Image credit: Rachel Bollen A continuing blog which asks questions that might lead us to a deeper understanding of our predicament, and points to the power of bottom up change. The baby-boomers – and I include myself – have ‘had it so good’. We’ve seen the warnings, and we’ve looked the other way. We’ve allowed ourselves to become trapped in a spiral of consumption and travel that destroys the biosphere and drives up inequality. We’ve told ourselves we’re doing enough by switching to hybrid/ electric cars, buying Fairtrade and carbon credits, and giving to charity. To put it kindly – […]
Continue readingIshmael: totally amazing!
This book, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, from 1992 totally amazed me. Both by what I learned, and by how how I learned it. I’m not going to tell you much about what it said. You must read it yourself! The learner in the story responds to an ad saying “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” Suffice it to say that it’s a powerful lesson about the predicament we’re in. And it complements our understanding of what Susan Sontag told us about the white race being the cancer of human history. But […]
Continue readingThe Dodo, the Phoenix or the Butterfly?
This piece is aiming to help us recognise some of the underlying powerful forces in society – that we have little chance of changing. Rather, we have to go with the flow. We need to be like the dinghy sailor who knows the tides and the winds intimately, and uses them to the best of her ability to get to where she wants. We don’t want to be like Canute who simply demanded the waves to stop – and they didn’t – and he was washed over. Some of you will know of Rupert Read’s analogy of our civilisation’s future […]
Continue readingUnderstanding how our brain works can be powerful!
Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot I’ve been dipping into this weirdly named book for the last 20 years – finding each suggestion valuable. It’s written by Richard Restak, who is both a psychiatrist and a brain scientist. He’s been writing for both academics and a wider audience since 1977. His essential argument is that we should all learn as much as possible about how the brain works, and then use this knowledge to increase our capabilities. And Restak then becomes our guide to both. The book contains 28 relatively brief and readable chapters with exhortations like “think of the […]
Continue readingWhat can we learn about what we’re told from Prince William’s Earthshot Prize series?
The Earthshot Prize is Necessary BUT NOT Sufficient. 14 min read or listen on Soundcloud soon. I am impressed by the ambition of the Earthshot Prize series: Repairing Our Planet, and by the commitment of Prince William to it. It has all the expansive photography that we’ve come to expect from the BBC; and is good at showing the outcomes of our predicament. And there are inspiring examples of good things that people are doing around the world. It has 5 episodes: Protect and Restore Nature, Fix Our Climate, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste Free World; […]
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