Teaching (or cultivating) sustainability or (or inhabitance) ten years on
Philosophers from Aristotle to Polanyi have consistently argued that nothing can so engage people as real tactile experience, and real practical work.
Society featured
Reflecting on the Modern Myth of Narcissus
As Postman argued in a speech-turned-book in the 1980s, the future will probably look more like Brave New World than 1984, as we willingly numb ourselves—with media rather than Soma—and become passive and oppressed without even realizing it.
A few thoughts on transition education
What are the chances that societies defined today by consumerism, profit-driven production, and plutocratic governance will transition to societies that instead enshrine ecological limits, needs-based production, and democracy, in the face of what is likely to be unprecedented opposition from corporate elites, without an effective mass education effort?
On the Myth of Debatable Science
Science is not a debate. It is not a conversation between opposing points of view. It is not a balanced discussion of belief systems.
The Three Horizons of innovation and culture change
The ‘Three Horizons’ framework is a foresight tool that can help us to structure our thinking about the future in ways that spark innovation.
Deepening Our Analysis Part 2: Developing a Power Analysis
Though the western-colonial orientation to power is unhealthy, power in itself is not inherently “bad.” In fact, we need to understand and utilize power in a healthy way in order to transform our communities and our world.
Native American new urbanism: How the poorest county in America created a vision for the future of cities
On a road trip to interview farmers and ranchers for a book about people-powered solutions to climate change, I had a chance to see a Native American vision for the future of towns and cities.
My closing presentation to the Jersey Climate Conversation
What if the bravery and vision that Jersey came to embody meant that future generations would look back and tell great tales, and sing great songs about those people who could see what was coming and who responded with such resilience and vision.
Academy, society, and personal growth: Some thoughts on our modern malaise
What is the aim of a university, and is it being achieved? My goal is constructive critique: to open a broader perspective on some patterns in which we reside.
Open Letter to the People of Planet Earth
Hydrocarbon addiction is extremely insidious because it afflicts your entire species. Recognizing it is much harder when everyone is addicted.
Friday essay: searching for sanity in a world hell-bent on destruction
In an age now widely described as the Anthropocene, the conventionally held distinction between sanity and insanity is at risk of collapsing … and taking our civilisation with it.
The American infrastructure, ancient Rome and ‘Limits to Growth’
The most important thing about ‘infrastructure’ not being discussed is that we keep adding more of it every day. That is already having serious consequences which will only get worse if we stay on our course of endless expansion.
