Tag: resilience

Climate Compassion for Australian friends

by Diana Ellis I spent some time this morning thinking about what I, as a concerned world citizen, am learning from this year’s Australian bushfires. There are three sets of people I know who live there – in Sydney, Melbourne, and in a small town further south on the east coast. Up to about a… Continue reading Climate Compassion for Australian friends

Why the idea that the world is in terminal decline is so dangerous

by Jeremy Adelman From all sides, the message is coming in: the world as we know it is on the verge of something really bad. From the Right, we hear that ‘West’ and ‘Judeo-Christian Civilisation’ are in the pincers of foreign infidels and native, hooded extremists. Left-wing declinism buzzes about coups, surveillance regimes, and the… Continue reading Why the idea that the world is in terminal decline is so dangerous

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. Penguin Random House.  372pp Oxford-educated lecturer in history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yuval Noah Harari established his credentials with two bestsellers. Sapiens was a reflection of mankind’s progress through history, from the discovery of fire to the creation of cyborgs. Homo Deus detailed… Continue reading 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

GLOBAL CRISIS – THE VIEW FROM NARAMATA

by Stan Hirst The following is a lightly edited reprint of a post which first appeared on this site in July 2012 (pre-Harvey, pre-Irma, pre-California fires, pre-Trump, pre-COP 21, pre-COP 24).  In the Blogmaster’s humble opinion it deserves a rerun. ******************************************************** Naramata Centre: A green, leafy place on the eastern shore of Okanagan Lake, British… Continue reading GLOBAL CRISIS – THE VIEW FROM NARAMATA

Serene Solitude Supports

by Jill Schroder Serene solitude supports… sublime silky silence sustains… I love the soft sibilance of these sounds, which still satisfy me as I bask in the afterglow of my annual camping trip with women friends. This year we were way away from it all, and it was nourishing, rejuvenating, restorative, heart and eye-opening. I… Continue reading Serene Solitude Supports

What about enlightenment?

by Jill Schroder What about Enlightenment? Pretty potent topic, eh? Steven Pinker, tackles it big time! Check out this recent TED talk based on his book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. Good news, perhaps startling to many of us, especially progressives, is that there are many reasons to be encouraged about the… Continue reading What about enlightenment?

Country of Survival

by Lillian Ireland and Rob Dramer This country’s beautiful and fragile human tapestry is interwoven with strands of every ethnicity imaginable. What a privilege to live in a country where, for the most part, our relationships exist within frameworks of respect, dignity and congeniality! Canada is known globally for this. Yet watching our country slowly… Continue reading Country of Survival

Pipeline letter

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Premiers Notley and Horgan: Re: Your meeting on Sunday regarding Kinder-Morgan Pipeline: This morning we woke up to the news that the herd of BC/Washington Woodland Caribou is now down to three females and close to extinction–possibly due to industrial activity. We hear about so many extinctions now and just… Continue reading Pipeline letter

Environmental Security and Sustaining Peace

Our world has become a more dangerous and unstable place. Civil security and stability have long been menaced by wars, military and territorial ambitions, and strong political and economic disparities. Within the last few decades new and increasingly menacing threats have emerged, many of them linked to environmental and socio-environmental changes and risks. During this… Continue reading Environmental Security and Sustaining Peace