A Guide to Staying Human (Part 1): Desperately Seeking Agency
In this week’s Frankly, Nate begins a new series called “Staying Human,” which focuses on what he sees as a precondition for everything else: recovering a sense of personal agency.
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Iran war: What we’re in for and why logic is your friend
A lot of nonsense is being communicated about the war with Iran.
Do Beavers Care About Climate Justice?
By moving from seeing nature as something we – a distinct group causing harm – need to protect, to understanding it as a system we are actively involved in, battling climate change becomes less a concept of preservation and more a question of how we can help to shape a world that allows many beings to thrive.
Human Nature Odyssey: Episode 20: Joanna Macy & The Great Turning — with Jess Serrante
Legendary activist Joanna Macy called this moment the Great Unraveling—a time when our ecological, political, economic, and social systems crumble. And yet, she also insisted that we stand on the threshold of a Great Turning: a profound transition toward a more just and sustainable world.
Could the West Lose the Resource Wars? AI, Rare Earths, and Economic Statecraft
In this episode, Nate is joined by financial and economic analysts, Craig Tindale and Michael Every, to discuss the widespread implications of growing geopolitical tensions over scarce resources and the rapidly changing foreign policy and economic statecraft that countries are implementing in response.
Water and Security in the Middle East: Lessons from the Iranian Crisis
Water, through its progressive scarcity, is redrawing the map of vulnerabilities and powers. Countries that make its management a factor of internal cohesion and regional cooperation will be better equipped for the decades to come.
Ravmed: Where the Mountains Guard the Seeds of Life
Ravmed’s story is not just about wheat. It is about people who refused to let their heritage disappear, who safeguarded what their ancestors handed down, and who continue—season by season—to plant a future rooted firmly in the past.
Escaping the Machine
I want to stress that you will enjoy everything about localizing your life. You will be happier and healthier. You will have more time for the things that are important to you. After an initial investment in some things, your life will be less costly. You will need less income. You will take pride in the work that you do and in the community that you help build. And you will have that community.
A response to Jonathan Aldred: On the tortuous relationship between GDP and macroecological footprints
Is decoupling happening, yes, or no? And if not, could it ever happen? Over the course of a few weeks, The Guardian published several pieces on the topic that may appear contradictory, arguing both that “economic growth [is] no longer linked to carbon emissions” and that “economic growth is still heating up the planet.”
Ecosphere Lessons
The hunter-gatherer knows instinctively in their bones that separating oneself from ancient ecology is bonkers. Listen to them.
Britain’s Political Eruption
And you don’t have to be much of a political strategist to work out that voters are going to punish a social democratic party for not looking after the health sector, or for a weak economy—one a core trusted issue, the other a basic test of government competence—more than they will for migration numbers that are misunderstood and repeatedly misrepresented.
The Future is Local: Mitmach-Region Vorarlberg
For centuries, social life in Europe was radically organized at the local level. Language, food, work, belonging, and identity were closely tied to specific places: landscapes, villages, and markets. Relationships were manageable and resilient. Place was not a backdrop — it was the system.
