John Taylor Gatto: Beyond Money

Audio only but well worth the 45 min. to listen. Listening to Gatto is like finally stepping outside and breathing fresh air after you've been sitting for hours  in a closed room with smokers. Enjoy!

Nature Needs a New Pronoun

Robin Wall Kimmerer says calling the natural world “it” absolves us of moral responsibility and opens the door to exploitation. Here's what we can say instead:

“Ki” to signify a being of the living Earth. Not “he” or “she,” but “ki.” So that when we speak of Sugar Maple, we say, “Oh that beautiful tree, ki is giving us sap again this spring.” And we’ll need a plural pronoun, too, for those Earth beings. Let’s make that new pronoun “kin.” So we can now refer to birds and trees not as things, but as our earthly relatives. On a crisp October morning we can look up at the geese and say, “Look, kin are flying south for the winter. Come back soon.”

Language can be a tool for cultural transformation. Make no mistake: “Ki” and “kin” are revolutionary pronouns. Words have power to shape our thoughts and our actions. On behalf of the living world, let us learn the grammar of animacy. We can keep “it” to speak of bulldozers and paperclips, but every time we say “ki,” let our words reaffirm our respect and kinship with the more-than-human world. Let us speak of the beings of Earth as the “kin” they are.

We humans look rather different from a tree. Without a doubt we perceive the world differently than a tree does. But down deep, at the molecular heart of life, the trees and we are essentially identical. --Carl Sagan

--by Robin Wall Kimmerer, syndicated from Yes Magazine, Jun 06, 2015

For the full article, CLICK HERE.

Matthieu Ricard: How to let altruism be your guide

Here is an entertaining, uplifting and inspiring video by a Tibetan Monk. Matthieu Ricard will give you hope that we crazy, selfish humans actually have what it takes to transition to a healthier, saner world based on caring for each other and all the animals and plants we share the world with. Watch, smile and feel good.

How To Be Unhappy - Dr. Matthew Whoolery

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. When you are drowned in unhappiness most of the time, it can be a little tough to wake up to the shiny concept of joy. He is here to tell you how to be great at, what you’re already good at. Watch him talk about “How to be Unhappy”.

Dr. Matthew Whoolery is a Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University. He simplifies psychological concepts to apply them to real life constructs, garnishing them with a little humor before bringing them to his audience.

Housing Security for All!

Haven't you always dreamed of living in a little Hobbit-house like this?

Chris and I have become acquainted with two wonderful gals, Hannah and Tuula who are truly living life "out of the box". Since we have known them, they have cycled all the way across the country to bring awareness to issues around food, farming and eating local. Recently they have been putting their life energies, and bringing awareness to another essential need: shelter.  They are well along the way towards building a "tiny house" on wheels. Below is an excerpt from their latest post about this project.

I have an idea. Let’s end homelessness in America and make access to housing a right, not a privilege. Take the money we spend on giving tax breaks to developers who build McMansions on spec and give any person with a housing need a monthly stipend to spend on building supplies. Half must be spent at a local business. It can go to improve existing housing or building new. We’ll need some community education, too. Maybe those soldiers who are building schools and churches to build American goodwill abroad could come home and teach their neighbors these basic skills. Teach them to the women who are in desperate need of safe, healthy housing for their families. Teach them to college grads who are limited by living at home to save money. 

To read the rest of Tuula's post, CLICK HERE
To go to the home page of their Tiny House Blog CLICK HERE

Sacred Economics - Eisenstein - A Short Movie

All that seems wrong with the world; the greed, the destruction of the natural world, people's sense of loneliness and isolation; all can be traced to our culture;s obsession with money. What if there were a way to open the door to finding where our gifts and passion intersected with the world's need, and we could begin to re-experience life as the sacred gift it has always been?

In this beautiful 12-minute movie, Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics, helps to lift us out of the cynicism and despair so many of us feel mired in and imagine a world of new possibilities. Enjoy!

Giftivism: Another Name for 'Sharing'

Pavi Mehta - Giftivism: Reclaiming the Priceless

"Giftivism: the practice of radically generous acts that transform the world. History has seen giftivists in all corners - Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and so forth. People who believed that when we change ourselves, we can fundamentally change the world. But this ability isn't restricted to social change giants. The seeds of giftivism lie in each of us. But to tap into it we have to do something all these people did. We have to upturn one of the core assumptions of economics - the assumption that people always act to maximize self-interest. The assumption that we are inherently selfish beings. Giftivism flips that idea on its head. What practices, systems and designs emerge when we believe people WANT to behave selflessly?" In this heart-stirring talk filled with real-life stories, writer Pavi Mehta describes the path of Giftivism and the vast potential it holds for returning us to the priceless.

This video was sent to us because we subscribe to one of "Service Space's" offerings: Daily Good - which daily deposits in my inbox examples of positive, hopeful actions taking place worldwide. Here is the link to the original post: LINK