Gaia's Call

Living Through the Polycrisis — Part Two of a Three-Part One Cause Reflection ( Part One is Here. ) Author’s Note: I called an audible over the holidays, feeling like we could all use a break from dealing with this challenging topic—the Polycrisis, here we are in the New Year of 2026 which could, according to many experts, be a make or break year, so let’s dig in. Once you stop trying to outrun th...

(Living Through the Polycrisis — Part One) You’re not imagining it. Something fundamental really is breaking down. And if you’ve been sensing that—feeling it in your body, your conversations, your sleep, your worry for the kids and the future—you’re not weak, pessimistic, or “too negative.” You’re paying attention. I don’t remember exactly when I first heard the terms metacrisis or polycrisis . It...

I’ve been setting up a small growing area in my basement these past few weeks—a little winter haven where I can keep veggies going through the cold months and continue my slow but curious experiment with hydroponics. At first, it was all about the task. Get the shelving in. Set up the lights. Hang the timers. Figure out the water flow. Make it efficient. Make it productive. Get it done. And in the...

(Part One of a Possible New Series: Conversations Across Time) A few nights ago, during one of our Community After Hours gatherings here in the mountains, a participant tossed out an idea about how we might draw more locals into our growing web of community. I wish I could tell you exactly what he said—but the suggestion itself evaporated before I arrived home. What did stick with me was the spark...

Links to Parts One and Two . There comes a moment on any meaningful inner journey when you suddenly realize something quietly radical: you no longer fit the default settings of the culture around you. You still look the same, sound the same, and move through grocery stores, coffee shops, and family gatherings the way everyone else does. But something in your internal operating system has been rewr...

(Part Two of the “Strange Man” Mini-Series — read Part One Here. ) Sometimes the most important spiritual work doesn’t happen on a meditation cushion or in the quiet of early morning vows. Sometimes it happens in a kitchen—with kids playing, coffee brewing, and a grown daughter calling you a “strange man.” If you missed Part One of the story, here’s the short version: I rescued the used coffee gro...

Toward the end of a recent visit with my daughter, Amber, and the grandkids—Logan racing a plastic dinosaur across the living room battlefield and Piper dancing around with a squeal that could wake the ancestors—I decided to fix myself a cup of coffee, in part because they have one of those barista-level machines that makes a cup so smooth it practically hums a lullaby. So there I was, savoring th...

Imagine greeting the sun each morning, not just as a source of warmth but as a symbol of untapped potential. That’s what I’ve done for over two years which is what led me to writing today’s article/podcast. Every day, Earth receives an astonishing 173,000 terawatts of energy from the sun. Yet, humanity's annual energy consumption is only around 20 terawatts. In other words: A single day’s sunlight...

It feels fitting that this piece arrives on Halloween—a day when we flirt with shadows and celebrate transformation…of sorts. After all, Frankenstein was never just about monsters. It was about creation without conscience—knowledge without wisdom, invention without care. In many ways, we’ve been living our own version of that story as Homo technologicus —powerful, brilliant, but disconnected from...

I took a long walk through the woods this morning with Rascal, my ever-eager walking partner and four-legged philosopher-in-residence. No phone. No podcasts. Just crisp leaves underfoot, a rising breeze, and the steady rhythm of paws and boots side by side. Out there on the trail, something stirred in me. A quiet voice reminding me: We’re in the Fourth Quarter now. Not just me. (I’m 76.) All of us...

For a long time, I thought the answer was just doing more. More writing. More coaching. More composting. More sharing. More everything. But here’s what I’ve come to realize: doing more only really matters if we’re doing what matters—to us. Purposefully. Joyfully. In alignment with what we love and long to protect. Taking action as an Eco-Guardian doesn’t mean becoming a full-time climate activist...

For a long time, I thought the solution was just doing more. More writing. More coaching. More composting. More advocacy. I thought the world needed me in action. And it does. But what I’ve come to understand—what life has been teaching me, especially over the past few years—is that before we change the world, we must change our relationship to the world. That’s really what One Cause is all about....

Not long ago and more nights than I care to remember, two questions kept me awake at night. What is an Eco-Guardian-in-Training (EGIT)? And are you one? The questions wouldn’t let me go. They prompted me to remember a time from my past when I co-founded the Life On Purpose Institute and, for 22 years, watched thousands of people begin their journey by taking the Life On Purpose Self-Test. That sim...

A Letter from the Fog Dear fellow Ego-Guardians-In-Training, If I’m being fully transparent, this next part of the journey—moving from vision to action—feels both exhilarating and daunting. I’ve spent months now weaving together the threads of One Cause —laying out the Great Untruths that got us here, and the Great Truths that could guide us home. We’ve imagined a possible new future or at least a...

Last November, something cracked open in me. The U.S. presidential election results had just landed, and like many, I was holding out hope for leadership that might finally meet the moment—leadership that could help steer us away from collapse and toward regeneration. Truthfully, I didn’t hold out a lot of hope that either political parties’ candidates would focus sufficient efforts on our global...

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“ Bring out the secrets of nature for the happiness of humanity. ”—Thomas Edison When you think of a genius, you might picture someone like Thomas Edison—brilliant, prolific, and ruthlessly practical. He held over 1,000 patents, lit up the world with electricity, and helped create entire industries. And yet, one of his lesser-known quotes reveals something deeper: “Anything that won’t sell, I don’...

A Heroic Moment It started with a phone call. It was a Thursday night. Ann and I had just settled in when Amber, our daughter, called. Their basement was flooding. Justin, her husband, had been called away as a first responder, and she needed help—immediately. “No big deal,” I thought. I packed a bag, grabbed some clothes, and drove up the mountain to their home. I figured I’d help vacuum the wate...

A Note for Families and the Young at Heart Last Friday, I shared some reflections on a new energy law passed by Congress—how it reveals the deeper beliefs shaping our politics, and how we might start building something better from the ground up. But the real question I’ve been sitting with since then is this: What are we teaching the next generation about freedom, responsibility, and the earth we...

Before the fireworks faded this year and Rascal (my canine companion) had finally calmed down, I found myself caught in the sparks of something else entirely: a clash of narratives surrounding H.R.1, dubbed by some the “Big Beautiful Bill.” I’d heard plenty of heated rhetoric from Democratic leaders condemning the bill as a blatant handout to the wealthy and fossil fuel interests. But then I read...

Our current educational model isn’t broken—it’s doing exactly what it was designed to do: prepare children to succeed in a world built on the Four Great Untruths. But what if that’s the problem? Want more inspiration like this? Subscribe to join a movement reimagining the future—one story, one step, one spark at a time. Why Traditional Education Needs to Evolve Let’s start with a hard truth: the d...

Before the fireworks light up the sky, before the flags wave and the anthems echo, I invite you to take a breath with me. Not a performative one, not a patriotic puff of the chest—but a quiet, thoughtful breath. One that asks: What are we actually celebrating today? And perhaps more importantly: What do we want future generations to celebrate on this day a hundred years from now? A Meditation with...

Last week, I shared a personal TED talk-style exploring the deeper roots of the climate crisis—not just as an ecological emergency, but as a crisis of belief. Today, in Part Two, I invite you to turn toward the path of healing and regeneration. This video introduces the Four Great Truths —ancient, enduring principles that offer a new foundation for how we might live, love, and lead forward. These...

This is something different. Today, I’m stepping out from behind the keyboard and onto the metaphorical red dot—sharing a short TED-style talk that I hope will stir something deeper than statistics or news headlines ever could. This first video asks a simple but powerful question: What if climate change isn’t the problem—but a symptom of something upstream? This talk is a labor of love, distilled...

A Real-Life Story of Group Flow in Action In 2017, a small group of young climate activists began meeting in living rooms and local libraries to tackle a question that burned in their hearts: What if we actually treated the climate crisis like the emergency it is? What if we organized with urgency, heart, and purpose? This was the birth of the Sunrise Movement , a now-national force for climate ju...