How 9/11 Set Progressive Causes Back—and How We Rebounded
As the 20th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center approached, I wasn’t paying much attention. But then I received an email from my longtime colleague John Cavanagh,…
David Korten
A Viable Human Future Depends on Living With Less
We cannot eat money and there are no winners on a dead Earth. Science tells us that we now have fewer than 10 years to reduce the human burden on Earth…
From Fear and Anger to Collective Purpose
A few days ago, I participated in a webinar that introduced me to Paul Chappell, a thoughtful peace activist with an extraordinary history. Born in 1980, Chappell grew up in…
From Emergency to Emergence
The COVID-19 emergency has exposed our societies’ failure to address the needs of billions of people. Simultaneously, we are witnessing a fundamental truth about human nature: There are those among…
Corporations are Human Creations. We Can’t Let Them Threaten Our Survival
We live in a world in extreme crisis. By the estimates of the Global Footprint Network, the human species currently consumes at a rate 1.7 times what Earth’s regenerative systems can…
The Time for Postponing Climate Action Is Over
In 1962, Rachael Carson warned us, with the publication of Silent Spring, that the indiscriminate use of pesticides was disrupting critical ecosystems and causing severe damage to human health. Her…
Climate Change Is Too Serious for Political Labels
This month the Green New Deal was introduced in the U.S. Congress with much fanfare, and its opponents quickly mobilized. The resolution is more than a set of specific legislative…
Why I Have Hope in the Face of Human Extinction
When I ask an audience, “Who believes we are on a path to self-extinction?” nearly every hand goes up. It’s a sign of a growing awareness that humanity is on a…
How To Restore Our Relationship To Earth
To have a viable human future on this overstressed planet, it is essential that we build a solidarity economy that seeks material sufficiency and spiritual abundance for all in balance…
For The Love Of Earth
On July 9, New York magazine published “The Uninhabitable Earth,” a worst-case climate change scenario suggesting that our current human course may produce an unlivable future for Earth. A burst of media…
We Will Soon Be Using More Than The Earth Can Provide
Four days after President Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, the Global Footprint Network (GFN) reported that Earth Overshoot Day 2017 will fall on August 2. Most Americans…
Why A Just And Sustainable Economy Looks Like A Doughnut
I see a lot of books presuming to explain what’s wrong with the economy and what to do about it. Rarely do I come across one with the consistent new…
The Superrich Have Profited From A Broken System—And Their Money Alone Won’t Fix It
Congratulations, you won—you are the last and richest person on Earth. In the security of your sunless underground bunker, you will be the last to die in a dying Earth’s…
The Refugee Crisis Is a Sign of a Planet in Trouble
The plight of immigrant families in the United States facing threat of deportation has provoked a massive compassionate response, with cities, churches, and colleges offering sanctuary and legal assistance to…
For Automation to Benefit Society, It Must Serve Humans, Not Replace Them
A recent episode of CBC Radio’s Day 6 featured an interview with David Levy, artificial intelligence expert and author of Love and Sex with Robots. Levy discussed a line of…
Trump’s Coup Attempt Requires Us To Rise Above Position And Party
On Aug. 8, 2016, 50 former top-level Republican officials who served under Republican presidents going back to Richard Nixon issued a warning letter. Many had held senior national security posts.…
Take Notice, Trump: We Are Not Protestors—We Are Protectors
On Friday, Jan. 20, Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office before a crowd best described as puny compared to the estimated 1.8 million people who attended Barack Obama’s…
Trump Played To Anger, But We Don’t Have To Fall For Divide And Conquer
The heroic work of the Standing Rock water protectors represents a defining moment in the long struggle against the institutions of empire and colonial rule. It is fitting that the…
In Stripping Away Our Hope, Maybe Trump Has Done Us A Favor
Prince Ea, rapper and spoken-word artist and social justice advocate, has a soliloquy on YouTube with a surprising title: WHY IM HAPPY TRUMP WON. How could he think that, as…
We Never Voted For Corporate Rule
This column is the second part of a series. To read Part One, click here. In Part One, I argued that a healthy society requires that governments be accountable to the…
The Elephant In The Room: What Trump, Clinton, And Even Stein Are Missing
In this most bizarre of presidential elections, no one is talking about one of the biggest—if not the biggest—issues of our time. Namely, the global power imbalance between corporations and…
Can Zoos Teach Us Compassion?
It happens that the offices of YES! are in a building complex that also houses Studio Hanson | Roberts, one of the leading zoo-design firms in the world. As a result,…
How To Break The Power Of Money
Our current political chaos has a simple explanation. The economic system is driving environmental collapse, economic desperation, political corruption, and financial instability. And it isn’t working for the vast majority…
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