Uncategorized – OneEarth.University

NOV. 2025 BREAKING NEWS: THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS COME BACK INTO THE HEADLINES

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 09:59:20 +0000

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “KILL THEM ALL” command comes under intense criticism.

A Path of Beautiful Questions~~~PDF File — Use back arrow on browser to exit reader

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 07:56:27 +0000

What new developments might emerge if we shifted
our vocabulary of the spiritual life from answers to questions?

Welcome to a new exploration.
Click cover image below to view in FULLSCREEN mode.
When viewing, press ESC to exit PDF viewer.

Reason and Revolution from a Piagetian Perspective

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:45:10 +0000

July 8, 2025 — Replublished as a way of remembering
the many conversations I had with Joanna Macy about
the quest for a few that would actually express our predicament.

==========================================
To my friends around the world,

I am holding all us anti-nuclear activists in the Light
as Joanna nears the end of her physical time with us, and
as we give thanks for her life and teachings.

I wanted you to see attached PDF featuring my new Hobbit
avatar & nom de plume, Bleep Bloggins, This article
is one of the ways I understand my own grief, and in a
larger sense, my own life and my relationship with Joanna.

Reason and Revolution from a Piagetian Perspective:
How the Emerging Thinking Capacities of Young People
Collide with the Self-deceptions of the Society Around Them

https://OneEarth.University/wp-content/uploads/Reason-and-Revolution-from-a-Piagetian-Perspective-rev2.pdf

Perhaps this is also one of the elements in teen suicide
and adult drug addiction. People are driven mad by
the things they can’t allow themselves to see, to say,
and to feel. Joanna did all three, and allowed everyone
around her to do all three: see it, say it, and feel it,
empowered by a compassion that reached further
than we could know.

One of the deep topics I began to explore in my long
friendship/apprenticeship with Joanna was that
our grief for world was not something that we were
going to “work through” (in psychotherapy terms).
It was much more something that we were going
to need to learn to live with, and carry more gracefully.
The wreck of the planet at the hands of runaway greed
is an ongoing process. We will never be happy
about it. A major way of “living with” would be to
consciously cultivate more gratitude, (a theme that
occurs in many teachings). The more gratitude we
could cultivate, the more grief we could carry
without collapsing.

Another important process would be to unmask
the lies, so that we could struggle against them
consciously, rather than have those lies drag us
into depression from hidden places in the psyche.
This to me is the meaning of Joanna’s Truth Circle
exercise. Facing the truth so often means
unmasking the hidden lies, even though most of us
would prefer not to be in a giant fight about these things
(war, slavery, ecological suicide) with half or two
thirds of the world around us.

Darn! But, this is the truth of my situation, and
Joanna has been a true friend on this difficult road.

Love and blessings,

Dennis

Dr. Vandana Shiva speaking on “Creating a Sustainable Future” — 2005

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 16:16:33 +0000

P O D C A S T / M P 3.... P L A Y E R
Vandana Shiva MP3

Click HERE to download MP3 file

Dr. Vandana Shiva speaking on “Creating a Sustainable Future”
to audience of college and university student activists in 2005
(streaming audio courtesy of the Institute for Reverential Ecology — 40 min.)

About Dr. Vandana Shiva (from https://navdanyainternational.org)

Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned environmental thinker, activist, feminist, philosopher of science, writer and science policy advocat, is the founder of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (India) and President of Navdanya International. Trained as a Physicist at the University of Punjab, she completed her Ph.D. on the ‘Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory’ from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She later shifted to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India. In 1982 she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), an independent research institute that addresses the most significant problems of ecology of our times, and two years later, Navdanya (‘nine seeds’) the movement in defense of biodiversity and small farmers.

In 2011 she founded Navdanya International in Italy and is Chairman of the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, co-founded with the then President of the Region of Tuscany. Recipient of many awards, including in 1993 the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’, and named among the top five “Most Important People in Asia” by AsiaWeek in 2001. Shes is a prolific writer and author of numerous books and serves on the board of the International Forum on Globalization, and member of the executive committee of the World Future Council.

Frances Moore Lappé speaking on “Hope’s Edge” — 2005

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 15:12:55 +0000

P O D C A S T / M P 3.... P L A Y E R
Frances Moore Lappé MP3

Click HERE to download MP3 file

Frances Moore Lappé speaking on “Hope’s Edge”
to audience of college and university student activists in 2005
(streaming audio courtesy of the Institute for Reverential Ecology — 40 min.)

About Frances Moore Lappé (from https://www.smallplanet.org/)

Frances Moore Lappé is the author or co-author of 20 books, many focusing on themes of “living democracy”—suggesting not only a government accountable to citizens but a way of living aligned with the deep human need for connection, meaning, and power. She has received 20 honorary doctorates from distinguished institutions across the country, mostly recently Indiana University in 2021.

Her first book, the 1971 Diet for a Small Planet, has sold over three million copies. Its 50th- anniversary edition was released in 2021 with features in The New York Times, Boston Globe, and other major outlets. In 2019, The New York Times Magazine interview with Frances began: “Frances Moore Lappé changed how we eat. She wants to do the same for our democracy.”

Her most recent publication, Crisis of Trust: How Can Democracies Protect Against Dangerous Lies (2023), dives into the roots of the American disinformation crisis and shares lessons from democracies leading the fight to combat harmful lies and promote truth.

Twelve Thought Questions for Deeper Reading

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 08:54:51 +0000

Click here to download PDF file.

Use online reader below to read PDF document right now.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”Paraphrase of a paragraph in a sermon by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., March 8, 1965.

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 04:45:37 +0000

Supporting info from Perplexity.AI search engine 7/10/2024:

The above quote is often attributed to Martin Luther King Jr., but it’s important to note that it’s not an exact quote from his speeches or writings. The commonly cited version is:

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”[1][2]

However, this is actually a paraphrase of a more complex thought that Dr. King expressed in a sermon delivered in Selma, Alabama on March 8, 1965, the day after “Bloody Sunday.” The original passage from which this idea is derived is as follows:

“Deep down in our non-violent creed is the conviction there are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true, that they’re worth dying for. And if a man happens to be 36 years old, as I happen to be, some great truth stands before the door of his life — some great opportunity to stand up for that which is right. A man might be afraid his home will get bombed, or he’s afraid that he will lose his job, or he’s afraid that he will get shot, or beat down by state troopers, and he may go on and live until he’s 80. He’s just as dead at 36 as he would be at 80. The cessation of breathing in his life is merely the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. He died when he refused to stand up for right. He died when he refused to stand up for truth. He died when he refused to stand up for justice.”[2]

This original passage conveys a similar sentiment to the popularized quote, emphasizing the importance of speaking out and taking action for what is right, even in the face of danger or adversity. While the shorter version captures the essence of Dr. King’s message, it’s more accurate to present it as a paraphrase rather than a direct quote.

Citations:
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/6407-our-lives-begin-to-end-the-day-we-become-silent
[2] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mlk-our-lives-begin-to-end/

Summer Solstice, Strawberry Full Moon, Celebrating Water

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 03:05:18 +0000

This Summer Solstice, on June 20 at 4:50 pm, is said to be a time of relationship harmony, committed partnerships, nurturing connections, and inspired creativity. On June 21, there is a “Strawberry Full Moon,” whose symbol is “a table set for an evening meal.” This could connote spiritual and material nourishment. The full moon in Capricorn signifies responsibility, ambition, and manifestation of career success.

What connections or partnerships are nurturing you this Solstice? What success are you celebrating? What is giving you nourishment?

Re-using greywater

In Barichara, Colombia, an itinerant pair of greywater educators from Mexico recently came to teach a practical, 2-day hands-on workshop on purifying soapy water from kitchen, sinks, and laundry. It’s always best to use biodegradable soap, and to avoid chlorine, they emphasized. About 20 enthusiastic students attended.

READ MORE ABOUT WASTEWATER ECOLOGY on my MEDIUM page.

Cathy Holt

Go slowly, breathe and smile – Thich Nhat Hanh

May 2024 — Small modular nuclear reactors get a reality check in new report

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 07:46:09 +0000

from: https://newatlas.com/energy/modular-nuclear-reactors/
A new report has assessed the feasibility of deploying small modular nuclear reactors to meet increasing energy demands around the world. The findings don’t look so good for this particular form of energy production.

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) are generally defined as nuclear plants that have capacity that tops out at about 300 megawatts, enough to run about 30,000 US homes. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), which prepared the report, there are about 80 SMR concepts currently in various stages of development around the world.

An artist’s rendering of the BWRX-300 small modular reactor from GE Hitachi,
which is slated to start operating in Canada in 2028 GE Hitachi

While such reactors were once thought to be a solution to the complexity, security risks, and costs of large-scale reactors, the report asks if continuing to pursue these smaller nuclear power plants is a worthwhile endeavor in terms of meeting the demand for more and more energy around the globe.

The answer to this question is pretty much found in the report’s title: “Small Modular Reactors: Still Too Expensive, Too Slow, and Too Risky.”

If that’s not clear enough though, the report’s executive summary certainly gets to the heart of their findings.

“The rhetoric from small modular reactor (SMR) advocates is loud and persistent: This time will be different because the cost overruns and schedule delays that have plagued large reactor construction projects will not be repeated with the new designs,” says the report. “But the few SMRs that have been built (or have been started) paint a different picture – one that looks startlingly similar to the past. Significant construction delays are still the norm and costs have continued to climb.”

Read more at: https://newatlas.com/energy/modular-nuclear-reactors/

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Arguments about Genocide in Gaza, 2024

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 08:31:05 +0000

A university (even a barely fledgling one, like this one) is a place where people labor to face the truth, understand the truth, and tell the truth. Right now, the painful truth that confronts us is that the children of Gaza are being killed by the Israeli armed forces. Whoever in this world imagines that they are in a better position because of these horrific actions, is profoundly confused, if not entirely insane. Please support AN IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE, and the good work of Doctors Without Borders, The International Rescue Committee, and Chef Andre’s Kitchen.
Months ago, I found myself more and more agitated over agruments about whether the current killing of non-combatants in Gaza should be labeled a genocide. IT’S NOT ABOUT THE WORDS, ITS ABOUT THE LIVES!, I wanted to scream. I was quietly grateful to come across the following video of Senator Elizabeth Warren saying something similar in a public meeting.

[This post contains video, click to play]