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PHOTOGRAPH | GEORGE STEINMETZ / CORBIS




THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

The Tears of Trees
BY VICTORIA FINLAY
Following a gemstone back to its source reveals a whole spectrum of curiosities.

The Question Science Won't Ask
BY CRAIG HOLDREGE and STEVE TALBOTT
What science knows—and what it doesn't—shapes a brave new world.

ART OF LIVING

Cactus Chronicles
BY EDWARD ABBEY
The beloved activist and iconoclast left behind a trail of personal correspondence, a veritable stew of ideas both righteous and indignant.

Chores
BY DEBRA MARQUART
The best jobs on the farm were the ones where you could dream about being somewhere else.



Modern Metamorphoses
BY TARA DONOVAN
Bizarre and beautiful, these constructions also look strangely familiar.

Drive-bys
BY DEWITT JONES
A photographer lets go, and lets something magic in.

GROUNDSWELL

The Silent Revolution
BY MARCELO BALLVÉ
After a disastrous economic collapse, Argentina's workers are building an alternative economy.

COLUMNS

From the Faraway Nearby
Convergence
BY SUSAN GRIFFIN
Though not identical twins, democracy and ecology have a shared history—and a lot more work to do together.

Small Change
Of Mites and Men
BY BILL McKIBBEN
A patient beekeeper looks to the bees themselves, not chemical companies, for ways to thwart the enemy.

The Tangled Bank
Pele and Kamehameha Dance
BY ROBERT MICHAEL PYLE
Geology and biology on the rebound in the land of a'a and 'elepaio.
DEPARTMENTS

From the Editors

Contributors

Mailbox

Sacred & Mundane

Point of View
If It's Priceless, Does It Count?
BY GLORIA FLORA
When you're dealing with people's feelings for the land, you can't play by the numbers.

Health and the Environment
Trouble Inside
BY MEGAN OGILVIE
Air pollution is not just about smokestacks and tailpipes anymore.

Blueprint for Change
The Urban Kiwi
BY GREGORY DICUM
This grocery store has wheels, plays hip-hop, and sells food grown by kids from the 'hood.

Orion Grassroots Network
Keeping Maine's Waterfront Working
Spotlight: The Island Institute

Coda
Message from the Mojave
BY DEANNE STILLMAN

POEMS

Night Coyotes
BY REG SANER

Swimming with Otter
BY MARY OLIVER

Outer Lands
BY EVA HOOKER

Still Life of Lies and Truth

BY SAM TAYLOR