Heroes of New York

In this episode, Josh and I talk about change. There is only one way to fight climate change, pandemics and systemic racism. Through change. But to change anything, we need to first change ourselves. Changing our behaviors is how we can influence change in our society. But how hard is it? Tune in to hear Josh share his wisdom as he changed his lifestyle and continues to do so in a bid to save the environment.
Listen to the 1st part of this talk on building Habits that Stick here.
Joshua Spodek PhD MBA is a three-time TEDx speaker, #1 bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, host of the award-winning Leadership and the Environment podcast, and professor at NYU. He works with individuals and groups to improve their environmental culture and behavior.
Here's the TEDx video that Josh refers to in this episode where he goes into depth doing meaningful things.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States of America and a powerful advocate for gender equality.
In this episode, I explore RBG's style of advocacy and the way she brought about change from the way she dressed to the relationships she forged in her professional and personal life.

“Prison life is about routine: each day like the one before; each week like the one before it, so that the months and years blend into each other.” Nelson Mandela about the 27 years he spent in prison. Mandela believed a lifetime’s habit of exercise helped him to survive prison, ready for the challenges that lay ahead.

In this episode, I chat with Joshua Spodek, published expert and coach of starting habits that last, about building daily habits that stick. Josh explains how he does it , the many rewards he reap from building habits that stick and how you can do it too.

Josh’s habit based achievements include:

• Posting to his blog daily for a decade, nearly 4,000 posts and counting
• Doing burpee-based calisthenics daily for nine years, over 150,000 burpees and counting
• In his fifth year not flying (by choice)
• Picking up a piece of trash daily for over 1,000 days and counting

Joshua Spodek PhD MBA is a three-time TEDx speaker, #1 bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, host of the award-winning Leadership and the Environment podcast, and professor at NYU. He works with individuals and groups to improve their environmental culture and behavior.
Here's the video that Josh refers to in this episode where he goes into depth on building habit's that last.
What we discussed:
00:02:51 Building daily habits
00:07:04 Identifying values and their importance
00:09:18 Habits that stick
00:15:05 Mindset
00:22:28 Nelson Mandela - Thriving under lockdown
00:25:01 Sticking to new habits
00:27:02 Mindset
00:30:33 Building your structure from the inside out
00:32:28 Cold Showers
00:35:48 News fast - moderating the amount
00:37:11 SIDCHA
00:43:04 How to build habits that stick

The Father's Heart Ministries is located in the East Village, New York City. For the past 23 years, they have been running a soup kitchen and open food pantry serving the hungry and homeless. During the pandemic they have been a respite to many in this part of the city. In this episode, I speak with Marian Hutchins, the Executive Director of the Father's Heart Ministries. She shares her experiences from moving to New York and the East Village in the 80s when drugs and violence was the norm and her experiences working with the needy and the poor. Tune in to listen to a story full of compassion and humanity.
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A few weeks ago, the TIME magazine carried an issue solely dedicated to global warming.It said we have a few months to take decisive action. Given all that is going around due to pandemic, upcoming US elections people sometimes tend to forget about the larger than life crisis that’s looming over us. And so I am out looking for people who were continuously working in the midst of this pandemic to address climate change. In this week’s episode I speak with Sandith Thandasherry, CEO and founder of NavAlt Solar & Electrical Boats. He is the man behind India’s first solar powered ferry, Aditya.
With a Bachelor of Technology in Naval Architecture from IIT Madras and an MBA from INSEAD, France, Sandith has around two decades of industrial experience behind him. He worked in a shipyard in Gujarat for two years, after which he went to South Korea and worked across shipyards in the country. After he completed his MBA, this naval architect and entrepreneur started this journey with Navgathi, the first company that he founded to build small-capacity, solar-powered boats.

Although solar-powered ferries are a common sight in global waterways, they were yet to sail in Indian waterways because of the high costs involved when Sandith started out.
He soon realized that the biggest and most commercially viable sector is large passenger water transport boats. However, to initiate that business, they needed to team up with a larger player in the field. Coincidentally, this was when AltEn, one of the world’s most experienced solar boats manufacturer was looking for a partner in India.

NavAlt was finally formed in October 2013 and the rest as they say is history.

In July this year, Aditya, India’s first solar powered passenger ferry built by Sandith and team won the first ever Gussies award.

This is the world’s only international award exclusively for electric boats.

More than 50 electric boats were nominated for this award, representing over 19 countries of manufacture, in 3 different categories.

Aditya won in the 3rd category “ Excellence in Electric Boats Designed for Paying Passengers”.

Every day Aditya makes 22 trips with 75 people on board – that’s 580,000 people a year – and the charging cost to top up the batteries is US$2.60 – TWO DOLLARS and SIXTY CENTS A DAY – preventing the burning of 58,000 litres of diesel and saving ₹ 4,612,000 – US$ 65,000 a year.

Aditya plies on the waterways of Kerala, a small state in South India, where Sandith’s company and operations are located.

Kerala has been affected by global warming very severely in the past few years with heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides visiting her every year during the monsoon.

Seeing that positive steps are being taken in the state to tackle climate change is an inspiration to the rest of the country.

I also take personal pride since I am from Kerala.

Aditya’s success and recognition is testimony to the fact that clean energy is the solution that we have to adopt to rewrite the climate change narrative.

I speak to the man himself to learn more about his story and his vision for the future.