End-of-year lists and wiser democracy
Several end-of-year lists for 2013 demonstrate that things are, indeed, getting better and better and worse and worse faster and faster. Personally, …
Crucial Adventures in Systems Thinking
Systems are everywhere. They shape us and we can, do, and should shape them. Our destiny is tied up with them but …
Our responses to existential threats
I explore here the diversity of responses – my own and others’ – to existential threats like extreme climate change … and …
What’s going on with this Syria situation?
In the midst of a lot of confusing and wild reports from all sides about the Syrian situation, I found three articles …
Empathy notes #4: Toward an era of wise caring
Reason and feeling each have gifts and limitations. Used well together they generate wise caring. There are examples of wise caring in …
Feedback dynamics in climate and society
In the debate over climate change, I find myself paying more attention to authorities who highlight important positive feedback loops through which a warming atmosphere triggers increased climate change. Their troubling scenarios come not from inn…
Sandy notes 1: Systems and the language of causation
It’s so tempting to say “Global warming caused superstorm Sandy.” And it is so easy to counter with “Storms like Sandy happen. You can’t say that global warming caused a particular storm!” Much human folly nowadays comes from believing that identi…
Letter to a peace activist
This is an excerpt from my recent response to an activist who felt that stopping an attack on Iran was the most important issue we faced, given the horrendous likely consequences of such an attack on Middle East populations and on the global econo…
This holiday let’s #Occupy our heart and soul
It is Christmas Eve Day. The Occupy encampment in my hometown of Eugene has just been evicted from its park, shortly after the City Council had extended its permission to remain. After the shock, the process of reorganizing, of re-creating itself,…
#Occupy Weekly Sparks = We Can Do It All
Much has been said about the Occupy movement’s lack of demands and vision. Some say it will have no impact unless it makes demands and organizes to make sure those demands are met. Others respond that the People should just take charge of their de…