The story of Earth's life intertwines with humanity's journey and the beating human heart, central to our planet's well-being. Restoring harmony to nature is a complex task, potentially requiring a new aspect of ourselves, already inherent but dormant. We excel at gathering facts, translating reason into action, and tracing our path to this urgent moment. Whether for an individual organism or a web of life, well-being requires harmony. Harmonizing diverse perspectives differs from problem-solving or fact-finding; it asks that we synthesize our knowledge, imagination, and experience to uncover the innate sense within us that knows how to bring harmony forward. This sense may be waiting to be cultivated and fine-tuned into a skill to be brought alongside thinking, reasoning, and a capacity for action, for the possibility of a grand discovery.

This episode’s guests embody diverse approaches: loudspeaker advocacy, boots-on-the ground community collaboration, the power of journalism and the written word, the dissolving of boundaries through contemplative practice, and the authority of scientific evidence. Together, they create a mosaic that shines light on the human impact, draws us closer to nature, celebrates the power and joy of community, and values the inspirations that fuel our endeavors. Earthalujah!

Guests

Alan Weisman has reported from more than 60 countries and all seven continents for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Harper's, The New York Review of Books, Orion, Salon, Vanity Fair, and NPR, among many others. His last book, Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His international bestseller The World Without Us, now in 35 languages, was named Best Nonfiction Book of 2007 by Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, winner of the National Library of China’s Wenjin Book Prize, and one of the 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years by Slate in 2019.

His next, Hope Dies Last, portrays the audacious efforts of visionaries across the world, determined to find us a workable future despite daunting odds in this make-or-break century. Coming in early 2025 from Dutton/Penguin Random House and in several foreign editions, it chronicles their resolve to feed and energize our civilization without overwhelming the natural environment crucial to our own survival.

The character of Reverend Billy was developed in the mid 1990s by actor and playwright, William Talen. In the early 1990s in New York City he branded his act as a “new kind of American preacher”. Reverend Billy’s sermons decre the evils of consumerism, the racism of sweatshop labor, and the injustices that affect the earth and contribute to the current climate crisis. Along with the Church of Stop Shopping which later became Earthaljuah, Billy and his choir have been referred to by academics as “performance activism,” “carnivalesque protest,” and “artivists.”

Brad Lancaster is a teacher, community developer and designer of regenerative systems that sustainably enhance local resources and our global potential. He is the author of the award-winning, best-selling book series Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond. Brad has taught throughout North America as well as in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia. Brad lives on an oasis-like demonstration site he created with his brother's family in downtown Tucson, Arizona. On this eighth of an acre and surrounding public right-of-way, they harvest 100,000 gallons of rainwater a year where just 11 inches per year fall from the sky.

On this episode Knowing host Wendy Tremayne announced the release of her book, The Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living (Hachette 2014 print) as an audiobook. Find it where you listen to audiobooks.

Listen to the full versions of songs from host Rob Stroup's new release under the name Kick Stand Up.