In difficult times, try giving thanks. Have you ever found yourself struggling to understand why folks say, “Be thankful for your blessings” when you’re in the midst of a difficult time? This sort of advice can feel like nothing more than a hollow platitude, some abstract philosophical notion uttered by those who’ve never suffered loss …
Sometimes the fluff needs to be backed-up. It’s been more than one year since George Floyd’s murder, at the hands of a police officer, ignited a torrent of righteous social unrest. The brave souls who peacefully protested Floyd’s murder drew attention to the systems of oppression that have persisted for so many years. Why is …
Frogs may just be smarter than we think. I came across a story many years ago that seemed to make sense; it’s used to illustrate a common problem faced by humans. Placing a frog in a pot of room temperature water, so the story goes, and then boiling the water leads to the frog’s death. …
Are we getting ready for what’s to come? Revolution is such a radical word: It’s filled with images of upheaval and violence. Are revolutions just burned into our DNA, results of the “trousered ape” that seems to lurk within? Are revolutions even necessary, especially now with our advanced technologies and globalized economy? According to National …
Where does the responsibility for achieving sustainability lie? Some think the road to sustainability will be paved by large, publicly traded corporations. There’s a certain logic to this thinking: The combined total revenue of the 2021 Fortune 500 corporations “… generated $13.8 trillion in revenue, or some two-thirds of the U.S. economy.” If these corporations, …
Achieving a sustainable existence starts with our minds. You may think this piece has something to do with mind-altering drugs. It doesn’t. What I mean by “emancipate the mind” has to do with the nature of human creatureliness and its role within the Earth system. The human mind sets us apart from other life forms, …
What do the Matrix and labor have in common? The corporate state. The Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with the statement, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Santayana’s quote has been stated in various ways, but the meaning remains the same: Without knowing the past, or history, we run …
Finding work starts with finding our gift. Brandon walked the halls of Ronald Reagan Senior High School on his way to the counselor’s office. It was the start of his junior year, which meant he had to start figuring-out what life after high school would look like. Brandon didn’t have a clue. But this is …
Machine or ecosystem? We say one thing, nature says another. I remember meeting Tom Brennan, one of the co-founders of the Green Garage, a number of years ago. Not long into our conversation, Tom gave me a foundational insight into sustainable business thinking: a business is a living thing, not an inanimate object, like a …
The contours of history are best seen from many perspectives. To suggest I’m a history buff is not unreasonable: I enjoy the subject and have read quite a number of history books over the years. But I am more interested in understanding what it means to be human, which is why, perhaps, I find history …
