visitors to, 53–56, 65–68, 102
Tyson, 42
U
Ueland, Brenda, 157
Uffizi gallery (Florence, Italy), 238
UK Jedis, 212
UNC Medical Center, 9–10
Unilever, 12
United States
bicentennial celebration of (1976), 82
car demand in, 179
car ownership in, 58
corporate colonization of, 75–77
divorce rates in, 184
drug abuse in, 163
early settlement of, 167
ecocide denial in, 169–70
eight-hour workday in, 150–51
factory education model in, 161
foreign military bases of, 222
hyper-individuality in, 216–17
mental illness in, 166
myths concerning, 83
nuclear capability plan of, 222–23
resource consumption in, 153, 188
self-worth and “doing” in, 145
television viewership in, 76
See also monoculture
United States Army, 220
unworthiness, tracing of, 129, 130
Upper Guinea Rainforest, 11
urban decay, 74–76
urban slums, 154
urban sprawl, 77
Uru-Chipaya people, 176
V
Van Gogh, Vincent, 132
vegetarianism, 39
vernacular culture, 154
video games, 40, 168, 170, 186
violence, 119, 122, 124, 193–94
Virginia Tech massacre (2007), 166
visitors, 53–56
Vitale, Louie, 221
vitamin A, 43
vitamin D, 43
Voting Rights Act (1965), 123
W
Walden (Thoreau), 53, 85
Waldorf schools, 161
walking, 30, 41–42, 68–69, 106–7, 109–10, 119–22, 127–29, 131, 143–44, 157–58, 257
Wal-Mart, 40, 74, 108
war, 219–23
warrior presence
defined, 50
humility and, 212
maintaining, 51, 74, 247–54, 257–58
resources for, 262–63
soft economy and, 205
at 12 × 12 house, 50–51
in urban environments, 257–58
as varying state, 74
water supply, 27, 109, 131
Weenhayek people, 176
Weimar (Germany), 168–70
Whispering in the Giant’s Ear (Powers), 175
white privilege, 106, 109
white supremacy, 122
Whitman, Walt, 132
wildcrafting, 93–97, 154, 158, 204–5, 261–62
wildness, 41–42, 43–44
Willie of the Western Shoshone, 220
wisdomkeepers, xiv, 5, 180
Wise Ones, xiv
wolves, half-breed, 129–30
workaholism, 157 work ethic, 150 world
improving, 125–27
as rhythm, 137–38
shape of, 4, 7–9, 137
World Bank, 209
World Conservation Union, 209, 247
World Is Flat, The (Friedman), 6
wu wei (alert inactivity), 26
Y
yoga, 257
Your Money or Your Life (Robin and Dominguez), 209
Yugoslavia, 220
Yvonne (neighbor), 229–31, 244
Z
Zapatistas, 192–95
Zawada, Jerry, 221
Zimbabwe, 123
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
WILLIAM POWERS is the author of two critically acclaimed books. His Liberia memoir, Blue Clay People: Seasons on Africa’s Fragile Edge (2005) received a Publishers Weekly starred review, and Whis pering in the Giant’s Ear: A Frontline Chronicle from Bolivia’s War on Globalization (2006) has been featured on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross and in Newsweek. For over a decade Powers has led development aid and conservation initiatives in Latin America, Africa, and Washington, DC. From 2002 to 2004 he managed the socioeconomic components of a project in the Bolivian Amazon that won a prize from Harvard’s JFK School of Government. His essays on global issues have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Slate, the Sun, and the International Herald Tribune and have been syndicated to three hundred newspapers around the world. He has appeared on NPR’s Living on Earth, The Leonard Lopate Show, West Coast Live, Left Jab, and World Vision Report as well as on local public television stations and Book TV. Powers is an increasingly active speaker at think tanks, policy gatherings, and writers’ conferences. He has worked at the World Bank and Conservation International and holds degrees from Brown and Georgetown. He lives part-time in New York City.
www.williampowersbooks.com.
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