DR. RUPERT SHELDRAKE

DR. RUPERT SHELDRAKE

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Biologist · Author
The Science Delusion · The Presence of the Past · Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work

The idea that the laws of nature are fixed is taken for granted by almost all scientists and within physics, within cosmology, it leads to an enormous realm of speculation, which I think is totally unnecessary. We're assuming the laws of nature are fixed. Most of science assumes this, but is it really so in an evolving universe? Why shouldn't the laws evolve? And if we think about that, then we realize that actually, the whole idea of a law of nature is a metaphor. It's based on human laws. I mean, after all, dogs and cats don't obey laws. And in tribes, they don't even have laws. They have customs. So it's only in civilized societies that you have laws. And then if we think through that metaphor, then actually the laws do change. All artists are influenced by other artists and by things in the collective culture, and I think that morphic resonance as collective memory would say that all of us draw unconsciously as well as consciously on a collective memory and all animals draw on a collective memory of their kind as well. We don't know where it comes from, but there's true creativity involved in evolution, both human and natural.

FREE THE LAND

FREE THE LAND

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How We Can Fight Poverty & Climate Chaos
with Environmental Journalist & Author AUDREA LIM

When I first started writing this book, it really foregrounded the problems within our land ownership system, which treats land as a commodity. The way we talk about land and issues like racial and food justice reflects this. We tend to focus on the problems, attaching big concepts to them, such as racial justice or environmental justice. I realized that my job primarily consists of going around and talking to activists and community groups about their work. I’m interested not just in the very big problems we face as a society, economy, and political system, but also in how people are trying to think through solutions or approaches to those problems.

How can we meet the Paris Climate Accords?

How can we meet the Paris Climate Accords?

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Environmental Credit Solutions with BILL FLEDERBACH
President & CEO of ClimeCo

You'll hear ClimeCo speak a lot about market-based solutions because oftentimes, to really drive change in the market when a company is looking at ways to decarbonize, the first thing they typically do is look within their own operations. How can they get decarbonized? What's the cost of decarbonization? We call it the marginal abatement. Can they decarbonize with the technologies that exist? Oftentimes, those technologies exist outside of their operations. The benefit of the environmental markets allows companies to invest in projects that have a reasonable marginal cost.

Feminism in the 21st Century

Feminism in the 21st Century

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Artists, Writers, Filmmakers Share their Stories

Marilyn Minter ·  Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy ·  Dean Spade ·  Laura Eason ·  Intan Paramaditha ·  Tey Meadow ·  Sara Ahmed ·  Ellen Rapoport ·  Dian Hanson ·  Kate Mueth on the importance of agency, owning the narrative, and the joy of creation.

FLORIAN HOFFMEISTER

FLORIAN HOFFMEISTER

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Academy Award-nominated Cinematographer
HBO’s True Detective: Night Country starring Jodie Foster · Kali Reis · Fiona Shaw

I drove for like a half an hour into absolute nothingness, and I left the car. It was three o'clock in the morning. It was minus 17 degrees and it was absolutely still. I've never experienced stillness such as that. I mean, it's like you feel like you can feel your atoms move or not move because it's so cold. And the sky is full of the Northern Lights. So you are already in a remote place, but you want to go further. And I think maybe those themes of going out into the wilderness are motivated by the urge to connect. And I think Issa López has really incorporated it beautifully into the script. And the show tells of this great disconnect between people. So not only are we disconnected from our environment, but we are disconnected from each other.

DAVID FENTON

DAVID FENTON

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Author of The Activist’s Media Handbook: Lessons From 50 Years as a Progressive Agitator
Founder of Fenton Communications: The Social Change Agency
JStreet · Climate Nexus · The Death Penalty Information Center

It sounds like a cliche, but it really is true that history moves in pendulums and waves. And whatever is happening today is not going to last. It will change. So you have periods of concentrations of wealth and power, and then you have periods of rebellion. And I'm quite sure we're headed for another period of rebellion. You can see it a little bit now in the labor strife in the United States and the strikes. You can certainly see it in the massive demonstrations in France and Israel. Excessive concentrations of power breeds rebellion, and that's just inevitable. And the climate crisis is going to cause a lot of rebellion as people figure this out. And I think it's coming very soon, actually, because as you've noticed, the weather is getting very bad. It's become a non-linear accelerating phenomenon. And people will wake up to that. I just hope they wake up in time.