Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
An unparalleled eco-philosopher, Buddhist scholar, systems theorist, and activist, Joanna dedicated her life to illuminating the interconnectedness of all life and empowering individuals and groups to confront the ecological and social crises of our time with courage and compassion.
Joanna asked the most pertinent of questions: How can I live so as to minimize suffering during this perilous moment? How can I maintain sanity, and help others to do so? What is my responsibility to future generations and other species? The answers she arrived at proved inspiring to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
The great challenge, then, is to learn how to see, name, and reclaim the commons as significant forces in life – a powerful social phenomenon that is not just at play in the Global South, but everywhere.
What if the Kogi story could help all of us – anywhere in the world – be more discerning in our relative processes of acculturation, helping us distinguish what is worth holding on to (or recuperating), as globalization comes knocking at our door (or screen)? With the hope of finding some answers, I set off to northern Colombia, to see what I might find.
In this conversation, Nate is joined by ecological economist Josh Farley to explore the persistent myths taught in business schools, and the disconnect between economic theory and reality. Building on Nate’s recent Frankly episode, they unpack topics like the misconception between value and price, how GDP is a flawed measure of well-being, the truth about debt, and the ripple effects these have across market dynamics.
Things caused by humanity can probably also be solved by humanity. A good place to start seems to be to make sure that the risks we face are more consistently included in things like national risk assessments or global policy making, so that we can better explore what might be done about them.
I am not claiming that we need to consider rivulets or fire or lightning as animate forms of Life. The difference in complexity is truly staggering. Yet, the comparison offers a mottled window—especially into decision-making processes that appear (via feedback/success) to be directed, or purposeful.
As global heating accelerates and climate damages mount all around us, and as climate organizations and activists grow desperate about what to do, SAFER provides important new thinking. The challenge, one of the biggest of our times for organizers, theorists and social scientists, is how to bring this idea into our various countries at an organizational level.
When things fall apart, we’re going to have to do it together. There’s a lot to learn about togetherness, slow living, and patience. What resources do we have available to us that are beyond financial? This is for us to find out and this is why I have this practice of micro-dreaming.
In today’s Frankly, Nate imagines that he’s looking back from an unspecified point in the future (even from beyond his lifetime), and ponders the core things he would want during his time on Earth.
And the Gilgamesh epic as we have received it from the ancient cuneiform tablets is excellent propaganda supporting the idea that cities are better than nomadism and we must have kings ruling us. But my question is: What is a more realistic story about how the conflict played out between the city states in Mesopotamia and the older nomadic culture of the surrounding area?
We must adapt to the reality of climate breakdown so that we are ready for disasters. Because if we are not ready, they will be much worse.
