Awesome Stories 305

/ February 4, 2017

This week Awesome Stories brings you regenerative agriculture, diversity, kindness, and better teaching.

Regenerating the Planet

regenerative agriculture, Awesome Stories

Regenerated forest by Ernst Gortsch

Embracing regenerative agriculture may be our best plan to both reverse climate change and repair ecosystems. According to research from the Rodale Institute, regenerative agriculture might be able to sequester up to 40% of current CO2 emissions, and maybe even 100% if pasture lands were treated the same way! Regenerative agriculture is the term for agriculture that attempts to help nature while growing food. Methods include no-tillage, organic fertilizers, composting, rotating crops, and resting fields to help soils heal and regenerate. Of course, we would also need to dramatically reduce the use of fossil fuels, but this might be our best way to actually reverse or stabilize climate change. As with most reform, the key is creating enough public awareness and political will. Will you help?

Balancing Diversity and Social Justice

We declare every human being equally valuable. It does not mean we treat all opinions and all behavior equally.

John Pavlovitz does a great job of explaining that accepting diversity and the inherent worth of all people doesn’t mean accepting all ideas or actions as good. The key distinction for John, and I would agree, is that your ideas and actions must not directly hurt or impair the rights of others. I love his analogy of inviting everyone to the table to have a voice. And if your voice, threatens or harms me, then you aren’t welcome at the table. I also think it’s important that we keep reaching out to people with different viewpoints and attempt to build bridges so that we include all people and find ways to work together.

Better Teaching

I don’t even watch TV, but I’m glad I found this EllenShow video about Mr. Bonner, the Teacher of the Year for Greenville Elementary School in NC. I love how he uses attitude, creativity, fun and caring to lift up his students. I agree with Ellen that we don’t give teachers enough recognition. Wouldn’t it be great to have more teachers like Mr. Bonner inspiring the next generation of leaders? And kudos to Ellen for using her TV platform to find and share stories about inspiring people. Thanks Ellen.

Kindness Matters

I love this story by Paul Villard called An Old Telephone. The main character is a child who learns to call “Information Please” on their home’s telephone as his way of not only finding answers, but having a source of help in a challenging world. Read the whole story for a very heart-warming reminder of how kindness can transcend time and distance to build bridges of caring and connection. I love how both Paul and Sally played much bigger roles in each other’s lives than they imagined. Kindness matters!

May your week be full of kindness, inspiration, and regeneration. 

Related posts

32 thoughts on “Awesome Stories 305”

  1. Thank you, again, for all this awesomeness, Brad! Loved the way Pavlovitz talks about diversity, it resonates deeply. And regenerative agriculture is my thing too….should be everyone’s.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Once again an excellent post. Without a healthy environment we have nothing…much in the same way as if we allow our bodies to become sick from eating the wrong foods, drinking too much, smoking etc….things begin to break down….I believe that we must adhere to the needs of Mother Nature just as we would listen to the needs of our body.
    I love the quote from John Pavlovitz.
    I believe that good teachers are possibly one of most important resources. There are cultures where the teacher is revered – which I think is correct. Perhaps we need to reassess the way we compensate and treat our teachers.
    I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend….a painting day for me. janet 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. It was reading from a Rodale gardening book that I tried gardening for the first time years ago. I’ve been hooked ever since. 🙂
    Regenerative agriculture! YES! Maybe we really can fix the planet – at least to control CO2 levels. 🙂
    And Mr. Bonner. Wonderful Mr. Bonner. Something good – FINALLY – coming out of NC. Thank you for your awesome stories!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. All of the articles are great Brad….what caught me eye was regenerative agriculture….growing up in Iowa with all of the farming, those very concepts were taught us by my parents. They weren’t farmers, but we had relatives and friends who were and those concepts use to be part of the norm for family sized farms…not the large corporate farms of today…just found it interesting.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Brad, these are such uplifting stories. The story about the teacher may be my fave. But then again, the one about diversity is also a face. And the last one – Information Please – brings back memories. I was often that telephone operator at the other end of the phone line, giving information on everything from the date and time to road directions, the weather and many other things.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you Cynthia. How fun to be a telephone operator giving people help on the phone. That was my favorite story and I love Mr. Bonner’s style and enthusiasm for teaching too. And I need to remind myself that little acts matter too. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. So many good stories here Brad, from Regeneration to Kindness… But that video WOW to that teacher of Year and his class.. What an inspiration to any young mind to learn from .. I have so much respect for these amazing teachers ..

    Thank you Brad for all you present here.. It is more than Awesome.. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. Loved the section on teaching and Ellen’s comments about teachers not being appreciated (or compensated) relative to the enormity of their responsibility.

    I don’t remember where I first read this but several generations ago, when the most honorable and prestigious positions for women were teaching and nursing, these were the fields that drew the best and brightest. As the brightest and driven branched into ever more diverse fields, a vacuum developed in these fields, and standards began to drop.

    I’m certainly not suggesting a return to antiquated social mores, nor do I think that the majority of our current teachers lack the brilliance and ambition that once propelled our primary and secondary education to excellence.

    However, I do think that our surest path back to the top of the pack in education is to make teaching an honorable and rewarding vocation again.

    Thanks again for another thought provoking post!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Your turn!