Taking back the Commons: BP and the Ocean

By Carolyn Raffensperger

“But a renaissance, a rebirth occurs not just because there is a rising of images and archetypal symbols. A renaissance happens because the soul is breached, the psyche unlocked, and a flood of new questions are released as to who we are and what we contain.”

Jean Houston

“Only [...]

Responding to the Gulf Catastrophe: A Public Interest Research Agenda

By Carolyn Raffensperger

In 1998 Jane Lubchenco, now head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency called for a new social contract for scientists. She said:

“As the magnitude of human impacts on the ecological systems of the planet becomes apparent, there is increased realization of the intimate connections between these systems and human health, the [...]

Never Again

By Carolyn Raffensperger and Nancy Myers

But a renaissance, a rebirth occurs not just because there is a rising of images and archetypal symbols. A renaissance happens because the soul is breached, the psyche unlocked, and a flood of new questions are released as to who we are and what we contain. – Jean [...]

Roadside trash ecology

By Nancy Myers

There is an ecology of roadsides. Right now it’s lovely in southwest Michigan. Cutleaf toothwort, a small white ephemeral, spills out from the woods into the ditches. The grass is fresh. The poison ivy hasn’t shown up yet. Garlic mustard is just starting to raise its bushy, invasive heads. Deer graze the ditches [...]

Guardianship: Lessons from a Returning Soldier

By Carolyn Raffensperger

Note: This is an essay I wrote for a feature on Faith and Thought that ran in our local paper during 2007.  It was originally entitled “Returning Soldier Has Much to Teach Us” and was published in Mid-Iowa News, February 2007.  I was reminded of it by a recent conversation with [...]

Who Owns the Moon? Privatizing the Commons of Space

By Carolyn Raffensperger

The Obama administration is taking on a sacred cow –space missions. They want to privatize the rocket fleet and thereby reduce the costs of NASA so they can balance the federal budget. Of all the agencies that are near and dear to American’s hearts, it is NASA and their remarkable space [...]

The Commons, Future Generations and Elinor Ostrom

By Carolyn Raffensperger

Congratulations to Elinor Ostrom for winning the much-deserved Nobel prize for economics. She won the prize for her work on the economics of “common pool resources”, which are defined as “natural resources that are difficult to divide up or to fence in and where what one user of the resource does can [...]