“Our destructiveness has not been, and is not, inevitable. People who use that excuse are morally incompetent, they are cowardly and they are lazy. Humans don’t have to live by destroying the sources of their life. People can change; they can learn to do better. All of us, regardless of 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…
“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…
“The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not potential irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species Read more…
Technology is always a double-edged sword that can benefit us but can also have severe consequences when used inappropriately without wisdom. We have reached that time when moving blindly forward with uncritical thinking and unquestioning hubris about long-term consequences of technological innovations are swiftly coming back to haunt us all. Read more…
I have been traveling a lot recently (through Iceland, Denmark, and Norway – I’ll call them collectively Scandinavia for this post). Wherever I went, and got into a conversation about sustainability, the same problem arose that I observed during my sabbatical trip in 2010. Most people are oblivious to the Read more…
“Living more [Sustainably] is not just where you come from. It’s also how you think, how you treat others and the world that surrounds you, and what you treasure” Scandinavisk. I saw this in a catalog for organic, earth-friendly products. What I liked about it was that it was a Read more…
I have talked many times in the blog about indigenous wisdom (e.g. Wisdom of our ancestors 1, 2, and 3 {April 2018}; and Relocalization and Community {January 2018}; and Reframing and Visualizing a New Society 1{March 2018}). While I have used the works of Jared Diamond (The world into yesterday) Read more…
A quick diversion from my Espe stories. It’s a major holiday today here in the U.S. and many western countries – Christmas – but my comments are about what it ought to be not what it has become. One of the newer Christmas movies in the west is ‘Love Actually’ Read more…
A continuation of a fictional reflection by a hundred-year-old Esperanza (Espe) from 2112 about the start of the transformation to Sustainable Living. I add clarification links and quotes as needed. “You can argue all day about whether one person not using straws or going vegan makes a global difference. Read more…
Waiting for governments, corporations, and monied elites to solve our Climate Disruption is akin to asking a fox for the best way to rebuild the chicken coop. I read an article this week about how investment company Vanguard sees a lot of financial benefits that can be realized in pursuing Read more…
Part 4 was meant to be a look at “Develop Local Exchange Trading System currency and expand sub-regionally as it catches on’ but I’ll return to it once I cover climate disruption a little more. I have had several comments over the past 4 years about why, if I am Read more…
I gave a short Zoom talk the other night. I thought I would overview what I talked about as an overview for newer subscribers to this blog and as a way to refresh my views for longer time readers on the direction we need to take if humanity is to 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 world, people would come up to and ask why I Read more…
The comments section of this blog is interesting to me in hearing about people’s thoughts of my posts. I have had some who want to discuss things more, but the comments section is just short blurbs and isn’t the real place for that extended understanding many seek. Often friends prompt Read more…
As a continuation to my last post about the precautionary tale of simply accepting mainstream authority as holders of the scientific gospels, I will explain further how money backed science and medicine came to dominate our lives today. Many years ago, when I worked as a biochemical technician with a Read more…
I was able to do a lot of reading over the holiday period. As we begin a new year, a little backtrack to emphasize much of what we all seem to keep forgetting. All of the ideas I express in this post I will cover in more depth in the Read more…
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 Read more…
I had prepared three more posts when computers being what they are I somehow managed to lose the file as it was backing up. Despite spending two hours trying to locate a previous version, I have given up. So, today’s, blog is an overview of where we are to date 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…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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 have discussed how science works and especially how its reporting (or not) is affected by monied interests and governments. This is an interesting case study where the EMF issues resembles so many other issues concerning health and environment. Besides EMFs that occur from electrical wire sources and equipment, there Read more…
As I have been trying to emphasize, healthy food makes healthy humans. Michael Pollan says that when you walk into a modern store, you should avoid the center isles that carry all the processed and dangerous crap (I use that C-word purposefully) and head to the fringes of the store Read more…