Magazine
Ode to the American Buffalo
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 The Return of the Bison By Ivar Laanen After a long absence from American lands, descendants of a bison herd sent to Canada more than a century ago have been relocated to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, in Montana. The animals, also known as Read More...
The secret history of hallucinogens in Christianity
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 The authors’ anthropological journey through European and Middle Eastern churches finds evidence—hidden in plain sight for centuries—that challenges conventional views of the origins of Judeo-Christianity. An excerpt from The Psychedelic Read More...
A new look at an old book
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 We live by our stories. And our most important story, the bestselling book of all time, is the Bible, with an estimated five billion copies in print. The Bible, as a messenger of truth, has influenced millions of lives. And yet, as a new book Read More...
Nature is the best business consultant
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 Nature provides the principles for sustainable business, but a fear-and-greed-driven mindset obstructs us from running business naturally. Why the “whole brain state” is essential to sustainability. By Rob Williams Photography: Bruce Read More...
Rock, paper, progress
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 A new “stone” paper devised in Taiwan uses calcium carbonate instead of wood pulp. It could save the forests, but is the world ready for the ultimate paper-vs.-plastic question? By Karin Klein The first thing I notice about my new notebook is Read More...
The fight for GMO Labeling
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 Are GMOs safe? The debate rages on as anti-GMO activists push the United States to join more than five dozens countries around the world in ordering mandatory food package labeling. By Mary MacVean Supermarket shopping can be a dizzying Read More...
Can a plant heal cancer patients?
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Summer 2016 The research of Mirko Beljanski, the “father of environmental medicine,” is getting the respect it deserves, 18 years after his death. By Janet Rae-Dupree When French officials order troops from the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, or Read More...
Inspiration: How meditation changes the world
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 Subtle Activism | The Inner Dimension of Social and Planetary Transformation | David Nicol | Suny Press In the microscopic world of quantum physics there’s no such a thing as place or distance. The principle of “nonlocality” describes Read More...
Inspiration: Finding truth is not the same as finding happiness
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 In this age of wild politicians and violent, disrespectful debates, it’s a sign of hope that someone like the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh—also known as “The other Dalai Lama”—is so popular with so many people. Thich Nhat Read More...
Possibility: Refugees drive affordable housing innovation in Europe
From The Intelligent Optimist Magazine Fall/Winter 2016 European nations are finding that by working on one problem—sheltering the waves of refugees in ways that help integrate them into their new homes—they also can address other, seemingly intractable problems: Affordable housing for Read More...