On Spaceship Earth, as has been noted, everyone is crew as well as passenger. To be an idle traveler is not acceptable. Everyone is needed. The captain without the cook cannot long guide the ship. So in the social order with professor and craftsman, farmer and city dweller, governor and sanitation worker. So too with…
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin died at the age of 88 at her home in Portland, Oregon on January 22, 2018. It wasn’t until I read the tributes and revival of interviews following her death that I realized what a remarkable thinker and writer she was. Her insights into what has the capacity to undo and…
These are the thoughts on the meaning of being an elder shared by the participants in the “Elderhood Journey” event held at the Eco-Institute at Pickard’s Mountain on July 10, 2018. Now is a different time: Accomplishments diminish in importance, Eclipsed by appreciation, Awareness, and gratitude. Now every thought, action, and state of being Is…
When I hear someone use the term “elder,” I think: “old person being asked to provide wisdom.” From an early age it was in my plans to become wise. I said so in a poem I wrote in my thirties, “When I Am 94.” Though not 94 yet, I am definitely old, and I’m asking…
A Universe of billions of stars, the birth and death of galaxies A cosmic dance of forces, dark and light A gathering of Earth atoms into elements, compounds, mixtures Raging volcanoes, earthquakes, great seas and vast change The evolution of chemical soup into nucleic acids for life Diatoms, jellyfish, dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, cave dwellers Birth,…
“Nelson Mandela launched ‘The Elders’ on July 18, 2007, his 89th birthday. Convening a group of independent global leaders, he mandated them to speak truth to power, raise the voices of the voiceless, and offer hope where there is despair.” https://theelders.org/elders-10 My Dad used to say, son, don’t get old, it isn’t any fun. And…
The world was dismayed when, on June 1, 2017, Donald Trump announced he would pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. European dignitaries, US politicians, and executives of leading American companies—Facebook, Google, Apple, Unilever, for example—had sent last-minute appeals asking him not to do this (businessinsider.com), and after the announcement, his action…
Rev. William Barber II, as president of the North Carolina NAACP, led the Moral Monday campaigns in Raleigh, the state capital, to protest actions taken by legislators that hurt poor people, such as not approving Medicaid expansion. In 2017 he left this position to start the national “Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a…
Anthropocene or Capitalocene?: Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism Jason W. Moore, ed. (PM Press, 2016) What is the historical origin of humanity’s current moment of ecological crisis? A standard response might cite the invention of the steam engine, the Industrial Revolution, and the rapid and momentous transition from production powered by biomass to…
The Navajo or Diné—the people—see the world through the lens of hozho: all the goodness to be found through harmony, balance, beauty, and blessing. Read this well-known Navajo prayer aloud: In beauty I walk With beauty before me I walk With beauty behind me I walk With beauty above me…
Styrofoam Cups. Styrofoam is not biodegradable. Farm-raised Salmon. Check “Safe Seafood Tip Sheet.” Teak and Mahogany Conventional Cleaners. Can contain hazardous ingredients. Look for non-toxic, vegetable-based, biodegradable cleaners. Make your own cleaner from vinegar, water, and castile soap. Items Made with PVC Plastic. Avoid plastics labeled as “PVC” or “#3”. Plastic Cutlery (e.g. forks) and Straws. Not biodegradable or recyclable. Paper…