The Observatory’s Guides section synthesizes diverse articles into comprehensive, thematic collections designed to provide a holistic understanding of complex issues, ranging from language arts and writing to AI and human ecology. These guides bridge specialized research with practical insights to explore topics such as bioaesthetics, death literacy, and historical governance, emphasizing the interconnectedness of social, ecological, and political systems.
Guide to Alternatives to Industrial Agriculture
Reynard Loki, Earth Food Life Project
Industrial agriculture, with its heavy reliance on chemical inputs, monoculture cropping, and intensive farming practices, poses a significant threat to the environment and wildlife. The negative impacts of industrial agriculture include wildlife habitat destruction and biodiversity loss, soil degradation, water pollution, antibiotic resistance, major greenhouse gas emissions, and animal cruelty on a massive scale. Sustainable alternatives to industrial agriculture, such as organic farming, small-scale farming, regenerative farming, and veganic farming—offer a better way forward. These sustainable farming practices not only offer a way to produce food while minimizing harm, ensuring a more resilient and sustainable food system for future generations, but can also solve existential problems like climate change.
Guide to Artificial Intelligence
Leslie Alan Horvitz, The Observatory
“It really is godlike,” says Geoffrey Hinton about artificial intelligence. He’s been called the “godfather of AI,” so he should know. “Magical intelligence in the sky” is how Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, regards AI, while Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, warns that AI could bring about the appearance of the Antichrist. In contrast, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts that AI will result in “the defeat of most diseases, the growth in biological and cognitive freedom, the lifting of billions of people out of poverty… a renaissance of liberal democracy and human rights.” Is AI really so transformative, or is it an evanescent trend whose importance has been overhyped?
This guide won’t give you the answers. It certainly won’t tell you whether AI is a harbinger of the Antichrist. What it can do, though, is explore AI’s unresolved issues, which will almost certainly be with us for years to come
Guide to Bioaesthetics
Irina Matuzava, Human Bridges Project
This guide explores the evolutionary origins of aesthetics in humans, otherwise known as bioaesthetics. Bioaesthetics is an interdisciplinary field that bridges biology, psychology, philosophy, and art to investigate aesthetic perception and how we perceive certain forms. Emerging research underlines the fact that our sense of beauty isn't purely cultural and has biological underpinnings.
Guide to Caring for Vulnerable Youth
This guide examines the challenges facing vulnerable youth in America and the role communities play in protecting—or failing—them. Drawing on research into child welfare, justice, and systemic inequities, the series highlights how overlapping crises—from hidden abuse and neglect to the criminalization of childhood—can shape young lives and limit opportunity.
The first article explores America’s hidden crisis in child welfare, revealing how children in foster care, detention, and institutional settings often experience neglect, exploitation, and harm. The second article examines the justice system, showing how poverty, racial bias, and punitive laws push youth into detention rather than opportunity, and how restorative models can offer alternative pathways. Together, these pieces illuminate the structural and moral dimensions of caring for children, emphasizing that awareness and understanding are the first steps toward meaningful change.
Two more articles will be added, exploring the intersections of poverty and health, and practical, investment-based models for youth opportunity. Readers are invited to reflect on a central question: Does your community care about children?
Guide to Climate and Environmental Action
Reynard Loki, Earth Food Life Project
In a democratic society, the power to address the climate crisis lies with the people. And it begins at home, our backyards, our neighborhoods and local communities.
When we think about effective climate action, there are many different factors and options to consider, from working within your local community to advance climate resiliency projects and urging the media to meet its climate commitments, to supporting the growth and popularity of climate fiction. Climate action can also be aided by reframing the climate crisis. Instead of seeing it only through a scientific lens but rather as a form of oppression by the wealthy elite or a matter of children’s rights, the climate crisis can be addressed on a systemic, sociopolitical level.
This guide explores various ways to approach climate action and activism, including concrete examples you can use in your own backyard and local community, plus success stories that can be emulated and reproduced wherever you are.
Guide to Conscious Consumption
Reynard Loki, Earth Food Life Project
Conscious consumption, or conscious consumerism, can be accomplished in a variety of ways, such as shopping for food products that avoid harm to nonhuman animals, using green cleaning products, drinking shade-grown, fair-trade coffee and organic wine free of harmful pesticides, driving small electric vehicles over instead of gas-guzzling SUVs, and boycotting fast-fashion brands and businesses that treat workers unfairly.
This guide will help you make buying decisions that are healthier for you, your family, nonhuman animals, and the planet.
Guide to Death Literacy
As people live longer and face increasingly complex end-of-life decisions, understanding death and dying has never been more important. This guide explores the emerging movement of death literacy, offering practical tools, knowledge, and community resources to help individuals navigate mortality with clarity and confidence. From fostering open conversations about death to exploring near-death experiences and preparing for end-of-life care, these articles provide insights into how we can approach death as a natural, supported, and meaningful part of life.
Guide to Early Republics
John P. Ruehl, Human Bridges Project
A true republican political system operates without a monarchy or concentrated political power in any office, branch, or individual. And a thriving republic observes the fundamental principles of equality, consensus, transparency, and reform (rather than institutional abandonment). If a republic strays from these values, political collapse can occur. This guide compares past republics, including the Roman and Venetian Republics, to republican states of today. By examining the successes and failures of early republics, we can gain a deeper understanding of the challenges in our current political environment.
Guide to Environmental Health
Reynard Loki, Earth Food Life Project
Environmental health is crucial for public well-being as it directly impacts human health. Pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction can lead to respiratory diseases, waterborne illnesses, and other health issues. Maintaining clean air, water, and land reduces the risk of disease transmission and promotes overall health. Additionally, preserving ecosystems supports biodiversity, which contributes to food security and medicine discovery. Sustainable practices safeguard public health for current and future generations, emphasizing the vital connection between environmental and public health.
Guide to Human Bridges
April M. Short, Human Bridges Project
With new anthropological, biological and scientific findings, we are increasingly able to trace the outlines and fill in the blanks of our human evolutionary story. This can help us better understand the social and cultural processes that produced the world we live in now. This guide to Human Bridges explores the work of experts from the fields of human biology, human origins, and anthropology who want to contribute their individual expertise to a wider accessible body of information, and enlist in the cause to make this material a staple of education at all stages of life.
Guide to Human Ecology
Sandra Ericson, The Observatory
Human ecology begins in the most intimate corners of our lives. Every breath we take, every meal shared, every relationship nurtured within a neighborhood depends on the health of the living environments around us. Human ecology helps us see how daily choices are woven into larger social and ecological systems—and how those systems, in turn, shape our bodies, minds, and spirits. It invites us to consider both our material needs—food, water, shelter—and our psychosocial needs—belonging, purpose, and agency—and to understand how inseparably they are linked.
Each lens in this Guide encourages us to notice relationships: between people, communities, and the natural world. It examines how governance can support quality of life, how neighborhoods grow and adapt, and how cultures share resources and respond to change. The Guide offers practical ways to live more gently—and more courageously—with one another and with the planet, showing that the patterns we create carry consequences across places and generations.
At its core, human ecology is about caring for ourselves, the communities that shape us, and the ecosystems that sustain every moment of life. When society teaches that human well-being and environmental health are part of the same story, a new possibility emerges: that future generations may inherit not only knowledge, but wiser, more balanced ways of living on Earth.
Guide to Language Arts and Writing
Danica Tomber, The Observatory
Humans have used storytelling for millennia to understand and make sense of the world. Storytelling is a powerful tool that takes many forms. It is used not just in fiction but also in nonfiction. Literature and other forms of writing encourage us to develop our critical thinking, awareness, and curiosity about the world around us. The Observatory Guide to Language Arts and Writing investigates the power of narrative, examining how it can help us understand ourselves, connect with others, imagine new possibilities, solve problems, and question the status quo. The guide offers thought-provoking insights into the role that language and storytelling play in shaping human expression.
Guide to Linguistics: The Science of Language
Danica Tomber, The Observatory
We use language every day–from spoken and signed words to written communication and body gestures–but how often do we pause to consider what drives it beneath the surface? Linguistics, the scientific study of language, seeks to answer this question by examining how language is acquired, how it functions, how it changes over time, and how it connects to both human evolution and society. Its insights reach far beyond the classroom, shaping our understanding of education, politics, technology, identity, and culture.
This Guide to Linguistics: The Science of Language is a compelling exploration of how language influences and is influenced by our experiences, values, and identities. Through a diverse collection of essays, it challenges us to rethink the language we use, as well as our perceptions of other people based on their language usage. It explores the deeply rooted power dynamics in language. At its core, it offers an illuminating journey through the many dimensions of how and why we communicate.
As you move through this guide, think about the contexts in which language is used. Ask yourself: Who is speaking? Where, when, and why? These questions will usher you toward a more nuanced understanding of what language is, how we use it, and how it continues to evolve. Whether you are a student, a lifelong learner, or simply curious about the hidden forces behind everyday communication, this guide offers an illuminating journey into the many dimensions of how and why we communicate.
Guide to Literary Fraud
Katherine Dolan, The Observatory
Why do some authors pretend to be someone they are not? Why do they claim experiences that they don’t have? What drives them to create texts and claim that they are ancient? By examining some examples of literary fraud from the modern era, we can gain insight not only into a fraudulent writer’s perspective, but also into readers’ expectations, publishing practices, and what kind of story a culture values.
Guide to Local Peace Economy
April M. Short, Local Peace Economy Project
This guide explores the concept, models, and examples of the peace economy: the giving, sharing, thriving, caring economy without which none of us would be alive. A peace economy is the sharing of resources, a culture of care, and the remembrance that there is enough abundance for all of us on this planet. It is the return to a culture that understands true value and wealth come from nurturing life, love, and joy. We call it a "local" peace economy because it operates at the local level, beginning in the commons. This guide also offers ways to divest from the war economy that is destroying life and well-being on this planet.
Guide to Renewable Energy
Reynard Loki, Earth Food Life Project
This guide explores the promise and perils of renewable energy. Can renewable energy achieve the emissions cuts we need to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis? Can we avoid an energy crisis if we abandon fossil fuels? What is the dark truth behind bioenergy? Is hydropower a real or false solution? Is the renewable energy transition succeeding or failing?
Guide to Widening the We
Colin Greer; Eric Laursen, Human Bridges Project
Throughout history, negative human impulses (such as divisiveness, greed, aggression, etc.) have birthed periods of societal crisis. For example, polarizing political agendas and greedy economic policies not only create trauma and suffering, but they also narrow the “we” by destroying community coalitions. Fortunately, we can shift the paradigm in favor of goodwill for all. This guide provides a framework for understanding this toxic societal polarization pattern and demonstrates how we have repeatedly navigated our way out of it. By reflecting on human nature and historical examples, we can create a more inclusive future for the “we” collective.
Guide to Writing as a Caregiver: Stories, Gratitude, and Healing
Birgitta Vaivai-Soderberg, The Observatory
The United States is facing an unprecedented care crisis, with millions of Americans providing essential care to relatives and friends living with chronic conditions, disabilities, mental health challenges, or age-related needs. Despite serving as a lifeline for loved ones, informal caregivers often lack the public support they deserve. As a result, many experience significant emotional, physical, and financial strain. Finding convenient and flexible ways to practice self-care is therefore critical.
Writing can be one powerful way for caregivers to do this. Through journaling, storytelling, and other forms of writing, caregivers can process difficult emotions, gain new perspectives on their experiences, and explore evolving aspects of their identities. Writing can also connect caregivers with others who share similar challenges.
Beyond personal healing, storytelling can help caregivers build community and advocate for stronger care policies. This guide explores several forms of writing and storytelling that can help caregivers reflect, cope, and heal—while also contributing to a more supportive care system for everyone.
Guide to the Hidden History of Debt
Katherine Dolan, Human Bridges Project
Our financial system originated in Mesopotamia, where it was designed to ensure economic stability for a community. Over time it has transformed into something much more predatory.
Guide to the New Grand Tour
Irina Matuzava, Human Bridges Project
The New Grand Tour is a modern take on the "old" Grand Tour—a journey through the ancient landscapes of Rome and Greece, the kingdoms of Sumeria, and beyond—once reserved for only the privileged few. Today, the availability of data from the past six million years of human activity through archaeological collections and the accessibility of this data enable anyone to journey through the past.
Globally, our human stories have varied depending on factors such as terrain type, resource availability, and the ecoregion type at a given time and place. However, our collective story is written around the fact that environments shape human culture and, in turn, humans shape their environments.
Guide to the Plastic Crisis
Reynard Loki, Earth Food Life Project
The guide will help readers understand the global plastic crisis from multiple angles, including the impact of plastic on human health, wildlife and the environment, the upstream forces in the lifecycle of plastics, the complex reality of recycling plastic, the unique threat posed by tiny plastic particles called nanoplastics, and how two similar cities have handled the plastic issue in different ways.
Guide to the Regenerative, Moneyless Economy
April M. Short, Local Peace Economy Project
This guide will take you through examples of the regenerative, moneyless economy that is sometimes called “collaborative consumption.” The moneyless, sharing-based economy creates the opportunity to opt out of the mentality of disposability and the idea that “more is better,” both of which many of us are bombarded with from birth. The regenerative, moneyless economy provides an avenue for anyone to move away from the hoarding nightmare that has led to over-full garages and seldom-visited storage sheds, continent-sized trash islands, and enormous heaps of human waste. It does this by way of peer-to-peer systems set up for people to rent or borrow goods rather than buy and own them individually. It involves collaborative systems that supply people with the things they need, when they need them.
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