The Earth is talking. Are we listening?
In this special edition, we hear from our guests from across the arts and sciences. From composers and poets to forest ecologists and climate envoys, they tell the story of our planet. Moving beyond the data of destruction, we explore the "intelligence of nature," the ethics of what we eat, and the "elastic empathy" required to save our future.
MAX RICHTER (Composer, Sleep, The Blue Notebooks) opens the episode by discussing the language of music as a space for shared dreaming. He reflects on how sound can bypass the intellectual brain to touch the emotional core, creating a landscape where we can confront difficult truths like climate change without turning away. 00:05
CARL SAFINA (Ecologist, Author of Becoming Wild) explores the "miracle of life" on Earth, reminding us that we are the only known place in the universe where life exists in such abundance. He urges us to see the planet not as a resource to be extracted, but as a unique biological event to be cherished. 01:08
ADA LIMÓN (24th U.S. Poet Laureate, The Carrying, The Hurting Kind) discusses how poetry helps us inhabit our own bodies and the body of the earth. She shares how the act of observation—noticing a tree, a bird, the light—is the first step toward the "radical hope" needed to protect what we love. 02:17
CYNTHIA DANIELS (Grammy & Emmy Award-winning Producer, MonkMusic Studios) reflects on the "creative magic" of listening. She draws parallels between the precision of sound engineering and the deep attention required to understand the natural world, suggesting that true awakening comes from tuning into frequencies we usually ignore. 03:42
SUZANNE SIMARD (Professor of Forest Ecology, Author of Finding the Mother Tree) reveals the hidden underground networks of the forest. She explains how trees communicate, share resources, and recognize their kin through mycelial webs, challenging the Western view of nature as a collection of separate, competing individuals. 05:43
JOELLE GERGIS Climate Scientist, Author of Humanity’s Moment) shares the science of tree rings as "climate memory." She explains how a single tree can hold a 2,000-year record of rainfall and temperature, acting as a silent witness to the history of our atmosphere and a warning for our future. 06:31
NOAH WILSON-RICH (Behavioral Ecologist, CEO of The Best Bees Company) discusses the social intelligence of bees. He highlights how these tiny creatures work together for the survival of the colony, offering a model for how human societies might cooperate to solve collective challenges. 07:17
INGRID NEWKIRK (Founder of PETA, Author of Animalkind) challenges the concept of human supremacy. She argues that "we are all animals" and that recognizing the personhood of other species is essential for breaking the cycle of exploitation that harms both animals and the planet. 07:36
BERTRAND PICCARD (Explorer, Solar Impulse Pilot) argues that "beauty" is not enough to motivate change; we must understand the threat to human survival. He reframes the climate crisis not as a problem of "saving the planet" (which will survive without us) but as a problem of saving the quality of human life. 09:15
DAVID FARRIER (Professor of Literature, Author of Footprints) introduces the concept of "elastic empathy." He asks us to extend our care not just across space to other people, but across time to the "future fossils" we are leaving behind for generations to come. 10:14
KATHLEEN ROGERS (President of Earth Day Network) advocates for universal climate literacy. She points out the failure of education systems to prepare students for the reality of a changing planet, arguing that understanding the earth should be as fundamental as reading and math. 10:38
ODED GALOR (Founder of Unified Growth Theory) discusses The Journey of Humanity. 11:51
PETER SINGER (Philosopher, Author of Animal Liberation Now) delivers a stark ethical wake-up call. He cites the devastation of biodiversity ("wiping out 1 million species") as a sign of moral corruption, urging us to expand our circle of compassion to include all sentient beings. 12:32
GEOFF MULGAN (Professor of Collective Intelligence at UCL, Author of Another World Is Possible) asks us to imagine a truly "circular" society. He questions how our moral view would shift if we stopped seeing waste as an externality and started designing systems that mimic nature's closed loops. 13:03
CLAIRE POTTER (Author of Welcome to the Circular Economy) grounds the philosophical in the practical. She reminds us that "nature just gets on and does it" without creating waste, and that human design must align with this biological reality to be sustainable. 13:19
CHRIS FUNK (Director of the Climate Hazards Center) offers a grounded scientific perspective on resilience. He discusses the work of building data systems to cope with a "two-degree world," arguing that science is already helping humanity become "smarter together" in the face of disaster. 15:40
JENNIFER MORGAN (German Special Envoy for International Climate Action, Fmr. Greenpeace International Director) closes the episode with a message of resilience. She reminds us that "unimaginable things can happen" when people organize, urging listeners to believe in the possibility of transformation even in dark times.16:18
