What would you do if your promising professional career was suddenly interrupted by a powerful spiritual awakening?
Could you figure out how to integrate the spiritual with the worldly, to uplift both yourself and the planet?
Can you use the three critical lessons Jerry learned?
“Brings principles of spiritual mindfulness and stewardship to the environmental discussion” – Publishers Weekly
Social activist, environmentalist, engineer, accomplished author, spiritual seeker, global keynote speaker, entrepreneur, would-be politician, consultant, occasional poet, frequent blogger, green building movement leader, solar and wind power advocate, lobbyist, government official – some of the many hats Jerry Yudelson wore during a long career that he chronicles in his highly engaging, emotionally revealing, and spiritually insightful environmental memoir.
The author of 12 books on green building and sustainable development, named a “LEED Fellow” by the U.S. Green Building Council and “The Godfather of Green” by Wired magazine, Jerry followed an unusual path toward sustainability leadership.
“A well-done memoir that holds far more insight and meaning than an exploration of one man’s singular life.” – Midwest Book Review
After organizing for the first Earth Day, Jerry dropped out of grad school, pursued spiritual development and encountered the renowned Indian master Swami Muktananda, who initiated him into a powerful meditation practice, giving him experiences that upended his life.
Beginning in the late 1990s, he became a global leader in the green building movement, convincing architects and developers to reduce buildings’ ecological footprints with sustainable design. In the end, Jerry found inner strength, his life’s purpose and outward success by combining committed spiritual practices with his life’s work to create a better world through environmental activism.
Listen to Jerry on Podcasts:
Interviewed on a dozen podcasts and radio shows, Jerry explores the link between his spiritual journey and the environmental crises of earlier times as well as the climate crisis facing today's world. Here are quotes from and links to a few of those podcasts.From "Conscious Talk" radio show: Over time, environmentalism has switched its focus. At the beginning, it was all about putting up a red light: “Stop doing these bad things. Stop putting toxic chemicals in the air and in the water,” and so forth. And over the last generation, it switched to saying, “Well, we still have to stop the bad actors, because they are out there, but we need to have a green light for stuff that’s positive,” similar to the way the solar and the wind industry got started with tax incentives in the 1970s and 1980s. For the full podcast, click here and for the full transcript, click here.
From "The Premise," a podcast on Earth Day 2020: The problem we have is that our current way of life is so culturally embedded in our psyches that the biggest issue is not technology, it really is culture change. I think that’s what makes it daunting. That's why in my last chapter, an epilogue, I speak directly to young climate strikers. I say, I’m passing the baton to you; I’m an older guy and you’re the ones who will have to live with this thing that we've created, but here are some things I’ve learned that you might find helpful for your struggle. For the full podcast, click here and for the full transcript, click here.