Innovate~Educate~Collaborate

Category: Innovation, education,

  • Green Junction: New Ideas Turn Into New Products by Julie Peller Ph.D.

    New ideas often turn into products marketed as more stuff to buy to make life easier and better. Detergent pods were launched in 2012, an example of newer stuff for cleaning clothes. Even though there have been many different detergents available, the lure of popping a pod into a washing machine, evidently easier than measuring…

  • Green Junction: Glass is a Beautiful Thing. By Julie Peller, Ph.D.

    Glass is a beautiful material that is believed to date back to 2400 BC. Glass is made of roughly 70% silica sand with other components, namely limestone (calcium carbonate) and soda ash (sodium carbonate). By heating these materials in a furnace above 2700 degrees Fahrenheit and then cooling, glass forms. Soda-lime glass is the most…

  • What’s it all about?

    I view life in three stages: first, we engage in formal learning; second, actively earning, and third, we should be returning and sharing our wisdom.At the end of earthly life, we often gather to celebrate the life led. But, we who are living should view our third stage of life as the living celebration of…

  • You Are Church

    Two creative movements in the Catholic Church became instrumental in leading up to Vatican II. The New Theology Movement of France and the Catholic Action Movement. A driving force in both movements in the United States was Louis J Putz CSC. As a student, Louis was inspired by Teilhard, Congar, de Lubac, Jean Danielou, Cardinal Suhard as…

  • GREEN JUNCTION: To hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. BY JULIE PELLER PH.D

    This year’s Laudato Si conference, sponsored by Catholic Climate Covenant and Creighton University, featured Cardinal Cupich of the Chicago Archdiocese. He offered his faith-filled perspective on the state of society and its connection to environmental degradation. He explained that we are experiencing one major crisis, an ecological emergency that is both social and environmental. He reiterated the…

  • Reading just may haunt us.

    I am what many call an “active retiree‘. I retired from a career job but not from being active in the world and helping it become better. I do virtual book clubs  along with public speaking, and the book clubs are more like discussion groups virtually via “Zoom”—all as a labor of love to encourage…

  • GREEN JUNCTION: The earth’s natural balances have been disrupted BY JULIE PELLER PH.D

    The severe, unprecedented weather associated with increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is more concerning every passing year. The recent record heat in the US Northwest made headline news for several days. Temperatures in Portland, Oregon, reached 116oF, higher than other cities in the US have ever reached, except Phoenix and Las Vegas.…

  • Merton & Teilhard words to live by

    “Christianity is life and wisdom in Christ. It is a return to the Father in Christ. it is a return to the infinite abyss of pure reality in which our own reality is grounded, and in which we exist.” ~Merton, The Inner Experience pg 36 Christianity is living our lives in and with the Universal Christ. Jesus…

  • What If Merton was Alive Today?

    When we think about Why Thomas Merton is relevant today? Sometimes think about what Merton would be doing today? For instance, say Merton was fifty years old, and the year is 2021. Think technology. Merton was a whiz on the typewriter, the modern device of his time, mailed many letters (USPS), and was an avid…

  • Green Junction: The Water Crisis by BY JULIE PELLER PH.D

    The water crisis in some regions of the western part of the US is being described as historic. The governor of California has declared a drought emergency in 41 of the state’s 58 counties. Some farmers are removing crops that depend on plentiful water, such as almond trees. The rights to fresh water in Oregon…