JUNE 27, 2025

We need the stars. We need purpose.

"We need the stars... We need purpose! We need the image the Destiny to take root among the stars gives us of ourselves as a purposeful, growing species. We need to become the adult species that the Destiny can help us become! If we're to be anything other than smooth dinosaurs who evolve, specialize and die, we need the stars.... When we have no difficult, long-term purpose to strive toward, we fight each other. We destroy ourselves. We have these chaotic, apocalyptic periods of murderous craziness."                                                                     - Octavia Butler
Learning, Futures Thinking
“Predicting doom in difficult times may have more to with the sorrow and depression of the moment than with any real insight into future possibilities."

In January 2000, the White House asked Octavia Butler to write a memorandum to President Clinton outlining her vision of the future. She chose to focus on education.

ARTICLE: A Few Rules for Predicting the Future

CULTURE, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
A “possibilist” believes that what we do matters, even when we cannot predict the results.

john a. powell spells his name in lowercase to reflect humility and interconnectedness. He is director of the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California Berkeley.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Can We Build a World Where We All Belong?

NATURE, SPIRITUALITY
"Reality is basically about change."

Mary Evelyn Tucker sees a clear path toward healing the planet, our relationship with nature, and with each other. She suggests that spiritual ecology—the field that explores how spirituality and the environment are interwoven—is the way finder.

ARTICLE: Why the World Needs Spiritual Ecology

Civics

Six ways to host a gathering that you'd want to attend

Regular readers know that one of the inspirations behind this letter is one of Austin Kleon's maxims: draw the art you want to see, make the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read.

Company

At its core, organizational health is about integrity.

I keep several copies of Patrick Lencioni’s The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business in my library. That way I always have one to give away when his perspective comes up in conversation. And it comes up often, because it’s powerful.

“With a little education, we can become the number one nation.”

For those of us who still care about creativity in advertising, it's fun to look at the Cannes Lions Festival—the "other" Cannes—which has celebrated the best in advertising since 1954. And for those who believe advertising can be used to sell ideas we actually need, it’s worth paying attention to the winners of the Lions Health and United Nations Foundation Grand Prix for Good.

Learning

"Goals are often surrogates for clarity. We set goals when we’re uncertain about what we really want."

Joan Westenberg recently reflected on her experience of achieving goals. Yes, she had reached some—but so what? The achievements felt hollow.

One-liners

JUNE 6, 2025

We can only live changes

"We can only live changes: we cannot think our way to humanity. Every one of us, every group, must become the model of that which we desire to create."                                                      - Ivan Illich
Learning, Futures Thinking
Negative emotions like grief and horror can coexist with positive feelings such as love and beauty.

Sarah Jaquette Ray recalls the day she asked her students to envision a positive future 10–15 years ahead—one in which their hopes for solving global problems had been realized.

Article:  Announcing Pace Layers

Learning, Futures Thinking
Civilizations come and go. Civilization continues.

It’s fitting that Stewart Brand authored the first article in the inaugural issue of Pace Layers.  It’s fitting that Stewart Brand authored the first article in the inaugural issue of Pace Layers.  It’s fitting that Stewart Brand authored the first article in the inaugural issue of Pace Layers.  

Article:  Announcing Pace Layers

Learning, Futures Thinking
"We hope to help each other be good ancestors. We hope to preserve possibilities for the future."

The Long Now Foundation, established in 1996, aims to foster long-term thinking and responsibility.

Learning

Some nitty-gritty details regarding Joan Didion’s writing process

Jillian Hess describes her newsletter, Noted, like this: “I’ve spent the past two decades studying hundreds of notebooks, and I’m excited to share the most interesting, inspiring, and unique notes with you.” Through Noted, she offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative processes of some of the world’s most fascinating minds.

Civics

A visual exploration of how a critical piece of social infrastructure came to be.

It won’t surprise you to learn that the first libraries were for white men only—and that their eventual spread and democratization was driven largely by the tireless efforts of women.

Company

Reshaping tomorrow’s workplace for both individual fulfillment and the common good.

South Mountain Company on Martha's Vineyard is widely recognized for its commitment to environmentally responsible design and construction.

Nature

The historical landscape ecology of New York City

The land that would eventually become New York City was once a highly productive, biodiverse landscape of hills, valleys, forests, fields, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, beaches, springs, ponds, and streams.

One-liners

January 31, 2025

The larger whole is primarily beautiful.      

"Whatever the ups and downs of detail within our limited experience, the larger whole is primarily beautiful." — Gregory Bateson

Teaching

What if educational social-emotional learning programs were ultimately about making the world a better place?

This article explores how societal polarization affects youth—and makes the case for social and emotional learning (SEL) programs that foster empathy, compassion, and prosocial behavior aimed at collective well-being.

Teaching

'In the 21st century every child has a civil right to secure math literacy.'

When Bob Moses’s daughter, Maisha, was ready for algebra in eighth grade, her school didn’t offer it.

Teaching

“Celestial Homework” that opens "gates to magnificence"

In 1974, Allen Ginsberg and poet Anne Waldman launched the Jack Kerouac School at Naropa Institute (now Naropa University) in Boulder, Colorado.

Learning, Futures Thinking
Negative emotions like grief and horror can coexist with positive feelings such as love and beauty.

Sarah Jaquette Ray recalls the day she asked her students to envision a positive future 10–15 years ahead—one in which their hopes for solving global problems had been realized.

Article:  Announcing Pace Layers

Learning, Futures Thinking
Civilizations come and go. Civilization continues.

It’s fitting that Stewart Brand authored the first article in the inaugural issue of Pace Layers.  It’s fitting that Stewart Brand authored the first article in the inaugural issue of Pace Layers.  It’s fitting that Stewart Brand authored the first article in the inaugural issue of Pace Layers.  

Article:  Announcing Pace Layers

Learning, Futures Thinking
"We hope to help each other be good ancestors. We hope to preserve possibilities for the future."

The Long Now Foundation, established in 1996, aims to foster long-term thinking and responsibility.

ARTICLE: Amphibian road mortality drops by over 80% with wildlife underpasses, study shows

ARTICLE: Global study finds that most people want gender-balanced government, even if quotas are needed.

One-liners

Playlist

"Broken English made it clear that Faithfull, whose death at 78 was announced on January 30, was a remarkable artist in her own right, and something quite different from the mere caricature of the beautiful muse on the arm of a rock star at his decadent height." - Bill Wyman

Video: Marianne Faithfull - Working Class Hero [1995] (Live)


Weekly Mixtape

In memory of Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull, singer, songwriter and actor, born 29 December 1946; died 30 January 2025

Playlist: Knowing loss

"The good thing about everything being so messed up is that no matter where you look there’s good work to be done.”

- Derek Jensen

January 31, 2025

We are lonesome animals.

“We are lonesome animals. We spend all of our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say—and to feel—‘yes, that is the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought." —John Steinbeck
Civics, Storytelling
When it comes to changing the values, mindsets, rules, and goals of a system, story is foundational.

In this comprehensive article author Ella Saltmarshe explores the power of storytelling as a tool for systems change and social transformation. She presents a structured framework for understanding and using stories in three key ways.

Article: Using Story to Change Systems

CULTURE, STORY
"The role stories play in redesigning our systems is critical, and we all play a role in their telling."

Stories for Life is a project inspired by the question: How do we tell the story of a new economy?

In exploring the root causes of our crises, this team found "humility and clarity in ancient wisdom."

Web project: Stories for Life

CULTURE, STORY
If women had been the storytellers throughout history our cultural narratives and power structures would be very different.

Author and Omega Institute co-founder Elizabeth Lesser’s first book, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow, transformed my relationship with life’s challenges.

Podcast: Brené Brown with Elizabeth Lesser on The Power of Women’s Stories

Civics

Surviving and resisting America’s arc toward authoritarianism, illustrated

WEBPAGE: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (graphic edition)

Learning

"Have we become apathetic about the possibility of things ever being radically different?"

ARTICLE: We Need The Toolkit Of Utopian Thinking, Now More Than Ever.

Civics

Make government great again

BOOK: Abundance

Learning

Giving up hope is not an option.

ARTICLE: A Few Rules for Predicting the Future

One-liners

Article: For the first time, 2025 will see streamers outpace commercial broadcaster in global content spend.

Article: Office-to-residential conversions are expected to reach new highs in 2025.

Article: The collective motion of large crowds may be predictable past a certain density of people in a given area.

Article: Poll: Most Americans still support diversity initiatives

Article:  Whalesong patterns follow a universal law of human language






Article: Tomorrow's buildings might need to move.

Playlist

Amália Rodrigues, the undisputed "Queen of Fado," says that fado music cannot be defined. "Fado is mystery," she has said, "the only thing that matters is to feel the fado. The fado is not meant to be sung; it simply happens. You feel it, you don’t understand it and you don’t explain it."

Video: Carminho: Tiny Desk Concert


Weekly Mixtape

Fado was born in Portugal, but the geography of loss knows no boundaries.

Playlist: Knowing loss

"It is only for the sake of those without hope that hope is given to us." - Walter Benjamin