SPECIAL February Continual University Series:

SELF-IMPROVEMENT  with Dr. Guy McPherson

Saturday, February 11th, 6-8 PM

@ Cogs Creek/Tribalive Studio,
124 N. Maple St., Traverse City, MI

Self-improvement? Anyone can improve his/her life at will. Those who will agree with this statement, may say that in order to improve one’s life, we simply need to make the decision to do so. However, a decision, no matter how good it is cannot do much if it is not supported by the right tools to make of it a reality. In Victorian times, the idea of what it meant to help yourself was: work, work and more work. Many of us still believe in the “American Dream” and that our work will bring merit and meaning to our lives. Other recommendations through self-help guides suggest to love one’s inner child, encouraging us to ‘think positively’, ‘believe in yourself’, and give the general reminder that ‘you’re worth it’ is the way to go. This presentation will take into consideration the evolution of self-improvement in our present day, fast paced, modern world, and, what to make of hard work and diligence. We’ll ask is unlimited success a simple matter of on-going perseverance? What about randomness of luck and the benefits of family and personaladvantages? Or, perhaps the idea that striving for happiness may sabotage our efforts to attain it?

Guy McPherson who will be our guest speaker for the Self-Improvement presentation is an energetic speaker and talented moderator, and lives with a couple of goats on a homestead in New Mexico. He has appeared before countless audiences to speak about the two primary consequences of our fossil-fuel addiction: global climate change and energy decline. Because these phenomena impact every aspect of life on Earth, his talks reach a wide variety of audiences such as universities, associations, nonprofits, and numerous educational and scientific symposia and conferences.

CONTACT INFO For these events:
penny@littleartshram.org
www.littleartshram.org

More about Guy McPherson:

Guy McPherson peered over the edge into the Peak Oil and Climate Change abyss, and rather than backing away, jumped in. The author of “Nature Bats Last”, and most recently, “Walking Away from Empire”, Guy is a conservation biologist who has a keen grasp of the severe ramifications of the climatic course we’re on. So he walked away from his high paying, prestigious, tenured position at a major university and now grows goats, vegetables, and community in the desert outside of Tucson, Az. He has also taught poetry in prison.

Guy volunteers his time talking to people wherever they’ll have him, about both the disaster-seriousness of our course, a course which has created the ecological and climatological chaos we’re experiencing, and ways in which we can and must mitigate that as individuals, communities, and societies. Guy talks about how individuals can work together to strengthen their own resilience, and prepare for a world of change. His talks highlight the importance of living sustainably, a necessity driven by the ongoing collapse of the environment and the industrial economy, and by the arriving shortages of cheap oil.

He’s smart, he’s laugh-out-loud funny, and he’s much more humble than he would have you believe. Guy lays the truth out clearly, in a gentle, humorous, but matter-of-fact and inescapable sort of way.

In his own words (written in 2009): “In 2002, as I edited a book about global climate change, I realized we had set events in motion that would cause our own extinction, probably by 2030…About five years ago, I was elated to learn about a hail-Mary pass that just might allow our persistence for a few more generations: Peak oil and its economic consequences might bring the industrial economy to an overdue close, just in time…If we abandon the industrial culture of death, we might persist until your children are old enough to die a “normal” death. But the odds are long and the time short… I mourn because the solution is right in front of us, yet we run from
it..”

About the Continual Universtity Series:

Supported by Little Artshram, Continual University Series is a community gathering place, organized to provide re-connection to what we’d like to kindly and gently suggest as a higher education, concerned with how to live wisely and well. Continual U offers assurance and authentication in a variety of subjects. We provide elementary and secondary education, along with undergraduate, postgraduate, and re-education, focused on good ideas for everyday living.

Our goal is to challenge, provoke and inspire you to think deeply about the issues that matter most, and to provide a space for you to share your thoughts, ideas and experiences with other curious, open-minded individuals.

Little Artshram and the CU Series has welcomed regional, national and international guest presenters and speakers sharing a variety of topics in the Grand Traverse area since 2010.

Dr. McPherson’s updated schedule here:  http://guymcpherson.com/2012/02/speaking-in-michigan-11-22-february-2012/

www.litteartshram.org

info@littleartshram.org

231-510-3491

A Guy and Two Goats, © `penny Krebiehl 2012