I have recently decided to go completely "open access" with publications. As a result, factors like the prestige of the journal are minor factors in my decision of where to publish. I believe that this is the only sustainable path forward. The vast majority of published work is generated through support from tax dollars of one kind or another and as such, not releasing the results free of charge is unconscionable, especially when publication costs so little. (I also do not surrender my copyright, though this is a separate, albeit related issue.)

There is more.

I believe that the level of ignorance and arrogance that we in developed nations implicitly fold into everything we do, from publishing, to relief work, to education, to willingness to wage war on those we don't have to face, begins with many rather small acts. And those acts are founded upon human shortcomings that we love to excuse as small, rather inconsequential.

I am as deeply susceptible to this ignorance and arrogance, to those shortcomings, as anybody else.

I believe the only way past these obstacles to sustainability is through conscious acceptance of our moral tendencies, and diligent, purposed steps to counter those tendencies which so naturally lead to injustice.

It might seem a rather dark picture, not very conducive to creative productivity and an environment of innovation. But awareness does not imply focus on or obsession with the negative. Rather, creative work and connection to others, in a state of full awareness, moves counter to those tendencies, without becoming ensnared in either the tendencies themselves or the dark, negative obsession with overcoming the tendencies.

And free communication is an essential part of the creative diversity and the generosity that so many forget as they grow from childhood to adulthood.