I’m Alison Wiley, here in Portland, Oregon. My blog The Diamond-Cut Life is about chiseling our consumption down to the core of happiness. What do we really need to consume and do in order to have both happiness and integrity in the face of global warming?
I think joy comes from honest work, relationships, connection to nature, sharing resources and using our bodies instead of machines whenever possible. Given that global warming is the problem of our time, my focus is on living in solutions rather than complaining about the problem. Please comment on my posts so that we are all putting our heads together.
I’ve done projects for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters and Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center, and I won the Program of the Year award for a car-trip-reduction program I led and expanded in 2007.
I have a B.S. in Sociology from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and an M.S. in Counseling Psychology from California State University, Fullerton. My wonderful husband Thor Hinckley heads the nation’s leading renewable energy program at Portland General Electric.
Hi Alison,
My wife Kim and I also thoroughly enjoyed the Crater Lake Trip. I do hope that you can pass along your contact information – it would be great to stay in touch about the Bicycle related transportation we discussed. Take good care, and say hello to Thor for us.
Brian and Kim Davies
Hi Alison,
Here’s a juicy little graphic that was posted on our bulletin board
http://learningfundamentals.com.au/resources/combating-global-warming-mind-map/
– Dave
Alison,
Hi, I came across you blog while searching Grist. I am a journalism student at Ohio University beginning a project to study the advantages and disadvantages of online environmental reporting. Would you have time or be interested by helping with an interview?
Thanks, Joe Lowe
Sure, Joe. Send it on over to alison.wiley@comcast.net.
Alison,
I was just searching around trying to find a blog service to use, and did a search on “electricity”… an obscure topic to search under but I felt, if there were so many blogs using WordPress, I would find at least one. Well, there were many, and yours was the top. I have no real reason for writing here, other than to say that finding your blog was very refreshing. I really like your philosophy and wish more people thought like you.
Jim
Hi, Alison–I saw your comment on Grist about responding to WalMart’s recent announcement that it will require suppliers to meet stricter standards on toxics in toys. I’m a Portland blogger on a similar journey. I like your metaphor about chiseling consumption.
You might be interested in the Center for Earth Leadership’s Agent of Change workshop. They’re holding new sessions in the fall: http://www.earthleaders.org/classes_workshops/agent
Chris,
Great minds think alike — I took the Agent of Change class last fall.
best,
Alison