Category: Global warming/environment

Underground, in the dark, the roots of trees join with fungi to form mycorrhizal networks. These networks, some larger than any other organism on Earth, including blue whales, form cooperative communities. Trees of many species link together, nourish each other, alert the others to danger, share defense strategies. Trees in sunnier spots photosynthesize extra sugar …

Yesterday, on the eve of Samhain (Halloween), I prepared an altar in our living room to honor our beloved dead. On the cedar chest built by my wife Martha’s grandfather, I placed cedar boughs blessed in sacred circles held over the past two months. On top of the cedar, Martha and I arranged photos of …

In America we are now experiencing a historically unprecedented assault on our Constitutional form of government and democratic institutions – led by the man who swore an oath to “preserve, protect and defend” that Constitution. Retiring Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) said on CNN last week, “I’ve never heard of an administration, a president attacking his …

Early Monday morning, in clouded darkness misted by rain, two hundred people gathered at the Port of Tacoma to block the gates to a construction site. Puget Sound Energy, a utility company that is now owned by a profitable group of private equity firms, leased this land to build a huge plant to process and …

Get your motor runnin’ Head out on the highway Lookin’ for adventure And whatever comes our way Yeah Darlin’ go make it happen Take the world in a love embrace Fire all of your guns at once And explode into space… Like a true nature’s child We were born, born to be wild We can …

Now, at Winter Solstice, we walk into the darkness. A deeper darkness than we have ever known, it seems. It’s important to keep our eyes open, to know this darkness. What it looks like, how it feels, sounds, smells, tastes. How to survive and move in it. Where to look for the first rays of …

As soon as the tip of my shovel cut a small crescent in our front lawn, I knew I had forgotten something important. I stopped digging and listened. The hole was for a rosebush we had bought months ago from a friend who was moving. I found the rose fertilizer, paced out the distance from …

At times like this, hope can feel almost disrespectful, a denial of the severity of what we are facing. The Polar Pioneer, a gargantuan drilling rig that looks as if it dropped from outer space, is traveling north by barge to Alaska, undeterred by colorful, intrepid kayaktivists led by indigenous people in traditional canoes. Royal …

Beltane (in Irish, Bealtaine), usually observed on or around May 1, literally means “bright fire.”  It is the first day of summer in the Celtic world, initiating the period when the sun’s power is strongest. The heat of the sun warms the earth, awakening new life and nurturing growth. At Spring Equinox I wrote about …

Anyone reading this likely knows that the way we humans are currently living on and with the Earth is unsustainable.  If you need a wake-up call, read Wen Stephenson’s recent article about global warming in the Boston Phoenix. The natural tendency is to look away, to not see what is happening, because it’s too overwhelming.  …