Sustainable Living: Understanding how it works if we want it to – Reality Check 2

A deafening silence on the blog about questions and sharing of sustainability actions from you, the readers.  I did get a comment from my best friend who responded to my recommendation to watch ‘Finding Harmony – The King’s Vision’: “I watched the video, Finding Harmony.  I thought it was well Read more

The Great Healing – part 57: Review discussion on the 5 Items – Part 5

One of my friends commented that here I am again talking about psychological sustainability instead of technological sustainability.  Yes, I am.  Until we come to terms with the problems of using inappropriate technology we will continue to degrade and poison the environment no matter how ‘green’ we might like to Read more

The Great Healing – part 22: Being our Best Spiritual Selves.

“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

The Great Healing – part 17: Our Changing Society – Part 4

“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

The Great Healing – part 8: Becoming Authentic – Part 3: Intention

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

The Great Healing – part 6: Becoming Authentic – Part 1 Overview

“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

The Sustainability Revolution – part 22: Psychological Certainty as a Barrier to Change

The one thing that most people are noticing during these challenging times is how change is coming.  Yet, most people are fearful of large changes, since the unknown is a fearful place for so many and the illusion of the status quo seems more comforting.  It’s the reason so many Read more

Pathways to a Better Future – Espe part 24: Bias versus Equity and Fairness

“Stupidity and unconscious bias often work more damage than venality. The point isn’t to get people to accept that they have biases, but to get them to see [for themselves] that those biases have negative consequences for others” Bertrand Russel. A continuation of a fictional reflection by a hundred-year-old Espe Read more

Creating Sustainable Community – Part 10: The spiritual path – all about choices.

” There are hundreds of paths up the mountain, all leading in the same direction, so it doesn’t matter which path you take. The only one wasting time is the one who runs around and around the mountain, telling everyone that his or her path is wrong” Hindu Proverb.  Sustainable Read more

Creating Sustainable Community – Part 9: Transforming politics

“People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing—refusing to participate in activities that make life bad“ Leo Tolstoy. We must avoid the alarmism that is so prevalent with environmental activism and politics.  We have some serious challenges Read more

Becoming different – Part 14: Reviewing the Basics again – Part 3 Wrap up

Economists do not like anything that cannot be put into some form of equation, which is strange if you think about it because economics is a social science (based on human psychological reactions).  The goal back in the 1800s was to find a way to measure well-being derived from economic Read more

Thinking Anew – Part 6 – Appropriate Technology 4 – Do NO Harm

When medical doctors take the hypocritic oath, they vow to ‘Do No Harm’ when they practice medicine, because human life (and by extension, all life) is sacred and to use your skills to harm anything living is a crime against humanity and the natural world.    The Oath is an ancient Read more

A New Beginning – Part 3: Introducing Integral Theory (Ken Wilber)

As most of you will realize in reading my blog, I spend more time talking about our collective cognition as the problem and not just the technological problems we create through our lifestyle choices.  Environmental Educator David Orr talks about how we try to tweak ourselves out of our problems Read more

A New Beginning – Part 2: Nova Renascentia (New Renaissance)

Only through illumination of the past does a new future become visible.  Here is where I take an incredibly complex idea and distill it down to an essential 100 words.  I have been sat at my computer this past first week of January 2021 observing all the incredible goings-on.  Obviously, Read more

Risk – Part 6: Minimizing risk from a consumer lifestyle

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 {Jan 2018}).  Avoiding processed food and non-organic produce is a Read more

Changing the Paradigm: Part 1 – Recognizing the Addiction – The Story of Stuff and Consumerism

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 while continuing the consumer mindset.  This mindset is an addiction Read more

Sustainability, Technology, Mindfulness and Choice

“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 you feel in your heart rather than old habits or Read more

The Psychology of Sustainability – Part 6: Recognizing Mind-Lessness versus Mind-Fullness Choices.

“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 about the one singular factor that controls much of the Read more

The Psychology of Sustainability – Part 5: A New World Through the Power or Choice

“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, but then the storms kick in again. It’s not personal Read more