Articles from the bimonthly e-zine
Editor’s Note: We repeat this article annually during gardening season. There is so much to learn in a garden. This week was explosive. My garden produced cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, potatoes and the first cherry tomatoes. I was overwhelmed and since I can’t share the fruits, I share the reflections. I am not sure there…
CULTURE A revived interest in religion in China has inspired environmental activism. In recent years hundreds of millions of people have turned to religions like Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, and as they do they are starting social service organizations to oppose polluters, and citing their faith to protest plans to build factories and power…
In a piece in the last Musings on “Does Thomas Berry Provide a Foundational Set of Principles for Ecozoic Societies?” I reported on and agreed with a way of viewing paradigms for a sustainable future based on ecocommunalism and a new sustainability paradigm. The latter saw the future as still being urban, technological and global,…
James Peacock, PhD, is a member of the Board of Directors of CES. He is Kenan Professor of Anthropology and Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as President of the American Anthropological Association. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences…
NO IS NOT ENOUGH Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need By Naomi Klein Haymarket Books, 2017 Editor’s Note: John Bellamy Foster is editor of Monthly Review and a professor of sociology at the University of Oregon. This review first appeared on June 13, 2017, in the Monthly Review Online…
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in ProPublica, on June 2, 2017, and is reprinted with permission under a Creative Commons license. Revkin provides an analysis of economic forces beyond the reach of the Paris climate accord, forces that are at work regardless of the US or other nations are committed to the Paris…
Wm. Theodore de Bary, a renowned scholar of Asian thought, died on July 14 at his home in Tappan, New York, at age 97. He taught at Columbia University and finished his last class in May of this year. He was a close friend of Thomas Berry, and Mary Evelyn Tucker did her doctoral studies…
CLIMATE Climate action continues. “As the federal government abdicates its role on this important issue, it is critical for states to fill the void,” said Virginia’s Governor Terry McAuliffe as he issued an executive order on May 16, 2017, instructing officials to begin crafting regulations to “abate, control, or limit” emissions from power plants in…
When we begin our CES Service Group meetings we begin by reciting We are about the Great Work . . . the Work of moving on from a terminal Cenozoic, to an emerging Ecozoic era in the history of the planet Earth . . . which is the Great Work! We firmly believe this…
On April 1, 2017, EcoCiv and CES convened a major symposium at the home of Steven Knapp, President of George Washington University in Washington, DC. Participants included leaders of environmental organizations, policy experts, scholars, and activists. The symposium provided attendees an opportunity to step back from their day-to-day efforts to construct and implement sustainable policies…
Silently progressing towards her, Crying unexplained tears, We inched our way towards Her elegantly dressed grace. Greeting us with every branch’s spring growth, Draped elegantly in Spanish moss, We bowed and she smiled; We threw her kisses and honored her. “Wow, she must be old, very old,” “Oh, oh my, she’s grand. Look at her….
Author’s Note: For the first time I have combined in one article what I see as Thomas Berry’s guiding principles for ecozoic societies. I have also described the need to, and difficulty of, applying these principles in a real world context, namely that of an urbanized, globalized world. This article will appear in the…
Sometimes dissonance sneaks up on you like a shy child wanting a hug, but at other times, the child gleefully turns a spurting hose on your shocked and screaming face. After reading Martin Shaw’s notion of being actively dreamt by the Earth[1], I knew I’d been soaked to the soul, but the shock arose from…
Editor’s Note: Roy Morrison’s latest book is “Sustainability Sutra: An Ecological Investigation.” [1]Morrison argues for a transition to ecological civilization using market mechanisms and pursuing a global growth strategy with a focus on sustainability. He proposes ecological consumption taxation, new market rules, fiscal and monetary policies, and investment strategies. Morrison’s website is EcoCivilization.info. Is…
Events of past months have stirred me to a patriotism I never thought I’d feel for my nation. From childhood my allegiance has been universal. I fell in love with the one-world concept when, in Camp Fire Girls, during summer camp we sang these words to the tune “Finlandia:” My country’s skies are bluer than…
Sustainability involves both nature and human societies. In our view there are three criteria for sustainability: The human community must live within Earth’s carrying capacity. According to the Ecological Footprint Network we humans are now at 150% of the carrying capacity of Earth and rising; Within the human community there must be justice, equity, respect,…
ENERGY The new administration is pro-oil and pro-coal, but nevertheless momentum is with sun and wind. Solar ranked as the number one source of new US electric generating capacity additions in 2016. It represented 39 percent of new capacity additions across all fuel types. greentechmedia.com Solar is also the largest employer in the US electric…
Editor’s note: The November election has brought thousands of people into the activist role who never thought they’d be making almost daily calls to their elected officials, or regularly joining public protests such as “Trump Tuesdays.” In the days following the election more than one in three Democrats said they planned to become “more involved…