Protestant Evangelicalism and the Merit Trap By Dion Forster Why is it that in many western countries where “life expectancy” and “material well-being” have increased, “life satisfaction” is decreasing? German sociologist Hartmut Rosa suggests one reason is our “social acceleration.” In his book, Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to Read more
Pilate vs. The Truth: A Biblical Confrontation for Post-Truth Christians By John Thatamanil Christians of all stripes should know better, but white American evangelicals don’t seem to: there is an absolute contradiction between following the One who spoke of himself as “The Way, The Truth, and the Life,” and following Read more
Traction Together By Anna Mercedes A moving installation of playground seesaws along the U.S. and Mexico border recently won a major design award from the London Design Museum. The “Teeter Totter Wall” features seesaws in vivid pink, one seat reaching into the United States, the other seat threaded through the Read more
‘Nature’ and ‘Culture’: How We Perceive the World and Why This Should Change By Kocku von Stuckrad I just finished reading Helen Macdonald’s excellent new book, Vesper Flights. This collection of short stories about how we experience, approach, and interact with the worlds of other animals and plants masterfully reveals Read more
Wounds and Lies that Bind: The Need to Believe By Marcia Pally It’s two weeks since the seditious riot at the U.S. capitol. It’s two months of Donald Trump’s refusal to concede an election whose vote-count was validated by Republican election officials and over 60 courts—including twice by the Supreme Read more
The Weight of Evidence By Teya Brooks Pribac The late neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp would remind people that science doesn’t give us proofs and certainties but only the weight of evidence. The weight of evidence in his field of inquiry suggested that other-than-human animals are conscious beings, and that this consciousness Read more
What, If Anything, Is De-Extinction? By Lisa H. Sideris The prospect of developing genetic technologies that aim to “bring back” extinct species is met with palpable excitement by some members of the scientific community and the broader public. De-extinction inspires a sense of optimism, a hopeful storyline to counter relentlessly Read more
Tis that Season, Again: Gifts, Hospitality and Giving Thanks By Whitney A. Bauman If you are like me, the thought of the holidays brings both joy and terror: the joy of being around those you love (biological and/or chosen family), the parties, and all of the eating seem to be Read more
Indigenous Cosmovision Challenges Us to Move from Restoring to “Re-storying” Ecosystems By Daniel Bryan Recently, I accompanied a Humans for Abundance team to the community of Mushullakta with master ecosystem restorer, Omar Tello. In a workshop on interconnecting cultural traditions to ecosystem restoration, we defined the community’s ecosystem as a Read more
“Feral” Mappings: Entanglements, Multiplicity, Thinking with the Planet By Whitney A. Bauman Perhaps most readers know and assent to the idea that “the map is not the territory.” But, do we actually live as if that were true? On a daily basis, I take maps to be reality: google maps Read more