I write from the perspective of a 20-something environmentalist, feminist, deep-ecologist, gardener, and freelance writer who listens to obnoxious music, rides the shit out of his bike, and plays outside as much as possible.

I hold a degree in English from Purdue, and a Masters in Rhetoric & Composition and a Certificate in Woman’s and Gender Studies from Northern Arizona University. During my time at NAU, I brought my favorite writer/thinker, Derrick Jensen, for a talk during an environmental lecture series. I also helped to coordinate a forum on U.S. policies on torture and human rights. For two years, I worked closely with The MARS Project (men against rape and sexism) where, among other events, I organized “MARSfest” an awareness event in the spring full of music, poetry, and speakers.

The evolution of this blog is as much an evolution in my own growth as a human on this planet and as a writer, but that makes for a pretty narcissistic introduction. This is actually my second blog, having anonymously authored the now defunct www.culturaldissent.com where I anguished over many ideas that were not only new to me, but at the time, both complex and scary. It makes me think of something bell hooks said in Teaching to Transgress about how learning, when it is truly meaningful knowledge—in that it forces one to look at the world through new lenses—this kind of learning can actually be a pretty painful process. If you construct your identity around specific ideas and views about the world and your place in it only to find out they’re wrong, it is easy to get disillusioned, even resentful toward the world and the people around you. Myself included, this happened to a lot of people I knew in my early 20’s.

Here are some central premises I’ve come to grips with. 1) civilization is not and can never be sustainable with current expectations; 2) there are serious costs for our way of life that create widespread guilt, depression, and alienation; 3) diversity is important - we cannot survive if we kill everything else; 4) foreign policy functions to keep the world safe, not for people, but for Fortune 500 companies; 5) the job of police is not to keep the streets safe, but to enforce social control and protect private property; 6) as long as the needs of our economy are more important than the needs of the natural world, mainstream environmentalism will remain a joke; 7) there is no future for the personal automobile; the American Dream, as it presently stands, is not compatible with human rights or a living planet; 9) nonviolent civil disobedience—as rich and successful as its history is—not only protects the State, but is completely ineffective today; and 10) Dams kill fish, destroy rivers, and dismantle local habitats.

This is a lot to swallow. But ultimately it’s all worth it. Henry David Thoreau said, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” For a growing number of people, living with rose-colored shades is not only unacceptable, it is immoral. This is a dark time, filled with suffering, uncertainty, and inequality. It is natural that we feel the trauma. It is important that we are not afraid to experience this anguish, this anger, this fear as it is still proof that we are alive. Just remember that “to suffer with” is the literal meaning of the word compassion.

One important thing: Even if this world is about to explode, life is still very beautiful, and we can do a lot better than this. We need to deliberately and meaningfully take the power back from those who are destroying the world. This is way easier said than done, but fulcrums can be found. Our efforts can be properly leveraged. We need to work together. At the very least, we need to talk about it. Meaning is found in discovering our place of service to the whole.

Today my writing and ideas have matured a great deal. I have learned to find compassion for those around me to don’t get it yet. Sometimes arguing is not effective. For those that disagree with me, the best thing I can do as a writer, thinker, and blogger is to simply plant seeds and walk away. For those readers that do get it, I hope to push you a little further in your thinking, and inspire you to action.

Feel free to contact me. If you feel I can be of some help to you in any project, event, or workshop you might be organizing, I’m usually up for anything.

Kyle[at]undertheconcrete[dot]org