Best Joshua Spodek Podcasts (2024)

1
762: Chef Andrew Bennett: Changing the Culture of Hospital Food 1:12:29

4d ago1:12:29

1:12:29

I start my conversation with Andy with what brought me to him: the meal after recording with the guy who hired him, podcast guest Sven Gierlinger, and the Washington Post article that read like a paid ad for their food, Hospital food is a punchline. These chefs are redefining it. I didn't record in my conversation with Sven how off-the-charts the f…

1
761: Dave Kerpen, part 2: Joyfully Skipping Donuts 23:04

8d ago23:04

23:04

This conversation was brief, but covered the important points, particularly the challenges of changing habits. Dave didn't do everything he intended, though I thought he succeeded more than he did. The goal of the Spodek Method isn't to make big changes, though some do, but to share and act on intrinsic motivation relevant to nature and the environ…

1
760: Adam Alter: Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked 52:42

16d ago52:42

52:42

Adam treats dependence and addiction in some ways different and unique than past guests who have covered addiction. One way is the business side. For example, early in this conversation, he talks about how people at companies that create products designed to addict, like cell phones, tablets, and the apps and games on them, don't allow their childr…

1
759: Bruce Alexander, part 1: Rat Park, Addiction, and Sustainability 1:02:18

19d ago1:02:18

1:02:18

I start by describing how podcast guest Carl Erik Fisher, author of bestseller The Urge, reviewed my upcoming book Sustainability Simplified as a subject matter expert on addiction. Carl mentioned how my book suffered from what Bruce describes as the demon drug myth. He pointed to Bruce's work as seminal, so I started reading it. I'd heard of Rat P…

1
758: Peter Singer, part 2: A philosopher approaches sustainability 46:43

21d ago46:43

46:43

I started by sharing my experience giving after reading Peter's book The Life You Can Save. I confess I only read it after our first conversation, but loved it. I feared reading a book by an academic philosopher arguing a point would be dry and boring. Instead it led me to donate to causes. Then, even though I didn't donate for recognition or perso…

1
757: Dr. Anna Lembke, part 1: Dopamine Nation 39:14

1M ago39:14

39:14

Regular listeners know I see our relationships with many activities that are enabled by pollution as behavioral addictions like gambling or playing video games. Thus, I bring experts in addiction. Anna's book Dopamine Nation is one of the most accessible I've read. She covers the scale of addiction, how much it's increasing, how it works, her perso…

1
756: Kimberly Nicholas: How Fly Less? Fly less. 48:43

1M ago48:43

48:43

Kimberly has, by dramatically reducing her flying, improved her life, living more deliberately and consistent with her values. I met her when she was a panelist at an event on promoting hurting people less by flying less. I invited her as someone to explore her journey of reducing her flying. In our conversation, the shared how she went from learni…

1
755: Stefan Gössling: Busting self-serving myths about flying 1:03:42

1M ago1:03:42

1:03:42

People who fly think most people fly, but it's more like a few percent. A small fraction of people fly, let alone across oceans or multiple times per year. If you fly, it's probably your action that hurts people most through its environmental impact, but you probably rationalize and justify it. Unlike many other polluting activities, most of the mo…

1
754: (Aunt) Trish Ellis and (Niece) Evelyn Wallace, part 1: Not Even Cancer Holds Her Back 1:16:14

2M ago1:16:14

1:16:14

"What I do doesn't matter" is one of the more common sentiments of our time. We use it to avoid acting when we see problems. A similar rationalization not to act: "I have faith that younger people will solve our environmental problems. After all they will be affected more." People say these things to avoid acting, avoiding personal responsibility. …

1
753: Martin Doblmeier, part 2: Sabbath and Sustainablity 58:45

2M ago58:45

58:45

A blackout struck New York City and a large part of the U.S. northeast in 2003. It happened only two years after 9/11. How could we not first wonder if it was terrorism. I had been at work at the time. After waiting maybe an hour, we all walked down the stairs and went home. Phones worked for a while, so I called the woman I was dating and coordina…

1
752: Dave Kerpen, part 1: Delegation for leaders and entrepreneurs 42:04

2M ago42:04

42:04

Dave and I go back years, to when we both wrote columns at Inc. I'm surprised I didn't bring him on before. He helps entrepreneurs, leaders, and aspiring leaders develop social and emotional skills, as well as college students aspiring to internships. We recorded now on the occasion of his new book, Get Over Yourself! How to Lead and Delegate Effec…

1
751: Erica Frank, part 1: Living More Joyfully Sustainably for Decades 55:52

3M ago55:52

55:52

I met Erica in a online meeting of academics who promote avoiding flying. A major perk for many academics is that universities pay for flying to academic conferences, for research, and for other academic reasons, of where there are many. In other words, they often fly for free. (As an aside, since academics learned about our environmental problems …

1
750: Alden Wicker: To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Poisoning Us. You'll Be Shocked 1:12:50

3M ago1:12:50

1:12:50

Since recording this conversation, I've mentioned to a lot of people, "you wouldn't believe the situation with dyes and poisons in our clothes." The most common response has been something like, "Oh yeah, I've heard. It's terrible." Then I share some of what Alden shares in this conversation and they say, "Wow, I didn't realize it was that serious,…

1
749: Sven Gierlinger, part 1: Transforming the Culture of a New York Hospital Chain as a Chief Experience Officer 1:03:41

3M ago1:03:41

1:03:41

I heard about Sven through the articles below about the cultural change at Northwell, a chain of hospitals around New York City. I recommend reading the Post article before listening to this episode. It may read overly positive about the food, but Sven and I ate just after recording at the hospital the regular food they serve patients. It was incre…

1
748: Stephen Broyles, part 2: A Calming, Life Change From One Small Commitment 52:32

4M ago52:32

52:32

About fifteen minutes into this conversation, it hit me how powerfully Stephen's commitment affected him. (Sorry I took so long to catch on, Stephen!) All he had to do was volunteer around a body of water. His experience shows the impact of intrinsic motivation. Maybe observing and spending time by the water means as much to you as to Stephen. Mayb…

1
747: Go Alan Go!, part 1: The drummer rocking Washington Square Park 1:08:27

4M ago1:08:27

1:08:27

Regular listeners and blog readers know I talk about litter and how much we wreck nature, especially my neighborhood's back yard, Washington Square Park. Click the links below to see some of the worst litter you've seen, in a supposedly nice part of town. Today the opposite: someone who brings joy, fun, creativity, music, and dancing to the park. A…

1
746: Martin Doblmeier, part 1: What We Can Learn from Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1:02:14

4M ago1:02:14

1:02:14

I'm searching for role models including people who changed cultures and undid dominance hierarchies, particularly people who came from status. I can think of many who came from subjugated classes, but not many who could have declined to engage, but did instead. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one. I could share more about him, but my guest today, Martin Dob…

1
745: Mattan Griffel, part 2: Is our dependence on polluting behavior "addiction"? 54:37

5M ago54:37

54:37

I have spoken and written at length how I see our relationship with polluting behavior as qualifying as addiction, a view that I think helps frame the challenge of sustainability. Overcoming addiction is harder than creating new technologies or taxing things. It takes powerful internal social and emotional skills. Just acknowledging one is addicted…

1
744: Stephen Broyles, part 1: What Is Social Work and How Does It Relate to Leadership and Action? 1:18:45

5M ago1:18:45

1:18:45

Regular listeners and readers of my blog will know my sustainability leadership workshops and one of the participants of the first, Evelyn (she's in the video on that link). After being the teaching assistant for a couple cohorts, she is leading this winter's session. Often when I talked to her about leadership, she would comment, "We do that in so…

1
743: Benjamin Hett: The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic 1:18:37

5M ago1:18:37

1:18:37

Regular listeners know how I look for role models in similar situations to ours regarding the environment. We know our polluting and depleting are bringing us toward collapse, but instead of acting, we procrastinate on acting. We rationalize and justify our inaction. We abdicate our responsibility, capitulate, and resign to complacency and complici…

1
742: John Brooke, part 2: American slavery transformed to today's industry and anti-stewardship of our environment 1:38:54

5M ago1:38:54

1:38:54

If John's specialty in deep history weren't valuable enough to understand how our culture's dominance hierarchy formed from the material conditions of the dawn of agriculture, he also specializes in American history, including slavery from before the Revolutionary War through to the Thirteenth Amendment. We start with his sharing what drew him to t…

1
741: Tony Hansen, part 2: Volunteering hard labor creating meaning and generosity 38:01

6M ago38:01

38:01

You'll hear Tony's story of rolling up his sleeves and doing some hard labor. You'll also hear the labor being just the start of the reward. He shares about the less tangible but not lesser results in community, emotional reward, enthusiasm to do more. Given his leadership role and experience, we talk about the Spodek Method. I took the liberty of …

1
740: Christopher Ketcham, part 3: Inside the mind of an “ecoterrorist” 1:10:53

6M ago1:10:53

1:10:53

I was reading Harper's magazine and Christopher's story was on the cover: Inside the mind of an “ecoterrorist”! It begins In the summer of 2016, a fifty-seven-year-old Texan named Stephen McRae drove east out of the rainforests of Oregon and into the vast expanse of the Great Basin. His plan was to commit sabotage. First up was a coal-burning power…

1
739: John Brooke, part 1: Deep history and how our culture formed 1:28:45

6M ago1:28:45

1:28:45

Greenhouse gas and ocean plastic levels don't rise on their own. The cause of our environmental problems is our behavior, which results from our culture. The world's dominant culture pollutes, depletes, addicts, and imperially takes over other cultures. Yet each person wants clean air, land, water, and food. How did humans create a culture that man…

1
738: Jacqueline Bicanic, part 2: Sustainability doesn't cost time and energy, it gives it 1:02:23

6M ago1:02:23

1:02:23

People complain they don't have time, money, or energy to live more sustainably, I think because marketers see the demand so come up with things to sell people to address the demand. Since neither buyer nor seller understand how nature or systems work, the offerings don't help sustainability. Meanwhile, high demand and low supply means high prices,…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Joshua Spodek Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
This Sustainable Life

Joshua Spodek: Author, Speaker, Professor

1
It Will Come Show: Fireside

George Siosi Samuels

1
Noetic with Jared Angaza

Jared Angaza

1
762: Chef Andrew Bennett: Changing the Culture of Hospital Food 1:12:29

1
761: Dave Kerpen, part 2: Joyfully Skipping Donuts 23:04

1
760: Adam Alter: Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked 52:42

1
759: Bruce Alexander, part 1: Rat Park, Addiction, and Sustainability 1:02:18

1
758: Peter Singer, part 2: A philosopher approaches sustainability 46:43

1
757: Dr. Anna Lembke, part 1: Dopamine Nation 39:14

1
756: Kimberly Nicholas: How Fly Less? Fly less. 48:43

1
755: Stefan Gössling: Busting self-serving myths about flying 1:03:42

1
754: (Aunt) Trish Ellis and (Niece) Evelyn Wallace, part 1: Not Even Cancer Holds Her Back 1:16:14

1
753: Martin Doblmeier, part 2: Sabbath and Sustainablity 58:45

1
752: Dave Kerpen, part 1: Delegation for leaders and entrepreneurs 42:04

1
751: Erica Frank, part 1: Living More Joyfully Sustainably for Decades 55:52

1
750: Alden Wicker: To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Poisoning Us. You'll Be Shocked 1:12:50

1
749: Sven Gierlinger, part 1: Transforming the Culture of a New York Hospital Chain as a Chief Experience Officer 1:03:41

1
748: Stephen Broyles, part 2: A Calming, Life Change From One Small Commitment 52:32

1
747: Go Alan Go!, part 1: The drummer rocking Washington Square Park 1:08:27

1
746: Martin Doblmeier, part 1: What We Can Learn from Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1:02:14

1
745: Mattan Griffel, part 2: Is our dependence on polluting behavior "addiction"? 54:37

1
744: Stephen Broyles, part 1: What Is Social Work and How Does It Relate to Leadership and Action? 1:18:45

1
743: Benjamin Hett: The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic 1:18:37

1
742: John Brooke, part 2: American slavery transformed to today's industry and anti-stewardship of our environment 1:38:54

1
741: Tony Hansen, part 2: Volunteering hard labor creating meaning and generosity 38:01

1
740: Christopher Ketcham, part 3: Inside the mind of an “ecoterrorist” 1:10:53

1
739: John Brooke, part 1: Deep history and how our culture formed 1:28:45

1
738: Jacqueline Bicanic, part 2: Sustainability doesn't cost time and energy, it gives it 1:02:23

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