The Myth of Peak Stuff

“Scientists say the weight of human-made objects will likely exceed that of living things by the end of the year.”                                                 ~ Helen Briggs A good friend warned me years ago about peak oil, when the production of oil from the Earth reached its peak, and the amount of oil remaining would continuously decline, exacerbating […]

There’s a Kind of a Hush

When we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy.                                                 ~ Herman Hesse Our young dog makes a mad dash out the back door to surprise the crowd at the bird feeder. The birds explode in a shower […]

Should We Get Under Our Desk?

Is It Safe?”                                                 ~ Laurence Olivier, Marathon Man It was a terrifying scene that haunts to this day anyone who saw the film. Thomas Levy (Dustin Hoffman) is strapped into a chair by the evil dentist Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) who hovers menacingly with his dental tools. “Is it safe?” Szell asks. The […]

Back to Nature

“Bury me not, on the lone prairie.”                                                 ~ The Cowboy’s Lament It was a lonely grave, no other markers or structures nearby. An old board, with flaked paint almost obscuring the message, stood upright in the desert at the base of Utah’s Book Cliffs. Maybe it had been some cowboy riding the lonely range […]

Refuge

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”                                                 ~ Wayne Gretzky My mail, email and Facebook feed are deluged this season with fundraising requests from a variety of environmental and social groups showing endangered species and abused animals that need my money to be saved. Obviously, […]