Spotlight on Earth Day, by Shari Swanson
its inception in 1970, Earth Day marks a global celebration of Earth and the concept of peace. It presents an opportunity to demonstrate support for environmental protection. From lush rain forests to arid deserts, thundering waterfalls to serene ponds, majestic glaciers to craggy mountains and teeming coral reefs, Earth is a complex, interconnected planet, filled with diversity and abundance. New species continue to be discovered, and the relationships among species and ecosystems are increasingly revealed in our understanding as intricate and inextricably linked. To be tenants of Planet Earth is a cause for gratitude, but we also have responsibilities to maintain and protect our plan... posted on Apr 18 2017 (11,687 reads)

Why Stories Matter, by Paul Tritschler
sitting at the window of a cafe in Notting Hill Gate in London, looking out at the passing machines and global signage. A man across the street dips into a rubbish bin, rescues an unopened plastic bottle of milk from deep inside and squeezes it into one of four over-full plastic bags, before pushing on to the next bin at a steady clip. The bins hold valuable assets to the cognoscenti, but they have to be quick to get the good stuff that people outside the circle absently throw away: a packet of cigarettes from someone who made the snap decision to quit, perhaps, a bag of blueberry muffins past their sell-by date, or an unfinished can of beer. Between Pizza Express and Prontap... posted on Jun 10 2017 (9,522 reads)

Food Not Bombs: An Interview with Keith McHenry, by Awakin Call Editors
McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs, has a vision: food not bombs changes people, service brings people together, and abundant thinking turns hearts to peace. For the last 35 years, he has worked with others to salvage surplus food, prepare it, and serve it for free in parks, at protests, and during disaster relief efforts. At these meals, volunteers distribute literature, share stories and engage in conversations that encourage people to get involved, connect and become part of an emerging, post-capitalist society. Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit, all-volunteer group of collectives that serve free vegan and vegetarian meals to the homeless and hungry as a protest to war and povert... posted on Jul 7 2017 (8,712 reads)

Dr. Toni Frohoff | Life among dolphins, by The MOON Magazine
Toni Frohoff | Life among dolphins in Interview Toni Frohoff, Ph.D., is a renowned wildlife author, science-based advocate, and marine mammal behavioral biologist who has been studying marine mammal behavior and communication for thirty years. She is the co-founder and research director at the international TerraMar Research and Learning Institute, a nonprofit cetacean research institute located in Santa Barbara, California. Dr. Frohoff is also co-founder of Wild-Wisdom, a new nonprofit that not only provides educational and experiential opportunities for connecting with what is wild and wise within and around us, but also contributes to the lives of the wild animals from whom we l... posted on Jun 30 2017 (13,726 reads)

In praise of melancholia , by Mark Kernan
knowing the extremes of sadness and joy we can never fully know or feel all that life is.   Melancholy by Edgar Degas. Credit: Edgar Degas [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. “There is something so enchanting in the smile of melancholy. It is a ray of light in the darkness, a shade between sadness and despair, showing the possibility of consolation.” Leo Tolstoy What if melancholy can be passed down through generations, not just culturally but at the level of our DNA? Melancholia has long been seen as a key element in artistic inspiration, along with a way of turning pain and sorrow into healing, and ultimately, an acceptance of life’s ... posted on Jun 26 2017 (12,696 reads)

Why are you here? Lessons about the meaning of life, by Aljoscha Dreisorner
the last couple of days, I conducted a little social experiment. I asked different people a very important question, perhaps the most important question of all: Why are you here? I wanted to know what other people think about the meaning of life and what we can learn from it. I asked my friends, I talked to my parents and I called my grandparents. I’ve asked strangers on the streets, children from friends and random people in the subway. It is absolutely incredible how willing people are to open up when you sincerely ask for their opinion on something important. And the experiences while gathering the stories are something else as well. I got kicked out of a school, had ... posted on Jul 6 2017 (15,405 reads)

Turning Waste Streams into Value Streams, by Knowledge@Wharton
first era of sustainability, call it sustainability 1.0, focused on cleaning up the planet’s growing environmental mess. Federal legislation restricted air and water pollution, as well as hazardous waste, and businesses adapted to the new regulations. Sustainability 2.0 took a broader perspective, reducing not just toxic waste, but waste of all kinds. The business community realized that less waste meant less cost and pitched in, often increasing efficiency and boosting profits in the process. But throughout this era of growing environmentalism, the linear business model, which has dominated the modern world since the industrial revolution, remained fundamentally unchanged. &ldq... posted on Jul 18 2017 (7,017 reads)

About the Heart, by Brother David Steindl-Rast
Brother David, I’d like to bring up a question that has been on my mind for some time. It has to do with what we call the heart. The heart is a great symbol in spiritual life and in Christianity especially. But the fact is that I don’t know what the heart is. When people talk about the heart they seem to do so in a number of ways. In a general sense, it seems to refer to the feelings; at other times, to love and devotion. It also refers to courage and faithfulness (as when a fighter is said to have heart). And sometimes it refers to one’s basic attitude toward life (as when we say, he had a change of heart). Probably there are other meanings, and probably they ar... posted on Jul 17 2017 (11,170 reads)

David Levins: A Weaver of Kind Voices, by Audrey Lin
in an age where we seem to be more connected than ever, research shows that we are lonelier than ever. Inspired by the writings of Thoreau, Steinbeck, and the teamwork of his community garden, David Levins decided to break down the barriers of isolation, one conversation at a time. In 2012, he initiated A Kind Voice, a nationwide, volunteer-run phone line where people call in anytime for one-on-one conversation. Simply for the sake of sharing and being kind to one another. In this Awakin Call conversation with Bela Shah, we had the privilege of hearing David’s insights and stories from sowing seeds of down-to-earth, human-to-h... posted on Aug 7 2017 (9,608 reads)

How Do I Love Trees? Let Me Count The Ways ..., by The Gratefulness Team
of you may have have noticed (or are regularly visiting) our Practice Space where we offer a Daily Question to enhance grateful awareness. Each day we are moved and uplifted by the responses that appear. The reflections are joyful, poignant, subtle, poetic, loving, generous, sophisticated, playful, deep and, of course, infused with gratitude. We delight in these reflections and wanted to share more widely. And so, in recognition of the vital role trees play in all of our lives (every day is a perfect day to celebrate a tree!), the following is a selection of responses to one of our Daily Questions: How do I love trees? Let me count the ways&... posted on Aug 23 2017 (28,388 reads)

Kristin Pedemonti: Power of Storytelling, by Audrey Lin
she’s suited up in a duck costume at a library story hour, preserving Indigenous cultures in Belize, encountering small moments of beauty through free hugs, or blowing bubbles on the NYC subway, Kristin Pedemonti has got a knack for tapping into a depth of humanity around the world. The Accidental Librarian As a child, Kristin was “always the smallest kid in class— who was not athletic at all, almost legally blind, on top of being slightly hard of hearing”. After her grandmother taught her to read when she was four, stories became a way to escape and learn about the bigger world around her. In college, she tapped into into a passion for theater a... posted on Sep 17 2017 (9,248 reads)

Healing Children One Community and One Breath at a Time, by Awakin Call Editors
is a former classroom teacher, community organizer, and mentor in Richmond, CA who is the Founder and Executive Director of the Mindful Life Project.  Since its founding in the Fall of 2012, Mindful Life Project has focused on empowering underserved students through training in mindfulness, expressive arts, yoga, and mindful hip-hop in Richmond, CA, one of the cities with historically the most generational poverty and violence in the United States.  The organization has served 15,000 students, trained hundreds of teachers, principals, Richmond Police Officers, and the local District Attorney's Office, to create a mindful and compassionate community ... posted on Sep 26 2017 (11,055 reads)

5 Ways to Take Your Love of the Outdoors to the Next Level, by Melissa Hellman
Fix the Trails Most trails are maintained by volunteers and always need extra hands to clear debris and restore the paths. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy offers volunteer opportunities, while the Pacific Crest Trail also needs volunteer crews to keep more than 2,500 miles passable throughout the year. Information about trail maintenance projects can be found at local parks or by visiting the National Park Service website. 2. Count Animals Helping scientists count animals and preserve other park resources is an easy way to merge a love for the outdoors with science. Park naturalists and conservationists depend on citizens, usually without scientific training, to hel... posted on Sep 3 2017 (6,127 reads)

To Try To Have Some Healing, A Conversation with Silas Hagerty , by Richard Whittaker
Hagerty. Photo by and courtesy of Richard Whittaker Silas Hagerty was a young filmmaker in his twenties when I met him at a Servicespace retreat. Servicespace.org is a volunteer-run organization that supports and encourages the service journeys of others. Silas fit right in. I learned that his films were done on a shoestring. He carried his gear in a bag and stayed at friends’ houses when he traveled. I remember him telling us about meeting a Native American elder, Jim Miller, who talked about a dream he’d been given. The elder finally understood that his dream had to be re-enacted—a ride on horseback of over three-hundred miles across the Dakotas in the d... posted on Sep 7 2017 (5,723 reads)

To Honor the Sacred, by David Ulrich
30, 2017 Offering Platform, Moa‘ulaiki, Kaho‘olawe, Hawai‘i Photographs by David Ulrich Photographing a sanctuary and its desecration. What is the meaning of sanctuary—and of sacred places—in the context of our lives and creative pursuits? We recognize certain locations on earth, and even within our own spheres of activity, as special and consider them sacred by virtue of a resonance that suggests a living intelligence. We often long for contact with these places that have the capacity to help us return to ourselves. We may be attracted to the locations of our childhood; or cities where there is an enormous reservoir of human nature a... posted on Oct 5 2017 (9,748 reads)

Welcome to the Human Race, by Parker J. Palmer
to the Human Race” an Interview with Parker J. Palmer on the topic of depression Excerpted from Darkness Before Dawn: Redefining the Journey through Depression, April 2015, Sounds True. This experience called “depression” is isolating to a greater extent than I imagined could be survivable, but I realize that this incredibly isolating experience ultimately reconnected me with the human community in a deeper, wider, and richer way. Tami Simon:  Parker, I want to start our conversation by talking about redefining the journey through depression and your experience of navigating through the darkness. Parker J. Palmer:  I like your emphas... posted on Oct 31 2017 (15,762 reads)

12 Reasons Why Gothenburg is an Amazing Sharing City, by Emma Ohrwall, Jonathan Mattebo Persson and Robin Olsson
this year, Gothenburg — the second biggest city in Sweden — was voted as the world's "most sociable city." This reflects the typical culture of our city. We love to hang out in parks, cafés, bars, and other spaces. But Gothenburg, with it's almost 600,000 residents, also has some serious challenges. The city is one of the most segregated in Europe and is dependent on the fossil industry. At the same time, we're seeing initiatives that promote sharing and collaboration growing stronger and stronger. We had planned to write this piece at our co-writer Robin Olsson's cafe Llama Lloyd, where he promote... posted on Sep 16 2017 (10,549 reads)

Bowing in Service: A Short Film with Unlikely Stars, by DailyGood Editors
follows is a brief interview with the filmmaker Divyang Thakkar Q: What was the inspiration behind making the film? Divyang: My wife Veronica and I attended a retreat called “Startup Service” by the Moved by Love in Ahmedabad, India. We came into the retreat with an idea of serving which was based on scalable impact on the stakeholders. Through the course of the retreat I realized how, all along, I was following an outside-in approach. I was thinking of the impact before actually tuning to myself and observing the seed of it all. In the retreat, we spoke about ideas about serving from what we had and exploring others forms of capital. Storytelling has always fasc... posted on Oct 19 2017 (12,858 reads)

Yoav Peck: Encountering Others in Their Full Humanity, by Awakin Call Editors
countries in an endless war with each other. Generations of enemies born into hating the opposition. And with no end in sight, Yoav Peck has found a way to harness peace and cultivate unity between two groups of unlikely allies. Co-Executive-Director of the Sulha Peace Project, Yoav says the key is in listening and in working from the heart and not the head. “Each of us has a story. It's important to the Israelis to establish a situation in which not only are they listening to the Palestinians but that the Palestinians are listening to us. And it means listening to the history of our families. Any political future must address the human needs of both sides, We at Sulha stand on... posted on Sep 18 2017 (8,399 reads)

Julian Treasure on 5 Ways to Listen Better, by Julian Treasure
are losing our listening. We spend roughly 60 percent of our communication time listening, but we're not very good at it. We retain just 25 percent of what we hear. Now -- not you, not this talk, but that is generally true. Let's define listening as making meaning from sound. It's a mental process, and it's a process of extraction. We use some pretty cool techniques to do this. One of them is pattern recognition. (Crowd noises) So in a cocktail party like this, if I say, "David, Sara, pay attention" -- some of you just sat up. We recognize patterns to distinguish noise from signal, and especial... posted on Dec 15 2017 (32,604 reads)