Andrew Revkin has a great post up over at Dot Earth where Neil DeGrasse Tyson shares his thoughts on new images of Earth, “The Blue Marble.” It’s a beautiful paean to our planet, our history of conflicts, discoveries, and our will to cooperate to protect ourselves and the planet. Tyson concludes the short piece this way: … More Blue Marbles and Pale Blue Dots

The following posts originally appeared at the Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light blog for our climate change ride. I’m reposting my Rider Profile and my post-trip reflection here for a few reasons. PA-IPL just graciously reposted my piece on Earth Overshoot Day (thanks Cricket!). Second, as we are between the unveiling of the Laudato Si … More Reposts: PA-IPL profile & reflection on the #climatechange ride

Earlier today I wrote about the edge of the world because it’s Earth Overshoot Day. As I was assembling materials for Penn State’s Field Guide to Teaching Sustainability, I came back across a piece in Science Magazine called “Sustainable Development” by Jeffrey Sachs. Sachs is the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and has been … More The bottleneck is the edge of the world

Today is Earth Overshoot Day, the day on which humans have used up nature’s budget for the entire year. As of today, August 13th, we go into debt with nature for the year. In 2000, Earth Overshoot Day happened in early October. According to the Global Footprint Network,who “tracks humanity’s demand on the planet (Ecological … More Earth Overshoot Day

Back in June I started this little series on Penn State’s sustainability talk and the possibility that it’s just greenwashing. What I mean by that is whether or not Penn State’s leaders and communicators are deceiving the public into thinking that “We are” a greener, more sustainable university than “We really are.” This would all … More So what do I mean by “greenwashing” anyway? (Penn State & greenwashing part 4,320)

I have ways of gathering information, my daily and weekly trusted sources. I put them in my Twitter feed, they open as my home page, I pick them up on newsstands, and I get email alerts from them. Maybe you just want something new to read. The following are just regular places I visit that … More Resources I like for environment, sustainability, and thinking

Yesterday, President Obama unveiled the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, by far the most ambitious rule the United States federal government has adopted to tackle climate change. The rule will cause the largest transition toward renewable energy, less-polluting (though still less-than-idea) fossil fuel power production, and energy conservation in American history. In the face of a … More President Obama, climate disruption, justice, & the merchants of doubt

I just met Gene Bazan and Tania Slawecki, two of the people who started the Center for Sustainability at Penn State about 20 years ago. Tania was the director (“Such as I was anyway,” she said) from 2001 to 2004 (read about an the Living Machine they created here). They’ve since moved on to create … More Such anxiety clouds our decisions.