An Earth Day Tribute to My Teachers

It is said: “when a student is ready, the teacher appears.” For over 20 years, I have been asking the question of how can we live in ways that sustain and restore the earth, and ourselves? Over that time, I have been blessed to learn from some amazing teachers, each adding new dimensions and experiences… Read more

Blueprints for Collaboration from Nature

As someone who has long been fascinated and inspired by what we can learn by mimicking nature’s patterns, the field of permaculture feels like one I could study and practice for a life time and never run out of more to learn. Permaculture has various definitions, such as the science of resilience or how to… Read more

Dashboards to Track Progress on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

This week, the State of Massachusetts just launched a new dashboard to track the progress of greenhouse gas emission reductions and related indicators. The Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Project (GWSP) Network has been working with the state to develop a meaningful set of metrics to enable progress to be evaluated.

Rational and Not Rational at the Same Time

The resistance to taking action on climate change is a classic example of what in systems thinking terms is called “bounded rationality,” where people act in their rational self-interest in the short-term yet together create results no one wants. “Bounded rationality” was a term coined by Herbert Simon, an economist. Donella Meadows, the late scientist,… Read more

Doing More with What the Earth Produces

This blog is part of a series about permaculture, drawing on experiences in a Permaculture Design Course I am taking with Chop Wood Carry Water Permaculture in Nottingham, NH. “We must stop expecting the earth to produce more, but start doing more with what the earth produces.”   – GUNTER PAULI, Upsizing: The Road to… Read more

Fragmented Bureaucracies or Integrated Policy Coordination?

NPR’s Living on Earth show recently ran an interview with David Suzuki, author of “The Legacy: An Elder’s Vision for Our Sustainable Future,” where he shared a moving story illustrating the interdependence of the temperate rainforest ecosystem. He contrasted that to how compartmentalized our government agency approaches are to “managing” our forests. Coincidentally, the same… Read more