The way we see the world creates the world. If a new way of seeing is needed, what might that look like? Indigenous leaders Dakota-Dine Tom Goldtooth, Winona LaDuke, Aleut Ilarion Merculief and The White Buffalo Souldiers conjure a new paradigm that begins with a change of heart.
Cosmomimicry: We’re The Universe Mattering | David McConville
“If success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do, then how would I be and what would I do?” asked visionary designer Buckminster Fuller. Buckminster Fuller Institute Board President David McConville says our view of the universe profoundly shapes our future as a species, and it’s changing radically.
Sharkskin, Hippo Sweat and the Wood-Wide Web: From Flat Earth to Whole Earth Thinking
The genius of nature’s design, recipes and principles is serving as the inspiration for redesigning human civilization. This Biomimicry revolution is spawning a next industrial revolution. Biomimicry masters Janine Benyus and Jay Harman illuminate the forefront of nature-inspired design, including human organization and the power of networks.
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The Marriage of the Sun and Moon: The Truth and Reconciliation of Gender | Pat McCabe, Cynthia…
Today gender reconciliation is a burgeoning new movement for transformational healing. Gender reconciliation visionaries Pat McCabe, Cynthia Brix, Will Keepin and Pele Rouge share powerful stories of transformation from the personal to the societal, including the nation of South Africa.
Is Nothing Sacred? A Spiritual Response to the Ecological Crisis | Dekila Chungyalpa
Religion is the oldest, most compelling moral framework for social action. As a World Wildlife Fund Fellow of their Sacred Earth Initiative, Buddhist Dekila Chungyalpa shows how religion and spiritual consciousness are emerging globally as powerful forces for restoring our relationship with nature and each
other.
Inalienable: Belonging to the Earth Community | Joanna Macy
Deep Ecology extends an inalienable right to life to all beings. Yet as the naturalist Aldo Leopold observed, “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.” Either harden your shell, or be a doctor. Joanna Macy decided to be an Earth doctor. A systems theorist, author and lifelong activist, she describes how healing the world and healing your heart and soul go hand in hand.
Millions of Elders: Biomimicry and How Nature Would Do It | Dr. Dayna Baumeister
“I create conditions conducive to life, we create conditions conducive to life, you can create conditions conducive to life. When we do that, we’ve figured out the magic key.”
Biomimicry is decoding astonishing treasures from nature’s recipe book that we can mimic for our technological and industrial practices. It’s also changing how we think: a crash course in environmental education from nature’s viewpoint. Biomimicry Guild co-founder Dr. Dayna Baumeister chronicles the latest biomimicry inventions and educational breakthroughs by asking, “How would nature do it?” The U.S. Government’s first certified biomimicry professional, Marie Zanowick, shows how biomimicry is influencing federal policy and actions.
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Conspiracy of Ancestors: The Indigeneity Essentials | Dr. Melissa Nelson
“A worldview that understands indigeneity is a paradigm of regeneration, a worldview rooted in enduring values in what we call our original instructions, common themes of reciprocity, of gratitude, of responsibility, of generosity, of forgiveness, of humility, of courage, of sacrifice, and of course love. But these values are not just words, we need to live them.”
We’re all indigenous to planet Earth, but we’ve not been acting that way. Cultural ecologist, indigenous scholar and activist Dr. Melissa K. Nelson reminds native and non-native peoples alike that we all need to re-indigenize ourselves by learning and practicing nature’s operating instructions and the Original Instructions for how to be a human being. At this unprecedented moment of globalized environmental breakdown, it’s going to take the best of Western science and the indigenous science of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to navigate this evolutionary keyhole.
Swimming Our Talk: Blue Mind, Ocean Heart
Illuminating the magical underwater world, Jacques Cousteau’s 1960s films and TV show caused a sea change by moving the hearts and minds of tens of millions. Marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols, ocean advocates Philippe and Alexandra Cousteau, and the Truckee High School Envirolution Club are among the rising tides of passionate innovators making remarkable advances to understand and restore the waters of the world. Their inspiring stories give good reason for hope, including the scientific fact that we have a “blue mind” born in and of the ocean to guide us.
Security by Design: Environmental Security is Homeland Security | Amory Lovins and David Orr
“Three-quarters of our military expenditure is for forces whose primary mission is intervention in the Persian Gulf. If we got off the oil, we wouldn’t need most of the forces we have, it would be a very different world, and I think a much safer as well as a fairer and richer one.”
The concept of national security is moving beyond bullets, bombs, soldiers and warcraft to encompass the country’s internal resilience, health and environmental sustainability. What’s needed, say two leading environmental visionaries, is the equivalent of a wartime mobilization to create a sustainable planet including a far more decentralized infrastructure. Global energy strategist Amory Lovins and Oberlin College Professor David Orr advocate sustainability as the strategic imperative and foundation for a new national security narrative. The military is starting to agree.
Taking a Breath: Healing the Inner Environment | Dr. James Gordon
“What I’d like to do is to be able to bring the possibility for hope and healing to people everywhere who need it. And to engage people in helping and healing themselves and each other, and to create the opportunity for them to do that.”
Brain research is revealing astounding insights into the mechanisms of post-traumatic stress and neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to be rewired and re-trained. The world today is ravaged by traumas – from war, privation and economic crashes to natural disasters and ongoing environmental degradation. In response, world-renowned psychiatrist Dr. James S. Gordon of the Center for Mind Body Medicine has trained thousands of teachers globally to advance ancient mind-body healing techniques of self-care to reconnect each individual with his or her own nature, with family and community, and with the natural world. The results are impressive. What might happen if we approach healing the environment from the inside out?
A Fantastic Object: Social Capitalism and the United States of Europe | Steven Hill
“And so, the idea was how do you harness this capitalist engine to create a more broadly shared prosperity? And once they decided to do that, then they said, well, what do we do with this wealth if we’re going to make it more broadly shared? Do we just have everyone make more income? And they said, no. It makes more sense; let’s think about what are the things that people need in their lives.”
Despite suffering severe shocks from the 2008 global economic and banking crisis, nations of the European Union have provided the world with a potent new economic species. “Social Capitalism” shares prosperity more widely, institutionalizes broader national democracy, and creates long-term environmental sustainability. It includes universal healthcare that’s affordable, education for all that is often free, family-friendly work policies, and real worker participation in corporate decision-making. Europe watcher Steven Hill believes it may be the most important innovation in the world economy since the rise of the corporation – and we all have a “ringside seat to history.”