It seems very likely that we have spent too long in the company of bad ideas to now arrest our slide toward the brink. I hope I’m wrong about this, but I would not be surprised if the human experiment runs radically off the rails in our lifetime. — *Sam Harris
One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise. — Aldo Leopold
That the situation is hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best. — Aldo Leopold
(1) My primary aim (with this website, and with my ads) is to acquire funding. Without funding, I can’t move forward with presenting my big ideas and strategies aimed at saving the planet. If you’d like to find out more, you have to be interested in ‘saving the planet,’ you have to be a potential backer, and you have to state so (I’m not a mind-reader).
For years, I’ve suggested that something along the lines of a McArthur Fellowship ($800,000, in quarterly installments, over 5 years) would be an appropriate amount of funding. However, after that page underwent a major rewrite, $100,000 became the new goal. That amount could compromise my ability to present my ideas as well as I would like, but at least I would finally be in a position to start getting my ideas out there and presented as the holistic solution we so desperately need.
(2) Alternatively, using a crowdfunding platform could work — if enough people contact me expressing potential interest. So if you think you might be interested, please let me know — and how much do you think you might be willing to give, on a monthly basis?
(3) Feel free to share thoughts, ask questions, and offer suggestions.
(4) If you’d like to help — no special skills required — contact me. If I could hire thousands of people, I would. But I can’t afford to hire even one person. So please contact me in this regard only if you would like to volunteer your time and understand that I can’t pay you.
ADDITIONALLY:
(5) I consider myself one of the best thinkers in the world today in terms of my ideas and overall thinking concerning how to save the planet, but I’m curious who others think fits that bill.
(6) I’d love to hear concrete examples of what others consider to be some of the best and most original ideas that tie in with saving the planet (particularly from the past twenty years or so).
(7) How would you complete this sentence: To save the planet, the biggest thing we need to do is (…).
(8) I also invite you to share specific examples of what you consider to be some of the best of the best — the creme de la creme — in terms of books, audiobooks, films, documentaries, interviews, articles, podcasts (specific episodes), YouTubes, scientific papers, quotations, etc., that tie in with saving the planet.
(9) Do you live in the NYC / LI area? Might something like this (“Willing to Cook for Strangers, but Guests Are Harder to Find,” The New York Times) interest you? If enough people contact me expressing an interest in participating in something like this, I might set something like this up.
(10) If you live in the NYC / LI, tri-state area and would like to be a part of a ‘Saving the Planet’ Meetup (Meetup.com) group, let me know.
(11) Once I get funding, I’ll be in a position to start getting my ideas out there. But I want to be able to do this in such a way that my ideas and strategies have the greatest chance of making a real difference in the battle to save the planet. Therefore, if you’re a talented, successful, accomplished writer (or editor), and would like to help with this, let me know. I can use the help. (This would need to be pro bono.)
(12) Would you like to help make it possible for me to get my ideas out there, without it costing you a cent? Here’s a challenge. If you can create a much better version of my About me or Afterword pages (or any other parts of my website), I might be willing to make those changes. On a scale of 1-10, my website might be a 5; but imagine how much easier it might be to acquire funding if it were a 9 or 10. Challenge accepted? (This would need to be pro bono.)
(13) If I created an email list for like-minded individuals interested in saving the planet, would you like to be on it? (Please state why.)
(14) Are you a superstar singer-songwriter (rock, pop)? Open to potentially collaborating with Ecoideaman to create a hit single? I’ve got loads of material to work with. What’s in it for you? Perhaps another hit. What’s in it for me? If it crushes, I won’t need to seek funding, that will be my funding.
(15) If I get funding, one of the things I plan to do early on is devote a couple weeks or so to getting many of my key ideas down on film — albeit in a rudimentary fashion — so that if something happens to me (e.g., a drunk driver runs a red light, killing me instantly), at least there’d be this film. (To be released only if something were to happen to me before having the opportunity to reveal my ideas.) If you are a filmmaker or film director who might be interested in helping put this together, let me know.
(16) I’d like a few lines of dialogue transcribed from a 1980s TV mini series that is over 3 hours long. (This might be useful for a blog post I’ve long wanted to do.) I don’t have the time or inclination to spend much time on this, but if you’re a film buff, you might enjoy it. Interested?
(17) There is also a documentary that has a line of dialogue I would like to reference in a future blog post. I remember the line of dialogue. I just need the exact context. Again, if you think you might like to help, let me know.
(18) “If we have done extremely well as a species, it is only at the expense of other species at present, and of our own species in the future.” — Boris Zeide. This is one of my favorite quotations (pertaining to what we’re doing to the planet); but I can’t recall how I originally came across it. If you can shed light on this puzzle, please do.
(19) Not interested? If not, why not? I don’t have the resources to pay for focus groups, so I’d appreciate honest feedback. (Please indicate approximately how much of my website you’ve actually read.)
(20) A word of caution. Someone once emailed: “Don’t hold your ideas hostage.” While I found that mildly amusing, I never read their next email. The takeaway: if you want to help, great; if you don’t, fine; but please don’t waste my time.
(21) Do you know of anyone else, anywhere in the world, doing what I’m doing? If you know of anyone like that — of limited means, spending their own money to get word out that they have lots of big, bold, brilliant ideas and strategies aimed at ‘saving the planet,’ but need funding to roll those ideas out — please share that information with me, I’d love to see it!
(22) Birds of a feather? Feel free to share your contact info. While I have virtually no free time now, someday — if I get funding — perhaps we can work together.
(23) WANTED: Co-host(s) for a ‘Saving the Planet’-style podcast. Preferably, someone who can also handle all the technical aspects of producing a podcast. (But please note: presently, this isn’t particularly high on my ‘want-to-do’ list.)
(24) My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, were all named Paul. I know that. But I know nothing at all about my German ancestry before my great-grandfather, and his brother Walter — an artist — emigrated here from Germany (roughly a century ago?). If anyone could shed some light, it would be appreciated.
(25) Do you own property in Manhattan? In what might be considered a prime location? After seeing an article in the New York Times recently on the subject of fliers (“Have Something to Say? Put It on a Flier,” Oct. 16, 2025), I thought putting up fliers might be a simple, smart, inexpensive way to help publicize my website — in ‘the city that never sleeps.’ But to avoid potential legal problems (NY penal law 145.30), I would want to first obtain permission from some property owners.
(26) I’d love to hear from teachers and professors — or anyone with firsthand experience — concerning what sorts of changes you’ve observed over the years, from one generation to the next. How exactly have students changed (if you’ve found that to be the case)?
(27) If you or anyone you know is a barber or hairstylist, you might find this of interest: “Wash, blow dry and (…) hairdressers trained to talk about climate action” (The Guardian, March 25, 2023). Only, I would suggest a much deeper dive (there’s so much more to ‘saving the planet,’ than just talking about ‘climate’). Why not set up a lending library, right there in your shop? And please, don’t forget to spread word about my website (see next paragraph).
(28) ‘Six degrees of separation’ is the idea that all people are six degrees of separation (social connections wise), or fewer, from everyone else. You personally might not be interested or have the wherewithal to help me with rolling out my ideas and strategies, but chances are you know of someone (or are six degrees of separation from someone), with the wherewithal, who might be interested. By passing along word about this website, to others, ironically, you might be able to accomplish more towards saving the planet, than all of today’s billionaires, combined. Yes, I really do believe my ideas are that good.
[*Note: Since that Sam Harris quotation above is so ridiculously hard to find on the internet, I’m including this link. Click on “old interview,” sign into your Amazon account, and you’ll be redirected to the archived page with the interview transcript. The interview isn’t from 2014, it’s from an unspecified number of years prior.]
Please indicate in your email, how, specifically, you found out about this website. Since my advertising budget is small, it helps knowing how people found their way here. Thanks!
My contact information: EcoIdeaMan@Gmail.com