May/June 2013On Consumption
Dear Friends: Nobody ever taught us to pray, “Give us this day our stockpile of bread with a shelf-life of forty years.” Hoarding resources for private gain is a course of action that despoils the Earth and obstructs our right relationship with God. Humanity today consumes resources 50% faster than the Earth can replenish them. In the United States, we consume them 400% faster. (See footprintnetwork.org.) Habitat destruction and other factors caused biodiversity to plummet by 30% across the globe and by 60% in the tropics between 1970 and 2008. (See wwf.panda.org.) Dozens of species go extinct and a thousand people die of starvation each day, due to human greed, ignorance, and inertia.
Longtime leaders in conservation biology Paul Ehrlich and Gretchen Daily continue to call for global change in three broad areas: 1) achieve sustainable levels of global resource consumption though reductions in human population and per capita consumption rates, 2) achieve the former in large part by reducing global inequity among peoples, and 3) strengthen the leadership that science provides to society. Read this article
Not Just Intense: Alive
Friends: Western Friend’s board is working to discern how much magazine content to post for free on our website and/or whether/how to charge for that service. In the mean time, I am taking requests for specific magazine articles that you would like me to post here. Send me your requests at “editor-at-westernfriend-dot-org.” Peace, Mary
From Western Friend, March/April 2013:
Joanne Steinwachs has practiced psychotherapy as a clinical social worker since 1985 and runs a private practice in Denver. She works primarily with adults, addressing a wide range of issues, including chronic mental illness, addictions, eating disorders, and bipolar disorder. Joanne is a friend of Friends, and she spoke with Western Friend by phone on March 14, 2013.
Western Friend: Could you start out by talking a little about your professional experience, especially in working with people with substance abuse issues?
Joanne Steinwachs: The primary model that I work from is called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Basically what we think is that most struggles people have are from their trying to get rid of stuff that humans can’t get rid of – normal, everyday parts of being human, like shame, hurt and Read More
May/June Magazine Contents
The Bonds of Animal Agriculture by Joe Snyder … 5
Considering Water by Carol Bosworth … 8
Leap into Wings by Kyle Chandler-Isacksen … 9
On Ben Lomond – Seven Haiku by George Schaefer … 12
If Animals Could Talk by Tyger Wright … 13
Consume Less by Richard Grossman … 16
The Great March for Climate Action by Ed Fallon … 17
Yes Free Lunch by Members of Moab Meeting … 18
Whose Needs? by Audrey Graham … 19
Garage Sale Spirituality by Linnea Wang … 20
Seeking Right Relationship with Our Earth – interview
with Shelley Tanenbaum of Quaker Earthcare
Witness and Quaker Institute for the Future … 21
Reviews
Hello, House, reviewed
by Eleanor Dart … 24
In the Wild Places, reviewed
by Robert S. Henry … 25