Moving from an individualized sense of resignation to a culture of solidarity. — All of us who work for a living know what it’s like to feel overworked and disrespected by our employer. We’re constantly wondering if we should start looking for another job — and we find ourselves wasting precious time away from work doing just that. But we also know it’s…

Let’s imagine a society where we grow food together, for our families and communities, and feed our most vulnerable first. — Thus, learning the art of horticulture from experts, and trying experiments in different methods on small patches of soil reserved for the purpose, vying with each other to obtain the best returns, finding in physical exercise, without exhaustion or overwork, the health and strength which so often flags in cities…

A review of Matthew T. Huber’s ‘Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet’. — What might Marx and Engels have said about today’s climate crisis? Matthew T. Huber, an energy geographer at Syracuse University, tackles this question in his latest book, Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet (2022). Huber begins his analysis with the question: who is causing the…

How do we build a world that affirms life in general? — As a home health occupational therapist, I work with people in their homes after they’ve come out of the hospital. My role is to help them live as safely and independently as possible. Most of my clients are older, in their 70s or 80s. …

Before the next one hits… — The pandemic caused most of us to step back and reflect on the fragility of our society. It isn’t hard to imagine a virus just as contagious as COVID-19 with a slightly higher fatality rate — just high enough that essential workers decide coming into work isn’t worth the risk…

Lessons from philosophy, physics, and Bob Ross — The word “decide” stems from the Latin “decidere.” “Decidere” is comprised of the prefix “de,” meaning “of” or “from” and “caedo,” meaning “cut” or “fell.” In an important sense, then, to decide is to cut something away from your life. It’s a kind of pruning. …

A terrestrial adventure — A space is a means to an end. A place is an end in itself. When, in human history, did we create the first space? Was it the first fence being built? Was it the first road? Was it the moment the first farmer pleaded with the sky? Humans have…

A Buddhist reflection on Stephen Jenkinson’s philosophy of death — In the summer of 2009, I was in Bamako, Mali, learning Bambara as a Peace Corps volunteer. It was my fourth day of class. I hadn’t slept well the night before and was struggling to pay attention. Just as I was about to nod off, a man called my name…

How this one metaphor makes all the difference — In his timeless essay, “A Native Hill,” the farmer-philosopher Wendell Berry distinguishes a path from a road: A path is little more than a habit that comes with knowledge of a place. It is a sort of ritual of familiarity. As a form, it is a form of contact with…