Violence in America: A Sign of Hope from behind Bars

Clearly, the  United States of America is one of the most violent societies in the world. And much of it is of our own doing, a consequence of our obsession with security at home and abroad. We seek security through violent means (and incarceration is definitely a brutal form of violence), and it is virtually a truism that violence only breeds more violence.

Driving My Civic Hybrid and Economic Rationality

I'm leaving  for the airport in an hour for a flight to Vermont to attend the National Peace Academy's week-long Peacebuilding Peacelearning Intensive. I'm not likely to get a chance to write any The Green Pen posts before getting back, so here's a blast from the past to share. From July 2005, to be exact. Today's comments are [bracketed in italics].

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There was an article in the paper the other day [July 2005] about Honda upgrading its hybrid Civic model in order to give the Toyota Prius a run for its mpg money. I’ve been driving a Honda Civic hybrid for almost two years, now, and I love it. [And I'm still driving it -- 8 years and 100K miles in all and counting.]

For Right Relationship with Food: Food Day, October 24

Peace, according to the Earth Charter, is the "wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part." Our relationship with the food we eat is, clearly, an essential component of that peace. The ways in which we choose, prepare, and consume what we put in our bellies, and how we dispose of any waste produced in the process, are a reflection of our beliefs and attitudes toward, and hence relationships with: