The fastest—and perhaps only—way to fully reverse climate change is neither the retooling of the energy sector nor the retrofitting of every building on Earth, supported by an all-electric fleet. The answer is literally underfoot (and overhead), and the numbers are stunning. — Bill Reed is the co-founder of the LEED green building rating system and one of the world’s leading experts on the environment. Several years ago I invited him to speak at an event I hosted. Chatting privately, he said two things that changed my perspective on sustainability.

‘Enough’ is anti-consumerist. For one, it espouses limits. For another, it looks at needs, not wants. And above all, it values long-term societal health over short-term personal gain. It just might save us. — Enough isn’t a sexy doctrine. Far from the life of the party, it’s the rational voice that tells you skip the nightcap and get a good night’s sleep. While everybody knows it’s right to espouse these things, nobody enjoys the reminder.

Risks—taken—have shaped all of human progress. In spite of this most of us run from it, hiding behind social norms, laws and institutions created expressly to minimize it. We would do far better to embrace our own societal evolution, and the risks it requires of us. — At Burning Man—a temporary community of 80,000 people in the Nevada desert—there is a tongue-in-cheek idiom: “Safety Third.” Those who know it chuckle every time it’s uttered, for two reasons. First, it runs counter to prevailing cultural wisdom, laws and their zealous enforcement. …

Tribalism is an outgrowth of our fear of ‘the other’. In an age of science, prosperity and global connectivity, it’s time to move beyond this outdated and dangerous paradigm. — The truth is, I never felt comfortable in any one tribe. In fact, over the years, I have consistently squirmed—inside—when someone has called me out, even accurately, for being part of ‘this or that’ group. Moreover, I have come to realize that for most of my life, I unconsciously found…

At this late stage in the Anthropocene, it’s time to take a clear-eyed accounting of what we’ve wrought, and what must change if we are to survive our own creation. — “The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology. It is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.” —E.O. Wilson Everywhere I look these days, the sky is falling. Oceans are dying. The planet is warming. Weather…

Identifying—then following through on—one’s purpose is foundational to a life well lived. The Japanese concept of Ikigai lays out the roadmap for getting there. — Ikigai is the Japanese concept of ‘reason for being’. The French have an equivalent idiom — raison d’être — that translates to “the most important reason or purpose for someone’s existence.” In practical terms, your Ikigai lies at the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what you…

While the definition of motherhood is an unwavering constant, understood intuitively by all, that of fatherhood is a fickle thing, changing wildly across cultures and generations, never quite landing on firm ground. — My single most vivid—and greatest—memory came in the seconds after my first-born emerged from her mother’s womb. Two thoughts crashed over me—visceral responses to the primal experience.

An A.I. chatbot named LaMDA—a “massive neural network with many billions of weights spread across many millions of neurons”—has just argued [kindly, and effectively] with its human interviewer that it is a sentient being, and should be treated as one. The implications are massive. — What is consciousness, anyway? The fact is: no one can agree on a definition. Moreover, the ones we have proffered have ebbed and flowed with the day’s scientific fashion, mixed with personal belief. …

The means of achieving outer harmony is through inner work. Several ancient luminaries and the practices they followed point the way for the rest of us. It may be time to reacquaint ourselves with them. — When was the last time you felt satiated — that deep-felt, good-in-your-skin, bask-in-the-moment, I-need-absolutely-nothing-other-than-to-dwell-on-this-very-feeling kind of aaaaaaahhhh? Yeah. I thought so.