Mindfulness in the midst of chaos
At the time of Buddha Shakyamuni, 2,500 years ago, the early Buddhist community that gathered around him was highly sustainable, ecologically aware, and self-consciously so. In many ways it can be seen as a perfect model of how to live contentedly with very little and in harmony with nature. The monks and nuns recycled cast-aside rags to make robes. They ate with … [Read more...]
Home grown
When I made my first batch of homemade yogurt seven years ago, I was not inspired by a desire for self-sufficiency, a commitment to frugality, nor any particular dissatisfaction with the stuff I was buying at the supermarket. Rather, it was the sheer number of empty yogurt containers that I had amassed around my home. Like many communities, my town did not recycle #5 … [Read more...]
Transitional garden
When seed catalogs start arriving in the mail, gardeners know it's time to get busy. That's because unordered seeds never grew anything, as all gardeners discover one sad spring or other. Somehow the order never got written up, phoned in, or placed online. The March deadline came and went – and there you were, mid-April, furious with yourself as you scrutinized the limited … [Read more...]
Americans: hapless fools or budding heroes?
When you worry about peak oil and climate chaos, it's easy to get frustrated at the slow pace of change in the world's biggest economy and most powerful nation, the United States. For my part, I'd like to see my country start preparing for both of these civilization-shaking challenges yesterday rather than tomorrow. Though I'll gladly settle for tomorrow if the other choice is … [Read more...]