Can You Run Out of Empathy?, by C. Daryl Cameron
empathy a limited resource, easily depleted and restricted to those closest to us? That’s the argument psychologist Paul Bloom makes in an essay for this week’s New Yorker, subtitled “The case against empathy.” He admits that empathy can do a lot of good: Decades of research shows that feeling empathy can lead us to be more caring, forgiving, and altruistic. But according to Bloom, empathy also can do a lot of bad. It’s an untrustworthy moral compass because it is “parochial, narrow-minded, and innumerate.” Empathy seems tuned to only one frequency, that of a single identifiable victim, with whom we feel some personal connection. According t... posted on Oct 1 2013 (18,613 reads)

How to Be More than a Mindful Consumer, by Annie Leonard
life cycle of a simple cotton T-shirt—worldwide, 4 billion are made, sold, and discarded each year—knits together a chain of seemingly intractable problems, from the elusive definition of sustainable agriculture to the greed and classism of fashion marketing. The story of a T-shirt not only gives us insight into the complexity of our relationship with even the simplest stuff; it also demonstrates why consumer activism—boycotting or avoiding products that don’t meet our personal standards for sustainability and fairness—will never be enough to bring about real and lasting change. Like a vast Venn diagram covering the entire planet, the environmental an... posted on Sep 28 2013 (31,736 reads)

How the Mind Can Heal the Heart, by Jill Suttie
Bennett-Goleman and Daniel Goleman explain the science behind "mind whispering"—a technique for overcoming self-defeating habits of mind. Tara Bennett-Goleman and her husband Daniel Goleman form a kind of intellectual dream team—one almost exclusively preoccupied with emotions. In best-selling books like Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman has laid out the cognitive science and theories behind our emotions and social interactions. In her work as a psychotherapist and in her best-selling book Emotional Alchemy, Bennett-Goleman has applied those theories to overcoming self-defeating habits of mind and improving our relationships. ... posted on Oct 6 2013 (31,013 reads)

Peter Buffett: We're Not Doing Enough, by Allison Jones
late July Peter Buffett, son of billionaire Warren Buffet and co-chair of the NoVo Foundation, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, arguing that too much of philanthropy is focused on making the donor feel good, and not on providing actual solutions to pressing social problems. This behavior, which he refers to as “philanthropic colonialism,” perpetuates inequality instead of eradicating it. The article sparked a sector wide debate with some praising Peter’s assessment that we pay too much attention to donors and not enough attention to new systems while others stating that he oversimplifies the problem without offering any solutions. (Read a roundup of responses on ... posted on Oct 8 2013 (25,167 reads)

Avoiding the I'll-Give-Back-Later Trap, by Knowledge@Wharton
Davis is president and CEO of PATH, an international nonprofit whose goal is to help communities break longstanding cycles of poor health. The cross-sectoral skills he has accumulated during his earlier work in other organizations, he says, are crucial when it comes to adapting innovations to the places that need them most. In an interview with Wharton management professor Michael Useem during the World Economic Forum in Davos, he talks about his approach to leadership, the importance of strategic partnerships, the effort to eradicate malaria in northern Africa and how to avoid the ‘I’m-going-to-give-back-later [to society]‘ trap. An edited transcript of the conver... posted on Oct 26 2013 (14,140 reads)

How To Turn Your Brain From Anger to Compassion, by Paul Gilbert
is like a spotlight—whatever it shines on becomes brighter in the mind. This knowledge can help us build compassion, says Paul Gilbert. Why do we need compassion? This week, we feature the video of a Science of a Meaningful Life presentation by Paul Gilbert, the author of Mindful Compassion. This essay is inspired by his talk. We need compassion because life is hard. We are all susceptible to diseases and injuries. Every one of us has a lifespan that had a start and will have an end. Just like you, I am vulnerable to disease. Just like you, I could have a blood test tomorrow that says my life is going to end. Just like you, I could hear that my son has been killed... posted on Jan 26 2014 (25,300 reads)

Advocacy for Altruism, by Huff Post
– Forget everything you have been taught, because Matthieu Ricard is here to teach you a new way of interpreting the human being. A French Buddhist monk and a disciple of Dalai Lama, Matthieu Ricard is the author of Plaidoyer pour l’altruisme (Advocacy For Altruism), in bookstores since September 19. It is a non-religious book similar to an encyclopedia, and its content is very relevant for these times of economic crisis. There is evidence that we aren’t selfish human beings driven only by our own interests. Moreover, today’s society is not more violent than it was in the past. Yes, we can change the way we are and, therefore, cooperate more, not only ... posted on Jan 27 2014 (7,920 reads)

10 Ways to Help Girls Transform The World, by Kim Crane
sourced solutions for girls’ access to education. In our recent digital action campaign, World Pulse asked our community to share their testimonies on the obstacles that stand in the way of girls' dreams. Grassroots voices from all over the world chimed in with lived experiences that illuminate the disturbing statistics: There are currently 66 million girls in the world that should be in school, but are not. Thirteen girls under age 18 will be married in the next 30 seconds. The number one cause of death for girls aged 15-19 is childbirth. Out of more than 350 submissions from over 60 countries, an alternative vision for the future emerged: Global legions of gi... posted on Nov 15 2013 (22,989 reads)

Too Much Stuff? 7 Ways To Change That, by Shannan Stoll
Change the rules University procurement policies are one of the most effective pressure points for students seeking big change. The college apparel industry, which retailed an estimated $4.6 billion in 2011, is mostly supplied through overseas factory labor for brands like Nike and Adidas. When one Adidas factory supplier in Indonesia abruptly closed in April 2011, 2,700 workers were left without jobs and were owed $1.8 million in severance pay. United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) responded by launching a two-year campaign aimed at pressuring university administrators to end their contracts with Adidas if the company refused to pay the workers. Seventeen universities and c... posted on Jan 21 2014 (44,774 reads)

Let Us Begin With Courage, by Jeannette Armstrong
word Eníowkin comes from the high language of the Okanagan people and has its origin in a philosophy perfected to nurture voluntary cooperation, an essential foundation for everyday living. The term is based on a metaphorical image created by the three syllables that make up the Okanagan word. The image is of liquid being absorbed drop by single drop through the head (mind). It refers to coming to understanding through a gentle integrative process. Eníowkin is also the name given our education center by elders of the Okanagan; it is meant to assist and guide us in restoring to wholeness a community fragmented by colonization.  To the Okanagan People, as to... posted on Dec 15 2013 (31,870 reads)

How to Increase Your Compassion Bandwidth, by C. Daryl Cameron
is a powerful moral emotion—it moves us to care for the suffering of others, and enables us to live cooperatively with one another. Yet we live in a society of constant connection, in which the successes and sorrows of others are brought to us instantly through phones, computers, TV, radio, and newspapers. With that increased connection comes the risk of becoming overwhelmed or overburdened by our emotions. Fearing exhaustion, we turn off our compassion. But my research suggests we can actually expand our compassion bandwidth without hurting ourselves. As the science of compassion develops, we can find empirically supported ways to cultivate and sustain compassion when... posted on Mar 9 2014 (20,635 reads)

7 Lessons For Leaders, by Michael K. Stone, Zenobia Barlow
first guiding principle of the Center for Ecoliteracy's framework for schooling for sustainability — Smart by Nature™ — is "nature is our teacher." Taking nature as our teacher requires thinking in terms of systems, one of nature's basic patterns. Systems can be incredibly complex, but the concept is quite straightforward. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, for example, defines a "system" as "any collection of things that have some influence on one another." Individual things — like plants, people, schools, communities, and watersheds — are all systems of interrelated elements. At the same ti... posted on Dec 12 2013 (33,077 reads)

How to Eliminate Junk Stimulus, by Greater Good Berkeley
in clutter adds ease to your life. We Americans are often overwhelmed and exhausted. Did you know that 235 million people are currently grappling with feelings of time-starvation and moderate to high levels of stress, exhaustion, or burn-out in the United States alone? While many things factor into this collective exhaustion, I’ve found, in my own life, that much of it stems from the sheer amount of stimulus and the build-up of, well, stuff. Here are several ways I filter out what I’ve come to think of as “junk stimulus.” 1) First, rid your environment of physical clutter. • Clean out one drawer or shelf everyday religiously until everyth... posted on Jan 12 2014 (64,361 reads)

Cultivating Compassion, by Paul Gilbert
do we need compassion? We need compassion because life is hard. We are all susceptible to diseases and injuries. Every one of us has a lifespan that had a start and will have an end. Just like you, I am vulnerable to disease. Just like you, I could have a blood test tomorrow that says my life is going to end. Just like you, I could hear that my son has been killed in a car crash. Because these things can happen to any of us at any time, we’re all in this together. No one—no one—escapes. And the more we work together, the more we can make this journey of suffering bearable. The Buddhist tradition puts it this way: “Just like me, you want to be happy; just lik... posted on Jan 8 2014 (33,894 reads)

Material World: A Portrait of the World's Possessions, by Maria Popova
Japanese stuffed toys have to do with The Bible and child mortality in Mali. We’re longtime fans of photojournalist Peter Menzel, whose visual anthropology captures the striking span of humanity’s socioeconomic and cultural spectrum. His Hungry Planet and What I Eat portrayed the world’s sustenance with remarkable graphic eloquence, and today we’re turning to some of his earliest work, doing the same for the world’s shelter: Material World: A Global Family Portrait — an engrossing visual time-capsule of life in 30 countries, captured by 16 of the world’s leading photographers. In each of the 30 countr... posted on Dec 16 2013 (43,045 reads)

Six Life Lessons from Leo Tolstoy, by Roman Krznaric
150 years since Leo Tolstoy put pen to paper and began writing his epic War and Peace. While most people think of him as one of the 19th century's greatest novelists, few are aware that he was also one of its most radical social and political thinkers. During a long life from 1828 to 1910, Tolstoy gradually rejected the received beliefs of his aristocratic background and embraced a startlingly unconventional worldview that shocked his peers. Tracing his personal transformation offers some wise — and surprising — lessons for how we should approach the art of living today. Tolstoy was born into the Russian nobility. His family had an estate and owned hundreds o... posted on Dec 23 2013 (180,091 reads)

Opportunity for Great Joy, by Jalees Rehman
was about 12 years old when I found out that my grandfather was born on 12/12/12. If he were alive, he would be exactly 100 years old today. I found out about his birthday, when he came to stay with us in Munich for an eye surgery. He was a diabetic and had been experiencing deterioration in his vision. At that time, it was very difficult to find an eye surgeon in Pakistan who would be able to perform the surgery. My grandfather spoke many languages, such as Punjabi, Urdu, Persian, English, Arabic and some Sanskrit, but he could not speak German. His visit occurred during my school holidays, so I was designated to be his official translator for the doctor visits and his hospital stay. ... posted on Jan 18 2014 (34,313 reads)

The Marriage of Love and Power, by Gina Murdock
Murdock: What is it about your approach to philanthropy that is different? Jacqueline Novogratz: At Acumen, we start with the supposition that dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth. If indeed we can create systems that allow individuals to access goods and services like health and housing and energy and water, in a way that they can afford, they’ll all have greater choice, greater opportunity, greater dignity. We believe that entrepreneurs are the seekers of solutions, and that they will go into these places where both market and traditional aid has failed or traditional charity has failed. We take philanthropy and rather than give it away as h... posted on Feb 6 2014 (22,701 reads)

Three Lessons From My Kindness Challenge, by Thao Phi
summer I interned with ServiceSpace. Our first task as interns was to complete a 30-day kindness challenge - so for a whole month, we did different acts of kindness every day. And it made me realize that kindness can be found in every part of life.Kindness isn't a single, isolated event - it's a ripple. It is a noun, an adjective, and a verb all in one -- kindness can be a way of life.   I am extremely grateful because people have shown me kindness  throughout my entire life. Even strangers. While this is not the first nor last act of kindness I've experienced, there is one particular story that always stands out in my mind.  Back in high school, I was stud... posted on Feb 7 2014 (42,755 reads)

Bryant Austin Interview: Awe & Wonder, by Richard Whittaker, Anne Veh
you like to join me in Monterey to interview Bryant Austin?” Anne Veh asked me . “Are you serious?” I answered. A couple of years earlier, I’d met Austin at an exhibit of his remarkable photographs at Electric Works Gallery in San Francisco and I’d wanted to interview him then. What would it be like swimming right next to whales? How did that come about? There had to be so many things worth hearing about. But circumstances prevented an interview at that time, so I jumped at Anne’s invitation. A few weeks later we met at the Museum of Monterey where an exhibit of Austin’s photos were on display. Before the interview began, Austin walked a group ... posted on Feb 16 2014 (22,366 reads)