The movement that began with Occupy Wall Street has been criticized for lack of clarity in its agenda, but despite mainstream media coverage suggesting it is unfocused, that agenda has seemed pretty clear to me and many of those I know who support it: Reduce corporate influence on politicians and government policies, address glaring income inequality, attend to the environmental catastrophe of climate change, and re-engage people as citizens, rather than fatuous, self-absorbed “consumers of stuff.” All that may at first glance appear remote from the struggle to protect Knowland Park, but there is an underlying vision that informs both: the possibility of transforming who we are and how our institutions relate to the social and natural worlds. That vision, I think, includes a shift away from regarding everything around us as a resource for making money-- toward considering the worth of nature in its own right. Continue Reading →