Sustainability, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Politics, Activism, Biodiversity, Carbon Footprint, Wildlife, Regenerative The Creative Process

“We know we're facing the extermination of life on the planet. And we've not stopped doing it. Why can't we fix it? I don't really sense, except among a certain level of educated elites in the West, a really deep understanding of our commitment to economic prosperity as a superordinate value. Climate change restrictions so that we can have an end to the catastrophic effects of climate change don't often take into account inequalities it would require for the third world when the livelihood of so many of their citizens depend on the only energy resource they have. And I'm speaking to you now from upstate New York where we have a country home, a farm with 50 acres. We're very much in nature all around us. I had always been an urbanite. Kant said our ability to appreciate beauty means that we are not merely sensible creatures of pleasure. We don't treat the beauty of nature as something we want to own to amuse ourselves. The beauty of nature is an indication of a kind of purposiveness in nature that fits us at a level beyond our mere senses. Something about the significance of the beautiful in nature reassures us that we have a higher vocation than mere entertainment and enjoyment. Some solemnity, sublimity, in our ability to appreciate the beauty of nature is encouraging about our species.”

“I wrote a book, Ecological Intelligence, on how the environment and human psychology interact in a rather sad way, which is this: Everything that we buy and use has a negative impact on the systems that support life on this planet. That’s a sad fact. Our material world is destroying our natural material world, and we deny it. But I have a strategy, which I'm putting forward everywhere I can. I don't think we're going to change the system of capitalism, at least not in time to save the planet. So the question is: Can we use economic incentives? Can we use the leverage in our economic system for better rather than worse ends? What I argue is that younger people will see the impacts on the planet of what they buy and use as an imperative—not as something they don't want to think about, but as an essential. If that's the case, then a smart business strategy in the next 10 or 20 years would be to apply a believable, objective assessment methodology, like Life Cycle Assessment, to products and services in order to show that we are lessening their negative impact.”

How can we enhance our emotional intelligence and avoid burnout in a changing world? How can we regain focus and perform in an optimal state? What do we mean by ecological intelligence?

Daniel Goleman is an American psychologist, author, and science journalist. Before becoming an author, Goleman was a science reporter for the New York Times for 12 years, covering psychology and the human brain. In 1995, Goleman published Emotional Intelligence, a New York Times bestseller. In his newly published book Optimal, Daniel Goleman discusses how people can enter an optimal state of high performance without facing symptoms of burnout in the workplace.

“Some travel writers have shared a sense of responsibility in creating narratives around travel in relation to the climate crisis. But at the same time, I think we also need to first, raise critical awareness around the media productions that glamorize travel. What I learned from the feminist framework in climate justice is that climate change affects societies in uneven ways. So we also need to raise questions around the wealthy countries that take advantage of cheap labor or relocate production and emission in the Global South, and then they blame people in the Global South for being the contributors of the climate crisis. We really need to ask questions around the structures of people in power rather than focusing on individual responsibility. Whenever I encounter beauty, it's immediately disrupted. For instance, whenever I go to Bali, going to the beach and looking at the sunset, I'm reminded of the structures of global inequalities that make tourism possible. It's the same here in Sydney where I'm reminded this is a settler colonial country. But maybe it's important to appreciate the beauty of nature around you, but then be constantly disrupted by all these thoughts and questions.”

Environmentalists, writers, artists, activists, and public policy makers explore the interconnectedness of living beings and ecosystems. They highlight the importance of conservation, promote climate education, advocate for sustainable development, and underscore the vital role of creative and educational communities in driving positive change.

"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."