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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 [...]

Thoughts in the Midst of a Disaster: Resilience, Beauty, and Feedback Loops

By Carolyn Raffensperger

On the morning of August 11th, 2010 residents in Ames Iowa were awakened by a robo-call from the city. “Prepare for unprecedented flooding. Move to high ground. “ Squaw Creek and the Skunk River rose to heights never before seen, even in the disastrous floods of 1993. Soon all [...]

Authentic Truth-Telling and Environmental Policy

By Carolyn Raffensperger

“So we break the spell by loving ourselves and each other enough to tell the truth. Our own experience, as inhabitants of an endangered planet, gives us the authority and the authenticity to tell the truth about what we see and feel and know is happening to our world.” Joanna [...]

Parable of the Canaries

By Carolyn Raffensperger

A quiet, ordinary canary, an older female named Vida had sent many of her brood into the mines. She had had enough. “What”, she thought,” can I do to stop sending our children into the mines to warn the miners of death? The mines themselves are death. This is [...]

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 [...]

Restorative Justice and the BP Catastrophe

By Carolyn Raffensperger

The BP disaster demands justice.  People are looking for asses to kick, ways to make BP–or the government—pay for their failures.  Some have argued that we are all to blame because we use fossil fuels. Others argue that the oil industry is solely liable because they were negligent, under-prepared and [...]

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 [...]

What is Sacred?

By Carolyn Raffensperger

Last week (May 2-9, 2010), I was a member of the Defending Sacred Places Advocacy Delegation, a project of the Women’s Earth Alliance.  We met with Native American leaders in Nevada and Arizona seeking ways to use the law to protect sacred sites from mining and pollution.  Here is an update of my [...]

Thinking with the wild. Eating from the wild.

By Carolyn Raffensperger

I’ve just discovered a secret about food and sustainable diets.  I tasted a hint of this secret when I went to visit my mother on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the shores of Lake Superior, that mysterious, cold, dark sea, with its edge of northern woods and rock.  Friends brought thimbleberry jam [...]

Beyond trade-offs: making environmental choices

By Carolyn Raffensperger

Many smart people grappling with environmental problems propose single solutions and argue that the trade-off of not using their favored (usually high-tech) solution is disaster. Case in point: Stewart Brand, a renowned environmentalist, has argued hard for nuclear power to staunch the flow of greenhouse gas emissions and prevent climate destabilization.  Brand [...]