New Frontiers

Rainn Wilson: Acting Up for Climate Change


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In today’s episode, I’m thrilled to welcome the gloriously talented and deep-thinking Rainn Wilson. 


Best known for his iconic portrayal of Dwight Schrute in 'The Office', a role that earned him three Emmy nominations, Rainn's journey has extended far beyond the screen.


He has gone on to co-found Climate Basecamp, a platform to educate people on climate change, where some of the unique things he has done include:


Handing out bottles of water from an iceberg at COP26, offering ‘limited edition’ ice-creams with ingredients that could go extinct, and filming ‘An Idiot’s Guide to Climate Change’.


And then there’s his book… Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.


Obviously as an Englishman, I don’t often talk about spirituality, so this episode takes me into rarely charted territory. We also discuss his journey from acting to activism, and the power of storytelling in inspiring change.


It was a wonderful conversation, and I hope you enjoy it too.


Chapters


00:00 From Dwight Schrute to Climate Change 


05:27 Influence of Role Models 


09:03 Importance of Father Figures


13:25 Spirituality and the Soul 


17:56 Connection to Antarctica 


25:20 Becoming a Dad


30:45 Balancing Greed and Ambition


35:38 Dealing with Climate Anxiety 


38:52 Comedy and Climate Change 


41:34 Alienating Audiences 


43:42 Transferable lessons from Acting 


46:15 Redefining Success 


48:28 Key Takeaways 


49:49 Why Rainn did the Podcast 


Final Note: 


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New FrontiersBy Ben Saunders