George Monbiot on What Makes Us Human

Selfishness and greed are not what we are about. Science says empathy, kindness and community spirit is what makes us human.

We need others, we are fragile, we love community. It's only some of our leaders who are grabbing and selfish.

Listen to this recording in his own words.

Every City Has a Kathryn

A person who always has room for you to stay the night at the last minute, who will open their home for the writer's conference and feed everyone too, who will organize the food bank and who will exhaust herself caring for those who need it.  These Kathryns don't make a lot of noise about what they do, they don't tell others what to do either. They are not likely to spend much time on Facebook or twitter or developing PR  strategies because their lives are taken up with the needs of nurture. Their impact on their cities are like gold in the bank but they don't have much of that metal in their accounts.  Their influence on their communities are like the Reverend Doctor in the pulpit but you won't hear them preaching. They will be out there dealing with the most difficult and contentious issues without complaint. They are strong but not domineering, they have a message but do not shout.  Every city has at least one Kathryn and if they left you would feel it, although most of them don't receive awards or much notice of any kind - in fact they probably eschew applause and praise. Not all of them are named Kathryn - some are called Mary or Jack and you can sometimes recognize them by their manner - the word "I" doesn't find its way into daily small talk.