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How to Be a Great Listener
There’s so much talking going on in the world with everyone trying to get their opinions and stories heard, but not a whole lot of listening. Yet, when we listen, we learn and we connect.  We discover new information and fresh things about other people.  Listening is a vital...
Growing Huge Amounts of Food on 1/2 an Acre - Urban Abundance
In the small town of Oxford, Kane and Fiona Hogan have transformed their urban 1/2-acre property into abundant veggie gardens. Their business Urban Gardener aims to build resilience and food security in their local community.
The Importance of Empathy
With an increasingly polarized and divided world, we need empathy more than ever before. Too often we are talking at each other, unable to listen and jumping to entirely wrong conclusions. Communication is fast becoming a stressful endeavor, which instead of connecting us, is...
Meet the Earthship
Outside of Taos, New Mexico, you'll find a community of people living in off-grid homes made of garbage. The homes are called Earthships and were invented by Michael Reynolds. We went to Taos to check them out.
Reason, Creativity and Freedom: The Communalist Model
Humanity stands at a crossroads. Now, more than ever, history calls for a grassroots democracy at a global scale. If we look carefully, all the tools are at hand.
These Kids Teach Us Important Lessons in Kindness
Kids give an important reminder to be kind to others, regardless of our differences, and inspire hope for the future. "In the wake of the US election, filmmaker Jessie Auritt wanted to do something to try and combat the negativity, xenophobia, racism and sexism that...
Tashi And The Monk
On a remote mountaintop of the Himalayas sits Jhamtse Gatsal (Tibetan for “The Garden of Love and Compassion”), a special school and home for 85 abandoned and neglected children. Founded by former Buddhist monk Lobsang Phunstok, who trained under the Dalai Lama, this unique...
Bare-Handed: Fighting the Islamic State - a New Film Currently Seeking Crowdfunded Support
BARE-HANDED – FIGHTING THE ISLAMIC STATE, is a documentary about young returning fighters, an experiment to save them, and save us.
Thoughts on the Eve of the Trump Regime
A blend of dread, disgust, rage, and despair for the future, all in a state of shocked disbelief—if you feel something like this facing the Trump regime’s ascent to power tomorrow, you are not alone. It’s the fitting response to an appalling reality. And, just like me and...
Make The Serengeti Great Again | Resource Scarcity, Demagogues and How Creativity Can Trump Hate
A Familiar Tale of Resource Scarcity, Demagogues, and How Creativity Can Trump Hate A quick, original, illustrated allegory that pokes at the demagogues we’ve got with an inclusive message promoting positivity during the 2016 Inauguration. It's read by ABC's Quinn Marcus.
Positive Thinking in a Dark Age: A 12-Step Guide to Gracefully Responding to a Collapsing Dominant Culture
I recall a Buddhist parable involving a stick that appears from a distance to be a snake, causing fear to rise in the perceiver. As the perception shifts upon closer examination, the fear subsides and the relieved hiker continues down the path. Understanding and awareness...
Ike - Knowledge Is Everywhere
The future of our children, our health, and our society, will depend on how we meet the defining social challenge of our time: developing a quality, comprehensive education system. The conflicts over policy and resources have become commonplace - sowing division rather than...
Does It Look Like an Elephant?
A while back I wrote and recorded this spoken word poem. This is the way I feel about the world today. Believe it or not but comparing the world with an elephant seemed like the only option! It's time to zoom out and see the entire picture.
Twelve Things To Remember After The US Election, From Front Line Organizers
When you find yourself in a suddenly darkened room, what do you do?   Some rush blindly to where they think the door might be.  Others stand still, let their eyes get adjusted to the different environment, re-orient themselves, then cautiously and sensitively, move...
Where Does Compassion Really Come From?
Can compassion be learned? The answer is yes! Sometimes, all it takes is truly paying attention to the people around us. Visit happify.com for guided meditations and fun activities to help you build compassion for yourself and others. 
How to Love: Legendary Zen Buddhist Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on Mastering the Art of "Interbeing"
“To love without knowing how to love wounds the person we love.”
I Lived in a 38-Person Co-Op in San Francisco, and so Can You
The joy and practice of learning to share
Dreaming Beyond Capitalism: a Culture Without Fear
In the 1990s an unusual encounter took place in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In plant rituals, shamans of the Achuar, a tribe living in pristine forest that had never been in touch with Western civilization, received the warning that the “white man” would try to invade their lands...
The Revolutionary Potential of Solidarity Economy
The solidarity economy proposes more transparency, much more democracy, much more participation, much more redistribution of wealth and goods of production. The solidarity economy fights for free software, for free knowledge, for freedom of access to information, completely...
Capitalism Killing You? Income Sharing Could Save Our Lives
“Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away,” Hugo Award-winning author John Scalzi wrote in a personal blog post over a decade ago. “Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house... Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise... Being poor is six dollars short on the...
Abolish ALL Prisons, Private and Public
As momentum continues to grow against the colossal U.S. imprisonment system, the need for strategic targets is crucial, yet we are seeing an overbearing focus on private prisons. We are in a moment when reforms that appear to be “progressive” can actually entrench the...
On Ending Racism and the Need for Holding Simultaneous Realities
One of the things I've been reflecting on a lot lately is the importance of holding simultaneous realities in our hearts and awareness at the same time. When it comes to ending the violence and divisions of racism, nationalism, and other historical conflicts, I see many...
Caleb Stephens: This Is How Solidarity Lives
Powerful! Caleb Stephens speaking before the Sisters With A Purpose march for justice in Lawrence, KS - 7.22.16. This is how solidarity lives.
It's The Damn Police
From an early age Blacks are socialized to live defensively and to absorb the mental body blows that come from the day-to-day indignities that are hoisted upon us by the very people who are hired to uphold ‘the law’ but instead engage in lawlessness.
Is This - the Love Journey? Is This the Only One?
You meet them, you get to know them, you date them, you learn about them. You have sex with them. Finally, you love them. You live with them. You marry them. You have kids with them. You grow old with them. Is this, the love journey? Is it the only one?
Blame - an Inquiry Into Why We Separate
Allow me to share a few personal anecdotes… My dear aunt recently passed away from bone cancer at just 60. To make sense of her passing, I went through a period of blaming the doctors, her Christian Science background (which doesn’t believe in medicine), my aunt for not...
How to Find Your Soul Tribe in the Digital Age
Finding and connecting with your soul tribe is more important than ever—not just for connection but also to thrive in our modern society
Let's Build a Boat (A Metaphor for the Great Transition)
Let’s jump off the train and build a boat.
The Struggle Against Compassionate Bigotry
Ever heard the term "compassionate bigotry"? Learn what it is in this powerful talk, featuring Tai Amri Spann-Wilson and Caleb Stephens at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Lawrence, Kansas - August 7th 2016. Part 2 is the poem "Healing" by Adam Lawrence Dyer, spoken...
Bioregional Quiz: How Well Do You Know the Place in Which You Live?
In the vast emptiness of space there are an unimaginable number of galaxies, each galaxy containing billions upon billions of stars. Looking at one galaxy we find an average star that hosts eight unassuming planets – four gas orbs, and four rock orbs. But one of these planets...
Recipe for Clinton / Kaine Lemonade
Hillary Clinton's pick of Tim Kaine for VP may trigger the sea change progressives have been dreaming of and working towards for decades. Please hear me out.
Why Being Lonely Is Crucial for Survival
We all know it sucks to be lonely, but is it actually essential for our survival? Here's more on why loneliness might be a good thing.
Visions of Utopia - Experiments in Sustainable Culture
Visions of Utopia documents and profiles 7 diverse intentional communities in the United States.
Policing Is a Dirty Job, but Nobody's Gotta Do It: 6 Ideas for a Cop-Free World
It's time to start imagining a society that isn't dominated by police
How to Build a Place-Based Economy Where You Live
How can communities rethink ownership to remedy poverty? In this powerful talk, Eric Kornacki shares the story of his journey carrying lessons learned from Central American sweatshops to empower the transformation of a now-gentrifying neighborhood gripped in poverty in his...
Alone Through Iran - One Woman's Incredible 1144 Mile Journey, on Foot
This is a teaser trailer for a feature documentary about Kristina Paltén, a lone Swedish woman, who wanted to challange her own and other's prejudices against islam by running across Iran.
Cultivating Empathy for the NEXT Crisis
A central question for this moment in history is how do we collectively navigate a crescendoing wave of crises and move toward planetary resilience and thriving?
The Four Mantras of True Presence
These simple mantras can help us overcome suffering
Post-Brexit Visions of The Possible: It's Time to Imagine a New European Community
We live in the beginning phase of a global revolution which will turn societal conditions upside down. We cannot stop this transformation, but we can influence where it will go. Will the disintegration of the globalized systems lead to fascist violence and molecular civil...
7 Traits of People Who Are Great at Relationships
Relating to your partner, spouse or significant other can be challenging. Here's what the people who make it work know that you may not.
Empathy: Why It's Important, Why We Should Nurture It in Our Kids
One of the most important skills we can teach our kids is empathy. Empathy is the ability to see and value what another person is feeling or experiencing. When we see someone in pain and feel that response in our own gut, that’s empathy. When we see someone crying tears of...
15 Ways to Get Someone Out of Your Head
Expert tips to manage your frustration and get past toxic thinking.
6 Better Ways to Deal With Conflicts in Your Relationship
Intimate relationships bring up intense feelings. Conflict with a partner can feel destabilizing, and make it difficult to be articulate and openly expressive. Many people try to avoid conflict through a variety of maneuvers—pretending to always agree, being aggressively...
Dear Straight Allies, Please Don't Come to Pride Until You've Understood These 6 Things
1. The first Pride was a police riot. We hold Pride each summer to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969. At the time, most states had laws banning LGBT people from assembling in groups. Despite being illegal, the mob opened LGBT bars to profit off of the open...
Dumbing Us Down: The 7 Hidden Lessons of Compulsory Education
While teaching means different things in different places, seven lessons are universally taught from Harlem to Hollywood Hills.
5 Tips for People Who Feel Like They're "Living Alone in a World of Wounds"
Profound ecologist and writer, Aldo Leopold (1887-1948), once said: “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and...
Building a Local Peace Economy: We Have the Power
When attending meetings with peace and justice activists, I often find myself the only business person in the room. Inevitably, someone makes a comment about the evils of business, or greedy capitalists, or some other negative comment that implies business people are the...
In the Absence of the Village, Mothers Struggle Most
Dear Mothers, I’m writing you today because I can no longer contain the ache in my gut and fire in my heart over an injustice that you and I are bearing the brunt of.
A Do No Harm, but Take No Sh*t Guide to Dealing With Others.
Here’s how I work: I’m extremely friendly and respectful to those who obey the laws of common decency when interacting with others.
Joanna Macy On Staying Sane in a Toxic Culture
"All you can know is your allegiance to life and your intention to serve it in this moment that we are given." - Joanna Macy
Husbandry: a Reclamation of Men's Responsibility to Care
To stop the economy’s advance towards greed and destruction, we need new metaphors and images that inspire a radically different alternative.
5 Great Ways to Expand Your World When Traveling
Take them as inspiration, accept them as challenges or follow them as rules. Just remember that the world is open to those with an open mind.
People Were Moved to Tears After Taking the DNA Journey
It's easy to think there are more things dividing us than uniting us. But we actually have much more in common with other nationalities than you'd think.
A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity
A Simpler Way follows a community in Australia who came together to explore and demonstrate a simpler way to live in response to global crises. Throughout the year the group built tiny houses, planted veggie gardens, practised simple living, and learned how to live in community.
The Cosmic Mass: A Modern Ritual for a Vibrant New and Ancient Way of Living
Imagine a Sunday gathering that feels like a real celebration and inspires you in a deeply authentic way. Imagine dancing (and sweating!) your prayers, rather than sitting on benches & being preached at. Imagine experiencing your inner connection to the Divine, touching your...
How to Find Your Power (Your Ability to Make a Difference in the World) - And Avoid Abusing It
For the past twenty years, I have been carrying out experiments to find out how power is distributed in groups. I have infiltrated college dorms and children’s summer camps to document who rises in power. I have brought entire sororities and fraternities into the lab...
What a Strange Way of Life
This documentary closely follows the eco-village Cabrum, a recent community in northern Portugal; Cooperativa Integral Catalana, in Barcelona, which practices self-management with its own coins, the Eco; and finally, the self-sustaining community Tamera also in Portugal. The...
Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm
In facing up to the many profound crises of our time, we face a conundrum that has no easy resolution: how are we to imagine and build a radically different system while living within the constraints of an incumbent system that aggressively resists transformational change?...