Another take on Efficiency
Efficiency is not always a good thing. Does this seems shocking? If so, consider the ramifications of an efficient criminal enterprise. Observe that a cancerous growth can be very efficient in commandeering the resources of its host body. Ruminate on the efficient nature of many Ponzi schemes. As the article “Insufficiency of Efficiency” reminds us, “A job not worth doing is not worth doing well.” (http://steadystate.org/wp-content/uploads/CASSE_Brief_Efficient_Allocation.pdf). Right now, efficiency has a “good rap.” Everyone loves...
read moreEnough
Over the past winter holidays, I spent some time trying to craft a coherent musing about the overemphasis on gifts and stuff during the holy season. Ironically, my ability to focus on this task fell victim to information overload. The number of well-reasoned, well-written essays and opinions that either attack and lament or that defend and promote consumerism, gift-giving and/or greed is surpassed only by the advertisements and other clutter one must wade through to view them! Immersing myself in such internet commentary, it quickly became...
read moreUrine for Life!
This musing leads inexorably to this site. An ongoing human challenge is clean drinking water and the prevention of human-waste-caused disease and pollution. Here’s our present solution . . . we use gigantic amounts of energy and other resources to make a lot of water drinkable. Then, we use most of that water for things other than drinking or cooking. Not only do we use drinking water to keep our lawns alive and wash our cars, we even use it to flush our wastes down the toilet! “Get outta here!” you say? But, that’s not all ....
read moreHappy Birthday – a Conservation Microcosm
A recent segment on Colorado Public Radio (http://www.cpr.org/news/story/9-year-old-girl-birthdays-are-about-saving-wild-animals ) captured my attention. It was about a little girl who, for the past 3 years, urged friends coming to her birthday parties to donate money to an animal shelter rather than bring presents. The story revived my fascination in the phenomenon of birthday parties as a reflection of the state of conservation in the United States. During the past 2-3 decades, the hyper-consumptiveness of our society as a whole has been...
read moreBoiling in Inertia
Over the past week, there has been a flood of discussion and analysis about the “Encyclical” on global warming and human life by Pope Francis (http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/popereport.pdf). Reading these many and varied sentiments, ranging from solidarity to hostility to creativity, I was reminded of a poem recently written by a friend of mine, Larry LaVerdure. Boiling in Inertia by: Larry LaVerdure Between home and the horizon present needs trump the far off future. Between the status quo and the...
read moreThe “Gaia Paradigm” – What it is and Why it matters
In 1985, a “Far-side” cartoon depicted a dinosaur at a podium addressing a group of fellow dinosaurs. The reptile opined: “The picture’s pretty bleak, gentlemen. . . The world’s climates are changing, the mammals are taking over, and we all have a brain about the size of a walnut.” Like so many of Gary Larson’s brilliant one-panel creations, the cartoon strikes the funny bone because it lampoons a core truth of our own human situation. This truth, however, bears further examination. Are our brains figuratively “the size of a walnut,”...
read moreTundra Dreamer
Adapted from “A Sweet and Sublime Enigma” by Martin Ogle, 2006. The dreamer knew limitless possibilities. And yet, had been to the mountaintop and seen The possibility of limits. In the windswept tundra Dwarf plants, A few hardy creatures, Danced with and hid from The singing wind. Shielding himself from the gale, The dreamer saw the world below and marveled at Limitless possibilities. Infinite permutations of building blocks; A whole far greater than the sum of its parts. A pulsating, living being, Enough to keep any mind occupied...
read moreWillful Waste, Woeful Want
Dictionary.com analyzes the American idiom, “waste not, want not” as follows: “Wise use of one’s resources will keep one from poverty. For example, I just hate to throw out good food—waste not, want not. This proverbial saying was first recorded in 1772 but had an earlier, even more alliterative version, willful waste makes woeful want (1576).” How fitting that the example used for this idiom be food. Of all the ways we waste the riches of our world, food waste is among the most visceral to me. We need it to live, it is “of and from...
read moreHouse on Fire
House on Fire “Watch out you might get what you’re after Cool babies strange but not a stranger I’m an ordinary guy Burning down the house Hold tight wait till the party’s over Hold tight We’re in for nasty weather There has got to be a way Burning down the house” Thus read the first two stanzas of the hit rock song, “Burning Down the House.” Despite the driving, clanging beat that obscure the lyrics, I’ve long been fascinated and slightly troubled by these words. A sense of significance about them has smoldered in...
read moreSome Thoughts at the Barstool of Sustainability
Some Thoughts at the Barstool of Sustainability; The Growth of a Good Idea In October of 2013, I was privileged to pull up a barstool at New Belgium Brewery, in Fort Collins, CO, to contemplate sustainability. The discussion and brewery tour were conducted for Naropa University graduate students (and me, their professor) by New Belgium’s Sustainability Specialist, Katie Wallace. Our class was inspired by the visit and often referred back to what we had learned and experienced. It’s been awhile since that fieldtrip, but New Belgium...
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