leading to a choice of tactics. ** Mount a vigorous public crusade with greater signals of alarm. ** Rely on future technology to reverse the harm done to the atmosphere. ** Prepare for a future with a drastically different ecological balance. ** Do nothing, except perhaps pray. ** Temporize until the catastrophe cannot be ignored. Most people find themselves wavering among these options. If you decide that the real issue is not Nature but human nature, then only a few options are viable. Human nature has a track record. We know, for example, that past ecological disasters, such as turning the Sahara into a desert, denuding Spanish forests, a... posted on Aug 17 2012 (18,054 reads)

listening to every word. When she finished, several students asked how they could clean up their habitat. Wright-Albertini, who had anticipated the question, showed them footage of an actual cleanup—and, suddenly, they were propelled into action. Wearing gardening gloves, at one boy’s suggestion, they worked to clean up the habitat they had worked so hard to create. Later, they joined their teacher in a circle to discuss what they learned: why it was important to take care of nature, what they could do to help, and how the experience made them feel. “It broke my heart in two,” said one girl. Wright-Albertini felt the same way. “I could have cried,” ... posted on Sep 26 2013 (30,996 reads)

Elisabet Sahtouris is an internationally known evolution biologist, futurist, professor, author and consultant on Living Systems Design. She shows the relevance of biological systems to organizational design in business, government and globalisation. She is a Fellow of the World Business Academy, an advisor to EthicalMarkets.com and the Masters in Business program at Schumacher College, also affiliated with the Bainbridge Graduate Institute's MBA program for sustainable business.  Dr. Sahtouris has convened two International Symposia on the Foundations of Science and written about integral cosmologies. Her books include A Walk Through Time: from Stardust to Us and... posted on Aug 11 2017 (11,421 reads)

or, in affluent regions, on acquiring more goods. We need a serious wake-up call from our slumbers. But solutions must inspire participation and action rather than frighten or disempower people. The next generation is searching for ways to contribute to a positive future. Life in all its variety and beauty calls to us for a response — a new integrated under- standing of who we are as humans. This is not only about stewardship of the Earth, but about embracing our embeddedness in nature in radical, fresh, and enlivening ways. Humans, Earth and the rest of life are bound in a single story and destiny. It is no longer a question of “saving the environment” as if it w... posted on Dec 17 2018 (6,596 reads)

every crystal and cell, and we feel like stopping to speak to the plants and animals as friendly fellow mountaineers. Nature as a poet, an enthusiastic workingman, becomes more and more visible the farther and higher we go; for the mountains are fountains — beginning places, however related to sources beyond mortal ken. Later that summer, as he makes his way to Tuolumne Meadow in eastern Yosemite, Muir is reanimated with this awareness of the exquisite, poetic interconnectedness of nature, which transcends individual mortality. In a sentiment evocative of Rachel Carson’s lyrical assertion that “the lifespan of a particular plant or animal appears, not as drama c... posted on Jan 31 2019 (6,727 reads)

author, speaker, cinematographer, sound recordist, and photographer Lang Elliott of musicofnature.com, shares the arc of his experience recording the sublime sounds of nature. Here is one of his immersive binaural recordings from a remote canyon in Arizona that you might enjoy listening to while reading his essay. Dawn at Willow Narrows. Aravaipa Canyon in southeastern Arizona. May 1, 2017. © Lang Elliott. Please listen using headphones! I’ve been recording nature for nearly 30 years. Early in my career, my primary goal was to capture close and clean recordings of particular species with the help of highly directional microphones. The object was to extract a spec... posted on Mar 27 2019 (5,554 reads)

made that you think are the most important? NDK: It’s hard to know where to start. There are large things that I’ve discovered that are very important and which I wrote about in my second book, Hidden Gospel. For instance, that really the meaning of the word “good” in Aramaic really means “ripe.” That is, r-i-p-e, meaning “at the right time, at the right place.” It’s essentially a planting image and one that is drawn from nature. Conversely, you could say, the word for “evil” as it’s translated as evil in the Gospels, really means unripe. It’s the Aramaic bisha where as “ripe&... posted on Jul 28 2021 (7,566 reads)

12, 2023 In this talk given at St. Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee speaks about what it looks like to live in an unfolding apocalyptic reality and the creative possibilities that are waiting to be embodied. In this time of deep uncertainty, he reminds us of the ancient, primordial covenant of relationship with the living world that can give us a ground to stand on, and the sacred nature of creation that is always there, waiting for us to return to it. The theme of this evening’s talk is about this time we are in, living with the unknown. That is the theme of the latest print edition that Emergence has released. ... posted on Jun 1 2023 (3,255 reads)

is a miracle or everything is a miracle.”      I remember after a couple years of commercial river-running, I took inner city kids down the river and the river brought something out of their souls and being. Somehow the river and the canyon cleansed our souls. That’s when I started realizing people in the cities don’t smile like they do when their whole being is cleansed on the river. works:  What are some of the roots of your connections with nature? Mark:  My dad’s parents divorced when he was young. He went to seven different junior high schools. We used to visit my great-aunt in the hills and beautiful woods overlooking Po... posted on Feb 13 2017 (10,793 reads)

water. The second, subtler response to Greenspace involves another sort of purity: one that moves us from thinking to feeling, from head to heart, and from lower vibratory levels into higher realms of vibration and consciousness. Picture this. You have been glued to your computer all day, running from task to task to meet a project deadline. Your mind is cluttered and you are searching for an escape. Next scene. You walk into a luscious park, taking in the sights, smells and sounds of nature. While the scene appeals to the senses, the greater response is happening at the level of vibration and consciousness. Now close your eyes. Thoughts drop away further. Feelings of well-being am... posted on Mar 21 2017 (11,345 reads)

of making a living and a way of serving others but has also been my teacher. In reading Small Is Beautiful I realized that so much of what my business has taught me can be found in the great lessons of E. F. Schumacher: the benefits of keeping your business a small human-scale enterprise, focusing on the needs of workers rather than only on what they produce, using a management style that balances freedom with order, building sustainable local economies, and respecting the land and nature. The effects of industrialization that worried Schumacher decades ago have gotten even worse: namely, wealth inequality and the growing degradation of our environment. Today much of what I c... posted on Apr 17 2018 (7,723 reads)

those lines. It just really stuck with me that being outside and enjoying the outdoors but also protecting the outdoors was something that I wanted to do more of and keep in my life.  So what are the wild places that you love most? Where are the places that you gravitate back to? Oh man. It’s so hard. I mean I really do have a very special place in my heart for the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state which is where Gordon lives and where I really learned to listen to nature. And specifically one of our national parks called Olympic National Park. In the United States, I don’t know if you’ve ever been here before, but we have, there’s a lot of bad... posted on Feb 18 2019 (6,585 reads)

stems from the fact that culture is such an isolated field, and that art is even more isolated; an ivory tower in the field of culture surrounded first by the whole complex of culture and education, and then by the media which are also part of culture. We have a restricted idea of culture, which debases everything; and it is the debased concept of art that has forced museums into their present weak and isolated position. Our concept of art must be universal and have the interdisciplinary nature of a university, and there must be a university department with a new concept of art and science."      At UC Davis, such a department actually exists.   Richar... posted on Apr 30 2016 (10,038 reads)

someone in their home with their child still has a certain amount of control available. RW:  The idea that we’re born with a digital gene is disturbing. There’s a way that technology creates its own thoughts, so to speak, and pretty soon people’s thoughts are being defined by the technology. Mary:  Exactly. This is exactly what Neil Postman called “Technopoly,” the way technologies shape the symbols we think with, what we think about and the very nature of the community in which we think. I’m paraphrasing.      One of the things that needs to be understood about this digital technology is that you can’t do anything ... posted on Jul 11 2016 (21,069 reads)

all call home. PLANT A TREE Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." A tree is a gift to future generations. And it is quite a gift. Trees have their own language and provide hubs for environmental regeneration. Tree-lined streets are healthy streets. A tree can be an alternate cathedral, helping us reclaim a sense of peace and being firmly rooted in nature. On a larger scale, planting trees can combat climate change, celebrate life, and restore vanishing wilderness. RECYCLE Many of Earth's resources are... posted on Apr 18 2017 (11,496 reads)

of living make the horses the ideal model for us to learn from at this and any time in our lives: Foundation, Flexibility and Fellowship. ​Before we go any further may I invite you to take a moment, breath deeply and enter the paddock in the imagination of your heart. A small herd of gentle horses grazing peacefully in the warm summer sun. You are supported by an equine professional as needed. Together you make your way to a small grove of trees and sit down in the cool shade on nature’s carpet of green. You settle in to watch the quiet herd do what they do best. Live in the moment, in tune with nature, their own energy and each other.  â€‹ This is the... posted on Jul 21 2021 (6,573 reads)

yes. My father and then my dad’s teacher, Rilke, has been with me for a while. And that phrase, 'homecoming,' what does that evoke for you? Yeah, homecoming. To feel comfortable, to feel truly, truly comfortable. And in that context, can you share what lies at the heart of what you do? What is it that you're attempting to offer into the world? You know, I think it's contact, actual contact with oneself, with other people and especially with everything in nature. Of course, many people find it easier to have contact with nature, but real contact with other people, with what you're feeling-- that things really ring true. That's what I've bee... posted on Oct 19 2021 (3,070 reads)

a few minutes, I would then ask people to take a vote so we could learn from our collective wisdom. Invariably, a consistent response would come back: Whether it was schoolteachers in India, business leaders in Brazil, students in Europe and the US, a common response came back. Roughly three-quarters of audiences would vote that we are in our adolescence as a species. When I asked people to volunteer their reasons for that estimate, common responses were: “We are rebelling against nature, trying to demonstrate our independence and superiority.” “We are behaving recklessly, without regard for consequences because we think we are immortal.” “We are seeking... posted on Jan 6 2021 (5,330 reads)

with David Whyte. David Whyte is a passionate speaker, poet, and the author of the Sounds True audio learning program, Clear Mind, Wild Heart, and a new program from Sounds True, What to Remember When Waking: The Disciplines of an Everyday Life. David is also a featured presenter at our 2013 Wake Up Festival: A Five-Day Experience of Transformation, August 14th-18th in Estes Park, CO. In this conversation, David and I spoke about exile as a core human competency, the conversational nature of reality, and vulnerability as enhanced perception. David also shared with us some of his poetry, and talked about what it might mean to tap into the invisible support that surrounds us. Here... posted on Jul 7 2014 (40,449 reads)

humans are born selfish? Think again. Dacher Keltner reveals the compassionate side to human nature. Humans are selfish. It’s so easy to say. The same goes for so many assertions that follow. Greed is good. Altruism is an illusion. Cooperation is for suckers. Competition is natural, war inevitable. The bad in human nature is stronger than the good. These kinds of claims reflect age-old assumptions about emotion. For millennia, we have regarded the emotions as the fount of irrationality, baseness, and sin. The idea of the seven deadly sins takes our destructive passions for granted. Plato compared the human soul to a chariot: the intellect is the driver and the ... posted on Nov 5 2014 (22,601 reads)