Update:
Hi everyone, and apparently that is now a lot of you that have recently discovered my blog.
I’ve had lots of comments from the comments section and while it is wonderful and positive feedback, I have to be honest because it is now getting overwhelming.
So I have added a new email address on the contact page for those wanting to comment about the blog site or contact me directly. I’d like to leave the comments section on each blog post open for questions on aspects pertinent to the material in what I just I covered in the post – if that could work. That way I can expand on things needing clarification in that posting or to address legitimate criticisms if and when they arise.
Thanks for reading my Blog. Peace and Love Richard
My Profile
Hi. I’m an emeritus professor of Environmental & Sustainability Studies (ENSS) at the University of Northern Colorado UNC). Until I retired in 2016, I ran the ENSS program at UNC. I have a broad background in chemistry, biology, biochemistry, engineering, communication, Interpretation, and education and a even broader interest in all subjects scientific and non-scientific. I have written 3 text books: 1) Environmental Communication: Skills and principles for natural resource managers, scientists, and engineers, Richard R Jurin, K Jeffrey Danter & Donald Roush, 2010 2nd ed, Springer Publishers, 2) Principles of Sustainable Living: A new vision for Health, Happiness, and Prosperity, Richard R Jurin, 2012, Human Kinetics Publishers, and 3) Environmental Worldviews: An American historic perspective, Richard R Jurin, in editorial process 2018, Kendall Hunt Publishing Co. This third book was built on the foundation work of two deceased colleagues John Disinger and Clay Schoenfeld, and living colleague Jennifer Tomsen.
This blog will focus primarily on ideas I present in the second book, but naturally include ideas from the other two. While it seems that a text should be comprehensive, the reality of publishing is about information/ideas versus space, and tomes that make great doorstops do not do well in academic classrooms. As such most textbooks these days tend to be broader overviews with numerous references to more detailed information. Ideas that may get presented in a text, therefore, rarely get developed further for the avid reader. Getting into the deep rabbit hole that is labelled Sustainable Living (SL) was something that had to wait for a classroom, and even then, time is limited – as are many student attention spans. This blog is for those wanting to climb down the rabbit hole with me and explore the realities of what SL means on a local and global perspective. For any wishing to look at Environmental/Sustainability policy I recommend the blog of my colleague Bill Scott (http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/edswahs/). He is more concrete while I am more esoteric in the scope of what SL means. Naturally this blog will be a broad coverage into branches of the rabbit hole that can boggle the mind and disturb belief systems. I pride myself on being broad minded and a critical thinker. So any comments are free and welcome. I will warn anyone now that being down the SL rabbit hole can be disturbing to one’s dogma’ and cherished beliefs (both academics and lay-folk). Spirituality (NOT religion) is also a major component of being a fully actualized human being, which if we can become globally sustainable will be a natural connection to how we live. This is my personal synthesis of the broadest scope of what Sustainable Living means. For me it means a transformational change in how we think about ourselves and the world we live within. I welcome you to journey with me as I reveal my ideas and thoughts about things many would not even consider a part of this quest. I do, however, emphasize that they are merely my thoughts, influenced over many years by creative thinkers of all kinds as well as my own intuitive insights into the the universe. My goal, as I told so many students over the years, is for you to look with a critical eye at what is being said and begin to think for yourself. You are the primary authority on what you NEED in order to be your authentic self.
There are new privacy rules in use. I am writing this blog to inform people about Sustainable Living (SL). I have no interest whatsoever in using any data from this site for anything except for me to track general information on where readers of this blog are in the world. You do not need to register to read this blog. If you wish to leave comments I ask that you register so I can see who is using this site so as to prevent spam and trolls from making unwarranted intrusions in to what I intend to be a serious discussion and /or commentary about SL.