A Gardening Manifesto — in Six Words
“Be the kind of person who takes supplements – then skip the supplements.” Michael Pollan, “Food Rules An Eater’s Manual” The rules Michael Pollan devised to guide eating could apply just as well to...
Category: Ecological Values
Cast Your Ballot for the Planet
“We’re a society of distracted drivers. We’re not paying attention to what matters most.” – Michael Lewis, author (on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Oct. 3, 2018) Lost in the discussion of America’s partisan, gender and...
The Unifying Power of Place
There’s great comfort to being in a place where – even in solitude – you’re not alone. When no other humans are at my extended family’s rustic camp, I’m still surrounded. The picnic table,...
Shifting Baselines
“Nature has no hope in the absence of history.” Carl Safina in Shifting Baselines: The Past and the Future of Ocean Fisheries We face a paradoxical bind, needing simultaneously to look backward and...
The Dangers of Hierarchical Thinking
“The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man’s heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too.”...
Field-grown Perennials?
Shopping didn’t used to require a glossary. But now there’s a profusion of labels like “pasture butter” and “field-grown perennial” that require translation. Consider the latter term: what portion of the plant’s life is...
Daring Democracy
“Democracy is a process, not a static condition. It is becoming rather than being. It can be easily lost, but never is fully won. Its essence is eternal struggle.” — William Hastie, first U.S....
Sharing a Sense of Wonder
With all its fits and starts – unexpected April snows and fierce Nor’easters, spring has finally sprung. For southerly locales, the March equinox may herald the season’s arrival. But here, at least this year,...
