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Sustainablog is dedicated to news, information and personal meanderings related to environmental and economic sustainability, green and sustainable business, and environmental politics.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'essay'
The Sensibility of Sabbaths for Sustainable Living
The idea of a sabbath, a period of rest from work or whatever, is something no longer exclusive to Jews and Christians. However, in its original biblical context, the ancient Hebrews also extended thi...
Sustainable by Necessity: Traditional Lifestyles in the Modern Environmental Crisis
Throughout my life, I have had the extreme good fortune of having a close relationship with my paternal grandmother. She is one of the kindest, most caring individuals I have ever known, and I owe her...
Say Hello to My Little Friend–The Hummingbird
Have you ever been outside, maybe working in the garden, soaking up rays by the pool, or snoozing in the hammock, when suddenly a flying, sparkly green centurion with pointy black spear charges up, ou...
Animals, Humans, and the Nature (or Nurture) of Fear
With my feet propped up, an open book in my lap, and the morning sun baking me in my skin like a potato, I certainly was not an intimidating presence. A young squirrel certainly did not find me so, at...
Green Walking 2: Urban Walkabout
My first post on green walking provided some hopefully handy tips for you to go walkabout, to get out in nature and do some green walking. In the age where any travel that is not sustainable is terrib...
Green Walking 1: Go Walkabout
Inspired by Caroline Savery’s great post on bicycling in the city, I wanted to comment on yet another alternative mode of transportation: walking. Walking? C’mon. Yes, walking. Seriously. Walking ...
In Praise of Poop: Rediscovering the Wonders of Cow Manure
Call me crazy, call me crude, but I have to say that there is nothing quite like the smell of cow manure. That scent is so rich, so savory, so earthy, so pungently sweet that just one whiff seems to b...
When Animals Adopt: Lessons of Love and Adoptive Stewardship
“Love has no bounds” is an old cliché. Everyone loves “love”–from Valentine’s Day paraphernalia to sappy greeting cards. And environmentalists say they love nature, love the Earth, lo...
Gobble Gobbledygook: The Ugliness of Nature
Although I am a bird lover, and although I will bear the figurative feathers of the Virginia Tech hokie for life, I have no real affection for wild turkeys. So the graceless gobblers I have been cross...
Play It Again, Gaia
On my walk the other morning, I passed by a point in the woods where two pileated woodpeckers seemed to be in the throes of a frenzied debate. Listening to their contrapuntal cacophony, I could not he...
Sacred Places Future: Nature in the World of Generation W (Wild)
In my previous posts on sacred places, I have claimed that: 1) Sacred places in our past are crucial for making us appreciate nature and formulate an ecological consciousness. So they are crucial for ...
What’s Your Green?
No, my title is not a pickup line overheard at a recent Earth Day festival (though it bloody well could be!). Instead, what I refer to here is how the environmental movement is far from homogenous if ...
Sacred Places Present: Nature Here and Now
Stop Missing the Trees for the Forest! In an earlier post, I discussed sacred places in our past and “sensory flashbacks”–how our physical senses can open up a wormhole in time and space to ...
Meditation on Memorial Day: Why I Am an Environmentalist
Today, Americans remember the many men and women who have died as part of their service to our country in the military. With fireworks and barbecues, memorial services and quiet reflection, we pause f...
The Persistence of Pine: A Sensory Flashback and a Sacred Place
Pine needles, damp with morning dew, glistening at the edge of the road and farther off into the woods beyond. That smell, that fantastically one-of-a-kind scent of wet pine needles. That smell, sharp...
Sensory Flashbacks, Sacred Places, and Environmentalism
Has some sight, some sound, some smell, some taste, some feeling out in nature ever literally stopped time and sent you back in time? Has something purely sensual in the natural world opened up a worm...
Talk is Cheap. Change is Priceless.
Pop Quiz: The following are statements made by each of the current presidential candidates–Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama. Try to match the comment with the candidate. For answer...
The Devil Wears…Gray Fur!
Or at least all of his minions do. For every person that has or has had a bird feeder, I need not say more. Clearly, I am no fan of squirrels–I do not wear T-shirts with cute little squirrel fac...
The Greatest Show IS Earth
Scientists Oliver Pergams and Patty Zaradic have coined the term “videophilia” to describe “the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media”.1 So humans now ...
Earth: Our Sacred Trashcan
Once upon a time, I came to a stop at the intersection of two country roads on the outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia. Dutifully and lawfully stopped in my car, dutifully and lawfully looking both...
The Worst Pollution; or, A Green with Heart. Part 2: Turning Down the Thermostat.
[Author’s Note: This is the second of a 2-part essay on this topic. Part 1, Toxic Avengers, was posted on Thursday.] Part 2: Turning Down the Thermostat So the most toxic fumes polluting our pla...
The Worst Pollution; or, A Green with Heart. Part 1: Toxic Avengers.
[Author’s Note: This is the first of a 2-part essay on this topic. Part 2 will be posted on Friday.] Part 1: Toxic Avengers The imperiled state of our planet seems to be growing more obvious by...
Myths of Environmentalism
Editor’s note: You may take a look at Justin’s bio and think “Oh, no! Not another English Ph.D.!” Yep, we definitely found ourselves with a lot in common when he applied to wri...