No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

251: Kim Stanley Robinson: A Novelist Imagines a Livable Future


Listen Later

Do you feel the weight of climate dread—and wonder whether hope is still intellectually honest?

Acclaimed science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson joins Lee C. Camp to name our shared fear about the future without surrendering to despair. Drawing from The Ministry for the Future, Robinson offers a sober, deeply hopeful vision of change, one rooted not in heroics or denial, but in ordinary people, communal action, and the slow work of making things better. Together they explore how science, faith, and moral imagination can help us live well, even in a warming world.


Key Ideas:

  • Hope Without Illusion Robinson shows how genuine hope can coexist with fear, grounding optimism in science, collective action, and moral resolve rather than denial.
  • Ordinary People Matter History often turns not on heroes or villains, but on everyday people, bureaucrats, scientists, neighbors, who do the right thing at critical moments.
  • Utopia as Process A better future isn’t a flawless destination, but a continual movement toward less suffering, greater justice, and deeper solidarity.
  • The Sacredness of the Biosphere Care for the planet is not just technical or political work, but a form of devotion rooted in humility, wonder, and reverence for life.
  • Community Over Individualism Human flourishing depends on shared systems, food, labor, science, and governance that remind us how deeply we rely on one another.

    ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

    Show Notes, Resources and Transcript⁠⁠ for abridged episode with Kim Stanley Robinson


    Thank you to our sponsors:

    Boll and Branch: Get 20% off plus free shipping by visiting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BollAndBranch.com/NSE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠


    ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join NSE+⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — our subscriber-only community — for ad-free listening, member-only bonus content, and early access to live show tickets. Your membership helps make No Small Endeavor sustainable.

    No Small Endeavor: An award-winning podcast that asks what it means to live a good life. Through conversations with leading thinkers across theology, philosophy, psychology, politics, and the social sciences, we explore human flourishing, meaning and purpose, faith and culture, science and religion, virtue and character, community, and the practices that help shape a good life grounded in truth, beauty, and goodness.

    Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@nosmallendeavor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

    Host Lee C. Camp: Lee has worked as a professor of theology & ethics for more than 25 years, teaching and writing on topics of faith & politics, inter-religious dialog, and human flourishing at the intersection of theology, moral philosophy, and social sciences. Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@leeccamp ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    No Small Endeavor with Lee C. CampBy Tokens Media

    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8

    4.8

    515 ratings


    More shows like No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

    View all
    The Russell Moore Show by Christianity Today, Russell Moore

    The Russell Moore Show

    1,131 Listeners

    Voxology by Mike Erre and Tim Stafford

    Voxology

    1,101 Listeners

    The Holy Post by Phil Vischer

    The Holy Post

    4,460 Listeners

    Theology in the Raw by Theology in the Raw

    Theology in the Raw

    1,496 Listeners

    The Bible For Normal People by Peter Enns and Jared Byas

    The Bible For Normal People

    3,295 Listeners

    Everything Happens with Kate Bowler by Everything Happens Studios

    Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

    5,140 Listeners

    Ask NT Wright Anything by Premier Unbelievable

    Ask NT Wright Anything

    2,064 Listeners

    Learning How to See with Brian McLaren by Center for Action and Contemplation

    Learning How to See with Brian McLaren

    802 Listeners

    Trinity Forum Conversations by The Trinity Forum

    Trinity Forum Conversations

    222 Listeners

    Good Faith by Good Faith

    Good Faith

    1,939 Listeners

    The Bulletin by Christianity Today

    The Bulletin

    581 Listeners

    Curiously Kaitlyn by Kaitlyn Schiess

    Curiously Kaitlyn

    852 Listeners

    The SkyePod by Skye Jethani

    The SkyePod

    141 Listeners

    The Esau McCaulley Podcast by Esau McCaulley

    The Esau McCaulley Podcast

    871 Listeners

    Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Christianity Today

    Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

    915 Listeners