About Burner Trouble

I’ve been inspired by Franke James to evaluate what I really want to write about here on Burner Trouble. I have a marketing blog, What They’re Saying, that satisfies my somewhat perverse need to try and enlighten the world (and marketing hacks everywhere) about the power of social media and conversational marketing. However the subject is essentially meaningless in the context of the world we live in with its many (!) challenges.

I started Burner Trouble several years ago to write and vent my frustration about developing climate change issues that simply weren’t being written about in conventional media. The particular granular focus was on how it affects us on a personal level. Since then we have seen gas prices jump drastically (and fall somewhat back though they appear to be headed up again) which suddenly made energy issues a lot more personal. We elected a President who actually believes in science and we have a precipitous economic situation that gave him relative carte blanche to actually change things. These are not minor changes but they are not enough.

Franke came along with her new book about doing more than recycling grocery bags and drinking tap water. She and her husband sold their SUV and did not replace it. They ripped up their driveway and put in a garden. And she wrote a book called Bothered by My Green Conscience that asked us how we are going to explain to our unborn grandchildren what we did (and didn’t) do about the environment. And why.

This is the big question for all of us baby boomers. We’ve been living it up for a half century, give or take. Now that we’re at or over 40+ it is not only time for change, it is critical that we actually do it on a major level.

So I’m going to write about changing your life at 40+. Everyone I know is talking about this. What are we changing? Here a list for starters:

- work
- family
- friends & relationships
- community
- world and travel
- money
- health
- self
Is that a big enough subject? I think so. Tim Ferriss (The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
) calls it Lifestyle Design. I’m going to be changing a bunch of things and chronicling it here along with stories from anyone else who has one of their own.

So, though I have so few readers that this may be a cry in the wilderness, how can you help? Read and link. Tell your friends. Send me a story. Comment. Converse among ourselves. Change is good.

Reach me via MartinEdic.com