EcoJustice Radio

In this episode, we welcome back architect Carl Welty to discuss fire-resistant construction and alternative materials. With the increasing threat of wildfires, Carl shares his insights on regenerative design and the importance of working with nature to create resilient communities. Join us for an enlightening conversation on how we can rethink architecture to better protect our homes and environment.

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Carl discusses the principles of passive solar design, which prioritize energy efficiency and thermal comfort without relying on mechanical systems. The conversation also addresses the current building codes and their evolution in response to recent wildfires. Carl highlights the significance of fire-resistant construction and the materials that can be utilized to enhance safety. He encourages listeners to consider alternative materials, such as steel framing, which offers advantages over traditional wood in terms of durability and fire resistance.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

Check out our interview with Carl Welty from 2023: https://wilderutopia.com/ecojustice-radio/designing-architecture-and-landscapes-with-natures-ecological-wisdom/

Resources:

Modern homes generate 200x more smoke and burn 8x faster than 50 years ago:

https://www.ctif.org/news/200-times-more-smoke-and-8-times-faster-burning-rate-50-years-ago#:~:text=Kissner%20said%20today's%20house%20fires,has%20less%20than%20two%20minutes.

See an additional article that explains why modern homes burn down faster:

https://fsri.org/research/new-comparison-natural-and-synthetic-home-furnishings

“Wood Is Not the Climate-friendly Building Material Some Claim it to Be”

https://www.wri.org/insights/mass-timber-wood-construction-climate-change#:~:text=2)%20Harvesting%20wood%20is%20not,of%20using%20wood%20for%20construction.

Old Growth Wood: Old vs. New Growth Trees

https://brenthull.com/article/old-growth-wood

Logging study reveals huge hidden emissions of the forestry industry

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2215913-logging-study-reveals-huge-hidden-emissions-of-the-forestry-industry/

Trees make Rain – there is Science now to Prove It!

https://www.learningfromnature.com.au/drought-proof-increasing-rainfall/

Carl Welty. Ecological Architect and Principal of Carl Welty Architects [https://carlweltyarchitects.com/]. has over 35 years of experience in the field of architecture and is based in Southern California. Carl's experience includes projects with difficult sites and complex structural requirements; a passive solar house that is Certified LEED Platinum; a Water Education campus that embodies important and timely water issues. He designs buildings that are twice as energy-efficient as typical green buildings by incorporating simple, time-tested, climate-appropriate design principles.

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes a column on PBS SoCal called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

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Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 250

Photo credit: Carl Welty Architects-Wild Heritage Partners

As we head into times where rising temperatures, superstorms, and mega-fires dominate the headlines, what has happened to our disaster-averting solutions? In this episode, we explore 'The Carbon Conundrum' and rethink our relationship with nature.

Join host Jack Eidt as he features a discussion with post-humanist philosopher Báyò Akómoláfé and environmental leader and author Paul Hawken, moderated by Alex Forrester, Board Member of the Schumacher Center for a New Economics and Co-Founder of Rising Tide capital. They delve into the failures of current climate strategies, the pitfalls of solutionism, and the importance of reconnecting with Traditional Ecological Knowledge. This enlightening conversation challenges listeners to reconsider their approaches to environmentalism and climate action.

Support the Podcast via PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url

Paul Hawken [https://paulhawken.com/] starts ecological businesses, writes about nature and commerce. He has written nine books, including six national and NYT bestsellers: ‘Growing a Business’, ‘The Next Economy’, ‘The Ecology of Commerce’, ‘Blessed Unrest’, ‘Drawdown’, and ‘Regeneration’. His latest book, ‘Carbon, The Book of Life’, is available from Penguin RandomHouse in February 2025.

Paul is the founder of Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration (https://regeneration.org/), which is the world’s largest, most complete listing and network of solutions to the climate crisis.

Báyò Akómoláfé Ph.D., [https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/] rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is a posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak. Bayo Akomolafe is the visionary founder of The Emergence Network, a planet-wide networking project and inquiry at the edges of the Anthropocene that seeks to convene new kinds of responsivities, sensuous solidarities, and experimental practices for a posthumanist parapolitics. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California. He sits on the Board of many organizations.

A frequent keynote speaker and guest lecturer, Dr. Akomolafe’s critically popular expression, “the times are urgent, let us slow down,” with which he attempts to frame new concepts (such as ontofugitivity, the Afrocene, iatropolitics, curapoiesis, white syncopation, ecocognitive assemblage theory, postactivism and parapolitics) that reframe and renaturalize human action, agency, and responsibility in an immanent, agonistic worlding of possibilities for life-death.

Dr. Akomolafe is a Member of the Club of Rome and an Ambassador for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. He is currently writing his third book, ‘An Ocean of Milk: Morality, Desire, and the Monster at the Edge of the World’.

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes a column on PBS SoCal called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url

Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 249

Photo credit: Carbon book cover

We pay tribute to the late Mike Davis to explore the ongoing ecological crises facing Southern California and the socio-political dynamics that shape our responses to disaster. This is an intellectual tour de force as Davis goes deep in this recording from 1995 at the architectural school SCI-Arc, where he taught at the time. He outlines the history of damage caused by natural disasters in Southern California. Popular culture seems fascinated with the destruction of Los Angeles, and most recent events have breathed life into that narrative.

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Davis discusses the complexity of California’s Mediterranean climate, arguing for a new “environmental epistemology.” He calls for a rethinking of California’s resource and disaster planning. Noting the extreme hydroclimatic shifts throughout California history, he suggests a disruption of capitalist hydraulic civilization in California is inevitable–and here we are. We are in serious need of an environmental rethink in any rebuilding–or rewilding–plans.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

More Mike Davis: https://wilderutopia.com/ecojustice-radio/tribute-to-the-late-urban-history-provocateur-mike-davis/

Sources:

Full show of Mike Davis 1995 Presentation from SCI-Arc https://youtu.be/evJpgKQ6YWU?si=oPJ_rzpI-45oIHys

Mike Davis, who passed away in 2022, was a writer and urban theorist who is most known for his work demythologizing the fractured wild-urban landscape of Southern California. Once a meat cutter and a truck driver, he was Professor Emeritus at University of California, Riverside, a Macarthur Fellow, and the author of more than 20 books. He is best known for his investigations of power and social class in works such as City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (1990) and Late Victorian Holocausts (2001). In this show we focus on his book, “The Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster.”

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes a column on PBS SoCal called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url

Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 247

Photo credit: Ecology of Fear cover

In this episode, we delve into the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, examining the underlying causes and the lessons we can learn. Economics Professor Richard Wolff critiques the blame game often played by political figures and industries, emphasizing instead the systemic issues rooted in profit-driven motives. We explore the impact of climate change and the urgent need for systemic change to prioritize safety over profit. Additionally, we gain insights from Dr. Michael Mann on the scientific community's understanding of climate change's role in exacerbating such disasters. The episode also touches on Lakota spirituality with David Little Elk, offering a unique perspective on humanity's connection to the elements and the importance of respecting nature.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

Sources:

Wolff Responds: "The Lesson California's Fires Should Teach Us" Dated January 15, 2025 from Democracy at Work

https://x.com/profwolff/status/1879582067283132509

Michael Mann on SiriusXM with Zerlina Maxwell Discussing California Wildfires (JAN 13 2025)

https://youtu.be/bH4bWFON--Y?si=u0avZazGFoqFaU2x

David Little Elk Lakota Spirituality Fire People

https://youtu.be/n6bCO6_g7LM?si=ggho-tLq4Hp0dRhA

Richard D. Wolff [https://www.rdwolff.com/] is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. Prof Wolff is the co-founder of Democracy at Work [https://www.democracyatwork.info/] and host of their nationally syndicated show Economic Update.

Dr. Michael E. Mann [https://michaelmann.net/] is Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. He also serves as Vice Provost for Climate Science, Policy, and Action and Director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media (PCSSM).

David Little Elk, [https://wolakota7.com/] an Itazipco-Sicangu Lakota Sioux, is a Lakota Language and Spirituality Teacher, and a Spiritual Advisor and Consultant.

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes a column on PBS SoCal called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url

Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 246

Photo credit: Josh Field via Pexels

In this episode, host Jack Eidt discusses the ongoing wildfire crisis in Los Angeles and strategies for resilience with experts Richard Halsey and Lydia Poncé. We also include a clip on the climatic influence from Dr. Daniel Swain from UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.

Support the Podcast: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url

Richard Halsey, director of the California Chaparral Institute [https://californiachaparral.org/index.html], shares insights on protecting communities by hardening homes instead of destroying natural habitats. Indigenous activist Lydia Poncé emphasizes community resilience and mutual aid in response to the devastation. The episode explores the impact of climate change, poor urban planning, and the need for sustainable development.

We delve into the socio-political dynamics affecting relief efforts and the role of big corporations in the aftermath. Join us as we explore how to rebuild with compassion and foresight, as well as a comprehensive look at wildfire resilience and the role of Indigenous stewardship in preserving our ecosystems.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

Resources

California Chaparral Institute Statement on the Fires: https://chaparralwisdom.org/2025/01/10/how-to-respond-to-the-recent-wildfires/?utm_source_platform=mailpoet

Full interview with Richard Halsey: https://wilderutopia.com/ecojustice-radio/chaparral-californias-misunderstood-biodiversity-hotspot/

Advocacy: https://wilderutopia.com/environment/confronting-wildfire-retrofit-communities-not-forests/

Lever News Discussion on Preventing Wildfires, including quotes from Jack Eidt: https://www.levernews.com/the-architects-of-l-a-s-wildfire-devastation/

Richard Halsey is the Director of the California Chaparral Institute, a non-profit, research and educational organization dedicated to the preservation of California's native chaparral ecosystem and supporting the creative spirit as inspired by Nature. Mr. Halsey works with the San Diego Museum of Natural History and teaches natural history throughout the state. The second edition of his book, Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California, was published in 2008.

Lydia Poncé (Mayo/Quechua) is an Indigenous Activist, Water Protector, co-founder of Idle No More SoCal. She hosts a show called Be a Better Relative on KPFK Los Angeles.

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes a column on PBS SoCal called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://wilderutopia.com/ecojustice-radio/rising-from-the-ashes-wildfire-resilience-for-los-angeles-and-beyond/

Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

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Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Co-Host Jessica Aldridge

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 245

In this episode, host Carry Kim welcomes back Didi Pershouse [https://didipershouse.substack.com/], an esteemed Author, teacher, and Founder of Land and Leadership Initiative, to discuss the ecology of care, the global financialization of Nature, and the essential choice between sterility and fertility for planetary health.

Nature is being financialized on our watch; water futures can now be traded as a commodity and Natural Asset Companies may eventually become an asset class on the NY Stock Exchange which would promote speculation and trading of the value of ecosystem “services” in forests, farms and other lands. Carbon offsets and compensation programs can be unethical, ineffective and driven by profit motives under the guise of saving and protecting Nature.

While the times appear bleak, an undercurrent of regeneration and burgeoning local movements to restore fertility upon the Earth continue to emerge. Through harnessing our collective will, collaboration and community building, we can restore our sacred interdependence with all life and regenerate the soil, water cycle, our food systems and ourselves. Before us lies a golden opportunity for change from the roots up. International educator Didi Pershouse joins us today to ponder how we might honor fertility over sterility, cultivate an enduring commons of care and dream of the great possibilities before us.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

Our 2022 Interview with Didi: https://wilderutopia.com/ecojustice-radio/solving-the-climate-crisis-through-global-soil-health-with-didi-pershouse/

RESOURCES

"The Wisdom Underground" podcast, and Didi's articles on Substack- https://didipershouse.substack.com/

Courses, Community, and Resources: The Land & Leadership Initiative - http://www.landandleadership.org/

Free Downloadable Manual: Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function - https://www.didipershouse.com/understanding-soil-health-and-watershed-function.html

Book: The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities - https://www.amazon.com/Ecology-Care-Agriculture-Microbial-Communities/dp/069261303X

Didi Pershouse is the founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative and the Author of two books. The first is The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities. Her second is Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function. An internationally known writer and teacher, her focus is on the foundational role of soil structure and function--or the Soil Sponge – as the best way to provide abundant water and food for all life, while establishing resilience to flooding, drought, heatwaves, and wildfires. She also teaches how we can work with land management to regulate the climate through both the water cycle and carbon cycle, collaborating with the biological workforce of plants, animals, insects, fungi, and microbes.

You can find her writing and interviews on The Wisdom Underground on Substack [https://didipershouse.substack.com/].

Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, Indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

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Executive Producer and Intro: Jack Eidt

Hosted by Carry Kim

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 244

When Joanna Macy speaks, the world listens. At 95, this eco-philosopher, author, and Buddhist scholar continues to inspire and guide those yearning for a sustainable future. We present an episode of EcoJustice Radio that celebrates Macys life and work, particularly her concept of The Great Turning.

We delve into Joanna's groundbreaking work, "The Great Turning," examining the transformative journey from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization. With excerpts from a 2002 talk and a 2018 interview, Macy's insights on activism, spirituality, and deep ecology offer a beacon of hope and a call to action for a better world. Tune in to be inspired by Joanna Macy's vision for a sustainable future and her unwavering commitment to peace, justice, and environmentalism.

More Info:

Joanna Macy and the Great Turning Talk in British Columbia 2002 https://youtu.be/ZB6YcL0vy74?si=cJgf_YC_NimYH1Bf

Joanna Macy 2018 interview: https://wilderutopia.com/landscape/spiritual/ecojustice-radio-joanna-macy-and-the-great-turning-episode-10/

Joanna Macy is the Founder of the Work That Reconnects, a groundbreaking framework and methodology for personal and social change. She is an international spokesperson for anti-nuclear causes, peace, justice, and environmentalism, most renowned for her book, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World and the Great Turning initiative, which deals with the transformation from, as she terms it, an industrial growth society to what she considers to be a more sustainable civilization. She has created a theoretical framework for personal and social change, and a workshop methodology for its application. Her work addresses psychological and spiritual issues, Buddhist thought, and contemporary science, and helps people transform despair and apathy into constructive, collaborative action. Learn more at: https://www.joannamacy.net/main

The Work That Reconnects sees the world reality told in three stories: Business As Usual, the Great Unraveling, and the Great Turning. The third story, the Great Turning is the epochal transition from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization.

More information: https://workthatreconnects.org/

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, Indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url

Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

2018 Interview by Carry Kim from EcoJustice Radio.

Engineer: JP Morris

Executive Producer: Mark Morris

Interview Music: Javier Kadry

Episode 219

Photo credit: Joanna Macy

In this festive episode, we celebrate the holiday spirit with classic literary readings from Dylan Thomas and Charles Dickens. Experience the magic of Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales," a nostalgic and whimsical reflection on Christmas past, and dive into Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," a timeless tale of redemption and social critique. Join host Jack Eidt as we journey through these beloved works, capturing the essence of Christmases past and the hope for future celebrations.

We include clips from

Dylan Thomas: A Child's Christmas In Wales: https://youtu.be/zFSs2IdDmuU

Recorded Feb 1952 in Steinway Hall in New York City

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas: https://youtu.be/vT3skWqpUMA?si=12kYQhqExUsN8rsx

Author: Charles Dickens, This was produced by the Mormon Channel, Created in 2015.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

Thanks to Janet Sager Knott for the recommendation on the tradition behind Dylan Thomas' Christmas reading.

Dylan Marlais Thomas (1914 - 1953) was a popular poet writing in English, and from Swansea, Wales. He is famous for his acutely lyrical and emotional poetry, as well as his turbulent personal life. The originality of his work makes categorization difficult. His works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" Under Milk Wood. He also wrote stories and radio broadcasts such as the piece we share today, A Child's Christmas in Wales, as well as Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.

Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His notable works include the piece we excerpt today, "A Christmas Carol," as well as "Oliver Twist," and "Great Expectations," all still quite popular today.

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes a column on PBS SoCal called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=LBGXTRM292TFC&source=url

Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 243

Photo credit: Prawny from Pixabay

Celebrate the solstice with a story that intertwines the magic of the Nutcracker with the urgency of world peace and environmental and climate action. Jack Eidt reads from his short story ‘Nutcracker and the Shapeshifter,’ a re-imagined classic that dances to the tune of environmental and social justice. Featuring a blend of fantastical characters and real-world issues, this episode of EcoJustice Radio is a call to action, wrapped in the wonder of a holiday tale, set to the enchanting music of Tchaikovsky’s ballet. Enjoy this tale of rebellion, peace, and the power of the natural world.

Based on The Nutcracker, a two-act ballet, with an 1892 score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The ballet libretto was adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Here we present Jack’s own pro-peace-environmental re-imagining of that story, called The Nutcracker and the Shape Shifter, published in 2022 in the Fifth Fedora Anthology of Weird Noir and Stranger Tales, Published by Borda Books. We also feature excerpts of Tchaikovsky's ballet, the Nutcracker, Opus 71, recorded by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, featuring Boys' Choirs Rijnmond, Rivierenland and Waterland conducted by Arie Hoek [https://youtu.be/tk5Uturacx8?si=TIKVwp0zz_7R_zaH].

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes a column on PBS SoCal called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

Podcast Website: http://ecojusticeradio.org/

Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

Support the Podcast: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

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Story by Jack Eidt

Background Music: The Nutcracker, Opus 71, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Performance by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin, featuring Boys' Choirs Rijnmond, Rivierenland and Waterland conducted by Arie Hoek

Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 201

Photo: Jack Eidt

Join host Carry Kim as she welcomes Neil Douglas-Klotz, a distinguished writer, researcher, and musician, to explore the untamed landscape of spirituality and its ancient roots. In this episode, Neil shares insights into how Western society has evolved through the cultural and spiritual extraction from the East, particularly focusing on the indigenous spirituality of the Middle East. Discover the profound impact of mistranslations in religious texts and the importance of reclaiming our spiritual heritage. Neil delves into the rich traditions of Southwest Asia, offering a fresh perspective on the teachings of Jesus, the importance of reconnecting with nature, and the wisdom of ancient nomadic cultures. This episode promises to challenge conventional beliefs and inspire a deeper understanding of spirituality in our modern world.

For the past two thousand years, the West has extracted, refined and harnessed the spiritual resources of the Middle East to create and fuel modern culture. “Organized religion” is a relatively new innovation in human affairs, perhaps only two or three thousand years old. For at least ten or twenty times as long, humans participated in a more open-ended, nomadic spirituality — one that embraced healing, ritual, art, poetry, drama, dance and chant to make sense of their existence. Unwilling to look at its own Western religious roots in terms of an indigenous spirituality, Western culture has denied both body and the Earth. Whether we’re aware of it or not, we are all influenced by Western culture’s distorted version of Middle Eastern cosmology, psychology and spirituality.

In this episode, Neil Douglas Klotz joins us to reclaim the wild landscape of spirituality, and the original interdependent existence of our inheritance where all life is sacred. He invites us to embrace unity through diversity as a way forward for humanity.

For an extended interview and other benefits, become an EcoJustice Radio patron at https://www.patreon.com/ecojusticeradio

LINKS

Neil Douglas-Klotz, Ph.D. [https://abwoon.org] is a renowned writer, researcher, teacher, and musician in the fields of Middle Eastern spirituality and the translation and interpretation of the ancient Semitic languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. Living in Scotland, he was for many years the co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion. A frequent speaker and workshop leader, he is the author of several books on the Aramaic spirituality of Jesus including Prayers of the Cosmos and Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus, as well as books on Native Middle Eastern spirituality and Sufism.

Carry Kim, Co-Host of EcoJustice Radio. An advocate for ecosystem restoration, Indigenous lifeways, and a new humanity born of connection and compassion, she is a long-time volunteer for SoCal350, member of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and a co-founder of the Soil Sponge Collective, a grassroots community organization dedicated to big and small scale regeneration of Mother Earth.

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Executive Producer and Intro: Jack Eidt

Hosted by Carry Kim

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 240