On Environmental Powerlessness

When confronted with so many examples of deterioration in our ecosystems, "not thinking about it because I can't do anything about it" is a common response.  Acid rain, deforestation, extinction of species, sullying of habitats, you name it - there's enough environmental despair to go around.

Teacher and Scholar Joanna Macy has some interesting thoughts on this "just ignore it" reaction:

Logically, this is a non sequitur: it confuses what can be thought with what can be done.  When forces are seen as so vast that they cannot be consciously contemplated or seriously discussed, we are doubly victimized; we are impeded in thought as well as action.

Why Is Adding Nature to Our Indoor Environments Important?

For tens of thousands of years, human beings lived deeply connected to the Natural World- its spaces, its cycles, and its species. We are a part of Nature and have evolved in profound connection with other beings and elements of Nature. And yet today, 95% of our time is spent indoors, shut off from Nature's rhythms and energies.

"If human history for the last 40,000 years were represented by just one hour, then the amount of time that we have been living in such extreme isolation from Nature would be represented by only a few seconds." - Denise Linn, Feng Shui for the Soul