Grow Your Own

Grow Your Own

One of my favorite web sites is the Low Technology Institute, which focuses on low tech solutions to housing, clothing, food, etc., with less or no fossil fuels. Back in March, they posted a description of their vision: A Low Tech New Deal (far far better than the...
Beauty against Capitalism

Beauty against Capitalism

Of all the ideas we take for granted in this modern world, perhaps the most insidious is that progress is good. For most of us, progress is equated with greater wealth, with a growth economy, with the ability for more people to buy more stuff. By that definition, the...
Fable

Fable

This image by artist Christian Schloe is titled “Fable”. Fables are stories passed down through generations, featuring natural beings—trees, plants, animals—who speak to us and interact with us to teach us how to live well. These stories come...
Where is my loyalty?

Where is my loyalty?

Human industrial civilization is killing the planet. This we know. How do we know? Because every square mile of ocean has at least 50,000 pieces of floating plastic in it, because we burn 3 million gallons of fossil fuels every minute, because 90 percent of the large...

Making things worse

Every “solution” to climate change being promoted by policy makers, NGOs and most people just makes ecocide worse. 1. Solar and wind – requires toxic mining and manufacturing processes, and leads to land destruction, usually in rural, previously...
Just say no to fake action

Just say no to fake action

Beginning tomorrow, Friday September 20, and going through September 27, there are a whole host of climate-related actions happening nationally (USA) and globally, including climate strikes and marches. These climate strikes are being heavily promoted by big green...
A widening circle of death

A widening circle of death

Okay here’s an experiment. Look at a few Facebook posts and/or Twitter posts sometime and ask of each one: How does this help the natural world? Here’s my pick of the day, a tweet by Brad Plumer who writes about climate change for the New York Times....
Ecological soul mates

Ecological soul mates

“Foremost, there was the problem of climate change. Yellowstone’s grizzlies until recently acquired a huge portion of their nutritional energy from just four sources: elk meat; army moths; cut-throat trout, a native fish; and the seeds of whitebark pine,...
Our Loss

Our Loss

I remember the day David Buckel killed himself; I remember feeling almost incomprehensibly sad. Sad for this stranger who set himself on fire because of his own sadness about the environmental devastation we are inflicting upon the Earth, and sad because of my grief...