There is no shortage of great thinkers and researchers who have illuminated the risks being imposed up on us with consumerist worldview. Michael Pollan has clearly expressed the problems with our industrial food systems (see earlier post Relocalization and Community Read more
In May 2020 I talked a bit about vaccines (posts Vaccines: part 1-5). With the push to release the Covid-19 (C-19) vaccine, in keeping with my current risk theme, here is a long update summary from what I have studying Read more
(I have been asked to list the dates {month, day, year} for previous posts I refer to in my blog to help readers find them without having to scroll the now lengthy list of blog posts on this site.) First, Read more
In the last post I emphasized how despite all the technological advances (and actually because of), we do not live in a risk-free world, and never will. I love hearing people quote anecdotal stories of gramps who smoked 40 cigarettes Read more
Quoted material without a citation is from my Environmental Communication textbook. In general, we accept risks we choose to accept (or do not know about), complain about risks that are we know are imposed up on us, and bemoan when Read more
In my last post I outlined how experts and everyone else view risk differently. Risk experts like to talk about numbers that reflect mortality and morbidity, while non-experts view risk on a set of personal heuristics (outrage factors) to decide Read more
“To know what life is worth you have to risk it once in a while “ John-Paul Sartre It has been fascinating to observe how government officials have been drafting up all manner of draconian laws to ‘protect’ us all Read more
I am not a doomsayer, but we are on the cusp of an economic crisis unprecedented in human history. We’ve had major depressions like the one precipitated by the 1929 stock market collapse, and several major recessions during the last Read more
“Progress is impossible without change, and those that cannot change their minds cannot change anything” George Bernard Shaw. For many years, in my Sustainable Living textbook and when I was at conferences talking about my positive views of a sustainable Read more
“The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one Earth.” Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Read more
A bit of a later post this weekend – we have a firestorm blazing in the forests just 8 miles northwest of us, raining ash and pouring smoke in red-orange hues over our homes. More like a scene from Lord Read more
“Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.” William Plomer. I am always surprised when I would introduce an innovative idea to a group I was working with and receive the reply, “it won’t work” because we don’t do Read more
Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not. Oscar Wilde. How we look at the world is central to how we allow ourselves to think beyond the limiting mental boxes Read more
I am going to get a tad esoteric in this blog post but I do so to point out just how our thinking has become so dogmatic and inflexible. I am going to talk about incredible new energy research technology Read more
“Our world is divided is not divided by race, color, gender, or religion. Our world, is divided into wise people and fools. And fools divide themselves by race, color, gender or religion.” Nelson Mandela I saw a neat quote on Read more
“The greatest fear in the world is the opinion of others, and the moment you are unafraid of the crowd, you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of Read more
What I am observing at this time, as are so many of us, is a lot of protesting and activism on behalf of something or other. There are a lot of reasons that everything all over the world seems so Read more
“The truth is like a lion. You don’t need to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.” St Augustine. A quick diversion from empathy to talk more about scientism, but pertinent to it as I will show in Read more
In previous posts I have written about empathy and leadership (e.g. Spiritual Crisis is the World’s Greatest Problem Part 2 – Cultural Sensitivity and Empathy) but I would like to revisit it again through a frame of empathy. Civic mobilization Read more
The contentious atmosphere that pervades our societies with all the anger and frustration should be of concern for everyone. So, today’s post, with the title given, is the transcript of an oral presentation I gave at an international conference in Read more
In two previous posts (Biomimicry 1 and 2 – Learning from Nature – BioEngineering a New World) I talked a little about Janine Benyus and her Biomimicry concepts. The key point I want to reiterate here is that the new Read more
There is a simple yet profound saying that applies to trying to solve a problem while continuing the cause, “You can’t dry off when you are still under the running shower.” That pretty much sums up trying to become sustainable Read more
“Mindfulness is observing your life right now. Accepting your current situation without judgment or struggle. Allowing feelings to exist without letting them driving your actions. Noticing thoughts that occur without needing to buy into them. Taking action based on what Read more
“Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We just need to remember to do it” Sharon Saltzberg In the last post I talked about choice as the way to create personal, social, and ecological freedom. I want you to think for a minute now Read more
“Complacency is not your friend. When you become complacent you turn yourself off. You begin to think that calmness is a way of life. You forget that the nature of life is chaotic change and then a season of calm, Read more
“Humanity treats humanity in the same way that humanity treats nature” Michael Roads. What makes people conform to the Status Quo? – Peer Pressure and the fear of being rejected, i.e. being unlovable. This is the pressure that so many Read more
I used this in an earlier post but it is worth repeating: “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 Read more
Conspiracies are rampant in all the information we seem to be getting at this time. The result is an even greater polarization than ever, driven by the internet and its inherent anonymity of opinions from so many users. It’s not Read more
One of the questions I always got from new students in my Sustainability Studies program was, “Why can’t everyone see the obvious need to work towards sustainability?” That’s a question I have spent many years and much of this blog Read more
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Socrates. As I read about the goings on around the world, what I see too much of is fear Read more