An Optimist’s Vision for the Future — The world is utterly broken, in two separate ways. First, the natural systems we inherited—how we interact with the planet—are broken insofar as those that benignly supported us since the outset of homo sapiens sapiens decreasingly do, as we continue to wage war on them in the name of economics…

We have made reversing climate change seem complex, expensive, and nearly insurmountable. In truth, it’s dead simple. We are simply looking at the wrong equation. — A disturbing multi-media Op-Ed I read today in the New York Times brings its readers to every country in the world, one by one, illustrating the tangible impacts of climate change in each. …

The fastest—and perhaps only—way to fully reverse climate change is neither the retooling of the energy sector nor the retrofitting of every building on Earth, supported by an all-electric fleet. The answer is literally underfoot (and overhead), and the numbers are stunning. — Bill Reed is the co-founder of the LEED green building rating system and one of the world’s leading experts on the environment. Several years ago I invited him to speak at an event I hosted. Chatting privately, he said two things that changed my perspective on sustainability.

‘Enough’ is anti-consumerist. For one, it espouses limits. For another, it looks at needs, not wants. And above all, it values long-term societal health over short-term personal gain. It just might save us. — Enough isn’t a sexy doctrine. Far from the life of the party, it’s the rational voice that tells you skip the nightcap and get a good night’s sleep. While everybody knows it’s right to espouse these things, nobody enjoys the reminder.

Trauma research receives a fraction of the funding it deserves, given that it underpins our worst acts, and is far more prevalent than most of us know. Here are the facts, and more than a few paths back to foundational health. — On page 350—the epilogue—of his simultaneously heartbreaking and optimism-fueled book, The Body Keeps the Score, author, psychiatrist and trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk finally says it:

Are we in charge of our thoughts, or vice versa? The answer may surprise you. — Think about it. When a thought pops into your head, did you put it there? Did you will yourself to think it? Or did your subconscious generate it unbeknownst to your conscious mind because it — not you — is in charge of these things? I think we can agree…

The world today is one suffering from multiple narrative-driven crises. Whether what happens next is our long-incubating chrysalis or our inevitable annihilation remains to be seen. If we continue to believe in ‘false gods’, however, I fear this may be our last dance with the devil. — To look at the Great Apes — the ones Jane Goodall famously studied—is to glimpse Eden before the Fall. They are, for all our feelings of superiority, mirrors to our intrinsic humanness. …

Humans evolved to be generalists: to learn anything and everything, then make connections between things to harness knowledge powerfully. Today, we largely ignore our own origins in favor of monetizing isolated scraps of it, robbing us of our innate ability to make sense of an increasingly complex world. — We humans are inherently curious creatures. For as long as we’ve been endowed with the faculties to do so, we’ve searched for understanding that is both tactical (who, what, when, where, and how) and existential (why).

The cost of living is, in truth, inherently deflationary. In spite of this, we continue to push a 150-year old agenda to grow GDP at great cost to human and planetary wellbeing. With the accelerating revolution in technology, It’s time we embraced a different paradigm. — “Technology is deflationary, [and] we are entering into an age of deflation unlike any the world has ever seen.” So writes Jeff Booth in his excellent book, The Price of Tomorrow.