Creating social change
Powerdown: Let’s Talk About It
We’re caught in the squeeze right now. Climate change is advancing at an incredible speed. We know we should do something, but we lack the political will to do what it takes to hold it to 2°C. UN committees are now being…
What do GMOs have to do with Resilience?
In so many ways, GMOs deplete any resilience in our food supply. GMOs are perhaps the ultimate pinnacle of petroleum-dependent agriculture. These plants are laboratory-engineered specifically to work together with petro-chemicals: herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers. Headed into a world with increasingly…
Revolt and Change our lives
It’s a sign of a really good essay when bits of it linger with you for days after you’ve read it and it keeps popping up in your mind. Naomi Klein’s “Why Science is Telling All of Us to Revolt and…
Growing Strong in Los Angeles
DATELINE SEPT 2020: The last of my blackeyed peas are planted, the summer’s harvest of tomatoes is drying in the solar cooker, and I’ve gathered in the seeds of chard and cilantro. Time to take a break from late summer’s heat,…
Fear and Action
Fear. It’s that chill that creeps up your spine. That awful, churning hot knot, deep in the pit of your stomach. The tremble that makes your hands feel powerless. The freeze-up, that tempts you to inaction. But you can’t give…
A Gratitude Economy
In many spiritual circles, it is popular to talk about gratitude. Gratitude encompasses much more than a quickie “thank you.” It implies a much deeper state of mind, one that practitioners realize will position you to receive even greater abundance.…
Getting Wise about Water
Southern California has a bizarre relationship with water. The water that flows from your tap or garden hose in Los Angeles comes from hundreds of miles away, from the Owens River Valley, from the Colorado River, or from the State…
Like what we do?
Don’t let it stop here. In keeping with Charles Eisenstein’s gift culture, versions of this booklet are being offered to the public free of charge.Eisenstein reminds us “a gift transaction is open-ended, creating an ongoing tie between the participants.”We have…
Questions we might invite our local businesses and proprietorships to consider
1) How dependent is your overall industry on oil, power, low-cost transportation and shipping — can your industry survive as we leave the era of cheap oil? 2) If your industry will survive, it will undoubtedly be radically altered. How?…
Two moving sidewalks
Ever feel like you’re zipping through the fast-paced hours of your day, the crowded pages of your calendar, like you’re on a swiftly moving sidewalk? Then you learn about alternative lifestyles, other ways of living and pacing one’s life. As…