Program Description: How we relate to the land and its living creatures is literally a question of life and death in this age of alienation from the natural world. For those with a strong connection, says this deeply sensitive naturalist, "the passion that we feel is naturally translated to a politics of place--standing our ground in the places that we love." Environmental politics becomes a matter of sensual passion rather than political correctness in this rich, colorful mosaic of thoughts on wildness, landscape, animals and humans. It sparkles with gems of insight mined from Williams' own profound sense of belonging in nature, and includes the voice of the late Edward Abbey, maverick environmentalist and friend of Williams, in a short tape excerpt from the "New Dimensions" archives. (Hosted by Justine Willis Toms) 1 hour
Terry Tempest Williams is a renowned naturalist and author who marries a love for language with a passion for the environment. Utne magazine named Williams one of a 100 leading "visionaries." A native of Utah and a fifth-generation Mormon, Williams has authored over a dozen books, including Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place (Pantheon 1991) An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field (Vintage Books 1995), Red: Patience and Passion in the Desert (Vintage Books 2002), and The Open Space of Democracy (The Orion Society 2004). To learn more about the work of Terry Temptest Williams go to www.coyoteclan.com
Topics explored in this dialogue:
Our "unspoken hunger" for a connection to what is other
The paradox of both enjoying and empathizing with endangered wild places
Eight questions for world leaders to consider about the future
An answer to the "jobs vs. environment" question
The village in Mexico that is visited by 23 million Monarch butterflies
The success of the Greenbelt tree-planting project in Kenya
The bear as a mythological model for humans
What Edward Abbey had to say--in a rare tape excerpt of his own voice
How "poetics of place" becomes "politics of place" becomes "erotics of place"
