Donald Worster is an environmental historian at the University of Kansas. He is the author of Dust Bowl: the Southern Plains in the 1930s, Nature's Economy, and Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity and the American West. It is sometimes claimed that he is one of the most brilliant people of our time.

Worster just published an article that argues a pet theme of mine, that as bad as terrorism is, the "war" against terrorism and the unfathomable cost associated with it is terribly misguided. It can only bring about a more insecure world and massive suffering - imagine ...

While traveling my million miles on corporate business adding countless tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, I wrote this poem on a primitive blackberry and then sent it to myself. No, I'm not proud of what I contributed in the name of capitalism, but it's a major reason why I now walk a lighter path on the Earth. Today I refound the poem...

Peace
White Feather

the vulture
2000

the vulture caught the wind
cutting though the air
looking
searching
although only the size of a pea
its brain thought only of survival
not really focused on the vector
transcribed by the bird
in multi-dimensional reality
food
eat
mate
live
desert below
but ...

All over the world, we are clamoring for alternative fuels to replace petroleum products, and this is a good thing. Well, except for the bad side, that is. Specifically ethanol and fuels made from grain, are rapidly forcing the price of foods to skyrocket, not so much in the developed West where we are not totally reliant on grains, but but many other countries are beginning to feel the additional cost and are suffering. This is because the world's largest producer and exporter of grain is trying to move its production towards the creation of fuels, therefore grain starts ...

Sorry to burden everyone with SO much great news, but this one literally made me fall out of my chair. Let me see if I can condense this into a couple of words before posting the article. We use petroleum based products - we increase carbon-based emissions - these cause global warming - this melts the ice caps - there is oil in the icecaps - so now we'll all go frigging nuts to get the oil out so we can use it and start again at the beginning of this sentence. I am seriously beginning to wonder what kind ...

Here we go again - this time it's that magnificent creature that has insprired mankind since the dawn of time, the bear. We know that bears were sacred to us 30-60,000 years ago. Apparently not so now that we've grown up.

I have to say that this story is a bit of good news / bad news. But why, WHY do we need to get our kicks out of hoping "to have a hunt for a bear or two "? I just don't get it. How can tracking down an animal, any animal, just to kill it, ...

Wake Up And Smell The Roses
©2007 White Feather

Every day, I check in with an online forum that allows free discussion between anthropologists, ecologists, geographers, sociologists - it's really interesting if you're into that sort of thing! but recently there has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing about the meanings of knowledge and theory, going all the way back to Marx and Darwin and including some of today's most critical thinkers - I won't bore you with all of that. The point though is that most of the academics that I am listening too are taking one of ...

Some of you know me by now and know that I love information! Of particular interest is the little bit that discusses the early dispute between the Christian and Pagan origins!!! So I thought I'd share this with you - beware, I didn't have time to research it or validate it, but as I read the following, I didn't see any obvious errors - if you know of any though, share them here as comments for all to see!

This information was written by:

Copyright © 2000 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-FEB-23
Latest update: 2006-MAY-14
Author: ...

I have seen a film. A very well-done film called The Great Global Warming Swindle, which basically claims that humans are not responsible for global warming - that the scientists are all lying. Why did I say a very well-done film? Because it is extremely well produced with a very believable scientific bent. BUT IT IS ALL LIES simply meant to persuade millions of people who don't look any deeper that we do not have a climate change problem or at least that it's not us who are to blame.

I was going to write a whole blog about why ...