Few are optimistic about reversing the effects of global warming. And then there’s Paul Hawken, an entrepreneur and environmentalist whose optimism runs counter to the norm. We decided it would be a good idea to with speak him about his latest venture, Project Drawdown, a book and digital platform that maps, measures, and models the 100 most substantive solutions to…
The term “Buddhist economics” first appeared in E. F. Schumacher’s 1973 book, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. In her new book, Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science, Clair Brown builds on Schumacher’s understanding of the term while focusing on what she sees as our two biggest economic challenges: global warming and inequality. The Buddhist…
We can spend our days trying to meet ever mounting “to do” lists, unmeetable schedules, wearying routines, the ceaseless demands and responsibilities of adult life. After all, those bills don’t go away on their own. And so it’s easy to forget that along with us on this dizzying ride there’s a child, often bewildered, overwhelmed, still healing from old wounds.…
In the past two centuries, human health and wealth have advanced as never before. While inequalities still bedevil us, on the whole, the current generation of human beings are living longer, more abundant, and more prosperous lives than any in our history. The product (and propulsion) of this prosperity has been an explosion in human knowledge and capability, unrivaled since…
I’ve always been miffed when I hear the casual confession, “I have such an addictive personality.” In my understanding—and in my own experience—it seems there’s no way to be human without getting addicted to certain behaviors or habits of mind. When I go to my psychiatrist each week complaining about my latest compulsive behavior, she reassures me that addictions—of all…
Every so often—in every teacher’s life—there appears a student whose dedication and progress confirm what we’re trying to do in the classroom, reminding us that our work really works. Hilda was a case in point. A psychologist in her mid-sixties, with an antiquated top knot and bifocals clipped to a chain around her neck, Hilda looked like a maiden aunt…
Imagine if you identified yourself as an oxygen atom. All your life you’ve somehow known oxygen is your identity. Even when you combine with another oxygen atom to form O2, you have no confusion because you and your kin are the oxygen that animals breathe to live. But there’s another kid on the block that is even more abundant than…
In honor of National Poetry Month, I want to remember an extraordinary weekend of poetry, learning, and community. Last December, I joined a troupe of 20 writers and poets at a Garrison Institute workshop called “Imagining Your Voice on the Page.” The idyllic grounds, under a blanket of freshly fallen snow, seemed to tuck us in for three days of…