags and run the other way as fast as you can. But, so says the guy that has lived off the grid for 25 years. Obviously I ...

#075 Can We Change Human Instincts?

May 18, 2022 10:00 - 41 minutes - 28.8 MB

My niece, who by the way is wickedly intelligent and artistic, recently pointed something out to me that I’d never thought of before. Her observation of humanity is that we are nothing more than a huge evolutionary experiment. Not only that, but this experiment is running amuck and that is what is getting us in trouble. The challenge for humanity is that we retain many instincts from our early years on this planet when we were still living in caves. These early instincts served us well a...

#075 Can We Change Human Instincts?

May 18, 2022 10:00 - 41 minutes - 28.8 MB

My niece, who by the way is wickedly intelligent and artistic, recently pointed something out to me that I’d never thought of before. Her observation of humanity is that we are nothing more than a huge evolutionary experiment. Not only that, but this experiment is running amuck and that is what is getting us in trouble. The challenge for humanity is that we retain many instincts from our early years on this planet when we were still living in caves. These early instincts served us well a...

#074 Growing the Next World Wonder

May 11, 2022 09:00 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MB

Unless you are particularly interested in Earth’s history, most people do not think in terms of a geological time scale. This is because geological time is measured in eons, eras, periods, epochs and ages. This corresponds to anything from 1 billion years to millions. But due to our lifespan we only relate to a human time scale, which is centuries, decades or less. In fact civilization as we know it is thought to have been around for only 6,000 years. Yet the changes that we have made to t...

#073 Tips and Tricks for Living Small

May 04, 2022 10:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MB

I mentioned in E67 that our homes account for approximately 30% of our ecological impact. I have also mentioned before that most of us can live on much less than what we do. Helping you to accomplish just that is the focus of this three part series on the art of living small. There are unique challenges to living in a small space. I know this from personal experience. But, there are also numerous ways to make the most of the space that you have and that is the focus of this episode. So, s...

#072 What No One Tells You About Living Small

April 27, 2022 09:00 - 23 minutes - 15.8 MB

In my last episode I spoke about the pros and cons of living small. I talked about how it is more affordable, how you can live without a mortgage, how you can simplify your life, how it is possible to be debt free. While all of that may sound attractive, you also have to realize that living small is a lifestyle choice that comes with a unique set of challenges. In this episode, I am going to discuss all the things about living small that no one tells you. This episode is going to be packe...

#071 The Pros and Cons of Living Small

April 20, 2022 09:00 - 28 minutes - 19.3 MB

Part of the focus of sustainable living is being mindful of the impact you have on the world around you. As you have no doubt heard me say, every single thing we do has some sort of impact. But there are numerous ways to reduce our individual ecological foot print. I have spoken of this before in previous episodes on reducing your carbon footprint and life without plastic. I now want to continue that trend by giving you further options on how to live more sustainably in ways that more or l...

#070 Life Without Plastic Part Two/ Homemade Products

April 13, 2022 06:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MB

Despite our best efforts to rid our lives of plastic and reduce plastic pollution, there is the possibility that we may loose, meaning plastics may actually win out and we have to deal with this problem forever. But we have to remind ourselves to do the best we can and to make slow steady progress. In episode one of Life Without Plastic, I covered some valuable tips on what I call the no brainers. This gives you an easy place to start going plastic free. In this episode I want to cover som...

#069 Life Without Plastic Part One/The No Brainers

April 06, 2022 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.9 MB

We are often told to reduce our waste production, conserve water, recycle, eat less meat, drive less, convert to renewable energy, and thus be more sustainable. The challenge is that a great deal of the time we are not given easily accessible, affordable options in order to live more responsibly. By far one of the largest challenges we have these days is that of plastic pollution. Plastic is literally everywhere. It fills our oceans, landfills, food, water, and micro plastics have even bee...

#068 It All Starts At Home: How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Part III

March 30, 2022 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.1 MB

One of the most common questions I hear is "How to I reduce my carbon footprint?" In the first two episodes of this three part series I covered how we travel and how we live. In this episode I am going to focus on what we eat. Our agriculture systems have truly put us in a predicament. It has long been known that this is the source of our greatest ecological impact. Yet we must continue to produce food to feed a growing world population. But, believe it or not, it is actually our agricultu...

#67 It All Starts at Home: How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Part II

March 23, 2022 10:00 - 25 minutes - 17.3 MB

One of the most common questions I hear regarding sustainability is “How can I reduce my carbon footprint?” The answer to that question is not the same for everyone. For example, a sherpa in Nepal that spends his time taking people up Mount Everest has a completely different carbon footprint compared to your average urbanite in the United States. That said, there are three different areas of our Iives where we produce our greatest ecological impact: how we travel, how we live, and what we e...

#066 It All Starts At Home: How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Part I

March 16, 2022 10:00 - 33 minutes - 23.2 MB

As the result of my association with several groups and forums focused on sustainability I have begun to see trends in the types of questions that people ask. One of the most common questions that comes up is “How do I reduce my carbon footprint?” Maybe I’ve spent way too much time over the last 3 years examining and dissecting my own life because I’ve gotten to the point to where I think the answer to that question is obvious. But perhaps that is not the case after all. As individuals, ...

#065 Blue Foods May Be the Green Future

March 09, 2022 11:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MB

There is no doubt that our daily diet plays a major role in our environmental impact. Our choices of the food that we consume on a daily basis does make a difference. But the good news is that even small changes can add up to significant environmental benefits. It has long be known that our agricultural activities are the greatest drivers of environmental changes. But there is a vital resource that we have that is often overlooked and that is the ocean. If done properly, farming the oceans ...

#064 What's Cookin' With Synthetic Meat

March 02, 2022 11:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MB

We already know that agricultural activities produce some of our greatest environmental impact. Yet some sort of agriculture is needed in order to produce food because we are beyond the point of hunting and gathering. World population is expected to reached 9.8 billion by the year 2050. It is projected that agricultural production will have to increase by 60% to 70 % above current levels in order to feed that population. That places us in a conundrum. If we expand our current agricultural...

#63 One Simple Thing Can Change the World

February 23, 2022 11:00 - 27 minutes - 19 MB

There are several things that I can look back on and definitively say that those things changed the course of my life. For example decisions and choices I made, unexpected events, simply being in the right place at the right time, and sometimes just plain bad luck. And I am sure that many of you can say the same thing. But you know, this is really not all that unusual. I can easily point out several different things, small things, that have been a defining point and have changed the course ...

#062 Pick One

February 16, 2022 10:00 - 25 minutes - 17.2 MB

I think we can all agree that we truly live in unprecedented times. We now live in a world that is changing so rapidly that it is difficult for even the most sound minded person to feel some since of security. But that can change by learning to manage some of your own resources. That can change by learning to live a little more independently. That can change by simply living a more sustainable life. Now you would think that would be obvious to all of us. Yet we continue to drive along in ...

#061 Twelve Tips for Sustainable Travel

February 09, 2022 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.9 MB

Over the past year or so, many of our normal activities have been put on hold. But that is starting to change, albeit slowly. If you are at all like me, you want to simply get out of the house and go do something, possibly even travel. But as the world returns to tourism activities once again, what will this return to tourism look like? Or maybe a better question is what should it look like? Although in this episode I want to focus on the basic principles of how to travel with less of an i...

#060 The Value of Reconnecting with Nature

February 02, 2022 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.4 MB

In 1950 less than 65 percent of Americans lived in cities. But presently nearly 83% of us live in or around a major city. And this trend is remarkably similar on a global scale. By 2050, it is projected that nearly 70% of the global population will live in urban areas. Now there are a number of reasons for this transition. In fact there are many benefits to move into an urban area. However, while most people may gain something by such a move, we also loose something in that transition. Mos...

#059 Climate Migration Has Begun

January 26, 2022 10:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MB

Since the founding of St. Augustine, Florida by Spanish colonist in 1565, and the establishment of the first English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, America has always been viewed as the land of opportunity. Economic opportunity, political freedom, and religious freedom were the initial draw to come to the United States. But in the 20th century immigration was stimulated by globalization. Now in the 21st century, there is a completely different reason that people still want to ...

#058 Twelve Unexpected Consequences of Climate Change

January 19, 2022 10:00 - 27 minutes - 18.9 MB

Did you know there is a direct link between our melting polar ice caps and increased volcanic activity? There is also a link between shrinking buffalo, faster growing trees, and fewer tasty beers coming out of Belgium. And why is the King Crab invading Antarctic when they have never been there before? Almost on a daily basis we hear about the affects of climate change: heat waves, droughts and flooding, increased intensity and frequency of storms. These are just some of the more obvious aff...

#057 Life According to the Weather

January 09, 2022 11:00 - 22 minutes - 15.8 MB

Did you know that you can calculate the atmospheric temperature by using a cricket? Yes it is true and I can even give you the formula if you like. But did you also know that dogs can sense a coming storm? Did you know that sharks can sense an approaching hurricane? And some animals are capable of genetic adaptation in less than 5 years. All of these things are true simply because animals, and even plants, are much more attuned to the environment than the average human. As humans, we have ...

#56 Stop Eating C.R.A.P.

January 02, 2022 10:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MB

I actually have no memory of eating store bought meat until I was 18 years old. This is because there were two working farms in my family. We had a large garden and raised a lot of animals. There were numerous fruit and nut trees on the farm. We foraged for berries and went on frequent fishing trips. If that still did not provide enough, we would go to the local farmers market because the things we did buy simply came from local farms. Then I moved to Colorado when I was 18 and started...

#055 Faith in Humanity

December 26, 2021 10:00 - 16 minutes - 11.1 MB

Since this is the holiday season, I want to diverge a little bit from my usual format but still of course focus on the principles of sustainability. The three pillars of sustainability are economy, society and environment, which can also be translates as profit, people, and planet. Now I am quite certain that the environment would be just fine without any people. But, without people there is also no society and no economy. Consequently, we must address all three pillars to be successful....

#054 How to Have a Sustainable Christmas

December 19, 2021 10:00 - 22 minutes - 15.8 MB

Some of my best childhood memories revolve around holiday celebrations. The holidays were always a time of great excitement and anticipation. They were about family, fun, lots of good food and, of course, Santa Claus. But as I have gotten older, my views on many things have changed, including what I do around the holidays, how I spend my time, and of course whether or not I lay awake at night waiting for Santa Claus. As the Christmas season gets ever closer I really wanted to discuss my ...

#053 The Dirty Details of Paper Towels

December 12, 2021 10:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MB

As Americans, we use more paper towels than any country in the world. In fact, in 2017 we spent $5.7 billion on paper towels. But, we do this as simply a matter of convenience. But this is a habit that is enormously detrimental to the environment. . Every day over 3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced in the US alone. But you see to make one ton of paper towels requires 17 trees and 20,000 gallons of fresh water. So, every day we are throwing away 51,000 trees and essentially wasti...

#052 Your Carbon Footprint is Just a Sham

December 05, 2021 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MB

If you have listened to some of my previous episodes, then you have heard me say more than once that preventing a single piece of trash from going to the landfill is not going to save the planet. But, a lifetime of sustainable habits will. Similarly, focusing on your carbon footprint is not what is going to save the planet. Although I discussed the concept of a carbon footprint in E47, there is much more at stake than that. In fact, the whole topic of carbon footprint is a propaganda sham...

#51 Is E-Commerce Killing the Planet?

November 28, 2021 10:00 - 27 minutes - 19.1 MB

There are few things I dislike more than going shopping. When I do, it is out of sheer necessity. I walk into a place of business with a mission in mind, purchase what I need and immediately leave. However, online shopping from some e-commerce platform saves me from all of that. It saves me time, gas money, and is enormously convenient. And while I suspect that most people use e-commerce platforms for similar reasons, I really got to wondering if e-commerce is truly our friend or if onli...

#050 Edible Insects: A Sustainable Alternative

November 21, 2021 11:00 - 25 minutes - 17.5 MB

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization say that agricultural production on a global scale will have to increase by 70% in order to feed a global population that is expected to reach 9.1 billion people by the year 2050. Yet agricultural production is one of the largest drivers for environmental destruction. Decreasing meat production and intake would reduce or eliminate the expansion of livestock operations in order to feed a growing population but we would need an alternativ...

#049 My Zero Waste Road Trip

November 14, 2021 11:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MB

In E5 I gave an introduction to the concepts of zero waste by talking about 12 Steps to a Zero Waste Lifestyle. Proponents of zero waste admit that it is impossible to generate absolutely no waste. While we can reduce our household waste to almost nothing, we cannot control the production of the products that we use everyday. That being said, in true form to how I like to be, I am not going to teach something that I do not practice myself. That is why I examine my own life on a regular ba...

#48 Should We Ditch China

November 07, 2021 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.9 MB

Having lived and worked in several different countries what I have learned is that no country or government is perfect. Every place has its problems, its share of corruption, and quirky little things that seem to make life more difficult than it really needs to be. And this includes my home country of the United States. As you could have easily guessed some countries are far worse than others. Now I am not very politically oriented and rarely do I feel compelled to make any sort of strong ...

#047 Your Carbon Footprint Explained

October 31, 2021 10:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MB

Did you know that I can list 10 simple things that you do everyday that pollute the environment. Things that you have perhaps done thousands of times and never given it a thought. And maybe it was the same for me until I produced over 40 episodes about sustainability. But having done so, I have certainly learned a lot of things which has changed my views. For example, the other day as I was holding a can of soup I had purchased from the supermarket, I was thinking about all the energy and...

#046 The Best Economy in the World

October 24, 2021 06:00 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MB

As you can easily believe, the products we products, the things we use everyday and the things we choose to eat directly influences how much waste we product. But what most people do not think about is how we manage our waste has a significant impact on our economy. In fact, that waste management produces one of three types of economies. One of those economies is much more sustainable than the other two. So, if you want a simple, and not so boring lesson on economics, and how it relates...

#045 Green Growth in Action

October 17, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 22 MB

As you likely know by now, I like to criticize how we live and all the wasteful things that we do. And I am especially critical of my own culture in the United States. However, there are a lot of positive things going on in the world related to sustainability. There are governments, international organizations, and some very large businesses that have recognized the importance of sustainability. Some of those businesses, as well as some countries, have been working in that direction for ove...

#044 Chemical Dependency versus Sustainability

October 10, 2021 06:00 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MB

Did you know that Americans have a chemical dependency problem? And I am not referring to drugs, alcohol, marijuana, or prescription substances. Yet this chemical dependency is a very open and social thing. In fact, it is openly promoted, bragged about, and actually makes you fit in better with the neighbors. Then we depend on those chemicals in order to make our lives function properly. We are even told it is the right thing to do. Then we use 71 million pounds per year of these chemicals...

#044 Chemical Dependency versus Sustainability

October 10, 2021 06:00 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MB

Did you know that Americans have a chemical dependency problem? And I am not referring to drugs, alcohol, marijuana, or prescription substances. Yet this chemical dependency is a very open and social thing. In fact, it is openly promoted, bragged about, and actually makes you fit in better with the neighbors. Then we depend on those chemicals in order to make our lives function properly. We are even told it is the right thing to do. Then we use 71 million pounds per year of these chemicals...

#043 Noah's Ark All Over Again

October 03, 2021 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.1 MB

A number of years ago I had the opportunity to travel extensively through the Amazon basin. I visited remote villages and saw things that most people never see except on the pages of National Geographic. Yet there are so many people in the world that will never have that opportunity nor are they willing to take the risk. Most people would rather view a wild animal in a cage instead of seeing that same animal in the natural world. It is much safer that way. That is in fact what most peopl...

#042 Lights Out

September 26, 2021 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MB

For multiple reasons, it is entirely possible for our power grid to go down not just for a few days, but for weeks to months. In this episode I discuss some very real scenarios of how this could happen and how it has happened. But what most people do not understand is that if there is a grid down event, whether that be from nature causes or a malicious attack, if the damage is widespread enough, it could take over a year to repair the damage. Our power grid is far more vulnerable that most ...

#041 How to Overcome the Resistance to Change

September 19, 2021 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MB

Among the hundreds of people waiting to visit Mahatma Gandhi was a mother and her young son. When it was their turn, the woman asked Gandhi to speak with her son about eating sugar. Gandhi asked her to come back in two weeks. When they returned Gandhi spoke with the boy, who agreed to begin working to eliminate sweets. After thanking Gandhi for his advice, the mother asked him why he did not offer his advice the first time. Gandhi replied, “Upon your visit two weeks ago I too was eating ...

#040 Troubled Waters: There is a Perfect Storm on the Horizon

September 12, 2021 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MB

About 10 years ago, Annette and her son and I were sitting in a small cafe in some far corner of Costa Rica. Her son Erik was still very young at the time and this was his first trip out of the country. As we were sitting at the table looking at the menu, Erik proclaimed, “I want a glass of orange juice.” I informed him that he could not have a glass of orange juice because they just don’t have that here” It was his first lesson that when you travel outside your home country, you just cann...

#039 When the Rubber Meets the Road, Where Does It Go?

September 05, 2021 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.4 MB

We literally live in a sea of micro-plastics. These tiny particles can be found from the deepest place on the planet, the Mariana Trench, to the highest mountain, Mount Everest. By simply living, eating, breathing, and going about your normal day, you are consuming plastic particles. This is just another contaminant that scientists, the government, and health officials are going to tell us that there are "acceptable levels" and there is nothing to worry about. But, get informed and make ...

#038 The Value of Simplicity

August 29, 2021 01:00 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MB

Take a good look at your lifestyle. I think it is safe to say that most of us live under such a cloud clutter that we have long forgotten what it is like to live a simple life, much less a sustainable one. Yet there is a lot of value in having a simple life. In fact, simplicity tends to push us toward sustainability. And that is the point of this episode. First I want to prove to you how I was guilty of the same thing for many years. Then I want to tell you how I changed that. Then I will g...

#037 Sustainability is Your Best Security Blanket

August 22, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MB

It is basic human nature that at a subconscious level, all humans crave normalcy, routine, and familiarity. This is especially true during a disaster or some other stressful event. Small children carry stuffed animals and security blankets for comfort. As adults we mentally carry security blankets in the form of “having our own place”, or “waking up in our own bed”. We also find security in starting our day with our favorite coffee, tea, or some other food item. But what would you do if so...

#036 Ignorance is a Choice

August 15, 2021 12:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MB

As Americans, plain and simple, we are addicted to convenience. It is almost to the point of being ridiculous. And that convenience results in a short attention span, very little patience, and a wasteful lifestyle. But there is a different way to live, and a better way to live that is more environmentally friendly. And in the end of this episode I am going to give you 12 different ways to live differently. But in the end I truly believe that it is the responsibility of each and every one o...

#035 How to Make a Clean Get Away

August 08, 2021 12:00 - 29 minutes - 20 MB

In this episode, I want to focus on the topics of sustainable travel and ecotourism. Now that travel restrictions are starting to relax, we are all anxious to get out and about, which I totally understand. I know I feel that way as well. But, as we all start to think about travel again, it is important that we make responsible choices and that includes when we travel. What I want to do in this episode is first define ecotourism, give you some examples of ecotourism activities, and also giv...

#034 Staying Wild May Save Us All

August 01, 2021 11:00 - 32 minutes - 22.1 MB

In this episode I want to first give an overview of how nature, wildness, and wilderness was actually a key factor in defining the American experience. It actually represented limitless opportunity and freedom. It fostered the self reliance and individualism that still runs deep in our culture to this day. And yet over time we have gone from wildness and wilderness to no sense of wild at all. But as you will soon realize, staying wild maybe the one thing that saves us all. Listen to the en...

#033_How to Kill the Vampires in Your House

July 25, 2021 11:00 - 26 minutes - 18 MB

Did you know that vampires are not a thing of the past? There is actually a vampire culture that is alive and well in our modern age. But they keep that a secret of course. However, when we all think of vampires we automatically envision the vicious creatures of folklore that rise from their graves at night and suck the vital essence out of the living. And one more fun fact, there is actually a vampire killing kit. It’s kind of interesting and if you want to see it I have a link to a page...

Adventures in Sustainable Living

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