I’ve shared Eugene’s public postings of his experience doing the exercises in my book Initiative. At each stage, he learns more about himself and making his world work for him. Taking initiative forces you to learn your values, not in some abstract way, but: How do I want to spend my time, money, energy, and resources? How long do I want to follow other people’s values, or the worn path[…] Keep reading →

Dave Gardner and I have appeared on each other’s podcasts and have become friends. He is one of the few people who understands our environmental problems and works on it. I learned about him from his documentary Growthbusters (my comment is the first on its YouTube release), which showed him running for office in Colorado on a platform to shrink the local population and economy. He didn’t win the election,[…] Keep reading →

I finished this week: Carmaggeddon, by Daniel Knowles: I bought a cheap used car after getting my first license at 15 years old. The experience led me to never own a car again. I knew that choice would force many later life decisions The summer after high school, when I was 16, a friend and I rode our bikes from Philadelphia to Bar Harbor, Maine and back. A couple years[…] Keep reading →

I recently watched Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi movie. I often pass the Gandhi statue around the corner from my home in Union Square. The other day I saw that someone honored Gandhi’s legacy with an empty beer can at his feet. I’m sure Gandhi would have loved the tribute. Or maybe our culture could use reminding of its lost values of stewardship and personal responsibility that might restore meaning and purpose[…] Keep reading →

Stephen A. Broyles is an Adjunct Lecturer at Howard University’s School of Social Work. He has 30 years of experience working with faith and community-based organizations and is a national expert in nonprofit capacity building and coalition building. He currently serves as the president of The Magi Group, a technical assistance and capacity building consulting firm that specializes in improving community and faith-based nonprofits that provide health and human services.[…] Keep reading →

If John’s specialty in deep history weren’t valuable enough to understand how our culture’s dominance hierarchy formed from the material conditions of the dawn of agriculture, he also specializes in American history, including slavery from before the Revolutionary War through to the Thirteenth Amendment. We start with his sharing what drew him to the two fields. Then I introduce what led me to want to learn from him. I share[…] Keep reading →

Why do people pay to chop down so many trees for pagan-based rituals? I mean, I know the answer is tradition, even if the tradition is opposite to what they purport to believe, but when will their consciences kick in, or their intelligence or compassion? I have nothing against any of the religions involved, Christianity, paganism, capitalism, patriotism, etc, but I have a lot for sustaining an environment that can[…] Keep reading →