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…

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…

Climate Change for Aliens

Adam Frank is an oddsmaker on the grandest scale. Thirty years ago, he says, science did not even know that planets existed outside the Solar System. But a revolution in data and observations has changed that. In a big way. We now know, he says, that not only are there other planets but that a few of them, like Earth,…

climate: a new change charles eisenstein

Flipping the Script on Climate Change

I still remember the event that made me into an environmentalist. I was seven or eight years old, standing outside with my father watching a large flock of starlings fly past. “That’s a big flock of birds,” I said. My father told me then about the passenger pigeon, whose flocks once filled the skies, so vast that they stretched from…

Healing Civilization Nature’s Way

Humankind’s ability to thrive in a changing world depends on a major overhaul of the way cities are built and organized, and a dramatic increase in the amount of land protected for the sake of biodiversity. Those were key components of the Garrison’s Institute’s recent symposium, Pathways to Planetary Health (April 17-19, 2018), along with regenerative economics and pervasive altruism.…

Flying Against the Wind

These are deeply upsetting times for everyone concerned about our planet, its climate, and the life on it. As the initial shock of the election passes, and a more sober reality emerges, it’s time to pause, breath, and find a still center from which to plan and act as we consider next steps. This is where spiritual practices can be…

Ep 1: The People’s Climate March with Bill McKibben

Welcome to the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between human behavior, resilience, climate change and contemplative practice. Today we bring you a conversation from last year with renowned journalist, environmental activist and founder of the global climate movement 350.org—Bill McKibben. In the wake of the one-year anniversary of People’s Climate March and as we welcome 2016 with…