“The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening.” – Solomon Ibn Gabriol Recently I wrote a post about acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton’s search for natural silence, and something he said to a New York Times reporter caught my attention: “When you become a better listener to nature, you become a…
I recently visited Aprovecho, a 40-acre non-profit center about 15 miles south of where I live. They research green skills and sustainable living practices. They also tend a 1.5 acre garden; sustainably manage 23 acres of forest; and teach workshops in subjects like green building, permaculture, rainwater harvesting, and eating a 100-mile diet. In addition,…
For the last eight years, researchers at the McGill University Institute of Health and Social Policy and the Harvard School of Public Health have been studying workplace conditions and protections around the world. They looked at 190 of the 192 United Nations countries, comparing the following workplace policies: Paid maternity leave The right of mothers…
Detroit is a sea of vacant blocks, abandoned factories, dilapidated houses, and boarded-up businesses. The Motor City’s population peaked at 2 million during its boom days in the 1950s. It’s now 900,000 and falling. The city has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. 47% of its residents are functionally illiterate. And its…
A country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the figure used to measure how big the economy is and whether it’s growing. It is the total value of all the final goods and services produced by private industry, the government, and trade, and it’s calculated as follows: GDP = C + G + I + NX…
(The fourth in a series highlighting U.S. Movements to celebrate, support, and spread the word about.) Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist and political activist, founded Slow Food International in 1989, in response to a McDonalds opening in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna. Instead of focusing on his beefs with fast food – its highly-processed ingredients, the homogenizing effect…