In the supermarket, I am barely paying attention to the woman passing my purchases under the scanner. As she recites her formula, “Did you find everything you want?” it is clear she is barely paying attention to me. Our minds are occupied, but not with each other or with the here and now. We are both somewhere else.

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My title is spun off from a fascinating book, What I Talk about when I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami. He modelled his title on a collection of short stories, What We Talk about when We talk about Love by Raymond Carver.

Most of us can agree that ecopsychology is about the human-nature relationship. Using this phrase, we mostly know what humans are, but what is “nature”? And what do we mean when we talk about the separation from nature? Is nature something out there in a National Park? Something outside ourselves? Can we achieve some clarity about the concept of nature as it might be used in ecopsychology? Read More→

I recently saw the film The Economics of Happiness. It was excellent.  The first part of the film describes eight problems with globalization; the second part of the film suggests that localization is an answer and provides examples of people growing their own food and otherwise building community.  It is a message I have heard before and it is a message with which I am in agreement.

For a number of years I have made efforts to localize myself.  Every week I go to our farmers’s market.  I grow some of my own food in a small vegetable garden and orchard.  I patronize locally-owned businesses and avoid franchises and corporate stores.  I volunteer and participate in my community.  But does this make a difference?

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