Nick Buegel on Adapting to Change, Nature and Aiming at the Biggest Problems

Today on the podcast is my friend, Nick Buegel. As always, Nick and I have great conversations. This one was the first one we've had in person since the pandemic started. It was enjoyable for me to have him over to record this. There's something special about being in the same room with someone and just having an in-depth discussion about your life or the ideas that we've been thinking about. We expanded on what Nick did to cope with the pandemic, meaning what happened through the pandemic and what did that cause him to explore? What we get into basically is this immersing himself in nature.

Nick spent a lot of the time walking around different forest preserves here in the Midwest, in the Chicago area, and getting closer to it. He put himself on a path to get much deeper with the environmental movement, understanding just how complex and difficult many of these problems are.

This conversation aims not to really talk about how to solve things, but how to tackle these things at a high level, like to behave people. Because at the end of the day, it's all about conflict resolution, and everyone has different set points here. And the hope is that we can agree with the extremes to at least put a plan in place that's better than what we currently have.

That encapsulates all of this. Nick is by no means an expert. Still, at the same time, it's the point that we can learn and take it upon ourselves to aim at something much bigger than ourselves and hope that by accumulating information or by putting ourselves in a position that we can then talk about a complex issue intelligently, we can help other people jump on board and affect change. All of us can ever really do is start with ourselves. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Nick Buegel.

You can now check out Nick’s Nature Website - scenicsnaps.com

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Show Notes

[00:03:29] How Nick managed the stress of the pandemic 

[00:09:07] The Evil We Know

[00:10:07] Thinking yourself into a corner

[00:12:51] Responsibility for the safety of family

[00:16:27] What changed for Nick the most?

[00:22:07] Adjusting to a slower pace

[00:25:57] Losing weight during quarantine

[00:29:01] Changes in Priorities

[00:33:11] Seeing the food chain in action

[00:35:33] Cellular replacement

[00:37:49] Human food system and understanding the costs

[00:39:31] Nature is metal

Nature is Metal – Life eats Life (The images and videos can be graphic! Viewer discretion is advised.)

[00:40:38] A reason to hunt if you are going to consume animal protein

Does Hunting Help or Hurt the Environment?

[00:42:33] Cost of life

Kurzgesagt Some cells decided that instead of doing all that pesky photosynthesis work themselves, they would just swallow other cells that did and take their glucose and ATP.

[00:47:32] Pine Beetles

Southern Pine Beetles Can Kill Your Ornamental Pine

[00:48:41] Brutality and Fragility of Nature

[00:50:59] Different values to balance

[00:55:31] Malthusian Economics

Malthusianism - Wikipedia

[00:57:15] Having better external measures when it comes to nature

[01:00:31] Laura Calandrella

Laura Calandrella | Collaborative Leadership for a Sustainable Future

[01:02:21] Making Sense Podcast #244 - Food, Climate, and Pandemic Risk

[01:04:46] Behavioral economics and food choices 

Behavioral economics - Wikipedia

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics

[01:07:09] The higher-level conversation with effecting change 

[01:11:53] Going past Dunar Bar's number loses people 

Robin Dunbar's number

Grasping Giant Numbers Is Far From Second Nature

[01:14:25] Life the Unfinished experiment

[01:16:42] Everyone is looking back at past generations screw up 

[01:21:51] What is Nick most interested in exploring?

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