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 […]

Green Junction: Have you thought about the coral reefs? By Julie Peller

Coral reefs are home to about 25% of all marine plants and animals. The roles of coral reefs are extensive: protection of coastlines from flooding and erosion, marine habitats, goods and services, sources of new medicines, and more. According to a new global study, the marine world experienced a 14% loss of coral from 2009 […]

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 […]

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 […]