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To Be Hopeful in Bad Times
Howard Zinn, by Jim from Stevens Point, WI, USA, via Wikimedia Commons On this Labor Day, here’s a quote from a celebrated historian, the voice of the common people. “To be hopeful in bad times is not...
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From Dismemberment to Oneness
Rebecca Solnit, on how leprosy numbs the extremities so that sufferers don’t realize when they are damaging their own tissues: “The disease strangles nerves, kills off feeling, and what you cannot feel...
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A Week in the Life, Irvington-style
Last week, I realized how much I rely on my neighborhood for commerce, entertainment, exercise, and other essentials. To wit: Tuesday morning I took part in the Writing Habit, a weekly mini-retreat for...
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Indestructible
Here’s the mother of the modern environmental movement, on the importance of nurturing children’s connection with the natural world. Boy scout photographing nature at the Edwin B. Forsythe National...
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Working with Nature to Sustain Life
There’s a fatal flaw in the traditional definition of sustainability—meeting today’s needs without jeopardizing future generations’ ability to meet their own needs. The problem? This notion leaves out...
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Garden Tower Update: Mistakes Were Made
Time for an update on our vertical gardening project. When last I posted about the Garden Tower, everything was growing robustly and looking smart. I hate to say it, but that was kind of the high point...
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Vacant Lot Becomes Community Space
Guest post by Lisa Boyles My vision is to give purpose to a vacant lot. Where once stood abandoned houses, there will be a reflection space with a labyrinth and a community art installation. In June...
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Our Mailman Louis
From the neighborhood resilience files: Over on the Irvington Development Organization website, I recently guest blogged about our mailman Louis, who is absolute treasure. Our mailman Louis, the...
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Postcard from Hopland, CA
This weekend was the big Building Resilient Communities Convergence in Hopland, CA. I was excited to be there for part of the action. A highlight was the mycology skillshare, during which Fungaia...
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Protection
A turtle among the Roman ruins at Pergamon, Turkey. Photo by Nick Leonard, via flickr Commons Nothing protects us but our constant awareness and rededication to embody our values as much as we possibly...
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Stealing the Future
Photo credit: Kim Seng, via flickr Commons At present, we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it GDP. We can just as easily have a future that is based on healing the...
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Radical Fungi Are My Favorite Teachers
Guest Post by Peter McCoy When I get asked why I started the Radical Mycology project, I often say that it was to share the lessons that mushrooms have taught me. Turkey tail logs Since I started...
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Respite
I’m back from Mesa Refuge,* where I had 10 days to write, read, reflect, and draw inward. It was heavenly to leave the smartphone in a drawer for most of that time, and to let my social media accounts...
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Julia Butterfly Hill: What our Hearts Know
Belated postcard from Hopland, CA: It was a thrill to hear Julia Butterfly Hill speak at the Building Resilient Communities Convergence. This is the woman who spent most of 1998 and 1999 living in the...
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Three Luminaries: Hopkins, Hemenway, Heinberg
While in northern California I had the chance to meet three powerful voices in the movement for positive change. Call them the Three H’s, or Tres Hermanos. Hermano One, Richard Heinberg of the...
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To be Fueled by Love
Browsing the shelves of Point Reyes Books last month, I picked up Mary Pipher’s latest book. Her Reviving Ophelia illuminated the struggles of adolescent girls. Now she has a book called The Green...
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Crowd-funding the New Frontier: Radical Mycology
Here’s a chance to support a radical mycology project seeking to put a potent tool for restoration in many more hands. Mushrooms can break down and eliminate some of the most toxic industrial compounds...
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A Field to Fork Market
“In Indiana, we can grow so much of our own food. We really could be sustainable now,” says Kevin Logan, MD. Though we can’t grow mangoes or bananas, he believes we could cultivate everything we need...
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Eve Ensler on Reconnecting, Re-conjuring and Re-conceiving
A friend recommended Krista Tippett’s recent On Being interview with playwright/performer/social activist Eve Ensler. Last week while preparing food for our Thanksgiving meal, I listened to the...
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Let Us Discover Our Wealth
Photo by robleto, via flickr Commons The opposite of poverty isn’t property. The opposite of both poverty and property is community. For in community we become rich: rich in friends, in neighbours, in...
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