Author: Rick Bellingham

The problem:  Global carbon dioxide emissions from the fossil fuels industry exceeded 37 billion metric tons in 2022 – their highest level ever.  Since 1990, global C02 emissions have increased by more than 60 percent. Based on a business-as-usual trend, C02 emissions are forecast to increase to some 43 billion metric tons in 2050.  Even if many of the agreements to decrease C02 emissions that came out of the COP28 conference were implemented, a recent Read More

My father and grandfather were both farmers for much of their lives.  They prepared the soil, planted the seeds, pulled the weeds, nurtured the plants, and harvested the produce that resulted from all that care and hard work.  I’m sure it must have been very satisfying for them to see the fruits of their labor.  They never longed for a life defined by titles, trophies, or treasures.  Their goal, as I want to imagine it, Read More

“The five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance – are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the ones we lost.  They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling.  But they are not stops on some linear timeline in grief.”  Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, best-selling author on death and dying.    “Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want Read More

“A rejection of absolutism, in all its forms, may sometimes slip into moral relativism or even nihilism, an erosion of values that hold society together, but for most of our history it has encouraged the very process of information gathering, analysis, argument, and persuasion which allows us to make better, if not perfect, choices – not only about the means to our ends, but also the ends themselves.”  Barrack Obama, The Audacity of Hope:  Thoughts Read More

“If we want to have good citizens, we need to create common spaces in which individuals can talk about the moral and ethical dilemmas that they have faced and how they resolve them.”  Howard Gardner   The more I read about the Israeli-Hamas War, the more confused I get.  The moral and ethical complexities are overwhelming.  I listen to Thomas Friedman, Brett Stephens, Nick Kristof, David Remnick, David French, David Brooks and Ezra Klein.  (Yes, Read More

“Even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination may well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women radiate, in their lives and their works. . . . . Eyes so used to darkness as ours will hardly be able to tell whether their light was the light of a candle or that Read More

“In the face of patriarchy, it is a brave act indeed for both men and women to embrace, rather than shame or attempt to eradicate, the feminine.”  Alanis Morissette “When humans invented inequality and socioeconomic status, they came up with a dominance hierarchy that subordinates like nothing the primate world has ever seen before.”  Robert Sapolsky “We can learn the art of fierce compassion – redefining strength, deconstructing isolation and renewing a sense of community, Read More

“Moral justification is a powerful disengagement mechanism.  Destructive conduct is made personally and socially acceptable by portraying it in the service of moral ends.  This is why most appeals against violent means usually fall on deaf ears.”  Albert Bandura “The one who cannot restrain their anger will wish undone, what their temper and irritation prompted them to do.”  Horace Since I am neither Jewish not Palestinian, I can’t represent either point of view on the Read More

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where so long as I get SOMEWHERE –” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.”  Lewis Carroll My good friend and business partner once told me sarcastically, “All you want to talk about is scales and skills.  Read More

“Anytime emotions are involved, you cannot come up with an impartial and objective assessment of any given problem.”  Benigno Aquino III “The Sixth Amendment secures to persons charged with crime the right to be tried by an impartial jury reflecting a fair cross-section of the community.”  Ruth Bader Ginsburg “There is no such thing as an impartial jury because there are no impartial people.”  Jon Stewart When it comes to my kids and grandkids, I Read More

“Age does not protect you from love.  But love, to some extent, protects you from age.”—Anais Nin “Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.””—Mark Twain Last week, my wife went to North Carolina to visit a dear friend of 50 years who, after a torturous process and diligent search, was placed in a cognitive care unit due to her dementia.  We had known our friend as a Read More

In multiple surveys of presidential historians and biographers over the past 40 years, five presidents almost universally appear at the top of the “most effective leader” list:  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and the Roosevelts.  While there is much less consensus around who else should be similarly recognized,  if it were up to me, I would add three more faces to Mount Rushmore:  FDR (consistently picked among the top 5) as well as JFK Read More