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.

The biggest and most famous artifacts on Earth have long been more about politics and power than about the literal functions they serve, turning fame and fortune-seeking architects into pawns and abettors in a hubris-laden game. We can do better. — It read like a skit from Monty Python: “a group of mathematicians pull out their calculators to show one of the planet’s most powerful men—a royal, no less—that he must’ve made an error, and that the 170km (110mi) long city he’s building from scratch should’ve been a circle instead of…

Email has lowered the quality of our communication while increasing our workload, turning workplaces into veritable towers of Babel. With measurable collateral cost to our mental health, why do we submit to it? — I clearly recall the moment in the early nineties that my then-colleagues and I each received a hand-delivered memo from our employer, outlining in stark terms that employees would punished if we were found using a new online tool “on company time”, while they were paying us to work.

In the glow of Burning Man’s still-warm embers, I offer a few front-row reactions to the hyperbolic news reports. — We used to joke, when I still lived in Canada, that on the rare occasions we were mentioned in American news, it was because we had finally done something that fit their preconceptions of us. The last time I remember it happening, it was in response to a group of…

Human imagination has invented 195 nations, 4,000 religions and a handful of economic systems, each with its own narrative that codifies its emergence, purpose, rules, membership and rivalries. Each of them also weakens larger truths: that there is just one human species and one macro-biome whose fates are irrefutably and increasingly singular. It’s time to let go of outdated fictions. — Today is American Independence Day, and I keep coming back to the same thought: “What distinct qualities, exactly are we celebrating?”

Colorful expressions that evoke inter-human bonding have always felt more like poetry than science—more Shakespeare than Newton. Now, we have finally measured what many have always known: that we are hard-wired for synchronicity, opening the door to improved harmony among humans. — There are many ways of describing bonds between people, including“being in sync,” “jelling (or gelling),” “vibing,” and my favorite, “being on the same wavelength.” We use these expressions to communicate what happens when two or more people harmonize or mesh beneath the level of awareness. …