Mark and my second conversation it about happiness, pleasure, meaning, and purpose, though it sounds like it's about personal growth, food, and environment.
In our first conversation, he didn't really connect on the environment at the start. This time you'll hear it resonates with him, largely through health and food.
I see the pattern over and over: people protect themselves from saying the environment means much to them but when they talk about it, they care deeply. I think mainstream strategies to act on the environment---\"try this one little thing,\" \"if you don't, you're destroying the Earth,\" facts, figures, doom, and gloom . . . none of which do I call leadership---lead to people protect themselves from revealing how much they care.
Making it moral, about facts, right, and wrong and other ways that motivate people to protect themselves motivate people to protect themselves.
Change will come from the opposite tactics: opening up, allowing people make mistakes and learn, not feel compelled to comply or to impose judgment on them.
Environmental action won't come from people knowing more. Nobody knows everything, but nearly everyone knows enough to act on. Change will come from people feeling comfortable acting.
I'm not saying Mark revolutionized his life and I don't know how often he'll return to farmers markets, but I heard that he meaningful enjoyed visiting it, activating a new aspect of food for him.
Food was already a big part of his life, message, and journey. Yet getting fresh vegetables from the farm was outside his horizon.
How many things are outside our horizons?
It kills me that people treat things we talk about like chores or distraction. Acting on shared values creates connection and community. I can tell Mark and I will have a great time when he visits New York.
","author_name":"Joshua Spodek: Author, Speaker, Professor"}