Category: Sustainability Education Forum

SEF News-Views Digest No. 149 (10-19-16)
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher

If you’re like me, you’re constantly trying to understand and interpret people’s beliefs and behaviors. This is especially the case these days, as we’ve observed a widening of divisiveness between progressives and conservatives. Experts in various fields, including philosophy, psychology, sociology, educa
tion, and neuroscience, have weighed in on this topic, some with plausible explanations. But it seems to me that most experts offer only partial explanations.

SEF News-Views Digest No. 148 (10-12-16)
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher

A populist movement is underway in America, and it’s spreading worldwide. More and more citizens are expressing deep dissatisfaction with 1) dysfunctional government (especially at the national level); 2) the increasing political and economic influence wielded by giant corporations and billionaires; 3) the widening gap between the top income earners and everyone else, resulting in a declining middle class; 4) the conflict of science-based data and socio-cultural-religious beliefs; 5) the ongoing expression of injustice among minority groups, as evidenced by recurring conflicts between black communities and police over unjustified profiling. In general, all citizens are caught up in the war of ideas that’s being fought in a worldwide arena by conservatives and progressives, made ominously obvious in the current US presidential race. For us senior citizens, it’s impossible to recall any previous presidential race that has been so inexplicable, so . . . weird!

SEF News-Views Digest No. 147 (10-5-16)
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher

 Depending largely on one’s political views, one may consider film-producer and activist Michael Moore as either as an American patriot (left-wing) or a traitor (right-wing). His progressive views and causes are well known, as is his passionately aggressive approach in projecting his socio-political-economic views in films he creates and produces. – SEF News-Views Digest by CFS member Clif Ware.

SEF News-Views Digest No. 146 (9-28-16)
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher

If you’ve missed receiving the SEF e-newsletter for the past month, it’s because Bettye and I decided to revisit some favorite western national parks and monuments. Although our trip was primarily for pleasure, we could not avoid viewing everything experienced through sustainability lenses. It would be more pleasurable to ignore discomforting observations, but given our sustainability orientation, that’s not an option.

SEF News-Views Digest No. 145 (8-24-16)
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher

An effective way of clarifying and promoting worthy causes is to use metaphors. Everybody understands the concept of making war, which is typically associated with physical violence in fighting an enemy. But the war metaphor has also been used in promoting non-violent causes. Three popular examples in modern times are the “War on Poverty”, “The War on Drugs”, and, most recently, “The War on Terrorism”.