Author and photographer Herb Everett is a retired graphic designer, avid hiker, and a world traveler living in Eugene, Oregon. To download a file (1.5 MB) of this photo essay by Herb please click here.
The Chambered Nautilus Dimensions of Our Lives
By Dennis Rivers, Oregon
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
—Rumi.
In the course of my lifetime of stumbling and struggling through meditation, study, prayer and ecological activism, I have become convinced of one thing: We are part of something much larger than ourselves, a living presence that supports us, constrains us, and calls to us. That Presence provides us with breath, light, food and a million companions, and also yearns to receive back from us something profound —a response, a conversation. I keep on thinking that the something given back out of gratitude must be more that the perpetual wars and oppression that have raged around the world most of my life.
Neils Bohr (Danish Nobel prize-winning physicist and philosopher) once observed that the opposite of an ordinary truth is a falsehood, but the opposite of a great truth is often another great truth. It is a great truth of human life that we each need to develop our abilities as deeply as we possibly can. It is also a great truth of human life that we need to honor and nurture the webs of life, people, lands and seas around us, in widening circles. I am convinced that the more powerful we become with new technologies, the more deeply true both the above truths become. In the dream geometry of the Chambered Nautilus paintings below, I experience a celebration of our infinite interwovenness, a celebration of our complex developmental journeys, and a celebration of the One Life that holds us all.
I am totally convinced that…
The deeper the ugliness we intend
to confront and mend in the world around us,
the deeper the beauty
we need to carry within us.
As you seek to mend
the wounds of this world,
may you bring beautiful new light
into every room your enter!
To download these pdf images, please click on the poster titles below.
By Dennis Rivers, created with the assistance of artificial intelligence, Oregon. Dennis is our volunteer webmaster. Dennis created these paintings (with help from AI) to inspire people to see the world around them with new eyes, a world in which greed and war were no longer needed. He feels that these images carry wisdom from Mother Galaxy. He writes, “I love the infinite-spiral-speaking to-us-from-another-dimension feeling that they offer.”
Dennis has offered these images as free posters with inspiring messages, rather than as traditional over-the-couch wall art pieces. He is excited about the Public Domain—Belongs to Everyone—aspect of this project. You may also visit his website, EarthPrayer.net.
By Satish Kumar, Editor Emeritus, Resurgence, U.K.
Satish Kumar, originally from India, is an author, editor, educator, and a world traveler. He lives in the United Kingdom. Photo by Daniel Elkan.
The economy of Nature is regenerative, resilient, abundant and cyclical. Nature produces no waste. In a forest there are no waste bins!
Take for example a mango tree and mango fruit. We invest one single seed in the soil, what I call the Earth Bank. Then there is slow but steady growth. That seed collaborates with the Sun, soil and rain, as well as pollinating bees and orchard keepers, and slowly it becomes a beautiful tree.
Within a few years that tree produces hundreds of magnificent mangoes, not just for one year, but year after year for forty to fifty years. What an amazing return! Each mango is delicious, nutritious, nourishing, fragrant, sweet, healthy, and beautiful to look at. The juicy and tasty flesh is packaged in a soft skin that can be composted to feed the soil. No waste, no pollution, and no plastic packaging. A mango tree gives oxygen in the daytime (which we humans need) and absorbs carbon dioxide for its own nourishment. What a great miracle!
The mango tree and the mango fruit are beautiful, useful, and durable. Artists take pleasure in painting them, photographers take photos, and poets are inspired to compose poems about them.
Each mango has a seed within it. The one seed that we planted a few years ago has now multiplied into hundreds of seeds! Eventually from one original seed we can create a whole new orchard. No scarcity of seeds. No need to buy seeds. This is the ‘mangonomy’ of abundance.
The mango tree teaches us the importance of generosity and equality. A king or a beggar, a saint or a sinner, a priest or a prisoner, a human or an animal, a bird or a wasp—everyone is welcome to enjoy and to be fed by mangoes.
Never will a mango tree ask you, “Have you come with your credit card?” Everyone is welcome to have mangoes. No discrimination, no judgement, and no money is needed as far as the tree itself is concerned.
A mango tree needs no fossil fuels, no electricity, no wind turbines, no solar panels, and no batteries. It only takes passive solar energy, which is in constant supply. A mango orchard requires no factory floors, no concrete construction, and no infrastructure. Mango trees are self-sufficient, self-managed, and self-contained.
A mango tree gives more than mangoes. It provides branches for birds to nest in. It provides cool shade in hot summer for people and animals to rest, and firewood in a cold winter. At the end of its life mango wood is made into objects of daily use. A mango tree comes from the earth and returns to the earth. During its lifetime it benefits other species and does no harm to anyone.
This is a perfect economy. We humans need to be humble and learn from mango trees in particular, and Nature in general. I have chosen the mango tree to illustrate my point. But this is true of all the fruit trees and shrubs, grains and vegetables, herbs and flowers, and Nature in her entirety.
Can any factory or industrial plant produce something as beautiful and beneficial, as good and harmless, as valuable and pleasing as a mango? Industrialists, business leaders and politicians talk about ‘the economy.’ But hardly anyone knows or understands the true meaning of economy. Economy is made of two Greek words: oikos and nomos. Oikos means ‘home,’ and nomos means ‘management.’ In the wisdom of Greek philosophers, the entire ecosystem is our home, and management of the ecosystem is the true economy.
But our modern economists, industrialists, businesspeople and politicians are not managing ecosystems. Instead, they are managing balance sheets, business plans, profitability, industrial production, and money supply. This is not the true economy. This is the ‘moneynomy:’ the management of money. They appear to treat ecosystems and Nature as a ‘commodity,’ a resource for financial gain, a means to the end of making money. Moneynomy is misnamed as economy, but, if the truth be told, moneynomy is anti-economy!
A PERFECT ECONOMY
Governments around the world agree on one thing: economic growth! Whether a government is capitalist, socialist or communist, whether it is Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or atheist, they all have one common goal, and that is the goal of economic growth. All countries live under the dictatorship of the moneynomy. This is not true growth in terms of a true economy. The growth they seek is growth in moneynomy.
In Nature’s true economy or mangonomy there are two types of growth: vertical growth and horizontal growth. In vertical growth there is an optimum limit. A mango tree on average will grow to become thirty to fifty feet tall and then stop growing. An animal will grow to a certain limited height and then stop growing. A human being will not generally grow much beyond six feet. This is sustainable vertical growth. Then there is horizontal growth. Here we have much more flexibility. Forests, farms, and mango groves are not so limited in horizontal growth.
The mangonomy is decentralized and widely distributed. No concentration of millions of mangoes on one tree!
LONG-TERM WELLBEING
So-called economic growth is vertical. The rich get richer and richer. There is no limit. Financial wealth concentrates in fewer and fewer hands. Extremely rich individuals of this world pursue vertical growth. Corporations like Amazon, Google and Apple also have vertical growth. For them enough is never enough.
Five to ten countries out of approximately two hundred have much higher economic growth, even though within these rich countries large numbers of people have a very low income and a low standard of living. Many people live in slums, and many are begging in the streets of rich countries. Such economic growth or money growth is largely vertical, without any benefit to a large number of people, and in the long run economic growth of this type also creates growth in pollution, waste and carbon emissions, which are all harmful to planet Earth.
If we want the long-term wellbeing of the human race and the health of our precious planet, we need to shift our obsession with money management and focus instead on the proper management of ecosystems. Money should be simply a means to an end, the end being both human and planetary wellbeing. That will be the true economy! And the economy needs to be circular—what comes from the Earth goes back to the Earth. Minimum waste, minimum pollution, and minimum carbon emissions.
We can all learn this from a mango tree. Long live the mangonomy!
By Satish Kumar, Editor Emeritus of Resurgence Magazine based in Devon, United Kingdom. Satish is the author of many books, including Soil, Soul, Society and Radical Love, available from www.resurgence.org/shop
Note: This article was first published in Resurgence & Ecologist Issue 349, March/April 2025. All rights to this article are reserved to The Resurgence Trust and author. To buy a copy of the magazine, read further articles or find out about the Trust, visit: www.resurgence.org
By Sara wael, age 14, Al Ain, U.A.E.
Bears by Daemion Lee, Oregon.
Bears here, bears there,
bears are found everywhere!
Let’s take a trip to meet them all,
Who’s your favorite bear of all?
First, we visit the panda bear,
Found in forests deep and rare.
They love to munch on fresh bamboo,
And nap around the whole day through.
They tumble, roll, and sometimes share,
Pandas are the playful bears!
Ready for more? Let’s move along,
To places chilly, wild, and strong!
Then we go where the weather snows,
And icy wind forever blows.
There we meet the polar bears,
Fishing for food and swimming in pairs.
White and tough with icy stares,
Polars are the coolest bears!
Keep the pace, there’s more to see,
The forest calls to you and me!
Soon we find a grizzly bear, tall,
Roaming the forest, proud and strong
Eating honey with a mighty swish,
Their claws are sharp, their steps are swift.
With watchful eyes and steady care,
Grizzlies are the protective bears!
Quiet now, don’t make a peep,
Moon bears rest where midnight sweeps!
Found at night in forests deep,
Where moonlight glows and shadows sleep.
There we meet the moon bears, shy,
Peeking up at the starry sky.
With quiet steps and gentle glares,
Moon bears are the mysterious bears!
Under stars, our journey’s bright,
Next comes bears with eyes of night!
Found beneath the northern skies,
With beauty bright in golden eyes.
There we meet the black bears, bold,
Clever, curious, and never cold.
With black, brown and soft dark hair,
Black bears are the boldest bears!
Now let’s explore the mountains high,
Where secret bears are passing by!
Hidden in the southern clouds,
In mountains deep, special and proud.
They wander alone in quiet steps,
And eat wild fruits on jungle treks.
They’re quiet, sweet, and very aware,
Andeans are the special bears!
Off we go, you’re almost there,
To meet a bear with shaggy hair.
Seen in grasslands climbing trees,
Their tongues stretch out with skill and ease.
They feast on bugs with great delight,
They sleep by day and wake at night.
They’re gentle, sweet, and beyond compare,
Sloth bears are the caring bears.
Now for last, the smallest one,
Our bear adventure’s almost done!
Finally, we meet the smallest bear,
Cute and sweet, with gentle care.
Found in tropics, bold and bright,
Resting deep through day and night.
With honey dreams and silly stares,
Sun bears are the cutest bears!
Bears here, bears there, bears live everywhere!
Let’s keep them safe with all our care.
From forests deep to mountains high,
They need our help to thrive, not die.
So show some love, be bold, be fair,
Who’s your favorite bear out there?
—Sara Wael, United Arab Emirates. She adds: “My name is Sara, and I’m 14 years old. I live in the U.A.E. in a city called Al Ain. I wrote this poem (which I hope to publish as a book someday) to help spread awareness about endangered bears and to shine a light on bear species that many people don’t know much about. I hope this poem inspires others to learn more about these amazing animals, their habitats, and just how important they are to our world.”
By George Nakajima, age 11, California.
Are you not tired of changing clocks twice a year? I believe we should adopt Permanent Standard Time for several compelling reasons: it aligns with our natural circadian rhythms, it is supported by scientific research on health, and it avoids the disruptions caused by Daylight Saving Time.
Los Angeles is located at about 34°N latitude. There are other countries on similar latitudes that do not observe Daylight Saving Time (DST), such as Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore. I chose to compare Tokyo (Japan) and Los Angeles as I have lived in both Tokyo and Los Angeles.
Right now, I live in Los Angeles, where we have DST. DST shifts the clock forward in spring and back in fall. This changes my body clock. In Tokyo, you do not need to change your clock, so you can live more naturally. But in Los Angeles, we need to adjust our clock twice a year—once in spring and once in fall. This is something we cannot easily get used to.
Only two U.S. states do not observe DST. They are Hawaii and Arizona. At first, I wasn’t sure if Utah and New Mexico used Daylight Saving Time. That’s because the Navajo Nation, which does use DST, covers parts of those states. I thought the rest of Utah and New Mexico might not follow DST. But after doing some research, I learned that both Utah and New Mexico do use DST, just like most other states. Several states, including Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Wyoming, are trying to adopt Permanent DST. However, I believe we should keep Permanent Standard Time instead.
First, Permanent Standard Time is better aligned with our internal body clocks. According to the article, “Permanent Standard Time Is the Way to Go.”
Dr. Beth Malow, director of the sleep division at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, explains: “Having light in the morning not only makes you feel more alert, but it also helps you go to bed at the right time at night.”
This highlights how waking up with natural light improves both our alertness during the day and our ability to sleep well at night.
Second, only a small portion of the world still follows Daylight Saving Time. Less than 40% of people worldwide observe Daylight Saving Time. Gabrielle Solis, a supporter of Permanent Standard Time, notes: “It first started as an effort to save energy, but research has found that the actual energy savings are minimal.”
This shows that the original purpose of Daylight Saving Time no longer applies effectively, making it less relevant in today’s society.
Many doctors believe that Permanent Standard Time is healthier. According to Gabrielle Solis, shifting clocks disrupt sleep and increase the risk of heart attacks and other health issues. By sticking to Standard Time year-round, we can create a healthier, more stable routine for everyone.
To conclude, sticking with Standard Time promotes a safe and healthy morning, aligns with our body clocks, and avoids the hottest part of the workday—something especially helpful for workers who dislike working in the heat. If you agree with my idea, please contact your local representative and support changing the law for good.
—George Nakajima, age 11, California. He will start middle school this fall.
By maggie d., poet and retired educator, Washington
1. The Harvesters
“Be at peace with your
Enemy” our ancestors
Preached
But what if they were
Police
The authorities who
Handcuffed and
Hunted you down like
An animal
That gave you no relief
When you sought to live
Freely in America
Continually we battled
Our poverty hunger strife
In our native land
At one time the fields
And orchards offered a
Way to excel
It was a place where hope
Dwelled
And Cesar Chavez’s Spirit
Existed
2. Escaping Hunger Pangs
Stealing food heals
My momentary hunger
Making me wonder
About the noises
In my stomach
They sound louder than
Thunder as they rumble
Inside
But I relentlessly search
For slumber and shade in
The city sun
Oblivious to places too
Obvious for rest
I recall how nice the
Beans and rice
Are when I realize I can
Get caught someday
Living life on the streets
I savor solutions to stay
Alive without needing to
Hide
—maggie d., African American poet and retired educator, Washington.
By Thom Hartmann, author, educator and commentator
Every September, countless ADHD kids return to school full of promise, only to feel like failures by October. It’s not because they’re lazy, stupid, or broken. It’s because the system was never designed for them in the first place.
We built our modern education system during the Industrial Revolution. Its purpose wasn’t to foster creativity or honor individual strengths—it was to create obedient factory workers and good soldiers. Schools emphasized conformity, repetition, and hierarchy. Sit still. Follow the rules. Memorize and repeat. Don’t ask too many questions.
For kids with ADHD—what I call Hunter brains in a Farmer’s world—this is a death sentence for the spirit.
The Classroom as a Factory
Think about it: A standard classroom requires kids to sit still for long periods, absorb abstract information, and stay quiet unless called on. That’s not how Hunters are wired. A Hunter scans their environment, reacts quickly to movement, explores, wanders. Their learning is active, kinetic, sensory.
Now imagine putting that child in a chair under fluorescent lights for six hours a day. Penalize them when their minds wander. Shame them for blurting out brilliant but untimely observations. Force them to repeat tasks that bore them to tears. That’s not education—that’s imprisonment.
The Myth of the Lazy Kid
One of the most insidious myths about ADHD kids is that they “just need to try harder.” But ADHD isn’t about willpower. It’s about neurological wiring. The hunter brain isn’t motivated by future rewards; it responds to immediate stimuli. It craves novelty, intensity, and challenge. Long-term projects, repetitive drills, or quiet reading time simply don’t register as important. It’s not a choice. It’s chemistry.
This leads to an avalanche of negative feedback: low grades, constant reprimands, damaged self-esteem. The message they internalize is clear: you’re not good enough. And so they begin to disengage, act out, or give up altogether.
Rebellion Is Not a Flaw
We treat rebelliousness in children as a character defect. But sometimes it’s wisdom. Hunter kids resist systems that don’t serve them. That resistance, if nurtured, becomes the same trait that leads adults to become inventors, artists, entrepreneurs, and change-makers.
But too often we crush it early. We reward conformity. We punish curiosity. We drug children into silence.
This isn’t just a tragedy. It’s a massive loss of potential. How many future Einsteins and Edisons have we labeled as disruptive? How many future innovators dropped out to escape systems that refused to see their genius?
Real Learning Happens in Motion
Look at how young children naturally learn: by touching, exploring, imitating, asking questions. That’s a Hunter’s learning style. The farther we move from that model, the more we lose those kids.
Project-based learning, outdoor education, apprenticeships—these approaches work brilliantly for ADHD brains. They restore meaning to the learning process. They offer feedback in real-time. They respect movement, engagement, and challenge.
Why do so many ADHD kids come alive in summer camp, theater, robotics, or sports? Because such environments match their wiring.
What Can We Do?
First, we stop blaming the child.
Then we fight to reform the system. Advocate for alternative learning models that honor multiple intelligences. Support teachers who think outside the box. Push back against standardized testing regimes that reduce learning to a number.
And at home, we tell our Hunter kids the truth: You’re not broken. You’re different. And in many ways, you’re better suited to thrive in a world that desperately needs new thinking.
The modern school system wasn’t built with the hunter in mind. But that doesn’t mean we have to keep using it.
Let’s rebuild it. Let’s build schools where Hunters can run.
—Thom Hartmann, educator and commentator, is the author of a highly respected book, ADHD: Hunter in a Farmer’s World. Reprinted with permission from ADHD: Hunter in a Farmer’s World with Thom Hartmann. To receive new posts you can become a free or paid subscriber of this reader-supported publication.
By Drew Choy, age 12, grade 6, California.
The cold water welcomed my fingertips as I dipped them into the bowl. I gently lathered the water onto the wrapper so I wouldn’t rip it. The meat inside of the wrapper felt like a golf ball—smooth, spherical and heavy for its small size. I connected the two opposite corners of the wrapper and folded the wonton* into an envelope.
I’m a third generation American and making wontons is something that connects me to my culture. My parents are pretty good at it, but I’m just starting, so sometimes I make small mistakes. We make them at random times. Sometimes I get home from soccer practice and the wontons are waiting for me, and other times, I get to make a couple of them, too.
Chinese cuisine is a lot different than many other cuisines in that you rarely ever get to eat the dish you ordered. Most of the time, you share all of the food with everyone at the table, even if you only ordered one item. When I share these meals with my parents, it helps me bond with them.
I set the wonton down on the platter where many of the wontons my parents had previously made were sitting. Journey (the music band) played in the background. My mom, who was preparing the vegetables for dinner, said something to my dad in Chinese which I didn’t understand.
As my dad pulled the first batch of wontons out of the pot, the aroma filled the room, and my mouth watered.
I refocused on my task, but I was having trouble closing the wrappers tight. So I dropped the wonton onto the plate, sat back in my chair, and crossed my arms.
My dad got up from his chair and crouched down next to me. He then calmly walked me through how to find the right amount of meat and how to seal the wrappers well.
When I visit China, I’m the only person in my family who doesn’t speak any Chinese. Whenever we’re shopping at street markets, vendors are shouting out items in Chinese, and at restaurants the menus are all written in Chinese. This makes me feel separated from my culture because I can’t do the basic things that Chinese people can do. But when we’re back home in California, making Chinese food is one of the only things that makes me feel Chinese.
“It’s okay,” my dad tells me. “Everyone makes mistakes.”
My mom, still standing over the boiling pot of water, says, “Yeah, as a kid, I didn’t understand how to make wontons right away. It takes time to learn new things.”
A smile crept onto my face. When the wontons were finished boiling, I made a sauce containing soy sauce, sesame sauce and rice vinegar. I bit into the first wonton and the juice from the meat burst inside my mouth in a flavorful explosion.
Immersing in Chinese culture isn’t just about speaking the language. Food and my parents are equally important things that connect me to it. In China, I may have felt awkward being around a lot of the people, but through participating in small cultural practices here in the U.S., I hope to fill the gap between Chinese culture and me.
* Wonton is a Chinese dumpling that is commonly found across many regional cuisines of China.
—Drew Choy, age 12, grade 6, California. Drew writes, “I’m Chinese-American, and I am the second generation of my family born in the U.S. I only speak English right now, but I used to be fluent in Chinese. The most important thing to me is my parents. They are the ones that support you and guide you through all aspects of your lifetime. My parents are my best friends and I wouldn’t be who I am without them. In the future, my dream is to become a professional soccer player. I am a very athletic kid, and sports are something that always cheer me up.”
By Viraj Ajgaonkar, age 12, grade 8, Mumbai, India.
Adam Bobrow sketch by Viraj Ajgaonkar.
I am an emerging professional table tennis player, and I do my best to actively compete at Mumbai’s city level table tennis tournaments. There are multiple players whom I greatly adore and I always try to imbibe their techniques that help me to improve my game.
But there’s this guy who is quite unique, and he has created a meritorious place for himself as an official table tennis commentator in the UTT and WTT tournaments. When he was a professional player, he was popular for his signature snake serves and hitting the ball across the table.
Yes, you guessed it right. He is our very own the “Voice of table tennis,” Mr. Adam Bobrow!
He is also a successful YouTuber wherein he battles out professional players—from China’s Ma Long and Fan Zhendong to France’s Lebrun brothers or Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, right up to India’s Sharath Kamal or even USA’s Kanak Zha.
His humorous style of talking in his typical American accent, his colourful t-shirts and shorts, and his strong command over the language makes him very unique. He is truly fun-loving and seems to enjoy traveling to diverse places. For a recent Doha tournament, he traveled light—with just one backpack!
He has had played a pivotal role in spreading the passion for table tennis (ping pong) by challenging even the enthusiastic non-players of various age groups across the world through the solid platform of PingPod.
You will notice that he is a keen observer when you see him play against professional players in the challenge games. He tries to study their strengths and other technical aspects of backhand/ forehand strokes, chop, block, etc. He then effectively blends it especially in his English commentary. He often gives nicknames to many players—like Xuperman to Xu Xin or The Golden Girl to Manika Batra.
I’d like to take an opportunity through this article to invite you, Mr. Bobrow, to our city of Mumbai at Shivaji Park Gymkhana and Park Club. Mr. Bobrow, do come and challenge me and my other senior buddies, and let’s have a blast over here to create some unforgettable moments!
By Viraj Ajgaonkar, Age 12, Grade 8, Bombay Scottish School, Mumbai, India.
* Table Tennis is known as Ping Pong in many countries of the world.