This is the personal “back story” on the origins of the Pyramid 2012 campaign, which published its final report on 18 June 2012. For the official story of this two-month-long “global workshop,” in which well over a thousand people participated, spread across twenty countries, please visit the campaign website to read the press release, 14-page … Continue reading Pyramid 2012: The Story of Building a Shared Dream
Personal
Subject: Sustaining happiness (or, Why I didn’t go to a meeting on Happiness)
[Copy of Facebook Status Update] Friends, if you follow my Twitter feed, you'll see a note from friend Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir saying she missed seeing me at the High-Level Meeting on Happiness hosted by the Prime Minister of Bhutan at UN headquarters in NY. This is a very significant meeting, and I was pleased and … Continue reading Subject: Sustaining happiness (or, Why I didn’t go to a meeting on Happiness)
Reflecting on Life, Sustainability, and Star Trek
How different would my life be if I had never seen Star Trek? The question occurred to me because recently — in a fit of nostalgia, or out of a simple desire to have something to watch on the TV at 11 pm, when I’m too tired to read, and not quite sleepy enough to … Continue reading Reflecting on Life, Sustainability, and Star Trek
How to Keep Doing Sustainability in an Absurd World
A professional colleague of mine recently resigned from the sustainability movement. Seriously ill from years of overwork, and despairing of the movement’s chances for success, this person had no choice but to quit. Trying to change the world’s destructive energy technologies, protect the rights of future generations to enjoy functioning ecosystems, and/or save the world … Continue reading How to Keep Doing Sustainability in an Absurd World
The Summertalker’s Moment of Revelation
In this country of traditions, which has captured my heart and caused me to set down roots as deep as a modern human can have (family with children, house, bank accounts, taxes, habits of behavior and mind), there is a tradition that is quite modern, as recent as radio. “Summertalkers” is not a beautiful word, … Continue reading The Summertalker’s Moment of Revelation
What Lady Gaga and I Have in Common
You might be expecting a humor piece -- “I once dropped a piece of Parma ham onto my lap, where it draped across my leg as though it were a patch on my pants, just like Lady Gaga’s famous meat dress” -- but I’m actually quite serious here. I’m not really a Gaga fan, no … Continue reading What Lady Gaga and I Have in Common
Sunday: Half-Work, Half-Family
The half-family part of this short post is probably easy to understand ... but why "half-work" on a Sunday with family? Easy answer: Monday deadline for one assignment (teaching an online class for the ISSP), and a keynote speech to give on Tuesday in Germany on The Future of Sustainable Lifestyles and Entrepreneurship. Plus, the … Continue reading Sunday: Half-Work, Half-Family
Elation, Despair, and Professionalism
Yesterday and today, two days that could not be more different. Standing on stage at the royal theater in front of hundreds of people; sitting in the cottage behind my house that serves as my 'Global Headquarters'. Moderating a panel of leaders and ambassadors; sorting receipts and dealing with corporate paperwork. The purpose of this … Continue reading Elation, Despair, and Professionalism
What it Means to be a Sustainability Change Agent
I was lying on my back in the snow, staring up through the branches of the big old oak tree in front of our house, when it hit me. That's where I'd ended up after going down hill on my buttocks (on purpose, riding tea-saucers with my youngest daughter). It felt lovely just to lie … Continue reading What it Means to be a Sustainability Change Agent
Eco-House, Normal House
A Little Weblog Essay about Our New House, and its Various Environmental and Sustainable Features and Benefits This week my family moves into a new house that we have just finished building -- or rather, that the builders have just finished building, financed by the proceeds on the sale of our previous apartment (we sold … Continue reading Eco-House, Normal House
Alan AtKisson 