Any system of inter-relations between species and with the environment that results in a balance in the factors that allow the survival of those species and the environment that sustains them.
I had just finished reading Bill McKibben’s new novel, Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance, when I stumbled upon Bill Gates’ blog, http://www.gatesnotes.com, which I had not looked at for quite a while. I have to admit, I had been rather miffed at the overconfident elitist strategy Gates pursued at the Paris Climate Change … More Bill Gates or Bill McKibben: You Do the Math
Yesterday, I read an article in the Scientific American discussing a key dilemma that stymies climate action. No standards exist that could provide firm measures of how much carbon emissions reduction is necessary by what date to avoid the worst climate chaos. The article asked the difficult question of how much CO2 we must remove … More Civility and the Climate Impacts of Denialism
All basic infrastructure in Puerto Rico is down and remains nearly out. Hurricane Maria made a direct hit on the U.S. colonial territory, whose people are American citizens, mas o menos. Maria obliterated Puerto Rica’s electrical grid, destroyed homes, schools, hospitals, and most facilities and supply lines of all kinds. The third record hurricane in … More Puerto Rican Jubilee
I am re-posting this article from readersupportednews.org here because it contains valuable information on how to contribute to saving lives of Puerto Ricans and help them recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria. The links to the sites listed below did not come through when I copied the article into this post. So, please go … More Here’s How to Support Puerto Rico as It Recovers From Devastating Hurricane Maria
When Dustin Hoffman starred in “The Graduate,” I could relate to the situation in which his character found himself. “Benjamin Braddock” had just graduated from college and sought some meaningful path in life. Even though I was nearly half way through a PhD program, I was still not entirely clear on where my path may … More Plastic Graduation: We are All in it Now
Humanity is entering a New Great Transformation like no other. This transformation is not the first, but it may be the last. That will depend on human action and whether we act quickly, both globally and locally. Perhaps the first great transformation was the discovery and control of fire, according to renowned biological anthropologist, Richard … More Dangerous Transitions in the New Great Transformation
When American democracy was Trumped and the new president was inaugurated, I was deep in Mexico, steeped in cognitive dissonance and disorientation as I apprehensively looked toward that imaginary wall. No, Mexico has never disoriented me, rather, the essential features of this small town of 20,000 ordinary people helps me put world events in a … More Can Community Transcend Tyranny and Chaos?
Politicians love to talk about “job creation.” They wallow in social illusion in order to appear to care about the economic future of the people and the nation. At the same time, they pander to the interests of job destruction, whether through automation, international outsourcing, or simply unlivable wages. At the same time, they facilitate … More The “Jobs” Illusion(s) and the Work We Must Do
The cliché, “the world is getting smaller,” sometimes jumps right out at you in an incident or experience that is entirely unexpected. That happened to me one cool fall evening. My wife sat at a table at the entrance to the Torreon Marriott Hotel (a small part of a global story of transformation in itself), … More Small World, Big Change: Chasing the New Great Transformation
Little old airports near small towns have a story to tell. I have been flying since 1976. For most of that time, I flew mostly in the Southern California area, to and from small and medium sized airports surrounded near or in cities. In 2010, I flew from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, … More Community: Some Fragments Remain
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 