04/04/2013
The unexpected and unusual resignation of Pope Benedict XVI last February shook the solid and stagnant foundations of the Catholic Church, the only contemporary institution with medieval roots. The Church has a vertical power system that excludes women and the faithful, whom it sees as sheep that must be led,...
04/04/2013
Last week’s letters by Chet Seligman and Richard Kirschman challenged my suggestion that nonviolent protest and civil disobedience may not be enough to reverse the tide of global devastation. Any talk of possible violence, hitting close to home, will make people uncomfortable, and I welcome the pushback. My goal is...
03/28/2013
This year’s Geography of Hope conference was a celebration of the life of Aldo Leopold, best known for a slim volume, A Sand County Almanac, first published in 1949. In the introductory talk, poet Robert Haas recited a Japanese haiku—“Lighting one candle/ With another candle/ An evening of spring”—that became...
03/27/2013
La inesperada e inusual renuncia del Papa Benedicto XVI el pasado febrero, removió los duros y anquilosados cimientos de la Iglesia católica, la única institución contemporánea con remanentes medievales, con un sistema de poder vertical que excluye a las mujeres y a sus fieles, a quienes ve como ovejas a...
03/21/2013
When most people ask, “How can we stop global warming?” they are really asking, “How can we stop global warming without significantly changing our lifestyle?” The answer is that we can’t. The urgency of the ecological crises and capitalist forces destroying our planet make finding an effective and timely path...
03/21/2013
In Mexico, as in other countries, the first 100 days of a new government are considered to be the “honeymoon” period and an indication of what to expect from that government. From the euphoria surrounding Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which was removed from power in...
02/14/2013
As environmental destruction escalates, hundreds of species extinctions occur each day. The senselessness of it infuriates me, yet our cultural norm marginalizes most talk about it as “doom and gloom.” Magical thinking, and a belief in “markets” above all, passes for sane and constructive discourse. Humanity has never witnessed the...
