This morning, I heard a loud thump in my boss’s office, closely followed by, “S***!” Denice came to my office and said, “Peter, a big crow just hit my office window and it’s stuck in the shrubbery. Will you help me get it out?” I got up and we went outside. She was dazed, beak … More Such an elegant bird, the crow
[Note: This is an update on a post I did several weeks ago.] I’ve just read this thought- and fright-inducing piece by Robert Kagan in The Washington Post titled “This is how fascism comest to America.” Kagan aims squarely at Trump’s own political philosophical incoherence. The unifying theme within Trump’s philosophy is Trump. How does … More Never let there be an American Ernst Janning
The presidential candidates show us who they are by what kinds of things they stake policy positions on, the number of positions they take, and the detail and rhetoric in those positions. Sanders has position pages on 34 issues. Clinton has 31. Trump has 7. Each of them address immigration reform, veterans, health care (Medicare … More A very practical post on Presidential candidates
The antics in Nevada by some Sanders supporters irk me. Reading this piece by Edwin Lyngar in Salon, I’m flummoxed. Because the people who are throwing epithets and threatening party officials are doing it about a person. About someone around whom they seem to have made a cult of personality. And not a coherent political … More Do not welcome the sovereign
Grant Township’s people are in a hell of a fight against the fossil fuel hydra. The 700-person Western Pennsylvania community is resisting Pennsylvania General Energy Company’s (PGE) creation of a deep injection well that would pump millions of gallons of toxic fracking wastewater under its neighborhoods. All of the houses are on wells. If the … More Let’s revere the people stopping the desecration of Grant Township
“It will be a lot longer until the wounds from the Sandusky child-abuse scandal can finally close. But Penn State is now trying to move toward that healing.” ~Brian Barnett, ESPN I walked onto Penn State’s Old Main lawn. A pall was draped over the people walking under the elms, the beech, and the willow … More Justice. Healing. Caring. #JoePaKnew
In my Foundations of Leadership in Sustainability class, students write their final papers in the form of letters to their great-grandchilden. They also reflect on their family histories back to their own great-grandparents. They are ruminations on family, on purpose, on our place in society and the web of life. Some of these letters are … More Seventh Generation Letters
“You can’t be neutral on a moving train.” ~ Howard Zinn Monday night, four of the Ferguson supervisors voted on a few issues I know some of you are very interested in. They include whether we conduct a survey on a referendum for environmental resource preservation, allow backyard chickens, and whether to go forward with … More There’s no free lunch on a moving train
I was just interviewed by a reporter about parks, especially Ferguson Township’s Tudek Park. Thought I’d share this with you. At a fundamental level, I believe we are all full of what E.O. Wilson calls biophilia, “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” When we make a good park where human art, recreation, … More Why are parks important? Biophilia.
Peter Walks for Democracy 