Thomas Berry 1914-2009

On the occasion of the death of Catholic priest and theologian (or “geologian”, as he preferred to call himself) Thomas Berry at age 94, I would like to reflect upon his model of a morality centered in the earthly community of life.
Thomas Berry’s philosophy was strikingly immanent and earth-centered.  In his seminal Dream of the [...]

How can you not plant a rose in wartime?

“They always put social experiments in the easiest, most fertile places.  We wanted the hardest place.  We figured if we could do it here, we could do it anywhere.”
– Paolo Lugari (Gaviotas)
Some forty years ago, Paolo Lugari and a group of supporters founded the community of Gaviotas on the llanos-an aluminum-laced plain in Colombia situated [...]

Notes from the new generation on Inaugural Day

It seems appropriate that the post I wrote on Election Day ( “note to the next generation”) be followed up by a post written by Kelly McGuire, who is part of that new generation, on Inaugural Day:
Here are the eloquent words of my student, Kelly McGuire:
When you (the generation of Woodstock and the Viet Nam [...]

Caring and the “Fore-caring” of Precaution: Watching over the Commons

One day when I visited a Chehalis grandmother that I sat and spoke with many times, she called my attention to the prairie in front of her house. She loved that prairie which brought her the smell of wild strawberries in June and remembered images of her ancestors with their slender digging sticks prying camas [...]

What makes a hero? Letter to the Israeli Defense Minister

What Makes a Hero?  A Letter to Israel’s Minister of Defense
To Mr. Ehud Barak:
You should be proud indeed that you have young people such as the Shminitism to secure the future of Israel. These young men and women poised on the edge of adulthood have the uncanny ability to discern and destroy the enemy, even [...]

Is there justice in such a world?

“He is confined to solitary twenty-three hours a day in a prison cell that measures 9′X12′.  The cell has a solid front, preventing any view of the outside world…Like most of his fellow prisoners on Arkansas’s Death Row, he claims to be innocent. In Damien Echols’s case, however, there’s substantial evidence that the claim is [...]

A personal note to the next generation

“We are not the ones who created these problems”, one of my students recently said, “But we will be the ones who will fix them.” She was speaking of the current environmental degradation.
She is not the only one of my students who have dedicated themselves to change for the better. And when I witnessed the [...]

The Green Revolution–Whoops! The Women of Bangladesh Offer an Alternative

The more we try to manage a problem with a technological magic bullet, the less effective we may be in meeting our goals. Take, for instance, the case of high producing variety (HVP) rice in Southeast Asia. The HVP rice provides more calories, but its introduction several decades ago wound up amplifying both vitamin A [...]

While we are counting blue and red states, what about the purple?

We’ve heard plenty about the red and blue states. After all, this is an election year.
But what about purple? That is the theme of the most recent YES! Magazine issue. “Purple” represents the populist trend encompassing the issues we agree on in the contemporary US. Yes, I did say agree on–or at least the [...]

“Going on the Side of Life”: Managing Humans to Foster Nature’s Resilience

Given the extensive impact of human actions on the natural world, it is improbable that we can restore our environment to a previously undisturbed state-in terms of climate change, for instance.  Even if it weren’t for the current environmental crises, it is problematic to decide what our “restore” point would be.  In the dualistic framework [...]

The Superpower of Foresight

By Camila Thorndike
Lately I have been pondering the significance and utility of reports and plans, as I write one myself as the summer intern with the Oregon Water Trust, a non-profit that uses free-market solutions to increase instream flow. In the small watershed that I am concerned with alone, there are countless assessments and analysis [...]

Update on “Re-storying the Northwestern landscape” (and an excuse to share more stories)

Places on this land–and the ancestral spirits of all the species that reside there– connect us in ways our rational minds cannot always account for. On the same day I composed a post about my experience riding with Henry Cultee on the Humptulips River three decades ago, the Seattle Times published a note [...]

Takelma-Siletz Elder Agnes Baker Pilgrim: Honoring the Water

Before she blesses the Willamette River, pouring into it a vial of similarly blessed water from around the world, Takelma-Siletz spiritual elder Agnes Baker Pilgrim thanks the natural elements, including the cloud people, for their cooperation. The latter answered her prayer to hold off so that it would be a nice day for people to [...]

Tree Huggers in the City

One day I looked out my window to see a woman with her arms around the old maple tree in front of my house. When I stepped out my door, she explained she has just had breast cancer surgery and, “It feels like healing here.”
Research has shown that those who look out on [...]

Supporting the Heart of Palestine: An Avenue to Peace in the Middle East

“Whenever something makes us happy, something else makes us sad again.”
–Palestinian girl growing up under Israeli Occupation
“If you have been enlightened enough to take the side of the Palestinians – oh bless your hearts – take our sides, because for once you will be on the right side, right? But if taking [...]