{"podcast":{"title":"This Sustainable Life","slug":"this-sustainable-life-924670","podcast_index_feed_id":924670,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/5a481aca95dfbf9d13d4dc6f","website_url":"http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5a481aca95dfbf9d13d4dc6f/1607568708606-ddbbab92b7e0736c16ba3a24a6ef974f.jpeg","author":"Joshua Spodek","episode_count":860,"summary":"Do you care about the environment but feel “I want to act, but if no one else does, it won't make a difference,” and “But if you don't solve everything, it isn't worth doing anything”? We are the antidote! You're not alone. Hearing role models overcome the same feelings to enjoy acting on their values creates meaning, purpose, community, and emotional reward. Want to improve as a leader? Bestselling author, 3-time TEDx speaker, leadership speaker, coach, and professor Joshua Spodek, PhD, MBA, brings joy and inspiration to acting on the environment. You'll learn to lead without relying on authority. We bring you leaders from many areas — business, politics, sports, arts, education, and more — to share their expertise for you to learn from. We then ask them to share and act on their environmental values. That's leadership without authority — so they act for their reasons, not out of guilt, blame, doom, gloom, or someone telling them what to do. Guests include: Dan Pink , 40+ million TED Talk views Marshall Goldsmith , #1-ranked leadership guru and author Frances Hesselbein , Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, former CEO of the Girl Scouts Elizabeth Kolbert , Pulitzer Prize-winni…","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-sustainable-life-924670"},"episode":{"title":"839: Saabira Chaudhuri: Consumed: Throwaway Plastic Has Corrupted Us","slug":"839-saabira-chaudhuri-consumed-throwaway-plastic-has-corrupted-us","published_at":"2025-10-07T15:51:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-sustainable-life-924670/839-saabira-chaudhuri-consumed-throwaway-plastic-has-corrupted-us","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-sustainable-life-924670","url":"https://shows.acast.com/leadership-and-the-environment/episodes/839-saabira-chaudhuri-consumed-throwaway-plastic-has-corrupt","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5a481aca95dfbf9d13d4dc6f/e/68e478e05f95c3d419da8302/media.mp3","summary":"Reading Saabira's  New York Times piece Throwaway Plastic Has Corrupted Us told me she saw more about plastic and its effect on our culture than most. A quote from it: \"The social costs of our addiction to disposable plastics are more subtle but significant. Cooking skills have declined. Sit-down family meals are less common. Fast fashion, enabled by synthetic plastic fibers, is encouraging compulsive consumption and waste.\" Her tenure at the Wall Street Journal told me she would communicate it effectively, pulling no punches. As much as I prefer not to link to social media, this video review  by Chris van Tulleken, bestselling author of Ultra-Processed People , is about as positive a review as I've seen, all the more since he clarifies that he doesn't know her. So I invited her to talk about her book Consumed: How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastic . It launches today (October 7) in the US, so I've only finished the beginning, but it delivers. In our conversation, she describes what to expect when you read it, plus her back story driving her to write it. Many reviews describe her humor. You'll hear that I held back from asking her about how she worked humor into the topic, since she's not a comedian so I wouldn't expect to perform unprepared, but no worry, she made me laugh unprompted and shared more humor from the book. Obviously it's a serious topic, and Saabira's work shows how much more serious than you probably thought, but being depressed doesn't help solve it. Saabira's home page Her  New York Times piece that brought me to her: Throwaway Plastic Has Corrupted Us Her book page for Consumed The video review we mention by Chris van Tulleken, bestselling author of Ultra-Processed People Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Reading Saabira's New York Times piece Throwaway Plastic Has Corrupted Us told me she saw more about plastic and its effect on our culture than most…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2914,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-sustainable-life-924670/episodes/839-saabira-chaudhuri-consumed-throwaway-plastic-has-corrupted-us/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-sustainable-life-924670/839-saabira-chaudhuri-consumed-throwaway-plastic-has-corrupted-us.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}