Human life is messy, and human beings even more so. Working out our "stuff" together is no easy feat. And it's made no easier by the flood of all kinds of information into our minds, too much of which pollutes our internal lives rather than edifying our personal existence. The powerful tsunami of junk info we face daily largely comes in the forms of advertisements, which are … [Read more...]
Education
Are our colleges and universities, our high schools and k-12, our public and private schools, adequately preparing young people to fight climate change and become resilient for peak oil?
When Sharing Becomes Unstoppable
How magical does the world appear when witnessing the unstoppable spread of human generosity? It seems that everywhere I turn people are discovering the joy of sharing; from giving free hugs, to distributing excess produce or holding a National Sharing Day. The scientific studies continue to report the welcome news: there is immense value in sharing, especially for the … [Read more...]
How the UVA community rallied together
There are a number of compelling Internet memes circulating Facebook right now that speak to those pivotal moments when we either do, or do not, take action against a perceived wrong. A particularly urgent one is a photo from the civil rights era showing a group being assaulted by gushing water from a fire hose. It's accompanied by a quote from Desmond Tutu saying, If you are … [Read more...]
Morality in the sphere of education
"Ethics concerns no small matter, but how we ought to live." --Socrates (in Plato's Republic) No matter what our vocation or direction in life, how we're educated helps to condition our responses to the world and our capacity to live in a good and meaningful way. This is why if you have children, it's really important to make sure that you send them to the right school. … [Read more...]
Education panel at ASPO-USA conference
Education was the theme of the second half of ASPO US's day four conversation seminars. The speakers in the first panel gave insight into how they reach people about resource depletion. Charles Hall, professor of Biophysical Economics at State University of New York, and ASPO crowd favorite, criticized economics departments for continuing to teach neo-classical economic … [Read more...]