We have known how to fix most of our environmental problems for decades. So why do we keep not doing it?

Joshua Harrison calls it the action-inaction dilemma. As Director of the Center for the Study of the Force Majeure at UC Santa Cruz and co-founder of the New York green infrastructure company Leaf Island, he works where art, ecology and systems strategy meet. His argument is that the gap is no longer science or technology. It is what we value. We talk about why insurers spend so little on prevention, why "sustainability" may be the wrong goal for a broken system, and why green roofs, gardens and oyster reefs gain value with age while concrete loses it. We follow fire through California's history, from Indigenous cultural burning to a century of suppression and the cost of ignoring what was predicted.

Underneath it all is a story. Josh grew up in a family of ecological artists, building fish tanks as a child and, at fourteen, using a garden hose to create an artificial monsoon that finally got crabs breeding in captivity. From the political movements of 1960s New York to set design for film, his path has never run in a straight line, which is exactly why he sees connections others miss.

We close with The Key Questions, innovation as rediscovery, and an old Greek proverb about planting trees.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:59 Guest Intro & Speculative Fiction
04:29 Action vs. Inaction on Climate
13:12 Josh's eclectic background and childhood
16:57 The movement of Ecological Art
21:53 The drivers in Josh's multi-disciplinary journey
30:06 Having difficult conversations and conversational drift
45:18 Are we just reinventing the wheel over and over again?
52:04 Ecology, Fires & Indigenous Knowledge
58:37 Learning to plan and adapt with fire
1:06:35 Public debate for action inaction - Asian examples
1:10:33 The lost past - circularity did exist before...
1:17:27 Oysters, Moss and an appreciating asset
1:25:19 Coming full circle in a diverse conversation?
1:27:32 What gives Josh hope for the future?
1:32:30 Q&A Start 01:32:42 What does innovation mean to you?
1:34:13 Key Event, Book, Person
1:37:01 Time Management
1:39:12 Biggest Challenge to date
1:42:45 Advice for young professionals
1:43:38 What would you most like to be remembered for?
1:44:21 Where can people find you?
1:45:12 Final Message
1:45:40 Outro

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