In 2010, I spent several weeks travelling around the British Isles looking at various kinds of Sustainable Communities to understand how they functioned. What I came away with was a lot of ideas for my Sustainable Living text (2012). There were a lot of ideas that never made it into Read more…
If you are reading this blog, the odds are that you are already on broad with much of what I am saying. I am being more of a cheerleader to help you move ahead and to understand the rest of the like-minded people around you who just need a nudge Read more…
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom” Issac Asimov. Last May, I attended my grandson’s college graduation where he got a degree in Sustainability. What I found interesting was the graduates obtaining degrees in Complex Adaptive Systems Science (CASS). This Read more…
“We are not going to be able to operate our spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody” Buckminster Fuller. Ultimate power used to reside with the monarchies and emperors in Read more…
“Caring for the Earth isn’t some ‘weird hippie’ thing. It’s more of a badass survival thing. If we don’t have a healthy planet, there won’t be a healthy anything” Give a shift about Nature. I advocate that the only way to heal ourselves, and thereby save the planet from our Read more…
“If you want evidence that the world is a terrible place, watch the news and surf the web. But if you want to remember how incredible this planet is, go outside and into nature. Unlike social media and the news, nature has no incentive to keep us agitated, angry and Read more…
“I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of [men]. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news” John Muir. John Muir was a philosopher that spoke for the natural Read more…
“Ecology and Spirituality are fundamentally connected, because deep ecological awareness, ultimately is spiritual awareness” Fritjov Capra. Look at the list of words following describing negative emotions: Sadness; Disappointment; Despair; Hopelessness; Depression; Discomfort; Guilt; Shame, Anxiety; Anger; Fury; Hate; Wrath; Resentment; Rancor; Contempt; Animosity; Outrage; Malice; Revenge; etc. If you feel Read more…
“In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Read more…
Many people are concerned about the future and since I keep predicting that big changes are coming, they always want to know what might be occurring. I heard a great story about change that I think mirrors in many ways the transitions we will be going through. I remember in Read more…
You act the way you think. Therefore, to act sustainably you need to act sustainably. Pretty simple idea when you think about it. Many facts we see as absolute are only so if we accept the premises without question. Consider for instance that the world spins in a counter-clockwise direction. Read more…
Did an oops last week and jumped ahead in my numbering of posts. This week’s is part 18. Saw a wonderful cartoon last week of a chessboard where the black and white king and queen were dining on a table to the side of the board while all the rest Read more…
“The most powerful person is someone who decides their self-worth is not a group decision” Case Kenny. We all have myriad beliefs and unconsciously seek anything that confirms such beliefs – belief confirmation is what makes us such good targets for those seeking to control us. Until we consciously look Read more…
As I start to write my blog for the next week, it is November 11 today. Known as Veterans Day in the US, and Remembrance Day in the UK, it got me to thinking of the many men I have met or have been told about who fought (and died) Read more…
The USA saw an interesting election this past Tuesday. I’m not going to discuss the outcome with any dichotomous judgment – it is what it is. I have friends on both sides of this political isle and they are decent people. Of course there is a lot of name calling Read more…
I continue to read about how electric cars and renewable energy are going to save the planet from Global Climate Change (or whatever incarnation of the climate idea you prefer). My questions are always, “How is all this electricity that will be needed being created?” “How does using renewables alone Read more…
“Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were Read more…
I recently saw an online post that emphasized toxic problems with the Industrial Agricultural system and the need to go more into permaculture. What struck me was the series of comments that emphasized how many people were locked into the myth of the ‘Green Revolution’ as the only way to Read more…
In the last post I talked about how ‘giving a f*ck’ about things that really matter is crucial to our well-being as we move forward in these chaotic times. It’s not only political and economic but as the recent hurricanes demonstrate, even mother nature is seemingly sending us a message. Read more…
Bertolt Brecht’s quote “Grub first, then morals” (Grub – slang for food) suggests that people should prioritize their basic demands before they can concentrate on even more abstract principles, like morals. It is a suggestion that individuals must not neglect their standard needs in order to concentrate on greater ideals. Read more…
“Here’s to the bridge-builders, the hand-holders, the light-bringers, those extraordinary souls wrapped in ordinary lives who quietly weave threads of humanity into an inhumane world. They are the unsung heroes in a world at war with itself. They are the whisperers of hope that peace is possible. Look for them Read more…
If there is one thing that I think has kept people tethered and trapped by conditioning, I would say it is the need to conform to social norms that while on the surface sound reasonable, really serve to keep us in a state of constriction and compliance. Most people dream Read more…
“Authenticity is acting in accordance with one’s true self, and being authentic means behaving in congruence with one’s values, beliefs, motives, and personality dispositions” Theo Tsaousides. I have been informed that my link to the Berkley Well-Being site didn’t work, so here it is again (link). To again reinforce my Read more…
“You are but a drop in the ocean… but what is an ocean but a multitude of drops” Cloud Atlas. As of writing this post to my blog the human population of Earth was approaching 8.2 billion people. That means 8.2 billion unique and beautiful sovereign individuals ready to express Read more…
“I don’t want to protect the environment; I want to create a world where the environment doesn’t need protecting. The Earth is not a platform for human life. It’s a living being. We’re not on it, but part of it. Its health is our health” Thomas Moore. In the Read more…
“Fairy tales in childhood are stepping stones throughout life, leading the way through trouble and trial. The value of fairy tales lies not in a brief literary escape from reality, but in the gift of hope that goodness truly is more powerful than evil and that even the darkest reality Read more…
“Our true destiny…is a world built from the bottom up by competent citizens living in solid communities, engaged in and by their places” David Orr. The quote above explains my views succinctly. It needs more explanation, but my whole blog is about explaining this simple quote. Then I got looking Read more…
I like to believe that people in general are inherent honest, but then I run into yet another ‘used car salesperson’ kind of person who spins a web of incredible lies just to get a deal in their favor. They come under many guises as con-artists extraordinaire, who have become Read more…
As I watch the comical (if it were not so deadly serious) political scene unfolding here in the USA, and then various elections being held across the planet, I am always struck, not by the lies that nearly all political candidates say in order to garner support (and hence votes Read more…
In this week’s post wrapping up why we must have a Sustainability Revolution if we and the planet are to thrive, I offer a simplified explanation of the big separation and how to heal it. Most readers will acknowledge that I am a great believer in personal sovereignty and self-actualization, Read more…