In his book, The Rescue Effect: The Key to Saving Life on Earth, Michael Mehta Webster has both hopeful & challenging news about the possibilities & ways we might mitigate the damage of Earth's 6th mass extinction event. Michael knows how it both can and does work to bring species back from the edge of extinction - or even after - and he knows the nitty-gritty of getting this done. With decades of working on the ground studying & protecting diverse species, Michael is now a Professor of Practice in the Dept. of Environmental Studies at NYU.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Earth-based Spirituality
Idris Phillips left this world in July 2022, and we remember him today with my interview with him from December 2017, although I also interviewed him again in person, along with Katie O'Neill, the summer of 2018.
In order to restore harmony to our planet we need major changes in the relationships of people to the Earth & our neighboring species. This is especially vital for city people, as estranged as urban life can be from our neighbors, and so the vision of Arboretum Detroit, led by Birch Kemp & Kinga Osz-Kemp, is to knit together the community of trees & people in Detroit with “a quilt of protected forest that will safely mature in perpetuity for all Detroiters”.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Catholic, Hare Krishna, Buddhist, Earth-centered
In his book, The Prophetic Lens: The Camera and Black Moral Agency from MLK to Darnella Frazier, Phil Allen Jr. examines the history & the future of Black wholeness in the USA, especially the ways in which people of color have been made invisible, & how their power is being reclaimed through open eyes & lenses. Phil's first book was Open Wounds, also rendered as a documentary film.
Minnesota's Twin Cities are teeming with musical talents, among them Curtis and Loretta. They've been making & performing fine mostly-folkish music for more than 3 decades. Loretta Simonet writes the lion's share of their songs, and her primary instrument is either the guitar or the folk harp, accompanied by Curtis' deep voice & rich instrumental skills. You'll find yourself uplifted by Loretta's upbeat lyrics & voice, as you might expect from a life-long singer & theater major.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Catholic, Self-realization Fellowship, Meditation, Eastern
The Thread Collectors. is a co-authored book, all the more compelling because of the family connections of the authors to the events of this story, set during the Civil War, much of it in Louisiana, and centering around two couples, one couple enslaved, and the other couple White & Jewish. Shaunna J. Edwards is African American and grew up in Louisiana, worked as a lawyer, with this being her first published book.
Iris Graville was writer-in-residence on the Interisland Ferry of Washington's San Juan Islands just before COVID hit. The resulting book, Writer in a Life Vest: Essays from the Salish Sea, includes a wide variety of essays, with special emphasis on climate change & the Southern Resident killer whales. Iris also uses an assortment of creative formats for her essays, like her imagined interview with Rachel Carson, using actually words from Rachel's writings. Iris verbally paints a rich picture of vital life in one corner of our planet.
A visit to a rich variety of musicians featured on Song of the Soul in the early days of the pandemic, highlighting themes of The Road, The Reason, The Destination, with songs by Spook Handy, Andi Renfree, Laura Marie, Ksenia Mack, Mark Mandeville, Rita Hosking, & Deidre McCalla.
Featured Music:
Guest-hosts today are from the Climate Changed podcast, Nicole Diroff & Ben Yosua-Davis, of the BTS Center, accompanied by Peterson Toscano. Their guests today are Maya Williams, the poet laureate of Portland, Maine, and Corina Newsome, who co-organized the very first #BlackBirdersWeek and who, in taking on racial injustice directly through activism, has challenged the straight-forward faith of her childhood.