In Search of Societal Altruism

We live in a time of great uncertainty, with the triple threat of increasingly volatile climate change, political polarization, and income inequality. It feels like the political, economic, and governance systems of our civilization are not only unequal to these challenges, but being fractured by them. In times of great uncertainty, people tend to grasp at leaders with views they…

How to Make Cities Greener for All

Think about your local walk to the park. You head down that shady street, turn left at the corner store, cut up that little alleyway, and – voila! – you are surrounded by bounding dogs, trees, and giggling children. Or maybe not. Maybe you have to navigate an urban obstacle course littered with poorly thought out street crossings, concrete corridors,…

A Matter of Time

What were you doing 11 years ago? Do you remember? I remember very well what I was doing in spring of 2008—looking for a new job. I was looking for a new job because it had become clear to me then that the job I had would be gone by the end of the year. As it turned out, many…

Winterlude

As I write this, another holiday season is passing into memory while the current year expires and a new one waits to be born. With the Winter Solstice just past, the days are once again lengthening even as they turn colder in the long months before the green pulse of spring quickens and growth returns to the land. This particular…

Deep Winter

The trail through the snow was easy enough to follow at night, without a flashlight to show the way. Pausing occasionally, I’d wait until my eyes could discern the subtly darker shadow that snaked through a stand of fir and pine: a trail carved by my boots and supplemented by occasional moose, maybe elk or coyote. On the blackest nights,…

Photo: Paul Itkin via Unsplash winter grateful gratitude

Oh, Holy Night!

Blackness, darkness, emptiness–this time of year, where we are at the apex of the slumbering sunlight, gives us permission to enter the realm of soul and emotion. It is time for a cyclical death. Not too long ago, I chose to forego the winter holiday celebrations with friends and family each year, and instead, hibernate. It was a deliberate space…

Paul Hawken’s Drawdown

During this illuminating talk and slideshow at ABC Home in New York City, Paul Hawken circles back with us 18 months after the launch of Project Drawdown, a living research effort to reduce and sequester carbon as outlined in his book, Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. What has the response to his extensive research been from…

Climate: A New Story

The following is an excerpt of a talk Charles Eisenstein gave about his new book, Climate: A New Story. The key concept of my new book, Climate: A New Story, sees the earth as a living planet, unlike the conventional climate discourse, which is heavily influenced by a geo-mechanical view of the world. From that view, fixing the planet becomes…