Imagine being able to consume 250,000 calories daily without gaining weight. If you had the metabolism of a shrew you could. And while most of us can't hold our breath for more than a few minutes, the Weddell seal can remain underwater for a full 75 minutes! Learn how humans and other creatures have evolved to gauge their need for food, water and oxygen; regulate body temperature and respond to stressful situations.
With every living system on Earth in danger, is it possible to create profitable businesses that do not destroy the natural world around us? Paul Hawken says not only are business and government reasonable agents for such change, but the only vehicles that can make this happen.
Ray Kurzweil is the inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era, an international authority on artificial intelligence, and one of our greatest living visionaries. Now he offers a framework for envisioning the twenty-first century--an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. Kurzweil's prophetic blueprint for the future takes us through the advances that inexorably result in computers exceeding the memory capacity and computational ability of the human brain by the year 2020 (with human-level capabilities not far behind); in relationships with automated personalities who will be our teachers, companions, and lovers; and in information fed straight into our brains along direct neural pathways. Optimistic and challenging, thought-provoking and engaging, The Age of Spiritual Machines is the ultimate guide on our road into the next century.
To what extent is the global economy destroying the environment that supports us all? Listen as activist Jerry Mander and Swedish philosopher Helena Norberg-Hodge provide detail on the realities of global commerce, and how to counter its hold on our society.
The love of the environment expressed by John Muir has enriched us all. Listen as Sierra Club activist David Orr, Fredrick Turner, and others talk about the importance of Muir's idea that respect for living systems comes before human interests.
'Indigenous people have a powerful remembering for us, because they pull us right back to the land, out of our disembodied heads. They make us sit on the ground, get our feet dirty again, dance in time to the rhythm of the Earth. We need to take this back to our own world. Our task is not to grab knowledge like some kind of trophy, but to bring wisdom back into our hearts and minds and our own lives.' These are the words of Diana James, an Australian anthropologist.
How can we stop the pattern of destroying our environment? This program with Edward O. Wilson, Joanna Macy, and others describes how to restore our wonder and connection with the natural world in order to live gracefully on this planet.
Perhaps the most powerful and significant aspect of Deep Ecology is the way it cultivates humility and reverence for the great mystery of life. Listen as Winona Laduke, Ed Mcgaa/Eagle Man and others explore the right relationship between humans and the rest of nature.
One of the major strains on our environment is population growth, and the need for more and more people to be provided for. Listen as Paul Ehrlich, author of the 1968 classic, The Population Bomb, talks about what has gotten better, what is worse, and what to do now.
Listen as environmental activists Dave Forman, Julia “Butterfly” Hill, and others share their experiences of being on the front lines of the battle to preserve old-growth redwoods and other endangered species, along with solid reasons for their passionate involvement in this struggle.
Deep Ecologist George Sessions describes the need for our culture to awaken out of the superficial assumption that nature is for our pleasure and consumption, to honor the inherent value and rights of other species, and to take responsibility not to abuse our power for selfish ends.
How much do we know about the natural bioregion in which we live, and why does it matter? Listen to Jeanne and Dick Roy, Jerry Mander and others as they talk about the challenge of waking up to the realities of the place where we live, to more fully appreciate the world that keeps us alive.
