Sentient Planet

This bonus episode, exclusive to Sentient Planet listeners, accompanies our Season 2 episode, "Living Through Fire with Danielle Celermajer."

Dany reads "The Face," a short chapter from Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future (Penguin Books Australia 2021). Her brave and unflinching account of animal sentience beseeches us to wake up and face up to the climate crisis and the torture and death it is already wreaking upon the Earth’s multitude of lifeforms.

We dedicate this reading to Katy, Dany's beloved pig, who perished in the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20.

This week's guest is the profound Australian author, Professor Danielle Celermajer. Dany is a philosopher, the director of the Multispecies Justice Project at the University of Sydney, and the author of Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future (Penguin Books Australia 2021).

Dany started writing Summertime in situ during the peak of the Black Summer Climate Fires that decimated Australia in 2019-20. Through her book, she attempts to honor the voices and emotions of the wild and domestic animals who experienced the Great Fires - beings, she says, who are just as terrified and bewildered by the changes occurring on Earth as we humans.

In our interview, Dany bravely relives what it was like to encounter the fires, which raged for months, as she unravels and beautifully articulates some of its most valuable lessons - especially the deep love many of us feel for who and what we are losing.

She begs us to see that animals are knowing individuals. And she helps us understand that human survival hinges on choosing the more difficult of two paths - the one in which we become fully responsible to the other species who live amongst us.

Be sure to listen to the related bonus episode. Dany reads a short chapter of Summertime exclusively for Sentient Planet listeners.

Calls to Action:

• Follow Dany's work by signing up for the Sydney Environment Institute's monthly newsletter.
• Support these Australian organizations, which are doing critical work on animal advocacy and climate change:
• Animals Australia
• Greenpeace Australia
• The Green Institute.
• Get involved in the worldwide movement to divest from the fossil fuel industry:
• Go Fossil Free
• Climate Council (Australia)
• Australia Institute
• Fossil Fuel Australia

Intro music: "The Spaces Between" by Scott Buckley.

Interstitial music: "Twilight" by Stellardrone.

On the topic of non-human animal sentience, Carl Safina is one of the most experienced observers and gifted communicators in the world.

The renowned ecologist turned bestselling author has penned 10 books about our human relationship to nature and her myriad species. For example, in Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace (Macmillion 2020), Carl offers a form of deep Earth journalism that brings readers up close to the rituals and activities of beings with whom we share the Earth but rarely personally encounter. His writing is breathtaking, instilling the kind of awe humans must rekindle if we are to halt further damage to our animal kin and the natural systems that support life on Earth.

In this interview, Carl shares some of the remarkable encounters he’s been privileged to experience, with elephants, sperm whales, chimpanzees and owls, as well as the beloved animals that began it all for him – seabirds. He warns us of the consequences of the mistakes we’re making, teaches us about the living beauty that persists, and calls us to moral action.

More: Carl is the first Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and founder of the not-for-profit Safina Center. He is the recipient of countless awards, including a 2021 Legacy Award from Defenders of Wildlife (USA) that recognizes his decades of advocating for the preservation of biodiversity. His writing about the living world has won a MacArthur “genius” prize, Pew, and Guggenheim Fellowships; book awards from Lannan, Orion, and the National Academies; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals.

Intro music: "The Spaces Between" by Scott Buckley.

Interstitial music: "Cosmic Sunrise" by Stellardrone.

Photo: The Safina Center.

This bonus episode, exclusive to Sentient Planet listeners, accompanies our Season 2 episode "The Long Road to Liberation with Jo-Anne McArthur."

Jo talks about the award-winning photo collection, "HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene," and she reads a short and ancient Buddhist prayer for the liberation of all animals, including we humans.

Photo courtesy Lisa MacIntosh/We Animals Media.

We're honored to launch Season 2 with this guest, the acclaimed animal photojournalist, author, humane educator and founder of We Animals Media, Jo-Anne McArthur.

Perhaps no human has done more to bring the suffering of our animal kin into the light. For more than 20 years, across more than 60 countries, Jo has documented the truth of what happens to billions of animals in some of the darkest places on the planet.

In this wide-ranging conversation, she describes We Animals' unfailing focus on the industries that perpetrate and perpetuate the most suffering, especially factory farms. She talks about the resilience required to continue her confronting work, how a new genre of "animal photojournalism" is inspiring the next generation of artist-advocates, and what each of us can do to create more just conditions for the domestic and wild species with whom we share the Earth.

Be sure to look for our bonus episode! Jo recites an ancient Buddhist prayer for the liberation of all beings, including we humans.

More: Jo's courageous lifework has won her numerous awards, including Nature Photographer of the Year 2020 for her iconic image of a kangaroo and her joey against the backdrop of a burnt eucalyptus forest - survivors of the Black Summer Climate Fires that ravaged Australia.

In addition, We Animals' urgent and unprecedented new photo collection, HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene, recently won Photography Book of the Year by Pictures of the Year International and the Gold Medal for Outstanding Book of the Year - Most Likely to Save the Planet by Independent Publisher. "Hidden" includes a foreword by the Academy Award-winning actor and animal rights activist, Joaquin Phoenix.

Calls to action:

• We're excited to partner with Jo to give one of our listeners a signed copy of "Hidden." Follow us on Instagram or Facebook and look for instructions on how you can win.
• Follow and support Jo and We Animals.
• If you're a student or educator, discover courses and resources in humane education here. (If you're in Canada, go here.)
• Reduce your consumption of animal products, or transition to a fully plant-based diet!
• Look for animal causes you can support in your local community.
• Consider supporting Sentient Planet on Patreon for just a few dollars a month.

Intro music: "The Spaces Between" by Scott Buckley.

Interstitial music: "Eternity" by Stellardrone.

Photo: Josee Van Wissen/We Animals Media.

In our last episode for Season 1, Amy Souers Kober, of American Rivers, talks about the rising global movement to restore free-flowing river ecosystems, upon which so much sentient life depends.

We discuss the benefits of removing the thousands of dams that still crisscross North America. Right now, there is a groundswell of support to breach four dams on the lower Snake River to save salmon and the Southern Resident Orca from extinction. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity, Amy says, one that requires immediate action and funding from the Biden Administration or U.S. Congress.

Call to Action: Join growing calls to breach the lower Snake River dams here.

Intro music: "The Spaces Between," by Scott Buckley.

Interstitial music: "Between the Rings," by Stellardrone.

Thank you for listening and supporting Sentient Planet and its message. See you next season!

How are koalas faring after the great climate fires that bore down on Australia in 2019-20? One of the best people to ask is Cate Faehrmann, Member of Parliament for the New South Wales Greens Party.

Also an environmental activist, Cate chaired a recent parliamentary inquiry into the status of koalas in New South Wales, where the population is quickly dwindling. In this episode, we get down to business to discuss exactly what the inquiry found and the failings of government to protect this iconic but fragile species from spiraling into extinction on our watch.

Calls to Action: Don't wait for government – bringing the koala back before it's too late depends on everyone who cares about animal existence on planet Earth.

1. Join Cate's crusade at saveourkoalas.org, where you take actions and get educated on the threats and what we must do to protect precious koala habitat.
2. Educate others! We can solve this.
3. Support Friends of the Koala and other dedicated volunteer organizations that care for sick and injured koalas.

More on the koala coming in Season 2 of Sentient Planet!

Intro music: "The Spaces Between" by Scott Buckley.

Interstitial music: "Heart" by Daniel Birch.

This week, we switch hemispheres and head Down Under for an out-of-the-ordinary conversation with the Australian indigenous writer, academic and traditional wood carver Tyson Yunkaporta.

Tyson reflects on the dominant global order behind our current crises and the havoc it's wreaking upon animals and all life. We're caught up in an unstoppable race, he argues. Will man-made economic systems or the planet's natural ones collapse first? And can we humans recover our rightful role as custodians of the Earth's sentient beings and all creation?

To explore even more deeply, you might want to pick up a copy of Tyson's paradigm-shifting book, "Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World," published by HarperOne, 2020.

Intro music: "The Spaces Between" by Scott Buckley.

Interstitial music: "Rendezvous with Rama" by Stellardrone.

Photo: James Henry.

For those who can't get enough of "podfather" Ken Balcomb – and those new to his lifetime of dedication to the Southern Resident Orca (SRO) – here's the additional interview we promised.

Listen to Ken describe the staggering natural beauty that drew him to North America's Pacific Northwest, his first orca sighting 45 years ago, and what it's been like to encounter and document these amazing yet highly threatened sentient beings.

Ken also shares his thoughts on the continuing threats to the SROs existence and why removing dams and restoring river ecosystems are essential to their future, as well as our own.

To learn more, listen to our prior podcast, "Podfather: One Man's Journey to Save the Southern Resident Orca" and visit Ken's organization, the Center for Whale Research.

Call to Action: Support the growing movement to breach the four Lower Snake River dams, save the salmon and feed the orca on the Dam Sense and American Rivers websites.

Intro music: "The Spaces Between" by Scott Buckley.

Interstitial music: "Red Giant" by Stellardrone.

Photo: Susan Woodward.

This week, we step back from the Southern Resident Orca to discover more about their watery home through the eyes of a mapmaker.

Stefan Freelan is the cartographer from Western Washington University who created the Salish Sea & Surrounding Basin map, aiding a decades-long campaign to bring an official name (and purpose) to an entire ecosystem.

To download a free copy of his beautiful (two-sided!) Salish Sea map, visit Stefan's website here.

Call to Action: If you haven't already, please consider signing the petition for Legal Rights for the Salish Sea.

Intro music: "The Spaces Between" by Scott Buckley.

Interstitial music: "Odyssey" by One Man Symphony.

Coastal audio: BBC Sounds.