It’s wrongheaded to protect nature with human-style rights

by Anna Grear How can the law account for the value of complex, nonhuman entities such as rivers, lakes, forests and ecosystems? At a time of runaway climate change, when the Earth’s biosphere is on the brink of collapse and species extinctions are accelerating, this has become a vital question. Some theorists argue that there’s… Continue reading It’s wrongheaded to protect nature with human-style rights

On enlightenment and orangutans

by Stan Hirst The year 2018 is now history and we are left with memories, unfulfilled intentions and  a lot of unread books.  By one estimate some 400,000 new books hit the market in North America every year, so its little wonder I am a bit behind. For me the ones that call out for… Continue reading On enlightenment and orangutans

GLOBAL CRISIS – THE VIEW FROM NARAMATA

by Stan Hirst The following is a lightly edited reprint of a post which first appeared on this site in July 2012 (pre-Harvey, pre-Irma, pre-California fires, pre-Trump, pre-COP 21, pre-COP 24).  In the Blogmaster’s humble opinion it deserves a rerun. ******************************************************** Naramata Centre: A green, leafy place on the eastern shore of Okanagan Lake, British… Continue reading GLOBAL CRISIS – THE VIEW FROM NARAMATA

THE END IS NIGH

by Stan Hirst It has never been said better than by Carl Sagan in his speech at Cornell University in 1994. “…… you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys… Continue reading THE END IS NIGH

Restored, reconciled, resilient…

By Lillian Ireland Some of the deepest and most meaningful times of healing my soul have been sitting on the well-worn rocks in the middle of the Chehalis River. I was often “called” there when grief overtook me and I needed a quiet place to just be. Yet, the pounding of the water, splashing and… Continue reading Restored, reconciled, resilient…

The rocky road to the common ground

by Stan Hirst The Suzuki Elders have been at the environmental game for some 9 years now – gathering, talking, arguing, urging, advocating, educating, inspiring on and off, blogging and berating. As our website declares “we bring our voices, experiences and memories to mentor, motivate and support other elders and younger generations in dialogue and… Continue reading The rocky road to the common ground

What about enlightenment?

by Jill Schroder What about Enlightenment? Pretty potent topic, eh? Steven Pinker, tackles it big time! Check out this recent TED talk based on his book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. Good news, perhaps startling to many of us, especially progressives, is that there are many reasons to be encouraged about the… Continue reading What about enlightenment?

Talking with young people about climate change

by Diana Ellis Our planet Earth is now home to over 7 billion people. UN statistics tell us that just over one-quarter of those people are children under the age of 14. In another 20 years the world population will be 8.5 billion of which one-third will be children. These children will be living in… Continue reading Talking with young people about climate change

Perils of Apparel

Proceedings of a Suzuki Elder salon, April 5, 2018, Vancouver, B.C.  Researched and written by Erlene Woollard, Patricia Plackett, Julie Zhu, Erzsi Institorisz, Allison Penko, Jennifer Sharp, and David Plackett Edited by Stan Hirst     THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF WHAT WE WEAR The apparel industry is the second most polluting industry on Earth today, exceeded in impact only by the… Continue reading Perils of Apparel