Finding Flow in turbulent times Jan 20, 2017 The world’s a mess. Democracy is in peril. The ice caps are melting. And the inmates have taken over the asylum. Suddenly, more and more people are waking up to alarm bells and wondering what can I do; how can I help? But that’s not an easy […]
Category: Concept Pieces
Essays that build out an idea or framework — economics, governance, land, the thinking behind how Lifeboat works.
Is that the best you can do?
The Show up or Shut up Manifesto Aug 22, 2024 It’s hard not to be cynical these days. The world is unraveling in front of our eyes yet the vast majority of folks carry on as usual. We face a rise of authoritarian populism (aka fascism), a return to diplomacy by brute force (complete with […]
Lifeboats — the Backstory
I have made it my personal mission to launch a Fleet of 100 Lifeboats in response to the multiple global crises we now face. Recently, a friend asked where this idea came from. As I was talking through a possible response with one of my collaborators, we realized it’s a challenging story to tell because it involves […]
Putting out fires vs. planting more trees
Every action you take has an energy signature. Some actions have a “buy now, pay later” quality; they leave you with an energy debt. They short-change what is necessary now and postpone it until later. Not only do they leave you with an energy debt, there is always, as it were, an interest charge. Taking […]
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The Myth of the Bottleneck
Because patience isn’t passive Sometimes Monday afternoon feels like it should be Friday night. Thursday at least. Everything is over-scheduled. The calendar looks like a game of Tetris played by an anxious god: ferry runs, presentations, meetings, and the occasional spiritual ambush disguised as a “networking dinner.” You think the bottleneck is out there — […]
Maps and Money
Learning to see what’s already moving Some days it feels like I’m standing in a blizzard of good intentions. Emails, grant proposals, meeting notes, invitations — all swirling so thick I can’t tell what’s moving and what’s stuck. The world turns white, and it’s hard to tell up from down; forward from backward. I had […]
Fair Share Ethics
May 14, 2025 We’re all in this together. I am perpetually surprised at how hard it is to convey a simple idea to people who can only think in complicated ways. The idea at the core of the Lifeboat Academy is just such an idea. We think of it as the farmastery experience. Once you […]
What does it mean to belong?
What if the problem isn’t ownership — but disconnection? Ben Kadel examines what happens when stewardship structures ask people to give long-term care to land and community without allowing that care to return as security, continuity, or future capacity. Drawing on the logic of healthy land-based cultures — where stewardship and livelihood were inseparable — he makes the case for what he calls stewardship equity: arrangements where responsibility, risk, and reward stay bound together across time. The essay doesn’t resolve the tension it opens. It stays honestly inside the question of what structures allow people to truly belong — not as tenants of an abstract collective, but as caretakers whose care the land can hold and return.
Building the Lifeboat Is the Lifeboat
The pan-dimensional Möbius process As the reality of the polycrisis is dawning on more and more people, we keep hearing the same questions: What can I do? Where do I start? How can I get ready for something when I don’t even know what’s gonna happen? Next week, we’ll be hosting our next DIY Lifeboat […]
Reflections: January 6th, 2021
Jan 7, 2021 I had an interesting day today. Didn’t we all? Mine had a slight twist in it, though. My morning started out with an amazing conversation about death and life and collapse and, really, what’s it all about Alfie. Lately, I’ve been hosting online “navigation sessions” based on the sociocracy 3.0 model. We do […]