Through a momentary stepping outside of the frame, we can see our interconnection with “everybody and everything on the planet.” — The Overview Effect. That’s a term I’ve wanted to write on for a while. I almost did so after watching the first few episodes of the great documentary series One Strange Rock. Then, again after the news that William Shatner went into space and came back a transformed man. …

Can invasive species, including humans, find a healthy niche? — Recently, I brought the Middletown Forest Bathing group out onto the Coginchaug River, to an area often called the “floating meadows” because of all the aquatic plants growing there. This was the first time we ever had a kayak-based forest bathing class, and it was really quieting. Over the course…

The master of the house gives his AI servants the money and opportunity to grow his fortunes. — A bored AI developer decided to create three bots and endow them with a certain number of talents and just one task: to make more money. He gave the first bot five talents (the equivalent of $3 million in today’s dollars), the second he gave two talents ($1.2 million), and…

This holiday season: festive cheer meets dystopian fear — This week I revisit the poem “The Night Before Christmas,” written way back in 1823, nearly 200 years ago. The news of Elon Musk’s continued evisceration of Twitter and Donald Trump’s continued efforts to regain the presidency gave me a horrific holiday vision of one future America may take.¹ Social…

Five tree relational exercises for you to try — I invite you, instead of reading this essay, to use the 20 minutes you would have spent surfing Medium to go outside and hug a tree, hang from a tree, talk with a tree, build a relationship with a tree, or even be a tree. I realize I’ve written an…

Two more reasons to take your shoes off. — Now and again, I learn something interesting. Yes, yes, every day, I’m learning something new — typically frightening information like how there is PFAS now even in raindrops, or how we’ve already crossed several climate tipping points. But other times I learn facts that deepen some of my eco-meditative practices…

Why are forever chemicals showing up in rain around the world? — Did you hear? A few months back, scientists published a study measuring the concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in rain — not just in industrial areas, or even industrial countries, but all around the world. For those unfamiliar with the term “PFAS,” these are a group of several…

It doesn’t get simpler, or deeper, than this. — How is it that I’ve heard “L’Chaim” dozens of times — at least ten just from rewatching Soylent Green over the years — and never knew what it meant, nor bothered to look it up? But I was watching a documentary a while back and the narrator actually explained that…

No, we don’t really have an official sport, but here’s why karate would be it if we did… — Twice in the past three weeks, I listened to Karate-Do: My Way of Life, the short autobiography of Gichin Funakoshi, one of the founders of modern karate (and the Shotokan school). His was not an easy life: Funakoshi was a sickly child who wasn’t expected to survive. He started karate…