Talkin’ Sustainability

I was on a two-hour online radio/television show yesterday called “Zo What?” — an absolutely brilliant production of Zo Williams, a man who has more “cool” in his little finger than I do in my entire body, as the pic here suggests.

I was honored to be included in this week’s program, though I suppose I was a decent fit, insofar as the theme for this particular episode was sustainability. The discussion enabled me to make a few points regarding the relationship of capitalism and sustainability, the migration to renewable energy, ExxonMobil, and the rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

One of the gems I picked up from the other guests was this: Our consumer world has forced most people to conflate the idea of “want” with that of “need.” We live in a constant state of what we perceive as need; we’re programmed to be unhappy with what we have. We think periodically that it might be a good idea to be content with what we have, though the signals all around us in our society suggest otherwise.

So true. Reminiscent of “The Story of Stuff,” of course.

I’ll post a link to the show when it becomes available.