In a recent column I noted “People in Bozeman, Montana are remarkably fortunate to have Yellowstone National Park in their back yard.” The good fortune in living here is not only because of the spectacular beauty, wildlife, and geological features of Yellowstone and surrounding romantic Western lands. The social and economic ecology of greater […]
Read MoreThe academic calendar provides the natural cadence for FREE’s work. It usually peaks during summers with seminars and conferences and policy salons at our ranch. During the traditional school year we write, do research, attend conferences, and give talks at universities. Next month, for example I’m speaking on environmental entrepreneurship at Duke University. As the […]
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Most people gradually learn the way the world works. This includes the relation of financial wealth to one’s sense of well-being. Many well-seasoned people understand having more money would not fix any of their problems. They also realize that anything they might buy would provide only transitory pleasure. Purchased pleasures are ephemeral. Here is my […]
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“Project WET’s mission is to reach children, parents, teachers and community members of the world with water education that promotes awareness of water and empowers community action to solve complex water issues.” Time spent on a North Dakota family farm made young Dennis Nelson acutely aware of water’s importance. His grandma’s farm was perched at […]
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FREE is pleased to tell its friends and supporters that much of our work is also available on the new website ThisIsBozeman.com. This includes the weekly FREE Insight essays plus descriptions of programs and links to videos we produce in our policy salon series (http://thisisbozeman.com/the-well/john-baden-free-insights). Over the decades, FREE associates have hosted a great many visitors […]
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FREE is pleased to tell it’s friends and supporters that much of our work is also available on the new website ThisIsBozeman.com. This includes the weekly FREE Insight essays plus descriptions of programs and links to videos we produce in our policy salon series (http://thisisbozeman.com/the-well/john-baden-free-insights). Over the decades, FREE associates have hosted a great many […]
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Several of my recent essays develop the theme “Bozeman, Gateway to Wisdom”. I hope you’ll read them. Why? I want to share with you and others invested in our home territory and civic culture the wisdom I’ve learned during four decades of living here. This and subsequent essays will be published on the Oolite Media […]
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Introduction by John Baden Working with honor students is among the several luxuries of university teaching. My first experience was teaching an economic anthropology Honors Course at Indiana University in 1969. Forty-six years later I’m privileged to work with Valerie Sigler, an MSU Honors College student. This summer we are working at the confluence of ecology, […]
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Community and Creative Destruction Last weekend Ramona and I enjoyed a 500 mile road trip with close friends. We drove to Fort Benton, Montana, a town established in 1847 by fur traders. It peaked in population, some 2000 residents, and prosperity in the mid-1800s. The town was the world’s “innermost port” and the head of […]
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I am pleased to share FREE’s latest project involving liberty, ecology, and prosperity. Yesterday, June 17, we initiated a new delivery medium, video production with Bozeman’s Oolite Media. This was the first in our “Wisdom of the Elders” video series. Here is the cover of the flyer introducing the project. FREE focuses on the […]
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