Let’s face it, we all like food. It has been the primary human occupation throughout humanities history. It is the primary drive for all of nature. Yet how many of us in the MDCs could actually find food if it wasn’t neatly packaged in a grocery store? Once we were Read more
Before I get back to sustainable food systems, a post on how we enclosed water. It’s not as though it falls from the sky. (I think I hear lots of groans 😊.) Looking at the Earth from space we see a shining blue planet with vast ice fields and major Read more
Will we choose sustainable living, or like Cuba, will we wait until it is forced upon us through some kind of regional or global crisis? This is NOT about capitalism versus socialism or any other form of political system. There are as many, if not more, people starving worldwide because Read more
Over the years, during lectures and many talks I have given, one question that always comes up is could we actually make the transition to sustainability or is it just a pipe-dream. Obviously the question usually comes from people who think a sustainable future is some half-life of a harsh Read more
About a week ago I posted on Facebook a cartoon from ‘Collectively Conscious.’ In it a young boy asks his mother, “Why do we have wars?” The mother answers, “Because we are ruled by an elite group of psychopaths who own the banks that control the government and the media. Read more
We like to blame the dumbing down of society to the electronic joy we are now inundated with in our lives. While this is somewhat true, it is not a new phenomenon. Throughout history, the people who controlled the information controlled the people. This is not conspiracy, it is simply Read more
A caring, sharing, collaborative world “Our civilized culture is failing us. And to change things we have to start with our children, showing them the importance of love and kindness, of faith and hope, of compassion and non-violence, treating each other with dignity and respect, not as bodies to be Read more
POPULATION, ECONOMICS, CHOICE and MORALITY I didn’t get to complete my thoughts on this in the last post because of a keyboard problem. Countries that have invested in female education and family planning have demonstrated major drops in total fertility rates. Regardless of which counties are used as comparisons (e.g. Read more
POPULATION:The late Al Bartlett had a lot to say about the exponential function (see earlier post) and how human population growth exasperated it even more with endless environmental insults. Whichever type of future we collectively choose – agrarian or highly technological, or even a unique combination – we will have Read more
Computers are wonderful things – until they aren’t. For those following this blog, my apologies. My programs needed some fixing, and I was on the road in Florida without access to program support. There’s a metaphor there somewhere about modern living and the inherent problems we have? (see further down). Read more
I decided to subtitle this post a world of possibilities. There are many options for us and many are more desirable than what we currently have. I didn’t say probabilities, which are more likely occurrences, because to get to probabilities we have to have more firm intention of what we Read more
Do you want to simply exist (life’s a bitch and then you die) or do you want to actually LIVE (to thrive and grow)? If even for a second you, think “I will live when………….” BUT I can’t because……….” you are merely existing. I have said it earlier and I Read more
In the developed countries, when you have enough monetary wealth to live comfortably, being in the rut is not such an imposition. It might still have problems, but you can afford to suffer through them – or as often happens, you can afford prescription or even non-prescription medications to blunt Read more
I was clearing out boxes of books I had brought back home from my academic office after I retired and came across ‘The Mis-measure of Man’ by Stephen Jay Gould. In this book Gould lays out the rationale and justification for how scientists used ‘good’ science to ‘prove’ that intellect Read more
“Change never comes from the powerful and proud [the hierarchy] – they have too much to lose and too little to gain. Change always comes from the common and humble – we have little to lose and much to gain. John Ikerd” If we are to transform the way we live, Read more
What makes the Leaver worldview unique is that it is completely community oriented. Our current westernized culture thrives on competition, individualism, and reliance on authority to solve problems. I need to be careful here – I am NOT condoning some Ayn Rand way of looking at the world, that is Read more
The word Dominion as it is emphasized in the English language, influenced by orthodox Christianity, not surprisingly has come to be accepted as a type of rule over others. Whether this is by a monarch, or by humans over nature, it implies absolute power over. If you look at Dominion Read more
During the colonialization periods since Columbus, missionaries came across indigenous peoples and automatically labelled them savage pagans simply because they were not European Christians. Not much has changed. This really is a great indictment on how effective the Eurocentric Judeo-Christian worldview has dominated for several hundred years. It is only Read more
Before we get back to applying all this esoteric stuff to living sustainably. First of all, let’s put in in perspective. Let’s get away from this Pollyanna Attitude that everything will be perfect if we show love and respect for each other. There wouldn’t be any point to experiencing this Read more
In this post I am speculating about our life purposes based on extensive readings about the great beyond. There is much evidence what this looks like from many sources of science and various spiritual traditions. But it is a much more complex realm than we could ever imagine with our Read more
“When I was young, and they packed me off to school, and they taught me how not to play the game. I didn’t mind, if they groomed me for success, or if they said that I was just a fool. So, I left there in the morning, with their God tucked Read more
A friend emailed me to say they thought that while spirituality was all very well, it wasn’t as important as making the changes we need do to save the world. Obviously, my message isn’t getting through to everyone. I say we don’t need to save the world, we just need Read more
When I first started working at a university for a living at age 18, I worked with an incredibly diverse group of people with all kinds of personalities. Overall, we all got on well, we had to for the place to function. Some people kept their distance and some were Read more
This post is a play-day for me to explain some esoteric ideas. If we can accept for a moment that the spiritual reality may be real and that this material existence is the illusion (a simulation) what can we uncover from knowledge found in shamanic cultures and ancient mystery schools? Read more
Stephen Hawking died on March 14 and a great many people posted that he was now free, and numerous cartoons showed him walking away from his wheelchair to the ‘light.’ Besides being a major example of ‘Ableism’ in which only fully capable people are assumed to be able to do Read more
“I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address those problems. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy…and to deal with those we need a spiritual Read more
Can you be deeply spiritual and entrenched in the physical Material world? Yes, you can. What seems to happen though is that the more spiritual you become the more you become aware of ‘something’ that connects you to a greater reality. If you never questioned it, your life would still Read more
Aldo Leopold, in his A Sand County Almanac book published in 1946, said, “There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.” And “The last word in ignorance Read more
Put your finger against a surface and push. Your finger is solid and the surface is solid so nothing happens. Yet, what is solid? And what has this to do with living sustainably? Just enjoy the ride and the scenery as I lead you down this path of the rabbit Read more
I started this blog to get people thinking for themselves. I have done some down the rabbit hole material, but I find I fall in to the trap of being merely reformational in what I say much of the time. I realized this when I picked up the latest Read more