Inspiration
This page will serve as an oasis of inspiration, hope and motivation for everyone to take positive steps in healing themselves, their community and their planet. Below is a collection of essays, audio recordings, and videos that we find to be inspiring, hopeful and motivating.
THE LATEST
Erosion and evolution. Shadow and light. Death and rebirth. These are some of the strands that the acclaimed author, naturalist and activist Terry Tempest Williams weaves together in the face of today’s broken world. Standing in the lineage of the greatest nature writers, she links her deepest inner experiences with the state of the web of life.
The path to an ecological civilization is paved by reclaiming the commons—our common home, the Earth, and the commons of the Earth family, of which we are a part. Through reclaiming the commons, we can imagine possibility for our common future, and we can sow the seeds of abundance through “commoning.”
I have known radicals and revolutionaries who love “the people” but whose everyday lives are replete with contradictions. The late bell hooks was by no means perfect, but she was impressively consistent. She took seriously the notion that a revolution had to center love and was as much about transforming ourselves as it was about transforming the world.
Written by Madyson Taylor.
It is a great act of love to leave the earth a better place when we leave, than which we found her.
We inherit this great planet from our parents and from the generations that came before. Then, in concert with the surrounding culture, our elders teach us how to care for the land and the sea, ourselves and each other. They model ways of being in relationship with every other expression of life on earth. But whether they act with care or carelessness, compassion or cruelty, generosity or greed, we have the ability to choose our own individual way of relating with the planet and her inhabitants.
An urgent manifesto and a dramatic memoir of awakening, this is the story of revolutionary love.
“In a world stricken with fear and turmoil, Valarie Kaur shows us how to summon our deepest wisdom.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love
See No Stranger will be released on June 16th. Preorder a copy here.
FEATURED MEDIA
Video: Which Country Does the Most Good for the World?
It’s an unexpected side effect of globalization: problems that once would have stayed local—say, a bank lending out too much money—now have consequences worldwide. But still, countries operate independently, as if alone on the planet. Policy advisor Simon Anholt has dreamed up an unusual scale to get governments thinking outwardly: The Good Country Index. In a riveting and funny talk, he answers the question, “Which country does the most good?” The answer may surprise you (especially if you live in the US or China).
Film: Wild Hope
Wild Hope tells the story of our deep spiritual connection to the natural world, a connection that has the power to rewire our brains, take us back to our deepest roots, and change how we think and act in a world needing our care. This short documentary combines personal story, science, and passion in a unique mix to inspire viewers to protect wild ecosystems against an unrelenting materialistic culture that’s producing social malaise and an uninhabitable planet. Our economic system fails us, but our tie to the natural world is elemental.
What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight? That we laugh? Cry? Our curiosity? The quest for discovery? Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness.