New Years Resolution

I usually don't make a new years resolution. 

However, it occurred to me that this NEW year is not only the launching point we need for the future of life on this little blue ball, but it is also marks a metamorphosis in my life where I have the unique opportunity to forge a path for the rest of my life and restore my health to new heights. It's as if there has never been a bigger moment for me.

My friends, heroes, teachers and loved ones inspired me to realize that what I need is to do is, every morning when I first wake up and draw that first breath and see the light, use that moment to I accept the full gift of life, complete with open arms and smiles. 

From there I will seek and find in myself what needs to be done, continuing to develop my well-being so that I can put all of myself, all that I am and all that I have been given, to the utmost service on this planet and live deeply in my purpose in life while I'm here.

Altruism, Ecology, and the Future of Humanity

Growing up in America, people make it seem like life is about going out for all you can. Now, I completely agree in a spiritual way, but that way of thinking has created an ecological nightmare that won't get better unless we do.

What if there was a happy medium, an optimal point between taking for your self and leaving room for the ecology?

I like this example, which was brought to my attention by Professor John Harte in a class called "Ecology and Society" in the Energy and Resources department at UC Berkeley.

Just consider bacteria and plants. The bacteria create nutrients that plants are able to take up, the plants in turn transform sunlight into sugar, which eventually becomes part of the soil when the plants die. The bacteria use the energy in the sugar to carry out their lives and continue creating nutrients for the plants.

But the bacteria need nutrients too. They compete with the plants for these precious building blocks of life. If bacteria consume too much nutrients and overpopulate, the plants become outcompeted, they die, and the bacteria colony to collapses soon after.

But how does this relate to humans? Consider our situation in the world, with 7 billion people who are consuming more and more resource as a means to make their lives "better."

Resources are what we need to survive, but complications from our extraction rate (soil degradation in the case of food, climate change and pollution in the case of fossil fuel energy) are surely setting in, compounding as our resource use increases.

So what is Altruism? Are the bacteria, the species that takes up just enough resources to survive but not so much that it destroy their life support system, truly "altruists?"

Altruism is usually defined as carrying out actions that benefit others but bring no gain for the actor or that bring harm (reduced evolutionary fitness) to the the actor.

The point I am trying to make is that the bacteria that have the best long term survival are "altruists" in the short term sense; but in the long term, they are much more fit to survive in the environment.

Can humans, especially those of us in a society that promotes and expects copious consumption and waste, learn to live in a way that values long term survival as something more than just altruism? Everything will depend on the answer to that question.

Overcoming Environmental Despair

Dylan’s keys for overcoming environmental despair

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Living in the world today, it’s hard to get away from that fact that society has its back against the wall. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has questioned how livable the planet will be one hundred years from now, and I know I’m not the only person who has questioned the systems that brought us here. 

If you're reading this, I'm sure you're aware of the environmental and economic disasters the human race (especially our fossil-burning culture) is responsible for. The world may seem like a hard place to live, and looking at what’s going on, you may find yourself in the grips of Environmental Despair. It’s that depressing feeling you get when you dwell on the fact that society may never “get it right”; that you’re too small to make a difference; and that it’s already too late.



Well it seems to me that the better part of my life is about figuring out how to overcome ED (I know what you’re thinking) and inspiring others to join me! Here are 5 easy things to do that will help you keep an optimistic perspective on working towards solving society's biggest problems and making the world a better place to live:



1) Relax. Don’t take the world on your shoulders. Baby-steps. Make plans, but be flexible, work with others and find out how you can help them, and together you will meet your goals.



2) Take some time to yourself. Do something you enjoy: go outside, listen to music, eat your favorite [healthy/eco-friendly] food, or have some good old-fashioned lovemaking. Hell, combine all 4 of those things! But seriously, focus on positive activities that make you feel whole.



3) Don’t get hung up on the “hopeless cynics” in the world. It doesn’t matter if you can get people to see your point of view; what matters is understanding our common needs and working together to meet them. Keep the faith. Not everybody will want to cooperate, but an overwhelming majority of people out there want to help out but don’t know where to start.



4) Little things DO matter! If you can get someone to smile at a glance during the course of your day, you already made the world a better place. Don't get bogged down with big problems when you can spend your time accomplishing smaller but achievable goals. With that outlook, making an impact is ALWAYS within reach.

Best-for-last 

5) You have the power to choose for yourself! Living your life the way that feels truly right to you genuinely helps your self and the world at the same time. I know “Still Life with Woodpecker” by Tom Robbins offers refreshing perspective on this. 



Finally, I have found loads of these little goodies in my life, all of which give me overwhelming strength of spirit. I would like to share 2 of them here because they’ve been helping me for years to defeat the symptoms of ED and to feel great doing it: 



1) The Serenity Prayer – “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”


2) Any song from the Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia; "Ship of Fools" especially captures the essence of a person experiencing environmental despair and offers keen advice for those of us willing to rock the boat: “Though I could not caution all, I still might warn a few/Don’t lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools.” (video embedded)

http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/ship.html - The annotated “Ship of Fools”