Highlights - Joëlle Gergis - Lead Author - IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Author of “Humanity’s Moment”

Highlights - Joëlle Gergis - Lead Author - IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Author of “Humanity’s Moment”

Interviewed by Mia Funk & Eveline Mol

Dr. Joëlle Gergis is an award-winning climate scientist and writer at the Australian National University. She served as a lead author for the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and is the author of Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Sunburnt Country: The History and Future of Climate Change in Australia. Joëlle has also contributed chapters to The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg, and Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua.

But when I boil it all down, what gives me hope comes down to this: there is still so much goodness in humanity. Even if you can’t see it around you, or have stopped believing that it even exists, there is something good in all of us. When I’m really down, I have to trust that eventually, when the darkness has finally dissipated, I will be able to see again. Until then, I need to hold on and be guided by the light in others. When I allow myself to shelter in their compassion and care, it stills my own flickering light, until eventually, it starts to steady itself and glow a little brighter.

– Joëlle Gergis, Humanity's Moment

THE CREATIVE PROCESS’ ONE PLANET PODCAST

Speaking of fires in places where we didn't expect them, we have now have fires in the Arctic.

JOËLLE GERGIS

We're really starting to witness serious climate extremes that can no longer be ignored. And the IPCC, one of our key conclusions to that report was that effectively the human fingerprint on the climate system is now undeniable. It is now an established fact that we have warmed every single continent, every ocean basin on the planet. And again, that's a pretty serious thing to contemplate that human activity from the burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of land has led to this energy imbalance in the earth system, which is leading to a rapidly shifting climate.

It's unbelievable to stop and think that you've got such heat extending so far into polar regions that even these places are burning in the Arctic. I mean, it's extraordinary. And not just trees but also the permafrost, the frozen soils underneath. These frozen places in the Arctic are also starting to thaw. And when they start to thaw, that releases a lot of methane. Methane is a very, very powerful greenhouse gas. And along with carbon dioxide that really combines to accelerate warming. And so this is the thing. We're witnessing these changes in our lifetime. And to think as well that you have 40-degree temperatures in the United Kingdom. I mean, that's crazy stuff, but it just goes to show that we're really starting to witness serious climate extremes that can no longer be ignored. 

ONE PLANET PODCAST

You share these beautiful visits to ancient forests, which has been a part of your work for years. I didn't realize that you can reconstruct a past El Niño events using patterns in kauri growth rings. So when you go into these ancient forests, you have this deeper connection than maybe those of us who don't understand the science behind it.

GERGIS

The reason why I became a scientist, to be honest, is because of my deep love for the natural world and living in a country like Australia, which is absolutely extraordinary. You know, we have more unique plants and animals than anywhere on the planet. So more than places like Brazil or Papua New Guinea or Madagascar, these places you think of as being richly biodiverse. Australia actually tops the list, just in terms of the uniqueness of our natural environment. And so growing up in a place like that really infuses into your pores. And so I would go into these beautiful places, whether it be rainforests or the coast, which I love. And then as a young person, I was really drawn into wanting to study science. And so that's why I became a scientist. I guess I move through these landscapes in a slightly different way to say other people who maybe don't have that training, but I guess it's my love of the natural world that really is the fuel for the fire that keeps me going in this area. So I think it's fascinating, for example, that every single year trees can actually put down this growth ring and that is responding to things like temperature and rainfall. So, as long as that tree's been alive and some of these trees can grow up to 2000 years, you can have this really, really long record of climate that extends back beyond the official weather records that generally begin around about 1850 over most of the world. So it's one of these things that I just inherently find science really fascinating and being able to use these different types of records to reconstruct past climate allows us to look at these cycles of natural climate variability and then understand how they're shifting as the planet continues to warm.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

You've shared that while writing the IPCC assessment report and during the writing of this book, there were moments where you felt that you couldn't go on. How did you overcome that?

GERGIS

So even though I might be feeling really distressed by some of the work that I'm exposed to in my profession, it isn't just black and white. And sometimes things are going to be really difficult, and that's life. I mean, the reality is that life is really painful, and there are some really difficult realities, but there's also an immense amount of beauty and joy and all those things.

And so it's an active decision to seek those things out, seek those people out and groups that make you feel connected. And also just realizing that sometimes you need to go into a deep place of contemplation and a place of solitude where you sort of put your own pieces back together. And for me, that often involves connecting with nature.

So whether it's the ocean near where I live or the rainforests being around living creatures and other landscapes. And that makes me feel like I'm a part of something that does feel timeless and eternal. And I think that human beings, we have that in our bones no matter where we are, whatever culture you're from, wherever you live on the planet, we all share that really deep primal connection to the planet. So I guess it's a case of letting it flow through you really because sometimes it is going to, I think sometimes resistance is futile. Like it is just going to move through you, but realizing that it will pass. It's not going to completely break you. So, that's been my experience. I try and write about my experience with that. You know why? Because I think a lot of people feel these things, and I hope that my writing gives other people permission to express their own emotions and realize that there's another conversation that we could be having in public about how we feel about climate change and our changing world. And I really hope that it just provides people with some language around how we express those things.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

You’ve also written about this in your previous book Sunburnt Country: The History and Future of Climate Change in Australia. What was it like for you living through the Black Summer in Australia. You write of your personal distress, the individual connection that you have to these ancient trees.

GERGIS

For me, I think the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020 was really a turning point where I realized that as a scientist I almost had this responsibility to start speaking up a lot more and really clearly about the sorts of trends that we were experiencing here in Australia and how it connects to a warming planet that's being warmed by human activity.

And so, we had come off the back of a really serious drought, and it was so dry. 2019 was Australia's hottest and driest year on record, and everything was so dry that we saw tropical rainforests that are usually moist, really damp places, that are covered in moss and things like that, dry up and actually be turned into fuel and ignite and burn.

And to me, when that started happening it just absolutely blew my mind that I was witnessing rainforests burning. We're used to seeing eucalyptus forests that are used to fires, but having fires in areas that don't usually burn was extraordinary. And during that particular bushfire season, we saw about 50% of these ancient subtropical rainforests burn, which is just devastating because there's only 1% of them are left on the planet. So we have the largest tract of them left on the planet here in Australia on the East Coast. And to have 50% of them burn in a single bushfire season was just heartbreaking. And in that particular bushfire season as well, we saw 25% of Australia's temperate forests burn in a single bushfire season.

So usually about 2%. Would burn in say, an extreme fire season. So for that to be 25% just gives you an indication of these fires were just on a scale that we'd never seen before. And in the end, we saw 2 billion animals either killed or displaced by those fires. And now our most iconic mammal, the koala is actually listed as an endangered species along the east coast of Australia, which is again, something I never thought I would experience in my lifetime, that our most iconic animal that we're known for around the world is now really critically under threat because of the loss of habitat and the destruction of these natural places because of a rapidly changing climate. So I guess it was that moment for me watching these fires unfold. At the very same time I was working on this UN climate report, this IPCC assessment report and it just was, there was no distinction between what we were talking about writing this report and what was happening outside my window. And so I really felt compelled to start to share that information with the public. And so I would write pieces for places like The Guardian newspaper and other outlets would come to me to try and write.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

In Humanity’s Moment, you wrote about your father as a role model and the importance of education. Tell us about this and some of these life lessons that are passed on to you and your beginnings as you made your way as a scientist.

GERGIS

It was difficult to actually write about my dad because as I mentioned in the book, he died in 2017, and he was obviously a really significant person in my life. He really instilled this whole idea that education is the key to a better life, and that it's the great equalizer. So my heritage is from Egypt, so they were not wealthy. When my dad studied at university, he was able to break out of his social background, and it allowed him to move into other areas and create a better life, not just for him but for us.

And I think that it was very formative for me because it made me realize that anyone from anywhere can change their life if they're really determined - but it doesn't mean we all have equal access to equal resources. And my dad had to work really, really hard, as have I and many people around the world. It's like, at the end of the day, all you can do is really the best with what you've got. And I guess I've tried to do the best with what I've got and he certainly did his best with what he was able to do in his life.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

This is so moving. And you spoke about coming to peace with it. Really this book is how you came to peace with some of those emotions.

GERGIS

So a lot of people ask, in my line of work as a climate scientist, “How do you not just fall into a state of despair and really just see the really dark aspects of human behavior and our inability to correct our course and do the right thing?” And the truth is that we all have to reconcile it in some way. And you can either be really consumed by those darker emotions and that feeling that people don't care. Or you can just try and see beauty where it is and connect with other people who are also doing their very best. So I think this kind of binary thinking of black and white people are good or bad isn't quite right. There's just shades of gray and sometimes people do the best that they can from day to day, but other times we just have to. I guess it's a sense of being stubborn and believing that there is goodness out there.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

Many have looked to keeping methane levels down as one of our easier wins in terms of keeping us beneath 1.5 degrees of change.

GERGIS

So methane is a shorter-lived gas in the atmosphere. It only really sticks around for a couple of decades, whereas carbon dioxide can remain in the atmosphere for centuries. And so when we talk about trying to reduce methane emissions. It's a quick fix in terms of reducing warming in the short term. And we do need to do that through changes in industrial agricultural practices and a range of other means, but obviously, the burning of carbon dioxide is really the main one that we need to get on top of. So most of the warming is very much driven by carbon dioxide. So while methane is certainly very important greenhouse gas. Really CO2 is the main culprit.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

And when we talk about the level of global rates of the increased temperature of 1.5 degrees, and it looks like we're going to go beyond that. You've also written this doesn't give the full global picture. It's an average. What does that mean for Australia? What does that mean for different regions?

GERGIS

Unfortunately, the IPCC basically concludes that we are on track to breach 1.5 degrees of global warming in the early 2030s under all emission scenarios. So even under those lower emission scenarios because of our trajectory, we are going to breach that within a decade or so, which is again very serious. There are very, very serious implications in terms of what that means. But when we talk about 1.5, if you're thinking about a global average, about 70% of the earth is actually made up of ocean, and the ocean is cool and it absorbs a lot of heat, whereas the land reflects a lot of solar energy back into space.

So when you average the areas of ocean and areas of land, you end up with a global average, but it does mask some of the warming that will be experienced in the continental areas where people live. So, the warming that we've seen over the land is actually warmer than the global mean because these areas are not being buffered by the ocean, which is like a way of keeping a bit of a hand break on global warming.

So about 90% of the heat of global warming is stored in the ocean. We're going to see changes in different parts of the world. So the Arctic is actually warming three times the global average. We've actually seen over three degrees of warming in that part of the world already.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

So really everything has to change immediately. Now. I guess we have to peak carbon emissions by 2025. I don't know if that's possible, and then cut them down by over 40% by 2030?

 GERGIS

So right now the world is fueled by the burning of oil, gas, and coal, and a lot of people are making a lot of money out of that. Whereas with things like renewable energy, you can put solar panels on your rooftop, and all of a sudden you're not paying anything in terms of an electricity price. If you happen to live in a sunny country like Australia, you end up getting your electricity for free from the sun, which is extraordinary, but actually renewable energy is the cheapest form of electricity over 60% of the Earth's surface, which again is an amazing thing to think about. And yet we haven't tapped the full potential, less than a third of global energy is generated by things like solar and wind, and other renewable energy sources. So there's a really huge potential, but it is that moment where we can transition into a low-impact, sustainable future.

So I see that as a really positive thing, but we're in this moment where we're transitioning from an old technology into a new technology. And if you stop and think about history, where we went from people who used to have a horse and cart, and then they went to automobiles. It's the same sort of thing. We're just advancing our technology. So it's inevitable that it's going to happen. It is happening right now.

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In the book, I highlight a few examples globally and also here in Australia just to say that this is doable, we can do this, and I think we need to get better at telling these stories that are more hopeful and are really lighting the way for people to realize that this is not just some utopian idea that a bunch of environmentalists have come up with. There's really hard science on it that, all the way up to the UN level, shows this is all feasible, possible, and entirely deployable now, if we want to do that. So that is our collective challenge.

That is basically what people have been doing in Egypt with the COP27 meetings and the conference of parties to the Paris Agreement, their 27th meetings. So the world leaders have just met to try and do this. It's a big, big task, but it's one that I think we can do and we must.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

Is it true that there are options available in every sector that can half emissions by 2030? 

GERGIS

Look, the IPCC's Working Group III, which deals with mitigation - so what do we do about climate change? - have gone through all the different scenarios around the feasibility of doing that. My understanding is that there is scope to do it in all different sectors, which I think is really exciting. There are some hard-to-abate areas, so there are some areas like shipping and aviation and a few other sectors where the technology is still evolving, but that doesn't mean that we can't go forward with the other areas like electricity generation and so forth. But if you stop and think about it, if you put the research and development and the finance behind it, you could really accelerate a lot of these programs and you only have to walk through a university campus and see the kinds of people that are working on this day and night and it's amazing to realize how ingenious human beings are. So to answer your question, Working Group III's report basically outlined the pathway forward.

They're not the only group to have done that. There are many other groups who have also shown that decarbonization is in fact possible and feasible and something that we must do. And I guess it's really difficult for people to follow the conversation because, as you mentioned, there's a lot of misinformation. And information gets misconstrued depending on the person who is delivering that information, which is why I love being a scientist because my job is to just try and present factual information to people, and then they can make decisions about what they want to do. As scientists, like I said, for IPCC, we're all volunteers. We didn't get paid a single cent to work for three and a half years on this colossal report. It just goes to show you that not everybody is motivated by these sorts of insidious forces. Many people are good and altruistic and do things because they care about the collective good. And so, yes, it's possible. There are some challenges. There are some technical challenges in some areas, but there's also an enormous amount of progress that's been made in recent years.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

There are some technical challenges in some areas, but there's also an enormous amount of progress that's been made in recent years. Indeed the IPCC itself as a body can be considered as an example going forward - if all of humanity could act collectively like that - as though we were not all individuals or separate countries, but could act like one country on this one planet, I think that it's inspiration to us all.

GERGIS

Absolutely, and that's why I think I also felt like I wanted to share that in Humanity's Moment because I think working at the United Nations level gave me a direct experience of what it is like to work with people from literally all over the world with this common goal, and we're all very different, but we also have a shared humanity. And I think that it's extraordinary, and it's beautiful and it's extremely moving to work in that way. And that's the thing, right? I really do think that when humans want to step into their higher selves and work for the common good, we can absolutely do that. And, you know, our history is full of that as well. So it's just a case of remembering that and being a part of that. Wherever you can be a part of because you can choose to be a part of this social movement that is sweeping the world right now in terms of our push to live sustainably on this planet. It's happening all over the world. And so, you know, what we do on an individual level in terms of how we show up in this moment really makes a difference.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

And we do also have to open our minds to these kind of public-private partnerships, and business does have to work with society. Multinationals have that huge power to make huge changes to their emissions.

GERGIS

I guess removing the social license for the continued destruction of our planet has to shift. And this is where these social movements become really inspiring to think about it because it always just takes a small group of really committed people to shift a social norm.

And I quote some research in the book, which basically says you only need about 25% of a population to shift a norm, and then the rest of the population goes with those progressive elements. So right now we're in this moment where we're basically saying No More Fossil Fuels. We are cooking the planet. This is what the world's scientific community - that's what we are saying. We're cooking the planet. We must stop. And I guess the challenge here is to get enough people from all over the world, from all different parts of society, not just the scientific community, because we're only just a very, very small fraction people that make up our communities, but we need to mobilize people in a huge way to vote for our politicians at every level. From the local to the federal level who are going to reflect our values around shifting to a sustainable future, and choosing to leave a legacy, which is more one of care and repair rather than just complete destruction.

And we owe it to the young people. I mean, there's a chapter in my book where I talk about intergenerational damage. And it's one of these things I feel really strongly about because I don't think it's fair to leave this burden on the shoulders of young people. We have to take that responsibility here and now for all of us in positions where we do have political power or economic power through the way we consume. We have to do what we can. You can't expect a bunch of striking school kids to be able to do that, although I respect them greatly and I really, really value what they're doing. It's really up to decision-makers and the people in power because they're really doing that to put pressure on our decision-makers. And I guess that's really where the rest of the community can play a role in that. And that's where I think it's quite exciting because that's how all social movements happen. That's how you get political.

ONE PLANET PODCAST

It is about doing more with less to overcome our current challenges. We're facing an environment where we may have to experience de-growth. I think of previous generations who experienced this. Your father was formed during the Great Depression.

GERGIS

Yes, exactly right. I think that in many ways I think we've hit peak consumerism, and I think it's leaving a psychological void within us because we're trying to fill the void with a whole bunch of things, a whole bunch of objects or materials and things that aren't really that real or useful.

And it's not providing us with psychological or spiritual growth in many ways. So I think a lot of people are starting to realize that...because there's also a lot of marketing and social media and all these things that we're being bombarded with, and there's a lot for young people particularly to navigate in this space about what is a meaningful life? What do we need to find meaning in life? Is it our relationships with people? Is it plastic surgery to get better lips? Is it the latest pair of shoes? Look, they're all personal questions that everybody has to look inside themselves and think What really matters in life? But ultimately, I would say that many people who are paying attention would agree that we've lost the way.

There's a statistic I quote in my book where it's something like about 90% of all marine birds now have plastic in their stomach. And plastic is a byproduct of the fossil fuel industry. And I think it's just a horrifying statistic and reality to think about it, that we have just overrun the planet to such a degree that our ecosystems are starting to collapse and alter in ways that are dramatic and major.

And I think we have to reflect on that, as a species, and that's part of the invitation of this book is to stop and to think about what it is to be human at this moment in time. So as a physical climate scientist, I'm basically giving people the nuts and the bolts. It's like a planetary stocktake. Here we are, and what do we want to do? And I guess every single moment, every single decision to exploit the natural world has led us to this moment. And it is a moment where we're literally destabilizing the Earth's climate. We're seeing ecosystems starting to collapse, and we're seeing major impacts. So, where we are right now is a cumulative experience. And it is the moment to try and put the breaks on, to right the wrongs, and to also redefine our cultural values. And this is something I talk a lot about in the second part because I find that really inspiring to think about. I want to live in a society that values, for instance in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef being alive, rather than dead.

And right now we've lost 50% of the Great Barrier Reef since 2015 because of coral bleaching from the warming of ocean temperatures around our coastline because of a fossil-fueled warming trend that we have globally. So it's about thinking about those things. Do we actually collectively care about those things?

Are we going to actively protect those things? And I think those cultural values and those social norms are starting to shift. For instance, I think the case of plastics is a really good example of the social norms shifting, where a lot of people now find it really out of fashion to use plastic, and plastic is actually banned in a lot of places now. And I think one day in the future, we'll look back and think, Oh, can you believe. We used to use plastic. And the same way where we will also think about the burning of fossil fuels, the way we think about things like asbestos and using asbestos in our homes or building materials. Once we have more information, we can change our course. And I think this is the call to action that we are in right now at this moment. 

This interview was conducted by Mia Funk and Eveline Mol with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Associate Interviews Producer on this episode was Eveline Mol.

Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process & One Planet Podcast (Conversations about Climate Change & Environmental Solutions).

 
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Academy Award-winning Writer, Director & Producer
Glory · The Last Samurai · Shakespeare in Love · Thirtysomething
Author of NYTimes Bestseller Hits, Flops & Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood

My intention was to write about my experiences, obviously, but also I felt that there was a little bit of a counterintuitive approach, which is to talk about some of the inner experiences of the creative process and being a director, being a writer, and I felt that that would open the window a little bit wider. I liked that it wasn't just a behind-the-scenes look. It is that, and I think it's full of fun anecdotes and little reveals, but it is to be a real book. It presumes to be a memoir, like many of the memoirs that I have loved of creative people in the past.

ALAN POUL
ALAN POUL

Emmy & Golden Globe-winning Executive Producer · Director
Tokyo Vice · Six Feet Under · Tales of the City · My So-Called Life

I think all great work comes from the need to say something. And so this is the challenge for young artists and also maybe one of the essential elements that can never be completely taken over by AI because there has to be something you feel has not been said, and you feel an urgent need to say it. In fact, you can't not say it. That need to express is what gives birth to unique expression, which is where all of our visual, performance, and creative arts come from. 

Featured
The Art of Writing
The Art of Writing

This episode explores the enduring power of storytelling to shape our world and illuminate the human experience. Writers Neil Gaiman, Ada Limón, Jericho Brown, E.J. Koh, Marge Piercy, and Max Stossel discuss creativity, resilience, and the power of words to heal and bring people together.

JULIAN LENNON
JULIAN LENNON

Singer-songwriter · Photographer · Documentary Filmmaker
Founder of The White Feather Foundation
Executive Producer of Common Ground

I thought, wow, how are they going to bring this across in a way that isn't shoving things down people's throats? It's presenting information in a way that is creative, but also in a way that drives your curiosity into understanding, number one, why are we in the position that we're in? And number two, how can we fix this? What can we do to change all of this? And so, I initially got involved as an executive producer on Kiss the Ground, and I was blown away by how that film came out at the end. How well rounded it was, the flow of the film, the storytelling, and really feeding me information that I didn't even know previously. And so also watching that become a platform around the world was jaw-dropping. I mean, the fact that the belief and the understanding and the wisdom that came out of that project has touched so many hearts, minds, and souls around the world, that people are really single-handedly almost making change for the better around the world. Now, when Common Ground was presented, I did love that concept because Kiss the Ground had been very much a broad approach and about America, for the majority, really, and Common Ground was a much more...I mean, we're still dealing with the same subject matter obviously, but I think it felt great to come from a more personal aspect." 

Connecting with the Earth
Connecting with the Earth

How and when will we transition to a clean energy future? How have wetlands become both crucial carbon sinks and colossal methane emitters in a warming world? What lessons can we learn from non-human animals about living in greater harmony with nature?

JULIA CHRISTENSEN
JULIA CHRISTENSEN

Neuroscientist · Fmr. Dancer
Author of The Pathway to Flow: The New Science of Harnessing Creativity to Heal and Unwind the Body & Mind

The state of being in flow and seeking out that state, sort of disappearing from the here and now... it must have been something that has been part of human cultures for many millennia. We know that, for example, dancing can bring you into these states. And we know from many anthropological works that people dance themselves into trance, a type of flow. So, there is that flow in this scientific sense of a state of well-being. And we will speak about what that does to our brain and our broader wellbeing, but also the flow in what cues enter into our senses. So that would be a scientific field that looks at brain synchrony, physiology synchrony, these waves that we see that sort of connect with us.

What Does It Mean to Live a Good Life?
What Does It Mean to Live a Good Life?

Artists, Writers, Visionaries & Educators Share their Stories

How can the arts help us learn to speak the language of the Earth and cultivate our intuitive intelligence? What is the power of mentorship for forging character and creative vision? How can we hold onto our cultural heritage and traditions, while preparing students for the needs of the 21st century?

Navigating Our Environmental Future
Navigating Our Environmental Future

Have we entered what Earth scientists call a “termination event,” and what can we do to avoid the worst outcomes? How can we look beyond GDP and develop new metrics that balance growth with human flourishing and environmental well-being? How can the 15-minute city model revolutionize urban living, enhance health, and reduce our carbon footprint?

ARASH ABIZADEH
ARASH ABIZADEH

Professor of Political Science · McGill University
Author of Hobbes and the Two Faces of Ethics · Assoc. Editor · Free & Equal

There is a tremendous tension between healthy democracy and deep economic inequalities. I don't think that, in the long run, democracies can survive in a healthy way unless we address the problem of economic inequalities. If we have individuals who are living day to day, on the one hand, and we have other individuals who are billionaires in our societies, on the other hand, it will be very difficult for us to have a genuine democracy.

DANIEL SUSSKIND
DANIEL SUSSKIND

Economist · Oxford & King’s College London
Author of Growth: A Reckoning · A World Without Work

We have a choice to change the nature of growth. How we can have growth that is more respectful of place, doesn’t cause as much damage to the environment, doesn't lead to as large inequalities in society, doesn’t disrupt politics, doesn't undermine the availability of good work? We ought to pursue this morally enriched GDP measure which better reflects what we really value and care about as a society.

JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY
JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY

Academy Award · Tony · Pulitzer Prize-winning Writer/Director
Doubt starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Moonstruck · Wild Mountain Thyme · Danny and the Deep Blue Sea · Joe Versus the Volcano

I knew Philip Seymour Hoffman for several years. We went on vacation together. He produced a play of mine. Before we did Doubt, we worked in the same theater company together, and he was, you know, very committed to excellence. And so he could become impatient with anybody who was not committed to excellence, and that could make him a volatile person to deal with. Phil cared. He cared a great deal. And he worked really hard. They're very committed. Like with Viola Davis. Viola had done a decent amount of big work before Doubt, but she was not recognized yet. And she was careful. You know, she certainly wasn't throwing weight around. She was, I'm the new kid on the block, and I'm just here to work and be serious and do my job, keep my head down, and get out. And pretty much that's what I was doing too, you know, because I've got Meryl Streep, I've got Philip Hoffman, who I was friends with, but Phil's not an easy guy to be friends with or was not easy to be friends with. He's a very prickly person prone to getting pissed off about things that you might not expect. And then Amy Adams was somebody who, you know, tried to get along with everybody and Phil would say like, 'You just want everybody to like you.' So, you know, you're in the middle of that group, and you just, you don't want to put yourself in a position where you're trying to prove something. You have to let them...they're very, very smart people, and they're going to figure out whatever it is that you're doing. They're going to figure out whether you are in any way trying to handle that. And that's not going to go well. And so I didn't do that.

DAVID RUBIN
DAVID RUBIN

President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences 2019-2022
Casting Director & Producer

What an academy was meant to be, going back to their founding, really is a group of people with a certain degree of passion and expertise and knowledge that want to get together and share. That's what I think academies are all about. So the fact that I've been helpful in spurring the Academy onto becoming a more international and global enterprise is a source of great satisfaction to me

ALAIN ROBERT
ALAIN ROBERT

Famous Rock & Urban Climber
"The French Spider-Man”
Known for Free Solo Climbing 150+ of the World’s Tallest Skyscrapers using no Climbing Equipment

First of all, yes, I need to know what I will be climbing, whether it's on rocks or whether it's on buildings. And then there is physical preparation. And regarding the mindset, it's more something that became a bit automatic over the years because I have been free soloing for almost 50 years. So it is pretty much my whole life. So that means that for me, being mentally ready, it's kind of simple. It's almost always the same mental process, meaning, I can be afraid before an ascent, but I know myself actually very well. And I know that once I am starting to climb, I feel fine. I put my fear aside, and I'm just climbing.

BEN SHOFTY
BEN SHOFTY

Functional Neurosurgeon · Professor · University of Utah

When you think about the evolution of the human brain–just like other animals that have specialized in speed or keeping warm or gathering food–I feel our brain sort of specialized being creative and flexible and being able to generate different solutions to a given problem. To me, this is probably the most fascinating thought process that happens in the human brain. And what I do in neurosurgery–and my subspecialty is called functional neurosurgery–we don't deal with disorders in which there's an anatomical abnormality inside the brain. We deal with disorders in which there is an abnormal connection or abnormal circuitry inside the brain when there's an issue with the way the brain functions. There's no tumor. There are no abnormal blood vessels or anything like that. And that gives us an amazing opportunity to really investigate how different circuits and different areas inside the brain work.

SCOTT DOORLEY · CARISSA CARTER
SCOTT DOORLEY · CARISSA CARTER

Creative & Academic Director · Stanford d.school
Co-authors of Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future

Today, someone is putting the finishing touches on a machine-­ learning algorithm that will change the way you relate to your family. Someone is trying to design a way to communicate with animals in their own language. Someone is cleaning up the mess someone else left behind seventy years ago yesterday. Today, someone just had an idea that will end up saving one thing while it harms another.

To be a maker in this moment—­ to be a human today—­ is to collaborate with the world. It is to create and be created, to work and be worked on, to make and be made. To be human is to tinker, create, fix, care, and bring new things into the world. It is to design. You—­ yes, you!—­ might design products or policy, services or sermons, production lines or preschool programs. You might run a business, make art, or participate in passing out meals to the poor. You may write code or pour concrete, lobby for endangered species legislation or craft cocktails. Wherever you fit in, you are part of shaping the world. This is design work.

– Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future

STEPHEN REILY
STEPHEN REILY

Founding Director · Remuseum
Fmr. Director · Speed Museum · Attorney · Co-Founder & CEO · IMC Licensing
The opportunity is that we have never had a public that is more passionate and obsessed with visual imagery. If the owners of the best original imagery in the world can't figure out how to take advantage of the fact that the world has now become obsessed with these treasures that we have to offer as museums, then shame on us. This is the opportunity to say, if you're spending all day scrolling on Instagram looking for amazing imagery, come and see the original source. Come and see the real work. Let us figure out how to make that connection.

Was Stanford Firing 23 Lecturers in Creative Writing Really Necessary?
Was Stanford Firing 23 Lecturers in Creative Writing Really Necessary?

A Conversation with Lecturers & Students

Recently, twenty-three lecturers in the highly successful Creative Writing program at Stanford were summoned to a Zoom meeting where they were first praised, and then summarily fired. One of the most surprising aspects of this purge is the fact that it was carried out not by top-tier university administrators, but by tenure-track faculty in the program. It was they who decided to brutally terminate their colleagues. On this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast Professor David Palumbo-Liu speaks with two of the lecturers who have been told they will leave Stanford in nine months, and one of their students, a published novelist. They explain the devastating nature of this act and share statistics and histories that show this was not at all necessary.  Expediency for senior faculty trumped the survival of a carefully developed and nurtured community of creative writers.

JACQUELINE GOTTLIEB
JACQUELINE GOTTLIEB

Professor of Neuroscience & Principal Investigator at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute

I came to neuroscience from a humanistic perspective. I was very interested to find out who we are. What do we know? What do we think we know? Why do we think we know certain things? How do we see things? How do we perceive them? Ultimately, the question behind curiosity is what things we find interesting in our environment. The way I think about eye movements is that they really are trained in some largely subconscious process.

MEAGHAN OPPENHEIMER
MEAGHAN OPPENHEIMER

Screenwriter · Exec. Producer · Showrunner
Creator of Hulu's Tell Me Lies · Queen America

Often when people write or make movies about romances with young adults, I think they are very flippant about it and don't take it seriously. But I think that those friendships and romantic relationships are some of the most important ones because they really set the stage for the rest of our lives. If your first relationship is incredibly toxic and damaging, it can take you years to  figure out that that's not normal, and that that's not actually how relationships are meant to be.

EUAN NISBET
EUAN NISBET

Earth Systems Scientist · Royal Holloway University of London

I am a Christian and I have strong Muslim and Jewish friends as well as great respect for Hindu beliefs. I grew up in Southern Africa and I am well aware of the depth of some Indigenous beliefs. I think that having belief systems does give you a very different perspective sometimes. Now, in Christianity, the concept of the shepherd, human beings are here and this is our garden, our garden of Eden, but we have a responsibility. And if we choose to kick ourselves out of the garden, there are consequences. And that's precisely what we are doing. The garden is there, it's lovely, and we can manage it, and it's our job to manage it. We can manage it properly. We can respect it. It's for all creation, and it's very explicit that it involves all Creation. And that's a very fundamental biblical law that you have to respect all Creation. And if you don't do that, then the consequences—you’re basically throwing yourself out of the garden of Eden.

RENÉE BERGLAND
RENÉE BERGLAND

Literary Critic · Historian of Science · Educator
Author of Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science

There is a stronger connection between Dickinson and Darwin than the proximity of history. Or the universality of literature. They both understood natural science and the natural world in ways that seem strange and somewhat surprising in the 21st century. Their 19th century attitudes to nature and the study of it are so different from ours that when we trace their stories, a vanished world begins to emerge. The more I consider these figures together, the more I feel their world and my world. come alive. Darwin and Dickinson illuminate each other. By reading them together, we can start to understand the interconnected relationships that animated 19th century poetry and science.

FRANK TRENTMANN
FRANK TRENTMANN

Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London · Author of Out of the Darkness: The Germans 1942 to 2022

The environmental crisis, Gaza, the war in Ukraine—all of those don't make sense if you don't have a sense of history. History and the humanities have come under huge pressure. We've seen falling student numbers, and that's a real shame because history continues to be a source of intellectual inspiration and curiosity that not only makes us wiser and more reflective but also creates the dynamism and creativity we need to confront our present and future challenges. I hope that among the young generations, there will be people inspired by history, people that have the ambition to research and write about the past.

LISA EDELSTEIN
LISA EDELSTEIN

Actress · Artist · Director · Producer · Writer
House M.D. · Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce · Little Bird · The West Wing · The Kominsky Method

I have always thrown myself into everything, and that includes terrible things, because I want to have the whole experience. Even if I know it's going to hurt for better or for worse, that has been how I've lived my life. And so it's given me a lot of information and allowed me to play a lot of different roles and understand a lot of different points of view. I think part of the beauty of being in a long-running television show is that, in season one, you're playing the role they wrote. By season two, they're writing the person you're playing. You start to build your voice, and they start to merge, and so by the time you get to season three, you're much more like full human beings having this dialogue.

APRIL GORNIK
APRIL GORNIK

Artist · Environmentalist
Co-founder of The Church · Arts & Creativity Center
Co-director of Sag Harbor Cinema Board

I've chosen my work because I've loved the outside world. I love the things outside of myself. I love what isn't immediate to me. And I love projecting onto that as a way of kind of trying to reach the distance between my inner self and the vastness. To try to do that in a way that makes other people feel inspired by it, not be chided for not taking care of it. It's not something that I intend to be a message per se. I'd rather people look at the natural world and see the heartbreaking beauty of it and sense its fragility and its impermanence and their own impermanence and fragility and then have a response to that rather than say, you know, you have to act, you have to do something. I would hope that would inspire action rather than to cudgel them with a directive.

Featured
The Architecture of Oppression
The Architecture of Oppression

Jake Ferguson · Anthony Joseph · Jermain Jackman

I think as humans, we forget. We are often limited by our own stereotypes, and we don't see that in everyone there's the potential for beauty and love and all these things. And I think The Architecture of Oppression, both parts one and two, are really a reflection of all the community and civil rights work that I've been doing for the same amount of time, really - 25 years. And I wanted to try and mix my day job and my music side, so bringing those two sides of my life together. I wanted to create a platform for black artists, black singers, and poets who I really admire. And it was a no-brainer to give Anthony a call for this second album because I know of his pedigree, and he's much more able to put ideas and thoughts on paper than I would be able to.

PRIYAMVADA GOPAL · FRANÇOISE VERGÈS
PRIYAMVADA GOPAL · FRANÇOISE VERGÈS

on the Recent Elections in Britain and France

I would say what we can celebrate is the incredible mobilization of the young people. They went everywhere, they knocked on the door, they mobilized. This was an incredible, incredible mobilization. So that was extraordinary because it showed real mobilization and an understanding that the National Rally was a real threat. We knew that if they came to power, the first people who would be targeted would be people of color, and that was absolutely clear.

S. D. CHROSTOWSKA
S. D. CHROSTOWSKA

Author · Historian · Curator
Utopia in the Age of Survival: Between Myth and Politics · The Eyelid · Marvellous Utopia

I like to think of utopianism as “effective social daydreaming” because utopia is associated with consciously imagining societies. Our imagination is always involved in creating reality. The opposition between the two, reality and the imaginary, is not a stark one; they're porous.

RICHARD BLACK
RICHARD BLACK

Author of The Future of Energy · Fmr. BBC Environment Correspondent · Director of Policy & Strategy · Global Clean Energy Thinktank · Ember

The fact is you've got a lot of industrial and political muscle now coming behind clean energy, especially from China, which is the leading country deploying wind energy, solar, and the leading manufacturer and user of electric vehicles. "We have petrostates in the world. China is the first electrostate." And China is on its way to becoming the world's most powerful country. So, where China leads, the rest of the world is almost certain to follow. Yes, there are massive air pollution problems in China, of course, but I think it's more than that. It's also about seeing that this is the future that the world is going to have. And if these goods are going to be made anywhere, well, the Chinese government clearly would like them to be made in China. And they've set out, you know, industrial policies and all kinds of other policies for, well, at least a decade now, in pursuit of that aim. It's interesting now to see other countries, India, for example, and the United States now sort of deploying muscle to try and carve out a slice of the pie themselves as well.

CHRIS CARLSSON
CHRIS CARLSSON

Writer · Organizer · Activist
When Shells Crumble · Shaping San Francisco · Critical Mass

The novel When Shells Crumble begins in December 2024, when the US Supreme Court nullifies the popular vote in the Presidential election and awards the presidency to an authoritarian Republican, who proceeds to demolish democracy and install a fascistic state that hastens ecological havoc. The novel is much more than your usual dystopian tale—it focuses on how to resist political cynicism and defeatism, and rebuild on planetary wreckage. It is a world-building project filled with wisdom, sadness, and joy. We specifically put this fictional text in conservation with his brilliant non-fiction work, Nowtopia, which offers a radical redefinition of “work” that restores dignity and value to their proper places.

On the War & Famine in Sudan
On the War & Famine in Sudan

with Dr. Osman Hamdan & Umniya Najaer

The ongoing conflict in Sudan has pushed millions to the brink of famine, threatening to devastate an entire generation. Despite the severe humanitarian crisis, global awareness remains limited. Today learn about the long history behind these events, the people and groups involved, and the roles that foreign governments and international organizations like the IMF have played. Importantly, we learn how civil society groups are bringing a form of mutual aid and support to the people of Sudan where the national government, warring factions, and international humanitarian organizations have utterly failed.

HENRY AJDER
HENRY AJDER

AI/Deepfakes/Synthetic Media Advisor · BBC Presenter
Adobe · Meta · European Commission · Partnership on AI · House of Lords

I would like to preserve a real sense of empathy and humility, which comes with understanding that the world is messy, that people are messy, that defects and imperfections exist, that things don't always necessarily kind of go the way you want, even as much as you wish they could. Imperfection is part of life and I guess my concern is that AI-generated content, which smooths and perfects a version of reality to precisely what you want and forces you or makes you feel pressured to represent yourself in this absolutely perfect way, fundamentally gives you no room for error and kind of detaches you from the reality of growth and life and and how people work. Empathize with other people. Everyone has their challenges. Things don't always have to be exactly perfect to how you want them to be or how other people want them to be. And that involves having some humility about yourself as a messy creature, as we all are. I hope that's retained, but I do see this kind of move towards this sort of smoothed and shaped reality that AI is enabling, potentially creating more of a disconnect between that imperfect, messy, but also quite beautiful world. This sort of polished but ultimately plastic version of reality increasingly is becoming the default for some people over the kind of fleshy, messy human side of things.

PAUL AUSTER
PAUL AUSTER

Writer · Filmmaker 1947-2024

What happens is a space is created. And maybe it’s the only space of its kind in the world in which two absolute strangers can meet each other on terms of absolute intimacy. I think this is what is at the heart of the experience and why once you become a reader that you want to repeat that experience, that very deep total communication with that invisible stranger who has written the book that you’re holding in your hands. And that’s why I think, in spite of everything, novels are not going to stop being written, no matter what the circumstances. We need stories. We’re all human beings, and it’s stories from the moment we’re able to talk.

JEFF OLSON
JEFF OLSON

Co-founder of the Largest Bike Share System in North America · NYC’s CitiBike
Co-founder of re:Charge-e: Wireless Bike & Scooter Docking Stations
Author of The 3rd Mode: Towards a Green Society

The key number for people to remember is one to 150 for the cost and energy that it takes to charge a single electric car, our system could charge 150 bikes or scooters in public space that then people have access to. So the question from an equity standpoint, from really achieving our climate goals standpoint is, do you invest in getting one person mobile and maintaining maybe the current lifestyle that goes along with those cars? Or do we make some changes and invest in 150 to 200 people being mobile with the same energy? Clearly, we think the answer is more people moving more often, more sustainably. And we have to make that shift or we're never going to hit the 2030 goals. They are probably not even in reach, you heard the Secretary-General say just last week. And even 2050 seems a long way to go if we're still investing in technologies that only essentially help the 1 percent that already have the resources. It's the larger population that we really need to reach.

LEE McINTYRE
LEE McINTYRE

Philosopher · Author of On Disinformation: How To Fight For Truth and Protect Democracy · How to Talk to a Science Denier

One thing people don't realize is that the goal of disinformation is not simply to get you to believe a falsehood. It's to demoralize you into giving up on the idea of truth, to polarize us around factual issues, to get us to distrust people who don't believe the same lie. And even if somebody doesn't believe the lie, it can still make them cynical. I mean, we've all had friends who don't even watch the news anymore. There's a chilling quotation from Holocaust historian Hannah Arendt about how when you always lie to someone, the consequence is not necessarily that they believe the lie, but that they begin to lose their critical faculties, that they begin to give up on the idea of truth, and so they can't judge for themselves what's true and what's false anymore. That's the scary part, the nexus between post-truth and autocracy. That's what the authoritarian wants. Not necessarily to get you to believe the lie. But to give up on truth, because when you give up on truth, then there's no blame, no accountability, and they can just assert their power. There's a connection between disinformation and denial.

STEPHEN WOLFRAM
STEPHEN WOLFRAM

Computer Scientist · Mathematician · Theoretical Physicist
Founder/CEO of Wolfram Research · Creator of Mathematica · Wolfram|Alpha

I think as there is more automation, there is more kind of emphasis on this question of our choice. The story of the development of things tends to be what do humans decide that they care about? In what direction do they want to go? What kind of art do they want to make? What kinds of things do they want to think about? There is in the computational universe of all possibilities, there is sort of infinite creativity.

KEITH FRANKISH
KEITH FRANKISH

Editor of Illusionism as a Theory of Consciousness · Cambridge University Press’ Elements in Philosophy of Mind
Author of Mind and Supermind · Consciousness

What I like about the sort of view I have is that it represents us as fully part of the world, fully part of the same world. We're not sealed off into little private mental bubbles, Cartesian theaters, where all the real action is happening in here, not out there. No, I think we're much more engaged with the world. It's not all happening in some private mental world. It's happening in our engagement with the shared world, and that seems to me a vision that I find much more uplifting, comforting, and rewarding.

PAUL HAWKEN
PAUL HAWKEN

Founder of Project Regeneration & Project Drawdown
Author of Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation

We and all living beings thrive by being actors in the planet’s regeneration, a civilizational goal that should commence and never cease. We practiced degeneration as a species and it brought us to the threshold of an unimaginable crisis. To reverse global warming, we need to reverse global degeneration.

ROBIN PHILLIPS
ROBIN PHILLIPS

Retired US Army Officer with a Career in Current and Crisis Intelligence and Strategic Plans and Policy at the Pentagon

We need to work together to handle the migrations that will inevitably come because of climate change and loss of human habitat and loss of agricultural lands. The wisest nation going forward will be the one that can maintain its population through allowing immigration and thinking about where you can draw folks that are coming from stressed environments and they need a place to land and you're losing population. Why should you not accept those people and encourage them to fill the roles that you need them to fill and settle in the areas where you are being depopulated because of falling fertility by choice?

ABRAHM LUSTGARTEN
ABRAHM LUSTGARTEN

Senior Reporter at ProPublica · Filmmaker · Author
On The Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America

Living in California, I've just come to accept the unsettledness of this era we're moving into. And I think that's really how I see the future. You know, we're living in an era of disruption, and there are others I talk to and write about in the book who also muse about the possibility of a more nomadic future. That maybe home isn't a permanent place with deep roots but is a transient place with shallow roots or two places that you alternate between. In addition to a lot of other dramatic changes that the book is about, a change in our sense of home and our sense of place is a part of this story.

MATTIA MAURÉE
MATTIA MAURÉE

Interdisciplinary Composer ·  AuDHD Coach
Host of the AuDHD Flourishing Podcast

So for me, just removing a lot of the shame and then a lot of the energy that I was wasting trying to fit myself into a neurotypical process or framework or way of thinking or being. So, you know, some people call that unmasking, just kind of removing. I was wasting a lot of energy, basically trying to be someone else and function in a different way. And then just beating myself up internally for not being able to do that. And throughout my healing journey, as I really realized, Oh, that's actually what's happening. Like there's not actually anything wrong with me being able to...That's why it's called Love Your Brain. It's not just, you know, tolerate your brain. Or, fine, you can work with this brain that you have. It's like, no, I genuinely love the weird experiences that my brain can give me and the incredibly rich, deep experience I have of the world. Like I experience nature so deeply and so intensely. I have really strong connections with animals. I have really great intuition, which I think is just from picking up all this sensory data and putting it together. All these experiences that I get to have, but I don't get to have those experiences if I'm just trying to make myself be something else, which I think is most people who are late diagnosed, I feel like that's their experience. It's just like I've been trying to be someone else for so long. It's exhausting. And then you don't have the energy then to be creative, the carving out the time, making the time to actually create.

DANA FISHER
DANA FISHER

Director · Center for Environment, Community, & Equity
Author of Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action

I call myself an apocalyptic optimist. In other words, I do believe there is hope to save ourselves from the climate crisis that we have caused. However, I also believe that saving ourselves will only be possible with a mass mobilization that is driven by the pain and suffering of climate shocks around the world. A generalized sense of extreme risk can lead to peaceful and less-peaceful mass mobilizations at the levels needed to stimulate an AnthroShift. Only a global risk event (or numerous smaller events that are seen as threatening social and economic centers of power) will motivate the kind of massive social change that is needed. In other words, without a risk pivot—be it driven by social or environmental change—an AnthroShift that is large enough to respond adequately to the climate crisis and open a large enough window of opportunity postshock is improbable.

ESHA CHHABRA
ESHA CHHABRA

Author of Working to Restore: Harnessing the Power of Business to Heal the Earth

The term regenerative business started coming into the lexicon in 2017, 2018. And regenerative means to regenerate, means to bring life into something. To sustain means to keep the status quo. And regenerative looks at things from a very holistic lens. You know, it's like if you're going to run a regenerative farm, it's all the different components of the farm and the ecosystem ideally come within the ecosystem.

RAPHAËL MILLIÈRE
RAPHAËL MILLIÈRE

Asst. Professor in Philosophy of AI · Macquarie University
I'd like to focus more on the immediate harms that the kinds of AI technologies we have today might pose. With language models, the kind of technology that powers ChatGPT and other chatbots, there are harms that might result from regular use of these systems, and then there are harms that might result from malicious use. Regular use would be how you and I might use ChatGPT and other chatbots to do ordinary things. There is a concern that these systems might reproduce and amplify, for example, racist or sexist biases, or spread misinformation. These systems are known to, as researchers put it, “hallucinate” in some cases, making up facts or false citations. And then there are the harms from malicious use, which might result from some bad actors using the systems for nefarious purposes. That would include disinformation on a mass scale. You could imagine a bad actor using language models to automate the creation of fake news and propaganda to try to manipulate voters, for example. And this takes us into the medium term future, because we're not quite there, but another concern would be language models providing dangerous, potentially illegal information that is not readily available on the internet for anyone to access. As they get better over time, there is a concern that in the wrong hands, these systems might become quite powerful weapons, at least indirectly, and so people have been trying to mitigate these potential harm

DANNY CAINE
DANNY CAINE

Bookseller · Poet · Author of How to Protect Bookstores and Why · How to Resist Amazon and Why · Picture Window

The thing that unites my poetry and the nonfiction writing is my main obsession as a writer. It's the question of, how do you live meaningfully in late capitalism? As corporations and global capitalist forces take over the world, what does it mean to try to have a meaningful human life? Bookselling captured my imagination and my heart as soon as I started working at the bookstore because I could see the potential for this great, amazing community-oriented work.

NEIL JOHNSON
NEIL JOHNSON

Professor of Physics · GWU · Head of the Dynamic Online Networks Lab

It gets back to this core question: Why AI comes out with what it does. That's the burning question. It's like it's bigger than the origin of the universe to me as a scientist, and here's the reason why. The origin of the universe, it happened. That's why we're here. It's almost like a historical question asking why it happened. The AI future is not a historical question. It's a now and future question.

BEN GOLDFARB
BEN GOLDFARB

PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award-winning Author

The creation of roads is this process that's sort of innate to all beings. We're all sort of inclined to create and follow trails. We just do it at a much vaster and more permanent and destructive scale. I think we need to reconceive how we think about roads. Roads aren't just symbols of movement and mobility and freedom for us. They're also preventing that mobility in basically all other life forms.

ROBERT PIPPIN
ROBERT PIPPIN

Author of The Culmination: Heidegger, German Idealism, and the Fate of Philosophy
Modernism as a Philosophical Problem · Hegel’s Idealism

Philosophy is both an academic discipline and also something that everybody does. Everybody has to have reflective views about what's significant. They also have to justify to themselves why it's significant or important. The nature of justice itself, and the various opinions that have been written about in philosophy about justice, can get to a very high level. So there's this unusual connection between philosophy and human life. We've inherited from the middle ages, this incredible tradition that's now developed into a chance for young people to spend four or five years, in a way, released from the pressures of life. The idea to pursue your ideas a little further in these four years you have, exempt from the pressures of social life, allows philosophy to have a kind of position unique in the academy. In confronting what the best minds in the history of the world have had to say about these issues, the hope is that they provide for the people who are privileged enough to confront philosophy a better and more thoughtful approach to these fundamental questions that everybody has to confront.

BERTRAND PICCARD
BERTRAND PICCARD

Psychiatrist, Explorer, Aviator of First Round-the-World Solar-powered Flight
Founder & Chairman · Solar Impulse Foundation: 1000+ Profitable Climate Solutions
UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment

So this is why I prefer to speak with a really down to earth language. So maybe the people who love nature are going to say, “Oh, Bertrand Piccard, now he is too down to earth. He's speaking about profitable solutions. He's speaking to the industries that are polluting,” but we have to speak to the industries that are polluting and bring them profitable solutions, otherwise the world will never change, or humankind will never change. And don't forget one thing, what we are damaging is not the beauty of nature. What is being damaged is the quality of life of human beings on Earth because we can still have beautiful things to see, but if we have climate change, if we have tropical disease in Europe, if we have heat waves, floods, droughts, millions of climate refugees, life will be miserable, even if nature is still beautiful.

NINA LUZZATTO GARDNER
NINA LUZZATTO GARDNER

Adjunct Lecturer in International Law, Johns Hopkins SAIS
Director of Strategy International, Corporate Sustainability Advisory Firm

My father made me think very much in terms of what kind of planet we are leaving to our children? And what should we be doing in terms of being custodians of this planet? And that we should not be using up all the resources, but actually trying to conserve them and make the world a better for the next generation.

JOSEPH LEDOUX
JOSEPH LEDOUX

Neuroscientist · Musician · Author
The Emotional Brain · Anxious · The Deep History of Ourselves
The Four Realms of Existence: A New Theory of Being Human

We've got four billion years of biological accidents that created all of the intricate aspects of everything about life, including consciousness. And it's about what's going on in each of those cells at the time that allows it to be connected to everything else and for the information to be understood as it's being exchanged between those things with their multifaceted, deep, complex processing.

INTAN PARAMADITHA
INTAN PARAMADITHA

Author of The Wandering · Apple and Knife
Editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets · Co-ed. The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas

The Wandering is a choose your own adventure novel, and the reader is situated in the shoes of this brown woman from the Global South. She's 27 and in a way, she is stuck with her life. She aspires to be middle class, but her job doesn't allow her to achieve this social mobility. In her condition, she makes a deal with a devil, a reference to the story of Faust and Mephistopheles, finally getting a pair of red shoes that will take her anywhere. But that means she will never be able to find home—that's the curse of the shoes. The title in Indonesian is Gentayanga, which is a word used to describe ghosts who exist in a liminal state.

MAX COOPER
MAX COOPER

Electronic Musician · Fmr. Computational Biologist

As technology becomes more dominant, the arts become ever more important for us to stay in touch the things that the sciences can't tackle. What it's actually like to be a person? What's actually important? We can have this endless progress inside this capitalist machine for greater wealth and longer life and more happiness, according to some metric. Or we can try and quantify society and push it forward. Ultimately, we all have to decide what's important to us as humans, and we need the arts to help with that. So, I think what's important really is just exposing ourselves to as many different ideas as we can, being open-minded, and trying to learn about all facets of life so that we can understand each other as well. And the arts is an essential part of that.

CLAYTON PAGE ALDERN
CLAYTON PAGE ALDERN

Neuroscientist turned Environmental Journalist
Author of The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Minds, Brains, and Bodies

I want to be wowed by the world. I want to gaze at it in awe and wonder. And I think when we take a step back and begin to appreciate the complexity of the interactions around us. We're taking note of a very porous between the self and the rest of the world. We are literally observing our enmeshment in our environment. And it's that kind of a reference frameshift that I think is going to help us move out of some of the darkness. My mother is an artist, and I think growing up surrounded by her practice exposed me to the creative process and is probably that which afforded me a certain sympathy for those tools and those modes of exploring the world later in life.

AYÇA ÇUBUKÇU & ADOM GETACHEW
AYÇA ÇUBUKÇU & ADOM GETACHEW

On Imagining a New Left Internationalism Outside the Legacies of the Settler State

In this episode on Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu and Azeezah Kanji have a conversation with critical political theorists Adom Getachew and Ayça Çubukçu on the colonial construction of the international system and its organization around the institution of the nation state. The conversation covers and uncovers so many aspects of the hidden colonial history behind the constitution of this system, but also the resistance and creative appropriations by Black, Indigenous, and colonized peoples, allowing us to imagine possible liberatory futures beyond the forms and strictures of the colonial present.

 
 

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