“The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” —Steven Biko   The unseen is always more powerful than what is seen. Small changes in the underlying patterns that organize everything can have large effects, whether it is in our DNA, our culture, or in our minds. This  Continue Reading »

In his wide-ranging rambling autobiography, Travels in Dreams, the Godfather of permaculture Bill Mollison repeats two refrains: “when I am emperor…” and variants of “no I do not want to go see your organic garden”. The first is meant to mock our desires to make things as we think they should be. The second is  Continue Reading »

First of all, I want to thank you, not only for your good efforts, time, and energy but for your caring…your caring not only for this living earth but for the people and the beauty of life. Thank you. Many of you may know of my work from the example of Flowering Tree in Toby  Continue Reading »

“If you give a man a fish you feed him for one day. If you teach him how to fish you teach him for a lifetime.” has been an amazing insight for many people particularly in the aid field. The problem is that we live in a changing and changeable world. What worked yesterday may  Continue Reading »

The most recent tragic shooting is all over the media. The air is full of accusations, excuses, protests and counter defensive responses. And none of it may be very effective in changing this seemingly unending cycle of violence. Although racism, nationalism, racial profiling, and religious extremism are real problems, they may not be the root  Continue Reading »

This story on Thomas Merton reminds us of how we make the world with our minds. How we see determines what we see, how we think, and what we decide to do. If we see ourselves as destined to destroy the world there is no other possible future for us. If we believe that we  Continue Reading »

Fear is not a state that lends itself to us being our best selves, doing our best work or our best thinking. Neither is feeling guilty. Yet we continue to use fear and scolding to motivate people to take care of the earth. Inspiring tends to motivate us all better. We all want to belong  Continue Reading »

Last summer in Maine, my wife Erin laughingly pointed out a boutique having a sale on little packets of seed balls, She said,” Isn’t it ironic that a man who focused on not-doing is known for the ways of doing that he developed?  She was referring of course to Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka who developed  Continue Reading »

My family and I did a permaculture tour of the Four Corners region last month. First we spoke and facilitated a food forest design for a community park in Boulder UT. After driving through amazing spring wildflowers in Capitol Reef National Park we returned to Moab for the fifth year to work with the wonderful  Continue Reading »

The key to all of our problems is knowing where and how we belong…within nature. No matter how clever they are, so long as we are outside doing things to the living world, all of our ecological efforts are manipulations. We are engineers or operators  rather than members. Only when we enter the world can  Continue Reading »