Innovate~Educate~Collaborate

Category: philosophy

  • Green Junction: Lent and Ecology by Julie Peller Ph.D.

    During the Lenten season, one long-standing Christian tradition is abstaining from eating meat on Fridays. This is a means of honoring Jesus, who sacrificed his flesh for humanity on Good Friday. Many people have given up meat entirely in their lives; for some, the reason is due to the way farm animals are now mostly…

  • Green Junction: Major Reductions by Julie Peller Ph.D.

    Major reductions in the burning of fossil fuels are necessary to slow the increase in gases that are warming the earth. Most people living in industrialized nations can reduce or modify their energy use on a personal level and take part in the solutions to the changing climate. However, for substantial changes that will keep…

  • Green Junction: Recycling just do it! By Julie Peller PhD

    A local municipality was recently put on probation by the company hired to handle its recycling materials due to the garbage in the recycling containers. Recycling is a critical component of managing the high level of waste generated in modern living. While more materials are recycled now than at any previous time, much of our…

  • Green Junction: Think cars! by Julie Peller

    Transportation is one of the main drivers of climate change, given that gasoline is a carbon-based fuel. In the US, fuel burned by vehicles is the largest carbon dioxide generator, accounting for 29% of all CO2 emissions. Many economists have favored a carbon tax (for decades!) to ensure a price is associated with the carbon…

  • Green Junction: COP26 What happened? by Julie Peller

    The international climate change conference termed COP26 took place from October 31st to November 12th in Glasgow. COP stands for Conference Of the Parties, and this is the 26th year for the meeting of the United Nations on climate change. The success of this meeting is vital due to the urgent need to reduce greenhouse…

  • Green Junction: Take a close look at the burger wrapper in your hand. By Julie Peller

    What do burger wrappers, Teflon nonstick pans, and stain-resistant fabrics have in common? Many of these products contain a chemical part of a class of compounds known by the acronym PFAS (per- or poly-fluoroalkyl substances). The highly desirable properties of coatings made from these compounds are their ability to be impervious to water, grease, and…

  • Thinking about Christmas

    I wonder how many pastors or parishioners understand the history of Christmas. From the time of Jesus’ death, the birth never had the same significance as Easter until the 1400s. It didn’t become a liturgical celebration until around 333 because the Holy Roman Empire needed to deal with the pagan solstice. What better way than…

  • Green Junction: The Treacherous Reality of Tree Loss By Julie Peller Ph.D.

    For areas of the Northern Hemisphere that experience four distinctive weather seasons, it is the time of the year when trees provide an ablaze of colors, one of nature’s stunning wonders. In addition to their visual beauty, trees provide oxygen, shade, ecosystems, and so much more to life on earth. The tree cover worldwide plays…

  • In the time of our lives….

    This weekend in David Bentley Hart’s, Leaves in the Wind, part two of “Mind, Nature, Emergence” we find much to reflect upon in our world of the autonomous revolution where AI will become the dominant factor as much as what automation was to the industrial revolution. In the world that Kevin Kelly calls the “Technium”…

  • Eudaimonia is the Anthesis of Authoritarianism

    Eudaimonia is the Antithesis of Authoritarianism  The Wisdom of Aristotle and the ‘Greater Good’ is the Difference in being human and the Difference it makes in the words of Peter, Paul & Mary: “When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn.” Examples of authoritarianism are throughout history. We see the path to the…