Gratitude For Beauty Lost, By Jonathan Stein

Gratitude For Beauty Lost, By Jonathan Stein

This essay is intended to be but a nudge in the direction of greater awareness, and not an in-depth exposition of the challenges that we face as a species. The crux of this short writing will, hopefully, direct my readers toward an awareness of one potential aspect of the solution to personal and global transformation. This facet pertains to gratitude and awareness of beauty.

Collapse As An Opportunity For Growth, By Gary Stamper, Ph.D.

Collapse As An Opportunity For Growth, By Gary Stamper, Ph.D.

Historically, new cultural stages emerge only when the previous worldviews can no longer solve the new problems that arise. When a new stage emerges, it is a response to the Albert Einstein quote, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Ironically, each new emerging stage is also more complex than the previous one, which then creates an entirely new set of problems.

VIDEO: Join Me At The Age Of Limits Conference, 2013

The Age of Limits directly addresses our developing understanding of the core issues relating to the emerging decline of the western industrialized model and the practical adaptations and preparations that apply on the personal, family and local levels. In-depth conversations with John Michael Greer, Carolyn Baker, Guy McPherson, Gail Tverberg, Albert Bates, and Dmitry Orlov–May 17-22, 2013

Maintaining Mental Health In The Age Of Madness, By Carolyn Baker

Maintaining Mental Health In The Age Of Madness, By Carolyn Baker

By and large, mental health professionals in the modern world are able to connect the dots between the explosion in the number of clients suffering from addictions, depression, anxiety, attachment disorders, learning disabilities, and other illnesses with world events at large. Most fall somewhere on the liberal side of the political spectrum and support efforts to maximize the quality of life for humans and the quality of the environment for all species. Yet I believe that most clinicians who are not familiar with the “Three E’s” of energy, environment, and economics as converging crises signaling the collapse of industrial civilization, will be emotionally challenged in working with a client who embraces this perspective.

What An Animal You Are! By Carolyn Baker

What An Animal You Are! By Carolyn Baker

Animals can be superb teachers for humans preparing for the future. Carefully observing their capacity for being present in their bodies and therefore living in the moment is critical. Studying an animal’s instinct for survival and self-protection can enhance our own resilience. What is more, I have experienced that animals are extraordinary teachers, not only in life, but in death as well. Every animal with whom I have had to part has profoundly opened my heart and impacted me in ways I could not have imagined. Allow yourself to give your heart to an animal companion, and when you must part with it, allow yourself to grieve your loss thoroughly. You may be surprised at the parts of yourself that will be revealed.

VIDEO: Climate Change: It's Too Late For The Truth, Tad Patzek

Patzek is Professor and Chairman of the Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Austin. He also holds the Cockrell Family Regents Chair #11. Between 1990 and 2008, he was a Professor of Geoengineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining Berkeley, he was a researcher at Shell Development, a unique research company managed for 20 years by M. King Hubbert of the Hubbert peaks. In November 2012, Patzek became President of ASPO, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil.

Contemplation And The Collapse Of Global Civilization, By Gary Stamper

Contemplation And The Collapse Of Global Civilization, By Gary Stamper

If you don’t already have a “spiritual” practice of some sort like I’ve mentioned above, you might want to consider developing one. I’m not necessarily talking about a belief in a formal religion or even God, although it may very well be that. I’m talking about an awareness of your place in the Universe.: how do you fit in? Who do you want to be in these changing times? What are you here to do? Is there a “big picture” for you, something larger than yourself? Maybe you’ll even find your sacred purpose and there’s something you can do that no one else can.

The Hard Road Ahead, By John Michael Greer

The Hard Road Ahead, By John Michael Greer

What’s needed instead, as the United States stumbles toward its fourth great existential crisis, is the broadest possible selection of options that have been shown to work. This is where local communities and community groups can play a critical role, for it’s precisely on the local scale that options can be tested, problems identified and fixed, and possibilities explored most easily.