Life Saves the Planet Blog:
Vision A forward-looking perspective that envisions a sustainable and resilient future, inspiring climate action, innovation, and transformative change in various sectors and at different scales.
A forward-looking perspective that envisions a sustainable and resilient future, inspiring climate action, innovation, and transformative change in various sectors and at different scales.
AN ECONOMICS OF LOVE
In early 2024, I offered an online 12-week course called “An Economics of Love” under the auspices of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. Initially, I feared that people would encounter “An Economics of Love” as some sort of ‘hipster-flipster’ indulgence of flaky ideas, although those who enrolled showed no signs of any such dismissal, which…
Cows, Salmon, and Mottainai
About 15 years ago my friend Dr. Kyoko Nakayama taught me the Japanese word “mottainai.” Since then, I’ve been trying to wrap my small brain around what mottainai truly means. Every time I think I understand mottainai, the concept grows, and my brain stretches.
Blackwaters Film Screening and Discussion – Friday, March 15
Join Bio4Climate community members for the Cambridge screening of a groundbreaking new film, BLACKWATERS – Brotherhood In The Wild. We are proud to co-sponsor this free screening along with other organizations and the hosts at the Greater Boston Chapter of Trout Unlimited. To join our meetup, RSVP here and make sure you register with Trout…
Regenerating Life Screening and Discussion Series – February 8, 15, and 22
Join soil scientist Didi Pershouse and Bio4Climate members Jim Laurie and Maya Dutta this February for a learning and discussion series on John Feldman’s Regenerating Life. The Center for an Ecology Based Economy (CEBE) is hosting a hybrid series to screen the documentary in three parts and discuss the science and solutions within. Register now…
Toward a Regenerative Future – Monday, January 29 at 6pm ET
On Monday, January 29, Vincent Stanley of Patagonia joined our Life Saves the Planet lecture series to discuss the role of business in pivoting to regenerative systems. It is easy to vilify globalization and corporate America, but what would happen if the vast resources of the world economy turned towards eco-restoration, fair trade and uplifting…
Halley’s Comet and Scenario 300
Halley’s Comet last hurtled around the Sun in 1986 and is expected to return in July of 2061. What will the Earth be like when the Comet returns? What kind of world do we want to greet it?
Are We Doing Solar Right?
On Thursday, November 9 at 6 pm ET, we welcomed Michelle Manion of Mass Audubon to our Life Saves the Planet lecture series to discuss the negative impacts of solar installations on forest land and the viability of alternatives. Check out the recording now.
Save Mass Forests – Forest Protection Bills in MA under review in Nov. 2023
As renewable energy projects are implemented to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels, regulations suspended to help fast-track beneficial projects and combat climate change have allowed the deforestation of intact woodlands. This decreases our resilience, and makes very little sense in the long term. Simply put, we don’t need to cut down trees to put…
What a Great Day at Tufts: Regenerating Life Together
Our Boston Premiere of Regenerating Life at Tufts University was a tremendous success! It was exciting to see about 100 people come together to experience how John Feldman wove the many threads of the importance of nature to climate stability together in film. Conversation was lively during the lunch break, as people talked with exhibitors…
Regenerating Life: A New Look at the Climate Crisis – September 27 at 6 pm
On Wednesday, September 27 at 6pm ET, John Feldman will share his perspective on Regenerating Life – an ecosystems perspective on the climate crisis. He will be joined in conversation by environmental journalist and author Judith D. Schwartz to explore regenerative solutions to climate disruption, global warming, and food insecurity. Read more and register now to…
Lark Ascending – September 15 at 3pm
On Friday, September 15, join us at the Cambridge Public Library for an afternoon of art, music, and the transformative power of community. This book reading, performance, and fundraiser is open to all. Come for songs and refreshments, and stay for lively discussion with open-hearted people. Lark Ascending by Meleth Delia (Lark) Batteau is a…
Bring Nature to the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels – September 10 – 24
From now until September 24, we each have a critical opportunity to spread the message that #NatureCools in cities throughout the world, on social media, and in the mainstream media. Join us in showing people that restoring and protecting nature cools the climate, hydrates the land to prevent wildfires, drought and flooding, and reduces extreme weather.…
Earth is a Person
Nathan Phillips remarked to me that trees were like lungs. I thought, it’s far more than that… In the Surgical Oncology Unit, the cancer ward, you can’t always save people. Sometimes all you can do is keep them comfortable, be there with them, then care for their families as they go. You see the many…
An Inspiring Grassroots Approach to Ecorestoration: Sahel Ecovillage Communities
On Thursday July 27 at 1 pm ET, we welcomed Dr. Ousmane Pame, Katrina Jeffries, and Dr. Marie Nazon to our Life Saves the Planet lecture series to discuss the Ecovillage movement and their work with REDES, a Network for Ecovillage Emergence and Development in the Sahel region of Africa. They shared their experience and…
Climate Emotions: The Turbulent Turf of 21st Century Feelings
“Climate Anxiety” has become a widespread theme lately. As Bio4Climate began planning an event along those lines, I thought of my own anxieties about biodiversity loss and global warming, and wondered how to transform climate distress into a rich, meaningful and adaptive state of mind. I’m finding that it helps when I embrace rather than…
Lessons from a Monarch Butterfly
What can we learn from the monarch butterfly? A few months ago, as the new year rolled in, I reflected on the way we humans use holidays and calendars to mark time’s passage, and how this might look to other creatures whose life span and sense of time is very different. For example, most monarch…
Imagine Earth Day in Ten Years
How do you experience your connection to the planet? For me, my sense of intimacy with other life comes from my senses – feeling the sun on my skin, smelling the magnolias blooming in the air, watching day by day and week by week as buds sprout, unfurl, and flower to invite bees and ants inside.…
Reflections on Activism
At Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, we believe that everyone has a place in the fight for a livable climate and flourishing future. We were called to this work from different places and for different reasons, but we’re united in our commitment to be stewards of nature, and to work with nature and each other…
Barn Swallows and the Tyranny of Small Decisions
Barn Swallows, birds who eat insects as they scurry across the sky, are disappearing. This isn’t surprising, I suppose, given that they are among the 2.9 billion birds lost across species in the United States – representing one third of the bird numbers we had 50 years ago. What did surprise me is how we…
The New Water Paradigm Is Important For the Future of Humanity and the Earth
Jan Lambert’s Quick-Take: A brief letter written for the Valley Green Journal by Michal Kravčík . For much more information, see Water for the Recovery of the Climate-A New Water Paradigm. [FIX LINK] Abstract: In the Valley Green Journal November 2014 issue I introduced readers to Michal Kravčík, a scientist who is an expert in…
A Call for Sanity
In September, members of the United Nations will convene a round of climate change negotiations. It’s not hard to guess what is on the table: greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Yet after almost three decades of effort, during which atmospheric carbon concentrations have only gone up, another meeting focused primarily if not exclusively on emissions reductions appears to…