The last 75 years
Think of it. I was born a mere 80 years after the end of the Civil War. My great grandmother, who I knew, was alive then. She took my great grandfather out to the territories to treat his tuberculosis. I used to think with …
What could possibly go right?
You are in for a rare treat. In partnership with the Post Carbon Institute I’ve recorded a dozen interviews with cultural scouts on one question for this time of social, environmental, economic upheaval: What could possibly go right? I posted the introduction below on …
FIRE in this time
Is F.I., S.I. – Socially Intelligent? Against the backdrop of the fire and rage in Minneapolis following the police murder of George Floyd, reminiscent of police beating of Rodney King in LA in 1991, nearly 30 years ago, with many black deaths in between, …
Last Ones Standing
Western civilization seems to be thrashing about like a feverish patient. Will it recover from civilizational decline, or is this the end of the road? Even with the best interventions by the money doctors, it might not return to its old self, patched up and …
Facebook Live at Five 0’Five
For two weeks just as the quarantine descended I recorded 10 minute homilies on my Facebook feed at the end of each day. This is my wind-up one, full of the lessons oozing out of this challenge. In addition to reflections on the world and …
Quarantine-love
It wasn’t the kind of romantic love that will cause a baby boom in early 2021. Nor was it the cranky love of too much time with your mate of 30 years. It was accidental-quarantine-housemate love, and I’ll bet there will be many stories …
Covid Parties and Second Hand Smoke
The natives are restless out here in Quarantine USA. I am too. I want to dance with my friends, hug them in public, browse around thrift stores looking for bargains, shoot off my wide open mouth over coffee in a cafe. I want to touch …
CoVida Conversations with Elders
In March/ April 2020, as the pandemic raged, I interviewed a dozen colleagues who’ve carried the torch of sustainability for decades – with great passion, vision and persistence. After years of achieving base camps but never summiting the mountain of resistance to a shift in …
Good (enough) Choices in Bad Times
I have spent most of my adult life experimenting and teaching lifestyle choices that actually ripple up from personal change to social benefit. Yet in the face of this pandemic, these can-do approaches to life’s basics sound tinny. Our freedom of motion is constrained. …
Money, Food and Love Now
What can we do!? We want to feel in control in an out of control time. We want to occupy our minds with something other than worry. Granted, some people are buying toilet paper, hand sanitizer, guns and pretty much anything in grocery stores to …