As We Go Into 2014, Remember that Decency and Goodness Are Powerful Forces
I’m sorry I forgot to mention the birthday of Pablo Casals the other day, unarguably the most revered cellist in the first half of the 20th Century. He’s noteworthy here because of his opposition to fascism, and the fact that he was an active campaigner for peace all his life.
Casals said: “Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it.” (more…)
Here’s a website whose tagline is that 
When my bills come due at the end/beginning of each month (who am I kidding, I don’t always pay them on time), I start thinking about how eco friendly or green the internet is. I see payment notifications and bill reminders appear in my email inbox and am reminded of just a few years ago when my physical mailbox (remember that one out by the road?) was consistently filled with pointless bank account statement printouts, credit card statements and general junk mail that was sometimes barely even opened before being thrown away. 
Every day, the sheer volume of material written on climate change continues to amaze me – and, of course, too much is better than too little. The only real problem with the mass of journalism on the subject is that a great deal of it appears to be a frantic search for brand new points to make — and I’m not sure there are many more of any major consequence. 
I had a great time with my family back east over the holidays, during which the subject came up: Uncle Craig, when you do radio shows and talk about renewable energy in an attempt to promote your books, aren’t you preaching to the choir? Or, if it’s a show that has you on only so they can attack you, aren’t you speaking to people who hate your guts, and would never change their minds?
At the end of each December, I try to make a hopeful prediction about the year to come. I predict that this year will mark the end of a great deal of our superstitions. Remember the words of the great Stevie Wonder: “When you believe in things that you don’t understand, you suffer…..superstition ain’t the way.”
I happened to sit next to Henry van Moyland, the proprietor of this place: “
