Richer, But Not Happier

The Worldwatch Institute has produced a short film which asks whether consuming things really makes us happy. Turns out it doesn’t. Beyond a certain point, money and things don’t bring us joy. I imagine most readers of this blog already assumed (or knew) as much, but this short video is worth watching and sharing with [...]

The Story of Stuff Helps Us Envision New & Better Systems

The New York Times recently had an article about the growing use of the video The Story of Stuff in schools, and the controversy that sometimes surrounds it. The short, animated film provides an introduction to the impact of our stuff on the environment, and it’s a great way to introduce the effects of consumer [...]

Must Our Vision of the World Be Based on Consumption?

I’ve been encountering a number of people who are ambivalent about this recession we’re in. On the one hand, they’re struggling personally because of economic hardship, but on the other hand they recognize that consumption needs to decline for the sake of biodiversity, climate stabilization, and restored ecosystems. I was listening to an economic historian [...]

Creating Community for Positive Change

I’ve written about our M.Ed. graduate, Kim Korona, in my book Most Good, Least Harm. Kim doesn’t usually like to make waves. She’s so kind and caring and avoids conflict with people assiduously. But she’s also a changemaker and a humane educator. This fall she moved to Brooklyn, New York, to be a humane educator [...]

Be Creative: Become Happy

There’s been a spate of happiness books published lately. I’ve enjoyed them and learned from them, whether Stumbling on Happiness or The Geography of Bliss, and it’s no surprise that these books sell well. People want to be happy, and in the U.S. the pursuit of happiness is etched into our guiding principles. But so [...]

Take Back Your Power

Here’s another quote from Joshua Ramo’s The Age of the Unthinkable: “The moment you hand power over to other people, you get an explosion of curiosity, innovation, and effort.” Humane education seeks to hand power over to you: Power to think critically and carefully and create positive change. Power to determine what is most important [...]

Creating Change/Changing Minds

Here’s another quote from Joshua Ramo’s The Age of the Unthinkable: “There is nothing more horrible than to walk that faulty line between new and old, seeing what the future holds, screaming about it in your art or your writing, and finding only mute incomprehension or dismissal in your audience.” When I read this line, [...]

Generosity and Decency in the Face of Fear

In several of my next blog posts I’m going to refer to Joshua Cooper Ramo’s excellent new book, The Age of the Unthinkable, and use quotes from his book to jump-start my own thinking about current issues. The first quote is this: “There will be many moments in the future where we will be surprised, [...]

Replacing Red Meat With White?

With the Swine Flu (H1N1) scaring people away from eating pigs, articles like “Paying a Price for Loving Red Meat” in the New York Times, and environmentalists’ success at drawing connections between beef and global warming, more and more people are eschewing red meat. Unfortunately, many are replacing red meat with “white” — that is, [...]

Freeman Dyson’s Big Error

The New York Times March 29 magazine cover article was a profile of renowned physicist Freeman Dyson. Freeman Dyson does not believe that global warming is a problem. While he admits that he cannot know this for certain, it’s his contention that concerns about climate change are overblown and misguided, that other issues (e.g. poverty) [...]

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.