In Context Articles by Robert

Built Environment | Community | Cultural History, Futures & Analysis | Economics & Business | Gender & Relationships | Governance | his own life | Learning | Living Lightly | Natural Environment & Science | Population | Spirit | Strategies for Change | Sustainability

Built Environment:

Finding Home
A look at roots and possibilities for habitat

The Eco-Village Challenge
What is an “eco-village”? And why aren’t we already living in them? A look at challenges faced by the emerging eco-village movement

Guidelines for Eco-Village Development
Eight steps to creating your own sustainable community, no matter where you live

About Issue #35 (Sustainable Design)

It’s Time to Rebuild!
We have the skills, technology, and compelling reasons to do it; it’s time to begin redeveloping our obsolete built environment.

Update on sustainable architecture

Community:

The Changing Patterns Of Community
A cultural history from tribes to cities .. and beyond

The Village And Beyond
Networks of villages may be the next major social form

Finding Home
A look at roots and possibilities for habitat

The Eco-Village Challenge
What is an “eco-village”? And why aren’t we already living in them? A look at challenges faced by the emerging eco-village movement

Guidelines for Eco-Village Development
Eight steps to creating your own sustainable community, no matter where you live

Cultural History, Futures & Analysis:

The Changing Patterns Of Community
A cultural history from tribes to cities .. and beyond

The Village And Beyond
Networks of villages may be the next major social form

Continental Themes
Reconnecting with our roots

200 Years Of Identity Crises
A cultural history of American moods and self-images in 8 big steps

The Vision & Its Agenda
How does the current North American vision contribute to the vision of a humane sustainable culture?

How We Got Here
A brief history of education

The Human Story
The big picture suggests we’re starting a new chapter

Breaking The Rules
A shadowy introduction to a funny business

Finding Home
A look at roots and possibilities for habitat

Understanding the Soviets
A look through the windows of their geography, history, and system

The Times They Are A-Changin’
Historical patterns offer hope for “the next agenda”

On the Brink
Ancient history and contemporary trends point to a decline in militarism – but it remains a dangerous presence

The Ecology of Media
As vehicles of cultural communication, our media largely define who we are as a society

Can the Earth Heal Us?
The environmental crisis offers us a unique opportunity to transcend age-old conflicts.

What Time Is It?
Converging historic shifts provide a dynamic setting in which human culture can move, either gracefully or with reluctance, into a new era.

Looking Back from 2003
In just 10 short years, the industrialized world shifted to a sustainable, cooperative-based economy. Here’s how it happened.

Economics & Business:

From Dismal Science To Joyful Art
Reframing economics so that it better fits the full diversity of real economic life and can serve as a useful policy guide for building a humane sustainable culture

Mondragon: The Remarkable Achievement
Pioneering a significant social invention in the Basque region of northern Spain

The Importance Of Time
Conventional wisdom fails to understand that operating in a time-limited mode involves significantly different behavior and attitudes from operating in a goods-limited mode

The Idea Of Owning Land
An old notion forged by the sword is quietly undergoing a profound transformation.

Beyond Ownership
Piecing together a new vision for land and economics.

Freeing Business
We can free our vision of business from the abuses of today’s system

Whole Person Organizations: Emerging Patterns
Can an organization both empower and coordinate its members?

Economics, Ecology, and Us
Towards a gentle – and enjoyable – way of life

Design for a Sustainable Economics
Conventional economic thinking is dangerously outmoded, and a new, more comprehensive system must take its place. A look at what could become the framework for economic thinking – and policy-making – in the 21st century

Looking Back from 2003
In just 10 short years, the industrialized world shifted to a sustainable, cooperative-based economy. Here’s how it happened.

A New Relationship with Time
The drop in per capita employment could set the stage for a more balanced way of living.

Gender & Relationships:

The Trouble With Men
A look at the sources of, and solutions to, the oppressiveness of men

Governance:

Structural Violence
Can we find genuine peace in a world with inequitable distribution of wealth among nations?

Sustainable Peace
Putting the pieces together

The Wisdom Of The Tribe
Lessons from old cultures may help us overcome the reign of raw power.

his own life:

Stories, Facts & Meaning
A personal introduction

Economics, Ecology, and Us
Towards a gentle – and enjoyable – way of life

Learning:

The Inside Story
Understanding the structure of the brain

Memory & Morphogenetic Fields
A controversial theory of how memory works

The Learning Process
Helping various parts of our mind fulfill their intentions

How We Got Here
A brief history of education

The Way Of Learning
What learning can, and might, become

Living Lightly:

Economics, Ecology, and Us
Towards a gentle – and enjoyable – way of life

Natural Environment & Science:

The Inside Story
Understanding the structure of the brain

The Cosmic Story
The Universe is where it all begins

What’s Wrong With The Climate?
Examining the evidence for global warming reveals a lot of uncertainty – but a compelling case for urgent action. Plus What About the Ice Age Theory?

Population:

We’re All In This Together
Providing quality childhoods to the next generation of planetary stewards is a critical imperative

No Simple Answers
Computer models reveal that population control is not “the” solution

Spirit:

Stories, Facts & Meaning
A personal introduction

The Garden
A story about paths, signposts, and choices

Can the Earth Heal Us?
The environmental crisis offers us a unique opportunity to transcend age-old conflicts.

The Next Great Turning
Evidence that interconnection is more real on more levels than we may have thought – and what that could mean to our western world view.

Shed Your Dread Thoughts on how to remain fearlessly focused on the present

Strategies for Change:

Stages Of Change
Examples from history and ideas from chemistry illustrate the process of cultural change.

What’s Needed
What we need to know and do to be effective cultural midwives.

Reclaiming Politics
As the times change, we also need to change our approach to politics

Building the Movement
Communities in North America need help to change in ways that will be sustainable for today’s world and for future generations. Community Transformation Services could be part of the answer

Rebuilding Communities
Promising approaches to crime prevention

Surf’s Up! The pace of change is quickening.

Shed Your Dread Thoughts on how to remain fearlessly focused on the present

It Works! A report on the success of Global Action Plan’s Household Eco Team program in The Netherlands

Sustainability:

Introductions (from IC #1)
… to IN CONTEXT, humane sustainable culture, and the issue’s theme

Sustainability: The State of the Movement
For two decades the movement has been working behind the scenes to promote planetary health; now it must stand up and be noticed

What is “Humane Sustainable Culture”?

A definition of sustainability from the 1992 design competition “A Call for Sustainable Community Solutions” sponsored by the International Union of Architects (UIA) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

The UIA/AIA “Declaration of Interdependence for a Sustainable Future,” June 1993