The Faux Revolution of Mindfulness
When we recognize that disaffection, anxiety and stress are not just our own fault but are connected to structural causes, mindfulness becomes fuel for igniting resistance.
Ronald Purser
On Endangered Species Day — and Every Day — Here’s How to Save the Animals
If you’re already toting a canvas bag or your home is running on renewables, you need to do more. And if you’re brand new to the world of conservation, welcome to the fight.
Climate Politics/Capitol Light
Although basically a “clipping service,” I’ve taken Climate Politics/Capitol Light a step further by introducing a sentence or two into each of the write-ups about why I think the actions reported on are important and where they might fit in the political scheme of things.
Growing our Way out of Crisis: How to Dig for Victory
In the UK, the phenomenon of growing vegetables on an allotment – a piece of community land shared between a number of individuals – is part of the national landscape, bringing pleasure and fresh homegrown vegetables to households without large gardens.
Bringing the Supply Chain to Life with California Cloth Foundry
Gracefully bringing together all the elements of locally grown, milled, and made organic fabric, Lydia Wendt’s work takes shape with California Cloth Foundry: textiles and apparel in collaboration with nature.
Co-ops Need Leaders, Too
I frequently encounter a notion, among those drawn to cooperatives, that a cooperative should be an amorphous, faceless collective in which old-world skills and norms of leadership can be discarded.
A Revolution on the Streets of India
Raahgiri Day is one of the world’s most recognizable open streets events—a weekly event in which residents of Delhi, India reclaim their streets from cars.
Hedgerows
Hedgerows offer fields a needed balance, a wild river through human land that can soak up our excesses and give us a reservoir of food and fuel for lean times. They give your garden a third dimension, a vertical salad bar that middle-aged and elderly can reach with a minimum of back pain.
The Softening of Cities
Recently, cities have been rethinking their hard alleys. Montreal has an official Ruelle Verte (“Green Alley”) program encompassing more than 250 back routes that have been turned into gardens, play spaces, and neighborhood gathering spots.
People-Powered Finance to the Rescue?
With well established markets, enterprises and memberships in a variety of sectors, the time has never been better for the co-op world to fully embrace the digital realm, helping take a wide range of fresh apps and online services to new heights through their investment and support.
For an Education that Sees Children as More than ‘Human Capital’
Rather than the neoliberal image of the school as business and ‘exam factory’, the image of the common public school is as a public space and public resource, a place of encounter for citizens of all ages where they participate together in projects of environmental, social, cultural, political and economic significance.
The Little Technology That Could
Solberg calculates that 75 percent of energy use and costs for heating could be eliminated in commercial, health care and residential buildings through AHR, even in the frosty Midwest. He points to a new health club in Edina, Minnesota, which is already saving on construction costs and projected to see 50 percent lower operating costs.
