http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/misc/Newsfeeds/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant.aspxPhilosophy and Farming with Bryan Welchen{F2826F9E-CD4B-4A56-A694-7B4119A14E66}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/The%20Best-Loved%20Car%20in%20the%20World.aspxI was gratified when, two weeks ago, Consumer Reports announced that the Chevy Volt was the best-loved car in the world among people who drive one – for the second year in a row. I have never loved a car like I love this one. And I have loved some cars.Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:34:43 -0600{6F9C002C-987B-4E25-8217-BB0DC6BC1CA0}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Hitting%20the%20Mark.aspxWhy is it unrealistic to believe we can agree that clean air and water are important and limited resources? How insane is it to think we could imagine a world of beauty and abundance? That’s what I’m going to aim for.Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:59:06 -0500{25C0B427-41C7-4E81-9E04-A362FF80A0B1}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Abundance.aspxEvery natural environment is beautiful in ways we cannot imagine. We must preserve natural beauty for precisely that reason, because we could not conceive of natural beauty on our own without nature’s inspiration.Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:25:22 -0500{8FED36EF-5833-4992-A7B1-6FC06E3B4C24}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Idealistically%20Unrealistically.aspxWe could feed every hungry person tomorrow but we haven’t collectively decided to do so. In my beautiful vision, we would tolerate nothing less.Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:14:12 -0500{411F0A7B-9B00-4C0B-BA11-95A19AB77964}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/The%20Great%20Privilege.aspxApplying human objectivity to the biggest, most intriguing and most definitively human problem, ever, is quite an endeavor.Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:13:51 -0500{ED3848B9-D875-4566-8D50-FA24B6247D3C}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Google%20Case%20Study%20Initiatives.aspxGoogle can be the most enlightened power-user on the planet. Because it is so successful, and because it uses a lot of electricity, Google has the opportunity to set a new global standard for clean power.Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:22:32 -0500{4A481760-9A19-434A-B414-DFB2A67C5140}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Google%20Case%20Study%20Is%20it%20Contagious.aspxThe company’s founders seem to be as proud of the company’s culture as they are of its financial success. Can the Google culture persist when the company’s economic power declines?Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:28:06 -0500{C54DF727-F777-4EAA-874B-D266ECEE5CE2}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Google%20Case%20Study%20Is%20it%20Fair.aspxGoogle’s unofficial motto, “Don’t Be Evil,” could be expressed as easily in the positive, “Be Fair.”Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:09:03 -0500{708D8FEE-52E6-4D26-85A9-2B45C9B2F50D}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Google%20Case%20Study%20Does%20it%20Create%20Abundance.aspxAbundance is the most fundamental building block in the Google DNA.Tue, 26 Jun 2012 09:43:38 -0500{4E9A8DCE-BF4B-4703-97DA-CF903BB4D1AC}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Google%20Case%20Study%20Is%20it%20Beautiful.aspxGoogle’s mission is making information available. That includes all the beauty in the world (along with everything else, of course).Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:47:57 -0500{685E80A7-B605-4FEC-9709-4BAAFB16F527}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Google%20Case%20Study%20Background.aspxConscientiousness is woven into the company culture, quite intentionally. The more prosperous and powerful the company becomes, the more strident the criticism. Any institution as powerful as Google has great potential for evil, and for good.Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:24:04 -0500{71BBF1F1-9E59-4E8C-A0D1-4A0AB6F19F92}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Case%20Study%20Three%20The%20Juggernaut%20Google%20Inc.aspxThe decade between the turn of the millennium and 2010 might justifiably be called the Google Decade. The company may have built more influence in less time than any other human endeavor in history.Tue, 29 May 2012 09:56:40 -0500{2571D533-22DB-431F-8DAB-1C8E318DC1CC}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Ogden%20Publications%20Case%20Study%20The%20Initiatives.aspxAt work, as at home, the queries have helped us add a number of constructive items to our agenda.Tue, 22 May 2012 15:46:51 -0500{280BE6F1-3D21-4D83-9287-FC2CEE0CCA42}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Ogden%20Publications%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Contagious%20Part%202.aspxMost of the things we do to conserve resources and protect the environment are subtle. We remain acutely conscious that all this, combined, still doesn’t make us a truly sustainable business. We have a long way to go. But we’re trying to get there.Tue, 15 May 2012 13:16:51 -0500{B0F6BB35-FEBE-4224-AA3D-D32C37BDE10A}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Ogden%20Publications%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Contagious.aspxOne of the best-proven characteristics of our system of business is its contagiousness. The system has proven itself repeatable and contagious across both time and space, across centuries of time and every continent.Tue, 08 May 2012 11:30:39 -0500{CB615140-51C8-49CB-B9F5-C23A0A887FA3}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Ogden%20Publications%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Fair%20Part%202.aspxBeyond salary and benefits are the more abstract but equally important elements that make an employee feel valued.Wed, 02 May 2012 11:56:27 -0500{DC812B61-F707-49DB-A142-D973D6122518}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Ogden%20Publications%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Fair.aspxOur writers sometimes criticize the system, but everyone understands that the system makes our existence possible. And the more successful our company is within the system, the more influential our work becomes. That's fair, I think.Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:00:55 -0500{73870BAF-A905-4732-AFEC-5C36CAF65333}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Ogden%20Publications%20Case%20Study%20Does%20It%20Create%20Abundance.aspxWe try to help people create abundance by both possible methods: by conserving existing resources and by propagating new resources. In other words, the two basic tools at our disposal are conservation and innovation.Wed, 18 Apr 2012 08:21:07 -0500{F40CE83D-E61D-41B7-899F-8FF6444C78E5}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Ogden%20Publications%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Beautiful.aspxYes, we aspire to beauty. And we create some beautiful things, judging with our own eyes and the eyes of our audiences. But of course it’s only through the ongoing daily aspiration to beauty that beauty is achieved. So, we keep it up.Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:22:47 -0500{1153380C-BB42-4439-B21B-3F059136564E}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Case%20Study%20Two%20The%20Biz%20Ogden%20Publications%20Inc.aspxMy colleagues and I hoped the small, unconventional company would provide a platform for something bigger – something that could grow.Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:22:54 -0500{505B47CE-306F-4FF4-8D65-390C8DB19BF5}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Rancho%20Cappuccino%20Case%20Study%20The%20Initiatives.aspxWe have our work cut out for us for many years to come. And for that, we’re grateful.Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:56:05 -0500{1990C51B-FBF4-44F7-814F-4549D95819CF}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Rancho%20Cappuccino%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Contagious%20Part%202.aspxIf a society decides its human populations can be held within the capacities of local farms to feed them, then our small farms can be replicated into the future, until further notice. I think that’s a very contagious idea.Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:33:17 -0500{032C640A-5793-4C46-823F-9DAC238A0889}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Rancho%20Cappuccino%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Contagious.aspxOn every continent in the world there are large regions where a family can, through ingenuity and hard work, provide a lot of its own food in active partnership with the natural environment. And people get excited about that.Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:53:05 -0500{E761A4CD-D26D-4E85-A840-F4B9201F82D0}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Rancho%20Cappuccino%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Fair%20Part%203.aspxWe’ll be actively engaged in this inquiry for the rest of our lives. It’s a great project, improving the fairness of how we live. It has captured our imaginations.Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:50:09 -0600{3CBAD058-F181-4FA2-9E29-6725C7E695A4}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Rancho%20Cappuccino%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Fair%20to%20the%20Livestock.aspxAfter a recent talk I gave in San Francisco, a man raised his hand and asked me how I could distinguish between “human slavery and animal slavery.” Now there’s a provocative question.Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:50:35 -0600{7196CE25-C4DF-4BC7-937C-0FBC8C0A574A}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Rancho%20Cappuccino%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Fair.aspxFairness is not so much a standard to be achieved as it is a criterion to be interpreted and applied. We strive for fairness, even though it can’t be clearly defined, much less perfected. In the striving, I think we create a better world.Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:41:27 -0600{E7E3A3EE-AEDA-4F90-802D-0CAFBB3440BD}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Rancho%20Cappuccino%20Case%20Study%20Does%20It%20Create%20Abundance.aspxWhen my wife and I consider whether Rancho Cappuccino helps create abundance, we need to look at all three underlying questions: Does it enhance natural resources, improving supply? Does it help reduce demand? And, does it help us embrace simplicity?Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:49:51 -0600{BF6308E3-43BA-4C56-B369-01BB00818EB8}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Rancho%20Cappuccino%20Case%20Study%20Is%20It%20Beautiful.aspxWe’re creating beauty more fundamentally, internally, by learning about the place, loving it and treating it with care. Year by year, its beauty is more compelling to us as we know it better. Beauty is, indeed, in the eye of the beholder.Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:26:04 -0600{25800A66-59AF-493E-B083-ABE4EF0FA660}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Case%20Study%20One%20The%20Farm%20Rancho%20Cappuccino.aspxRancho Cappuccino is what we call our farm, 50 acres of tallgrass prairie a few miles outside Lawrence, Kansas. Farming is the reflection of our value system. Rancho Cappuccino is the vessel for our lives.Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:29:06 -0600{973B5E53-89EF-4F52-92AE-CCB9A6907DD2}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/The%20Case%20Studies.aspxOver the next few weeks, I will offer here three case studies of how the queries might direct change within three very different organizations – our own Rancho Cappuccino; the business I run, Ogden Publications; and Google, Inc.Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:10:43 -0600{32B48A7B-DE99-48D8-A4DD-58F315B66CC7}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Mahmoud%20Stone%20Abraham%20and%20Isaac.aspxThe Africans showed up at our door on a sunny, chilly November afternoon. Two men introduced themselves as Stone and Abraham. In the background stood a young woman with a gregarious little boy, Henry, about 2 years old. They were looking for goats.Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:20:36 -0600{F1235AF0-AB76-419C-A6DB-8A65025E2A08}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Population%20and%20Resources.aspxSo far, technology has accommodated and augmented population growth. We’ve seen our “green revolution” spread across the globe and feed the multitudes. The globe remains, however, a finite resource.Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:06:30 -0600{546D89FD-BC23-45C7-8B1E-16C566D9C198}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Economics%20and%20Population.aspxWe have no examples of economic growth occurring in the absence of human population growth. Population growth is a Ponzi scheme and we’re setting up future generations as its victims. We are paying into the base of the pyramid with natural resources.Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:04:57 -0600{0A59EF93-38A2-43C8-B919-3076904BE04C}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Max%20et%20al.aspxWe met Max Gonzales in the mountains of northern New Mexico about 25 years ago. I sometimes wonder if he’s up there this year, in the Cruces Basin or some other isolated mountain valley, listening to radio and dreaming of home.Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:39:17 -0600{09D3BE92-5FA8-4A74-B752-9D0E1F00E3A3}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Humanitys%20Ponzi%20Scheme.aspxOur economic dependence on population growth bears a disturbing similarity to a global Ponzi scheme - a scam in which an unethical entrepreneur promises investors big returns, which he fraudulently generates from the contributions of later investors.Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:57:03 -0600{5E0AA3B7-D0CD-4302-BC47-AAD5F68B1273}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/The%20Population%20Problem.aspxOur habitat won’t allow the human population to expand forever. But if the global population stabilizes, we face an unprecedented economic problem. Prosperity depends on an expanding human population to support our expanding global economy.Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:52:27 -0600{94A3B2B0-A200-4CB4-8611-240C73F03A27}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Roots%20Agriculture.aspxAt first glance George Siemon and Doc Hatfield don’t appear to have a whole lot in common. But George and Doc and a bunch of conspirators are revolutionizing agriculture: they are putting consumers back in touch with the people who grow their food.Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:56:09 -0600{100A626B-FBE9-449A-B05B-940E757DA13E}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Humans%20and%20Machines.aspxEnvironmentalists are better leaders when we can better love human ingenuity. We will need to form partnerships with the natural world, to ingeniously utilize its resources in ways that preserve its natural productivity.Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:43:16 -0600{4F33069F-423F-4577-8070-3F4913CF9398}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Machine%20Mania.aspxEnvironmentalists should strive to understand the joy experienced by the race fan, the motorcyclist and the snowmobiler, and we should use that understanding to stimulate the human imagination in ways that benefit the planet.Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:23:24 -0600{D76846AB-F04E-43B1-A215-26B362EF8B60}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/The%20Ghost%20Turkey%20and%20Other%20Miracles.aspxIf a white midget turkey hen can survive alone in the woods for months, nature’s diverse citizenry will find new ways of thriving on a warmer planet, a wetter planet, a drier planet or a colder planet. They’ve done it before.Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:25:40 -0600{9B971358-7EDD-4400-86D3-7B356102B3F5}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Desertification.aspxMany farms of the 21st Century are, comparatively speaking, biological wastelands. Plowed, fertilized and cultivated from property-line to property-line, much of the world’s most productive land has been stripped of its wildlife.Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:44:24 -0600{B878AE43-2602-4DD4-AB8B-8E9E66ACAE17}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Human%20Ingenuity.aspxOur innovations have made possible a rapid expansion in the quantity of human life on earth. But the same technological foundation is used, with equal facility, to improve and sustain the quality of human life.Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:59:41 -0500{9534F80E-0BE9-4CE5-9B71-901FDA1D98C6}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Human%20History%20A%20Foundation%20for%20Optimism.aspxHuman history gives us plenty of evidence to support a pessimistic outlook, but history also gives us plenty of reason for optimism. On the humble foundation of skin clothing and bone jewelry we have built a wondrous technological superstructure.Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:21:12 -0500{23E8FE80-DEB2-4653-ADC5-8377A1E55073}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Take%20the%20First%20Steps%20Where%20to%20Place%20Our%20Feet.aspxAn alien biologist visiting from a distant planet might look at the remarkable similarities in our physiology and conclude that chimps would live pretty much as humans do, only more simply. But there’s something definitively, well, human about us.Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:23:37 -0500{2ED5B038-A5AB-4864-B52C-5F752EB85A74}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Test%20Driving%20Toyotas%202013%20Prius%20PlugIn%20and%20Loving%20It.aspxFor Bryan Welch, a prototype of Toyota's 2013 Prius Plug-In is a real life example of how gasoline electric hybrids have made major gains in efficiency over other conventional cars.Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:57:29 -0500{C2841026-D205-42EB-826C-AF9E34D33A12}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/What%20a%20Great%20Time%20to%20Be%20Alive.aspxEvidently when it comes to visualizing our future, a lot of people expect the worst and are inclined to leave it up to God. It is up to God, of course, but God gave us two eyes in the front of our heads to look forward and prepare for what’s to come.Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:58:36 -0500{A46944EA-21FF-47CC-A315-B89256644203}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Fairness%20as%20a%20Way%20of%20Life.aspxI realize that if I provide an example for the pursuit of fairness in the world I will be inviting dissent. But maybe an idealistic endeavor, like the international Fair-Trade movement, can at least illustrate the aspiration toward fairness.Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:31:28 -0500{8B0905F2-7991-422F-BCFC-078803B8FBEF}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/The%20Gardener%20As%20Magus%20from%20Beautiful%20and%20Abundant.aspxI was 9 when Mr. Posey “hired” me. Once I was certain he wouldn’t chase me off, I started spending nearly every spare moment there. It was my first job, and I loved it.Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:57:38 -0500{85025751-68CD-4C30-A393-BF7487B79B03}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Why%20settle%20for%20anything%20less%20than%20beauty.aspxConservation, while not a complete solution to our resource issues, is a key strategy for creating abundance.Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:31:22 -0500{1284186D-C6C8-458E-8B3B-7C07A92B8791}http://www.motherearthnews.com/Editorial/Blogs/Beautiful%20and%20Abundant/Planning%20for%20Beauty.aspxOur collective vision should incorporate the aspiration toward beauty in every human community around the world.Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:01:39 -0500