When asked at colleges if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science that describes what is happening on earth today and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t have the correct data. If you meet the people in this unnamed
Continue readingTag: Hope
350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“It is evident that many wars are fought over resources which are now becoming increasingly scarce. If we conserved our resources better, fighting over them would not then occur…so, protecting the global environment is directly related to securing peace…those of us who understand the complex concept of the environment have
Continue reading350 or bust: Spring is Radical, And It’s Just Begun
Here’s a Solstice message from Reverend Billy, from the Church of Earthalujah, from Zuccotti Square in New York City: What did I learn this year. We are the 99%. I learned that. So we’re not divided into separate causes anymore who pass like ships in the night – we are
Continue reading350 or bust: There’s Something Happening In the Air
Need some inspiration? Check out this video: A powerful group of images of the brave people throughout our lifetime (and before) who took the front lines to sow the seeds of social change with peaceful demonstrations and were forcefully dealt with by the preservers of the status quo.
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
“It is understandable that a realist would despair. And if I was to retreat into self-absorption I would find a small plot of land where I would never have to hear another leaf blower, and find what comfort I could in my family, my books and the …
Continue reading350 or bust: The Night is Dark, and We are Far From Home
On this Remembrance Day, here’s the choir of Wells Cathedral singing Lead Kindly Light: Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead thou me on! Keep thou my feet; I do not a…
Continue reading350 or bust: Just a Mom, Here For A Better World For My Kids
More links: The Global 99 Percent March In Hundreds of Cities Worldwide For Social and Economic Justice How Wall Street Occupies Washington
Continue reading350 or bust: McKibbon: The Sky Does Not Belong To Exxon
Bill McKibbon addressed the crowd gathered in Washington Square this past Saturday as part of “Occupy Washington”. Here is the text of his speech, thanks to the crew over at It’s Getting Hot in Here: Today in the New York Times there …
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
We can create a world as yet unimagined, a world undreamed, yet dimly felt. We are like the corn. Mysteriously hidden within each of us are the seeds that can germinate into a new society, a new planet. Like the corn, we have hidden deep within our liv…
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well – for we will not fight to save what we do not love. ~Stephen Jay Gould
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Saying Goodbye to Jack: The Video
I almost missed Jack’s funeral. But luckily I didn’t because it was a true gathering of the clan… or the Jack Nation.And though it was of course a sad occasion because he was taken too young. It was also a chance to celebrate his life. And we su…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Hanging Out With the Jack Nation: My Video
I wasn’t able to pay my last respects to Jack Layton today. When I went on my lunch break the line was just too long.But I did spend some time with the Jack Nation at City Hall, and once again it was an awesome sight.If only he could have seen it. Watc…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Jack Nation and the Promised Land
I found the sight of Jack Layton leaving the House of Commons for the last time incredibly moving.The cannons blasting, the people clapping, the bells playing “Imagine.”And when the funeral cortege crossed the bridge into Quebec, so Jack could say a la…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jack Layton: The Sadness and the Hope
I was walking my dog just before dawn this morning. There was a chill in the air I hadn’t felt for months. But in the distance the sun was rising orange. So I should have known that Jack had died.And when I found out I was so sad, not just for my MP Ol…
Continue reading350 or bust: Jack Layton: Let Us Be Loving, Hopeful, and Optimistic. And We’ll Change The World
A letter to Canadians from Jack Layton, leader of the NDP and the leader of the Official Opposition in the Canadian Parliament. It is dated August 20, two days before his death today from cancer. Former Governor-General Michaëlle Jean said in a postin…
Continue readingThings Are Good: Jack Layton 1950-2011
Jack Layton passed away this morning and I feel that in his passing we need to remember all the good that he has done for Canada. Obviously, it is in no way a good thing that Canada has lost such a strong and inspiring leader, but it is up to Canadians now to keep his […]
Continue reading350 or bust: Why We Resist The Truth About Climate Change
While I’m away on a canoe trip this week, I will be posting articles from the 350orbust archives. This was first published in June, 2010. Via “Nothing New Under The Sun“: “Sometimes facing up to the truth is just too hard. When the …
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Is Obama a Fauxgressive – a Fake Progressive, or Simply a Non-Progressive?
Is Barack Obama a fake progressive (fauxgressive), or simply a non-progressive?
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