Repent – Another World is Possible
Repent? Really? Haven’t we graduated from the angry Father God of the Israelites? Who needs a rule book with a hundred or more prescribed prayers for every micro-action of the day, like brushing your teeth and putting on your...
Paper-Thin Resources
We at Post Carbon Institute have been talking recently about the Butterfly Effect, the theory that small changes in complex, dynamic systems can wind up having huge impacts. But I’ve also been thinking a lot specifically about Monarch butterflies....
“I Never Worry About Climate Change Anymore.”
Perhaps the most startling line I heard this year came from a thirty-something-year-old man standing on the balcony of the UN after a climate conference. “I’m not worried,” he told me. “I never worry about climate change anymore.” He...
My Vote is Worth More Than Yours. Haha.
In the wake of the landslide victory Boris Johnson’s of Brexit-focused Tory party and the heating up of the US 2020 Presidential election, we wanted to share the recording and transcript of a conversation I had a few months...
The Power of Unpredictable Outcomes
We’re asking for your financial support as we close out 2019. Please consider making a donation to help us reach more people in our efforts to build greater resilience in communities around the world. “You may be familiar with the Butterfly Effect. It’s...
Power, the Acceleration of Cultural Evolution, and Our Best Hope for Survival
We humans are aggregating more power, and doing so more unequally across society, than in any previous period in history. Power is good; without it, we would be powerless. But it is possible to have too much of a...
Calling All Butterflies
Knowing that the connection, within chaotic systems, between action and consequence is tenuous and unpredictable, it makes perfect sense to act, at least sometimes, in ways that may seem irrational. Specifically, it makes sense to act on the basis...
Juxtapositions
The holidays can offer up some experiences that can be both amusing and bemusing. As your heart warms while connecting with family members you haven’t seen in a while, your Uncle Voldemort keeps starting most of his conversations with...
The Importance of Imagination
We need to create an environment where our imagination enshrines us. It needs to run through everything we do.
Don’t Call Me a Pessimist on Climate Change. I Am a Realist
I would prefer to be labeled a realist, someone who sees things as they are, who has a healthy respect for good data and solid analysis (or at least credible theory).