Category: Ecology

What If the Economy Was Modeled After Ecology?

I mean… this is pretty much what I do if they’d like to give me a call. 

What If the Economy Was Modeled After Ecology? – Longreads:

What if we thought of the American economy as an organism, rather than a machine? For Atmos, Christine Ro talks with John Fullerton, a former J.P. Morgan banker focused on regenerative economics—which, in simplest terms, is the idea that the economy is a living system. The founder of a paradigm-changing think tank, Fullerton tells Ro he’s not anti-capitalist, but instead wants to build an economy that’s resilient as a whole, optimizes different forms of capital beyond financial capital, and celebrates human creativity within a healthier and less monopolistic market. He also thinks financial institutions like banks could do a lot of good—but they won’t. Reading their conversation, I couldn’t help but think of everything I’ve learned in school over the decades—about Adam Smith, about GDP, about growth—and imagine a world where future generations begin their economic lessons under the guidance of ecology’s wisdom.

Artificial Intelligence at the Crossroads of Science, Ethics, and Spirituality

I’ve been interested in seeing how corporate development of AI data centers (and their philosophies and ethical considerations) has dominated the conversation, rather than inviting in other local and metaphysical voices to help shape this important human endeavor. This paper explores some of those possibilities (PDF download available here…)

Artificial Intelligence at the Crossroads of ScienceDownload

Ancient Greeks and Romans on Environmental Harm

Interesting readings from ancient voices and the connection between ecological intentionality and human health / wellbeing…

Ancient Greeks and Romans knew harming the environment could change the climate:

Since at least the fourth century BC, the ancient Greeks and Romans recognised that the climate changes over time and that human activity can cause it.

The Problem of AI Water Cooling for Communities

It’s no coincidence that most of these AI mega centers are being built in areas here in the United States Southeast where regulations are more lax and tax incentives are generous…

AI’s water problem is worse than we thought:

Here’s the gist: At its data centers in Morrow County, Amazon is using water that’s already contaminated with industrial agriculture fertilizer runoff to cool down its ultra-hot servers. When that contaminated water hits Amazon’s sizzling equipment, it partially evaporates—but all the nitrate pollution stays behind. That means the water leaving Amazon’s data centers is even more concentrated with pollutants than what went in.

After that extra-contaminated water leaves Amazon’s data center, it then gets dumped and sprayed across local farmland in Oregon. From there, the contaminated water soaks straight into the aquifer that 45,000 people drink from.

The result is that people in Morrow County are now drinking from taps loaded with nitrates, with some testing at 40, 50, even 70 parts per million. (For context: the federal safety limit is 10 ppm. Anything above that is linked to miscarriages, kidney failure, cancers, and “blue baby syndrome.”)

Edith Stein’s The Science of the Cross

I occasionally get asked about my PhD work and why Edith Stein‘s The Science of the Cross (good article here) is such a big factor in my own thinking and research. I wanted to put together a quick overview of this incredibly important but under-read work.

Edith Stein’s Science of the Cross has become essential for my own work on The Ecology of the Cross because Stein refuses to treat the Cross as a mere doctrinal moment or as raw suffering. Instead, she approaches it as a structure of perception, a way of knowing and inhabiting the real. When she calls it a science, she means that the Cross forms a disciplined way of seeing or something that takes root inside a person like a seed and slowly reshapes how they relate to the world (p. xxvi). Reading Stein in this way helped me name what I’ve been experiencing in my own project in that cruciform consciousness isn’t just theological; it’s ecological. It’s a way of perceiving the world that emerges from relationship, participation, and transformation rather than abstraction. Her work gave me language for something I had long sensed, that the Cross can reorient the self toward the world with deeper attentiveness, humility, and openness.

Continue reading Edith Stein’s The Science of the Cross

Lignin instead of OLED?

Fascinating… more things like this, please.

Scientists turn wood waste into glowing material for TVs and phones:

An eco-friendly substitute has been developed for the light-emitting materials used in modern display technologies, such as TVs and smartphones.

The new material uses a common wood waste product to create a greener future for electronics, removing toxic metals and avoiding complex, polluting manufacturing methods.

Researchers from Yale University and Nottingham Trent University have designed it.

An Ecology of the Cross Audio Reflection

Here’s my audio reflection on Marder’s thought technology of “The Ecology of Thought”… it’s a really powerful notion. This is from my regular tracking and tree-sit journal with a black walnut that I’ve grown to love and learn from daily.

On Whale Poop

I learned something new today…

Impact of baleen whales on ocean primary production across space and time | PNAS:

Whales have long been suggested to enhance ocean productivity by recycling essential nutrients, yet their quantitative impact on primary production has remained uncertain. Our study quantifies nutrient release via feces and urine by baleen whales in high-latitude feeding grounds and evaluates its impact on primary production using ecosystem models. Results indicate that whales enhance ocean productivity, particularly in offshore regions where nutrients are scarce, leading to cascading effects on the food web. These findings highlight the ecological importance of whale-mediated nutrient cycling and emphasize the role of whale populations in sustaining productive and resilient marine ecosystems.

Magnolias Over Ballrooms

I’d rather have a magnolia or most any vegetal kin over a ballroom to honor my memory, but that’s just me…

Trump Rips Out Presidents’ Historic Trees for New Ballroom:

Satellite imagery shows that six trees, including southern magnolias commemorating presidents Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt, were axed or removed from the White House grounds this week as Trump abruptly demolished the East Wing.

Biodiversity Outcomes Bonds

I know there have been various takes on the Black Rhino bond from 2022 and the long-term outcomes there, but I’m still fascinated (from a philosophical and theological point of view) about these types of mechanisms and initiatives… says a good deal about our Human response to challenges and opportunities that I need to explore more in my research!

Invasive plants bond, biodiversity fund mulled for South Africa – Moneyweb:

As the world looks for ways to curb biodiversity loss, new financial tools are being developed to fund the preservation and restoration of ecosystems. They include swapping sovereign debt for lower-interest bonds, with the savings directed to conservation, and selling instruments that pay investors when targets — such as increases in endangered animal populations — are met.

The Nature Conservancy, a US-based conservation nonprofit, is working with Johannesburg-based Rand Merchant Bank to explore the sale of a biodiversity outcomes bond, Kerry Purnell, a conservation manager for the TNC, said in an interview. Investors will earn returns based on targets for clearing invasive vegetation in the water catchment area around Cape Town being met.

The Problem(s) with Biofuels

New alarming study out about the many problems with biofuels and why solar would be a much much better option for local communities and global megacorps to employ…

Biofuels globally emit more CO2 than the fossil fuels they… | T&E:

Global biofuels production emits 16% more CO2 than the fossil fuels it replaces, a new Cerulogy report on behalf of T&E shows. The same land could feed 1.3 billion people, while using just 3% of that land for solar panels would produce the same amount of energy. With demand set to rise by at least 40% by 2030, T&E calls for global leaders meeting in Brazil for COP30 to agree to limit the expansion of a climate solution that is doing more harm than good.

Renewables Pass Coal’s Share in Global Electricity Generation

China is leading the way here in solar… It’s time for our leaders and economy here in the US to start waking up to reality. That won’t happen in the current scenario of our political landscape, obviously, but there needs to be intentional focusing on reducing consolidated power grid structures in favor of local (and flexible) sources of electricity and fuel (as well as our food supplies). 

Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights 2025 | Ember:

Solar and wind outpaced demand growth in the first half of 2025, as renewables overtook coal’s share in the global electricity mix…

Solar grew by a record 306 TWh (31%) in the first half of 2025. This increased solar’s share in the global electricity mix from 6.9% to 8.8%. China accounted for 55% of global solar generation growth, followed by the US (14%), the EU (12%), India (5.6%) and Brazil (3.2%), while the rest of the world contributed just 9%. Four countries generated over 25% of their electricity from solar, and at least 29 countries surpassed 10%, up from 22 countries in the same period last year and only 11 countries in H1-2021…

PDF Report availalbe here

Insurance in the Era of Climate Collapse

Last night we were enjoying the beautiful weather here in Spartanburg, SC at our local community gathering spot / coffee shop / bar / outdoor space and had a conversation with a friend about her ongoing frustrations to get their home renovated after Helene last year due to insurance struggles and delays.

Having lived in the Carolinas for most of my life, I’ve heard countless stories of insurance frustrations, debacles, and failures following a hurricane. That’s only escalating, as we saw here in Western North and South Carolina after Hurricane Helene hit this area a year ago (and the two properties across the street from our home remain uninhabited (by humans… the birds and squirrels, and deer seem to be enjoying!), with trees on their roofs).

Fascinating read here on the insurance industry and climate considerations…

How McKinsey and Climate Change Wrecked Insurance | The New Republic:

Bahan’s insurance nightmare was one of many related to me during a visit to southwestern Florida, where residents have endured three major hurricanes—Ian, Helene, and Milton—in as many years. Each tale turns on its own particular outrages and ironies, but common themes aren’t hard to spot: eye-watering rate hikes, dropped policies, shady adjusters, paltry payouts, and claims denied for dubious reasons. State Farm, for instance, closed 46 percent of 2023 claims after issuing no payment whatsoever, and it was hardly an outlier. Meanwhile, even as they were doing everything possible to limit payouts, insurance companies were socking away massive profits, according to a secret state report that became public just a few weeks before my trip. While Florida’s situation is extreme, it represents an early warning sign in a troubled property insurance system that is, as U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse put it in a 2024 committee hearing, “swirling the drain.”

Inside the Fight Against Trump’s Alaska LNG Pipeline

Beautiful (but also depressing if you’re frustrated and anxious about such things like me) article here regarding the need to stop using extractive fossil fuels (that are now based on antiquated technologies and inefficient methods in order to prop up megaglobal corporations that pay our elected officials to keep the old narrative of “energy independence”) with voices from Alaskan Indigenous communities resisting the latest push from our backwards administration.

Don’t be misled about the energy issue by media manipulation. We can and should move to decentralized and community-focused solutions. It’s being done and done well and will save us all money, karma, and our children’s health.

Must read…

Inside the Fight Against Trump’s Alaska LNG Pipeline:

“We’re on the bust side of an oil and gas economy,” Native Movement’s Begaye tells me. She points to the relative youth of the industry — just 50 years — “and the jobs are already going away, the money is going away,” she says. Today, revenue from oil and gas accounts for less than 14 percent of the state’s annual budget.

Instead of investing in “fossil fuel distractions, we could be actively pursuing more local renewable energy, and Alaskans already know how,” Begaye and her colleagues wrote in their op-ed for the Anchorage Daily News. They cite Kodiak, which runs on nearly 100 percent renewable energy, and Galena, where a tribally owned and operated biomass system accounts for 75 percent of the community’s heating needs, with another 1.5 megawatts of solar power on the way.

R.I.P. Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist, has died at age 91 : NPR:

In just a few months, Goodall a made a major discovery. Chimps could make and use tools — as she learned by watching a chimp she’d named David Greybeard. (Goodall has called him “my favorite chimpanzee of all time.”) He stripped leaves off a twig, then used it to fish termites out of a mound. Goodall later told NPR that her mentor, Louis Leakey, was impressed.

“He said, ‘Well, it’s always been considered that man is the only toolmaking animal. So we now have to redefine tool, redefine man, or include chimpanzees with humans,’ ” she recalled.

Lost Connections

Great post from Merianna about relational being and our real need to have connections that will help us imagine our way out of our modern spiritual crisis in the context of Hurricane Helene…

Lost Connection – by Merianna Harrelson:

Without thinking I asked, “Where you all right? How about your house? How about your neighborhood? Do you need anything?” The lost connection actually helped me search for connection with complete strangers. Suddenly, no one was irritated or frustrated waiting in line or waiting for a plug to charge what they needed. Instead we were all thankful to see each other.

A year later as I think about the way we as a community started to congregate in places that had power, I realized that this is what is missing. We have become so used to being connected all the time to news streams, events from around the world, and posts and comments that we have lost connection to the people we pass every day. We have forgotten that these connections are the connections that remind us that we are all God’s beloved children and we have all lived through something that has shaken us to our core.

Pakistan at the Epicenter of Climate Change

Worth your time to read…

As Floods Worsen, Pakistan Is the Epicenter of Climate Change – Yale E360:

“Monsoon storms are now forming in a warmer atmosphere that holds and dumps far more moisture in short bursts, causing flash floods and landslides,” says Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist at University of Reading. “As extreme events grow more frequent, we’re flying blind into disaster.”

Navigating Our Climate Crisis Without U.S. Leadership

Important piece here that gives voice to leaders from areas that aren’t usually covered by the mainstream press here in the USA when discussing climate issues and our ecological crisis in general… let those with ears to listen, hear…

Six World Leaders on Navigating Climate Change, Without the U.S. – The New York Times (Gift Article):

Debates around climate change often focus on the world’s largest economies and biggest emitters. But much of the hard work of figuring out how to adapt — both to a hotter planet and to a new geopolitical landscape — is happening in countries that have contributed relatively little to the problem yet are still navigating complex climate-related issues. Hoping to better understand how global warming and the changing world order are affecting some of these often-overlooked places, I spoke with six world leaders from different geographic regions. I heard some common themes: the ravages of extreme weather, the difficulties posed by the Trump administration’s retreat. But these conversations also illustrated the intensely varied predicaments facing world leaders right now.