Good Riddance
It’s always an ironic postscript to Thanksgiving: the raucous Black Friday stampede at the starting line of a month-long shopping marathon. How quickly our gratitude for blessings descends into a sharp-elbowed scramble to acquire...
Category: Ecological Values
Hanging on to Hope
“I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management.” — E.B. White, “Sootfall and Fallout,” 1956 Not long after the election, I fell down a 5-foot rock embankment....
Casting Ballots for the Planet
It’s been a long campaign season, and many of us are ready for a respite from barbed political banter. So let’s take a high-altitude look at what this looming election might mean–for our planet....
The Value of Frugality
A recent skim of the book 365 Ways to Live Cheap! made me realize that, without ever trying, I have mastered the art of being a cheapskate. That long list of tips sounded all...
Less Lawn, More Food (and Wildlife)
The lawn at our house is disappearing nearly as fast as delectable desserts do. Our half-moon metal edger has a big appetite. It nibbles back turf to enlarge perennial beds. It carves around the...
This Changes Everything
“Is it really possible to be bored by the end of the world?” This question, in the opening minutes of Avi Lewis’s film This Changes Everything, reveals the paradox at the core of the...
Decoupling Christmas from Consumerism
It was only two weeks ago, but I’m already nostalgic for Thanksgiving. I miss that tranquil time when nearly everything shuts down, and the only agenda involves the communal preparation and enjoyment of harvest-time...
Pope’s Encyclical: a Call to Profound Change
Stroll through the crowds at Maine’s Common Ground Country Fair and you’re likely to see farming devotees and zealous gardeners alongside faithful novices eager to learn the tenets of sustainability. Fairgoers in search of...
