Ethics, self-interest and a purposeful life I wonder if we can find our way to “redemption” through service to community, the earth or perhaps the divine? It seems to me that everyone from news reporters to the Occupy Protesters are questioning whether “normal business practices” are ethical. Good question – there have been lots of wrongdoing exposed of late – but before we simply damn the business world as unethical lets look closely the nature of ethics. This blog proposes a...
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Education for Sustainability …will require the integration of thinking and feeling, mind and body, science and spirit, knowledge and values, head and heart. My last blog announcing a new certificate in Sustainable Food and Farming at the University of Massachusetts resulted in lots of inquiries. While most were about specific courses and requirements, some asked about the pedagogy and underlying philosophy of our new program. This blog attempts to describe the thinking that went into...
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Eating food can either be a sterile, hurried act, offering little cause for joy – or a creative, spiritual act of connecting with other people, the earth – and thus with all of Creation. It’s harvest season in Western Massachusetts and everywhere I look I see wonderful local food products for sale. We have vibrant farmers markets, colorful farm stands and productive farms in my region of the world. And of course, I have my own very large garden that is producing tomatoes, peppers,...
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Maybe and maybe not. But there is plenty of “good work” that needs to be done! If you listen to the news these days, everyone is talking about jobs, jobs, jobs (the lack of them). Sunday’s newspaper had several stories about the many reasons for 9% unemployment in the U.S. and the editorials predict a very slow economic recovery. It’s a pretty depressing picture for recent college grads (as well as anyone else just entering the workforce). Students (and parents) are asking if...
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When economic power is concentrated in a few multi-national corporations, it not only erodes two sustainability objectives (environmental integrity and social justice) but creates a political situation that undermines democracy. I wrote in an earlier blog… “the global food system will always favor large, financially efficient businesses which exploit people, undermine democracy, erode community, and degrade natural resources in order to maximize profits.” Another of my blogs...
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My last blog presented a vision of sustainable agriculture and called for a renewed commitment of the “body, heart and soul” of those of us working at public universities like the University of Massachusetts to agricultural research, teaching and outreach. However if the public universities don’t re-energize their agricultural programs at a time when a billion people are hungry, another billion malnourished, and still another billion “overfed”, others surely will! Agricultural education is...
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…. in New England – if it ain’t local, it ain’t sustainable! I got a call from the dean of my college recently. He asked me to stop by and share a few thoughts on the future of sustainable agriculture in New England. While sustainability has become “wicked cool” at the University of Massachusetts and our undergraduate major in Sustainable Food and Farming has grown rapidly, he wanted to know “so what’s next?” Well, I babbled something or...
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