The Glass Really Is Half Empty

Residents waited to collect water from a natural spring in Cape Town. Photo by Discott In 2018 Cape Town, South Africa, a city of over 4 million, ran out of water. The city government announced that on β€œDay Zero” residents would have no running water in their homes and businesses. People lined up at communal … Continue reading The Glass Really Is Half Empty

Moral Tribes

Featured Book Moral Tribes Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them Joshua D. GreenePaperback edition 2014 We live in an age of historically declining violence and expanding kindness. But it doesn’t feel like that to most of us. Unprecedented global threats and conflicts demand advances in our ability to coexist peacefully. Joshua D. … Continue reading Moral Tribes

The Neurophysiology of the Trance State and Our Concept of a Three-Tiered Cosmos

Modern shamanism, Wikimedia Commons Throughout the world, Shamanic vision journeys display a similar pattern that cannot be accounted by communication or migration. By Robert Ornstein, PhD, Sally Mallam, and Doug Keefe, PhDContributing Writers Clottes and Lewis-Williams point out that although shamanic cultures are very different from one another, there are remarkable similarities that point to a basic human universal: … Continue reading The Neurophysiology of the Trance State and Our Concept of a Three-Tiered Cosmos

Alternative Currency: Substitute Moneys and Cryptocurrencies

Bristol Pounds – and example of community currency. Currency is ephemeral and secondary; that it is the underlying mechanism of credit and repayment of accounts is the essence of money. For different reasons, alternative, unofficial currencies have served this function in place of, or alongside, government money. By George KasabovContributing Writer As we have seen, … Continue reading Alternative Currency: Substitute Moneys and Cryptocurrencies

Multilateral and Bilateral Aid

Whether aid is given through multilateral organizations or bilaterally state-to-state, factors such as oppressive autocratic regimes, corruption, political and economic instability and the lack of civil rights in the recipient countries coupled with cronyism, inflexibility, fragmentation, and lack of in-country knowledge on the part of donors all impede its effectiveness. Multilateral Aid–The UN, IMF and World Bank Today, approximately … Continue reading Multilateral and Bilateral Aid

A Sustainable Planet

All human advances have been connected to advances in producing and using energy from Earth’s natural resources. Those resources are finite, and we are now at a crossroads. The paths we take will be key to our future. Earth has endured and survived extreme climate change more than once, with varying impacts on natural life. … Continue reading A Sustainable Planet

Religious Life

Like other pre-Axial cultures, Greeks believed in a pantheon of Gods who presided over every aspect of life and nature. By Sally MallamContributing Write As in other cultures, the development of Greek religion focused around those aspects of Greek life that were of primary importance, for the Greeks it was the resolution of conflict or statis, … Continue reading Religious Life

Emotions: How and Why they Operate

Emotions can be complex and confusing. Why exactly do we have emotions? How much control do we have over them? Thanks to developments in neuroscience, our understanding of the complex functions of the brain is increasing, including their role in our emotional life. Robert Ornstein, PhD; David Sobel, MD, MPH; and Sally MallamContributing Writers The content … Continue reading Emotions: How and Why they Operate

Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis

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By Al Gore It is now abundantly clear that we have at our fingertips all of the tools we need to solve the climate crisis. The only missing ingredient is collective will. Properly understood, the climate crisis is an unparalleled opportunity to finally and effectively address many persistent causes of suffering and misery that have long been neglected, and to transform the prospects of future generations, giving them a chance to live healthier, more prosperous lives as they continue their pursuit of happiness.