Three Ideas That Move Us Further into OneEarth Thinking

Invited to speak to a couple different groups recently, I prepared by asking myself: What’s the best way I can think of to communicate what I have to say about the size changes we need to make in order to keep our planet inhabitable. I decided to talk about ideas that have changed how I think, moving me further into the OneEarth paradigm. Here are three of those ideas.

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Why Effective Conversations for Change Use More Story than Statistics

A temptation in our dialogues is to offer a litany of facts and statistics. These can paint a horrific picture. Too often, such a picture generates argument, debate, or a cascade of depressing scenarios. There’s a better way. Our most effective dialogue will likely happen when we focus on stories of change. These stories invariably energize the tellers and hearers.

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Wilderness? Nature? Creation?—The Same or Different?

Wilderness, Nature, Creation—synonyms? or different? Each name for Earth’s evolutionary processes has merit and emphasizes particular qualities, even though we often use these words interchangeably. All overlap. And still, even when we put them all together, they do not describe fully the rich synergy of this Earth-school which offers the highest credentials for us to learn how to live on our planet. The story stretches words, and finally defies any language to name it. Let’s look more closely at what each of these three words points to.

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Eco-Ministry on Center Stage at Interfaith Conference

For years ecumenical and interfaith gatherings frustrated me. They resulted in participants diluting their own spiritual paths so as not to offend others. No longer! Now the emphasis is the reverse! “You’re a Hindu? Great. Give me the best eco-ministry rituals, thoughts, actions, and ceremonies your spiritual path has.” All of us were to show up with the best practices we knew because everyone wanted the richness of spiriual diversity, not some diluted, monoculture of faith.

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What Fun! "Blinded by Progress" Headed for Korean Edition

Blinded by Progress title in KoreanWhat are the odds that a year after my book, Blinded by Progress, was published in English, it’d be headed for a Korean edition? Nil, I suppose, except for the internet. Somehow, through the magic of internet searches, a literary agent, Young Sun CHOI, found my book, and shared it with a small Korean publishing house in Seoul. That publisher expressed strong interest in obtaining the rights to translate it, publish it in Korean, and market it to Korean audiences worldwide.

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Revisiting My Quest for OneEarth Living—Thanks to Kritika Narula, Delhi, India

One of my personal delights over the past year has been my email exchanges with Kritika Narula, Delhi, India. I’ve gotten to know Kritika as an energetic collaborator for OneEarth living. Recently, she interviewed me and then wrote a post on the Green Follower website—a blog that refers to itself as “promoting green mania.” I like the self-humor that goes with their wonderful array of blogs. Until Kritika drew my attention to it, I did not know about Green Follower. First she posted an article there expressing her own interactions with Blinded by Progress. Then, in December, she added this interview. (Kritika, you have been so affirming that I blush when I read it.)

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Last Night at the Catholic Worker House

Last night I went to the Catholic Worker House in San Diego, not for a soup supper, but to give a presentation and lead conversation at their monthly Roundtable. These Roundtable discussions carry on the legacy of the Catholic Worker whose origins (dating to 1933, the Depression years) nclude, not only a welcoming hospitality for all comers, but also gatherings for intellectual conversation. “Hospitality” means food and lodging, but it also means welcoming edgy thinking. In these two emphases, founders Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin were most capable colleagues.

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