Monthly Archives: April 2018

Sustainability and Earth’s Call

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Written for the Fox Institute for Creation Spirituality Newsletter.  Published 4/12/17.   “No straw, please,” I say to the waiter, committed to contributing one less bit of plastic to the burgeoning landfill or the Pacific garbage gyre. Can I trust the menu that indicates this seafood is “sustainably fished” or should I pull out my latest app to double check?  For that matter, I wonder, can any fishing really be sustainable given the state of our oceans? A restaurant meal can quickly become a nexus of commitment and concern. (Are these tomatoes local? Free of pesticides? Were the workers paid a living wage? Oh, wait; they’re out of season anyway.) We’ve changed our light bulbs, switched to sustainable power, and drive a hybrid. And yet these day-to-day choices we make in the hopes of living sustainably seem not only confusing but woefully insufficient to the challenges of Continue Reading →

On Being Human in a More Than Human World

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The language we use and the stories we tell influence our sense of responsibility and possibility and are critical to our understanding of what sustainability means.  In this article, David Abram calls us to an appreciation of all beings: “Whenever we become intensely engaged by other styles and shapes of life, when we drop away our concern for ourselves and begin to celebrate and praise other beings and elements that exceed our exclusively human concerns, then—paradoxically—we most realize and epitomize our humanity.” https://www.humansandnature.org/to-be-human-david-abram#.WezMV9GIhVU.facebook Share This:

Redesigning Society Based on Nature

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Author and pioneer in biomimicry Janine Benyus speaks on the For the Wild podcast about learning from living systems that have served the test of time.  What is nature doing here?  What is nature not doing?  What does that tell me about what I might do?  Nature can serve as mentor, measurement and model.  There is so much we can learn from her about regeneration.  I found this a very hopeful listen. http://forthewild.world/listen/janine-benyus-on-redesigning-society-based-on-nature   SaveSave Share This:

The Isle of Iona: Definitely a Special Place

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“I’ve heard it called a ‘thin place,’” he told me. “I’m not sure that I believe that, so I want to see for myself.”  It sounded to my ears as if he’d laid down a challenge—to me, or the island, I wasn’t sure which. Coming from someone I respect, his apparent skepticism gave me pause. He was one of many pilgrims on a journey to the Isle of Iona that I was co-leading with Carole Crumley several years ago. I wondered, “What might this holy island that I have loved for many years have to offer to him?” As much as I wanted him to appreciate Iona, it was clear that all I could do was trust that he would be given what was right for him. In a “thin place” it is said that the barrier between Earth and Continue Reading →