Education, The Creative Process: Educators, Writers, Artists, Activists Talk Teachers, Schools & Creativity

“I'm so happy for young people because I think the era of having to memorize things is going to go by the wayside. I think we're going to turn into a very creative period where education becomes creative, rather than jumping through the hoops and remembering things. I'm really excited for anybody who's entering there. I was my first generation going to college. There was one that stands out by miles—a teacher I had in elementary school when I was eight. He was from Jamaica and just arrived in England. He was a jazz musician. He would start off the day playing jazz. He taught math as well, but he brought in a technique, which I still use to this day, to multiply numbers together. I've never seen it taught anywhere, it was done in some kind of slanted table. We'd done multiplication the previous year and I couldn't understand it, but he drew these tables and I thought this was just remarkable. That set me off and it showed me there was this interesting thing called jazz, and you don't have to do much to actually change a lot. Passing on some idea that might be unusual, as long as you can back it up, can have a really positive benefit going forward for future generations.” How can physics help solve messy, real world problems? How can we embrace the possibilities of AI while limiting existential risk and abuse by bad actors? Neil Johnson is a physics professor at George Washington University. His new initiative in Complexity and Data Science at the Dynamic Online Networks Lab combines cross-disciplinary fundamental research with data science to attack complex real-world problems. His research interests lie in the broad area of Complex Systems and ‘many-body’ out-of-equilibrium systems of collections of objects, ranging from crowds of particles to crowds of people and from environments as distinct as quantum information processing in nanostructures to the online world of collective behavior on social media. https://physics.columbian.gwu.edu/neil-johnson https://donlab.columbian.gwu.edu www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How can physics help solve messy, real world problems? How can we embrace the possibilities of AI while limiting existential risk and abuse by bad actors? Neil Johnson is a physics professor at George Washington University. His new initiative in Complexity and Data Science at the Dynamic Online Networks Lab combines cross-disciplinary fundamental research with data science to attack complex real-world problems. His research interests lie in the broad area of Complex Systems and ‘many-body’ out-of-equilibrium systems of collections of objects, ranging from crowds of particles to crowds of people and from environments as distinct as quantum information processing in nanostructures to the online world of collective behavior on social media. “I'm so happy for young people because I think the era of having to memorize things is going to go by the wayside. I think we're going to turn into a very creative period where education becomes creative, rather than jumping through the hoops and remembering things. I'm really excited for anybody who's entering there. I was my first generation going to college. There was one that stands out by miles—a teacher I had in elementary school when I was eight. He was from Jamaica and just arrived in England. He was a jazz musician. He would start off the day playing jazz. He taught math as well, but he brought in a technique, which I still use to this day, to multiply numbers together. I've never seen it taught anywhere, it was done in some kind of slanted table. We'd done multiplication the previous year and I couldn't understand it, but he drew these tables and I thought this was just remarkable. That set me off and it showed me there was this interesting thing called jazz, and you don't have to do much to actually change a lot. Passing on some idea that might be unusual, as long as you can back it up, can have a really positive benefit going forward for future generations.” https://physics.columbian.gwu.edu/neil-johnsonhttps://donlab.columbian.gwu.edu www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“We actually do need these animals on the landscape, and we're going to protect them and restore them and help their populations increase. And so, to me, beavers are proof that what we're doing as conservationists is not futile, right? That there really is reason for hope and optimism, which beavers demonstrate. I think that's a really important lesson for young people to hear is that you're not just entering this world of eco-anxiety and climate change and depression. There are some really hopeful wildlife stories out there, and you can be part of that future.” Ben Goldfarb is a conservation journalist. He is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet, named one of the best books of 2023 by the New York Times, and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. www.bengoldfarb.com https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324005896 www.chelseagreen.com/product/eager-paperback www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Every year, humanity's footprint casts a deadly shadow over our skies and landscapes, claiming the lives of billions of birds and other wildlife. What is road ecology? How are our roads driving certain species towards extinction? And what can we do about it? Ben Goldfarb is a conservation journalist. He is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet, named one of the best books of 2023 by the New York Times, and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. “We actually do need these animals on the landscape, and we're going to protect them and restore them and help their populations increase. And so, to me, beavers are proof that what we're doing as conservationists is not futile, right? That there really is reason for hope and optimism, which beavers demonstrate. I think that's a really important lesson for young people to hear is that you're not just entering this world of eco-anxiety and climate change and depression. There are some really hopeful wildlife stories out there, and you can be part of that future.” www.bengoldfarb.com https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324005896 www.chelseagreen.com/product/eager-paperback www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“Philosophy is both an academic discipline and also something that everybody does. Everybody has to have reflective views about what's significant. They also have to justify to themselves why it's significant or important. The nature of justice itself, and the various opinions that have been written about in philosophy about justice, can get to a very high level. So there's this unusual connection between philosophy and human life. We've inherited from the Middle Ages, this incredible tradition that's now developed into a chance for young people to spend four or five years, in a way, released from the pressures of life. The idea to pursue your ideas a little further in these four years you have, exempt from the pressures of social life, allows philosophy to have a kind of position unique in the academy. In confronting what the best minds in the history of the world have had to say about these issues, the hope is that they provide for the people who are privileged enough to confront philosophy a better and more thoughtful approach to these fundamental questions that everybody has to confront.” What is the importance of philosophy in the 21st century as we enter a post-truth world? How can we reintroduce meaning and uphold moral principles in our world shaken by crises? And what does philosophy teach us about living in harmony with the natural world? Robert Pippin is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago where he teaches in the College, Committee on Social Thought, and Department of Philosophy. Pippin is widely acclaimed for his scholarship in German idealism as well as later German philosophy, including publications such as Modernism as a Philosophical Problem, and Hegel’s Idealism. In keeping with his interdisciplinary interests, Pippin’s book Henry James and Modern Moral Life explores the intersections between philosophy and literature. Pippin’s most recent published book is The Culmination: Heidegger, German Idealism, and the Fate of Philosophy. https://socialsciences.uchicago.edu/directory/Robert-Pippin https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo208042246.html www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

What is the importance of philosophy in the 21st century as we enter a post-truth world? How can we reintroduce meaning and uphold moral principles in our world shaken by crises? And what does philosophy teach us about living in harmony with the natural world? Robert Pippin is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago where he teaches in the College, Committee on Social Thought, and Department of Philosophy. Pippin is widely acclaimed for his scholarship in German idealism as well as later German philosophy, including publications such as Modernism as a Philosophical Problem, and Hegel’s Idealism. In keeping with his interdisciplinary interests, Pippin’s book Henry James and Modern Moral Life explores the intersections between philosophy and literature. Pippin’s most recent published book is The Culmination: Heidegger, German Idealism, and the Fate of Philosophy. “Philosophy is both an academic discipline and also something that everybody does. Everybody has to have reflective views about what's significant. They also have to justify to themselves why it's significant or important. The nature of justice itself, and the various opinions that have been written about in philosophy about justice, can get to a very high level. So there's this unusual connection between philosophy and human life. We've inherited from the Middle Ages, this incredible tradition that's now developed into a chance for young people to spend four or five years, in a way, released from the pressures of life. The idea to pursue your ideas a little further in these four years you have, exempt from the pressures of social life, allows philosophy to have a kind of position unique in the academy. In confronting what the best minds in the history of the world have had to say about these issues, the hope is that they provide for the people who are privileged enough to confront philosophy a better and more thoughtful approach to these fundamental questions that everybody has to confront.” https://socialsciences.uchicago.edu/directory/Robert-Pippin https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo208042246.html www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“When you're playing music with a group of people, there are those special moments when it all works, and you're in the groove. As soon as you begin to think about it, you lose it because you've introduced thought, and it's trying to take over. There's something at a lower level, a different level altogether, where all that is happening and working. And I think that's true of the whole body, that sometimes when we start thinking that introduces problems rather than solutions.” Joseph LeDoux is a Professor of Neural Science at New York University at NYU and was Director of the Emotional Brain Institute. His research primarily focuses on survival circuits, including their impacts on emotions, such as fear and anxiety. He has written a number of books in this field, including The Four Realms of Existence: A New Theory of Being Human, The Emotional Brain, Synaptic Self, Anxious, and The Deep History of Ourselves. LeDoux is also the lead singer and songwriter of the band The Amygdaloids. www.joseph-ledoux.com www.cns.nyu.edu/ebi https://amygdaloids.net www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674261259 www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast Music courtesy of Joseph LeDoux

How does the brain process emotions? How are emotional memories formed and stored in the brain, and how do they influence behavior, perception, and decision-making? How does music help us understand our emotions, memories, and the nature of consciousness? Joseph LeDoux is a Professor of Neural Science at New York University at NYU and was Director of the Emotional Brain Institute. His research primarily focuses on survival circuits, including their impacts on emotions, such as fear and anxiety. He has written a number of books in this field, including The Four Realms of Existence: A New Theory of Being Human, The Emotional Brain, Synaptic Self, Anxious, and The Deep History of Ourselves. LeDoux is also the lead singer and songwriter of the band The Amygdaloids. “When you're playing music with a group of people, there are those special moments when it all works, and you're in the groove. As soon as you begin to think about it, you lose it because you've introduced thought, and it's trying to take over. There's something at a lower level, a different level altogether, where all that is happening and working. And I think that's true of the whole body, that sometimes when we start thinking that introduces problems rather than solutions.” www.joseph-ledoux.com www.cns.nyu.edu/ebi https://amygdaloids.net www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674261259 www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast Music courtesy of Joseph LeDoux

It is said that people never die until the last person says their name. In memory of the writer and director Paul Auster, who passed away this week, we're sharing this conversation we had back in 2017 after the publication of his novel 4 3 2 1. Auster reflects on his body of work, life, and creative process. Paul Auster was the bestselling author of Winter Journal, Sunset Park, Invisible, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, the Prix Médicis étranger, an Independent Spirit Award, and the Premio Napoli. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has also penned several screenplays for films such as Smoke (1995), as well as Lulu on the Bridge (1998) and The Inner Life of Martin Frost (2007), which he also directed. “But what happens is a space is created. And maybe it’s the only space of its kind in the world in which two absolute strangers can meet each other on terms of absolute intimacy. I think this is what is at the heart of the experience and why once you become a reader that you want to repeat that experience, that very deep total communication with that invisible stranger who has written the book that you’re holding in your hands. And that’s why I think, in spite of everything, novels are not going to stop being written, no matter what the circumstances. We need stories. We’re all human beings, and it’s stories from the moment we’re able to talk.” We apologize for the quality of the recording since it was not originally meant to be aired as a podcast. Portrait of Paul Auster by Mia Funk, inspired by his novel 4 3 2 1. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/1045/paul-auster www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“I'm also a big advocate of teaching attention training skills to kids in school. This can help them develop focus, become more self aware, better able to manage their unruly emotions, more able to tune in to those around them, and to understand that their actions matter. All of these things can be instilled in kids, and there are programs in social and emotional learning that are very good at doing this. I think it's great to give people that scaffolding for life early on. If you learn how to handle anxiety early on in life, then eco-anxiety, for example, won't be as big a problem. You'll still be able to do what needs to be done, and you'll be able to do it better because you're less anxious. You’ll have clarity and calm, which is the better state in which to be effective. I would like everyone, including young people, to remember that the classic traditional human capacities, like paying full attention to yourself and to other people, and caring about yourself and those people, matter enormously. As does spending time in nature to feel at home, to feel calm, to feel good.” Daniel Goleman is an American psychologist, author, and science journalist. Before becoming an author, Goleman was a science reporter for the New York Times for 12 years, covering psychology and the human brain. In 1995, Goleman published Emotional Intelligence, a New York Times bestseller. In his newly published book Optimal, Daniel Goleman discusses how people can enter an optimal state of high performance without facing symptoms of burnout in the workplace. www.danielgoleman.info www.harpercollins.com/products/optimal-daniel-golemancary-cherniss?variant=41046795288610 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/69105/emotional-intelligence-by-daniel-goleman/ www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How can we enhance our emotional intelligence and avoid burnout in a changing world? How can we regain focus and perform in an optimal state? What do we mean by ecological intelligence? Daniel Goleman is an American psychologist, author, and science journalist. Before becoming an author, Goleman was a science reporter for the New York Times for 12 years, covering psychology and the human brain. In 1995, Goleman published Emotional Intelligence, a New York Times bestseller. In his newly published book Optimal, Daniel Goleman discusses how people can enter an optimal state of high performance without facing symptoms of burnout in the workplace. “I'm also a big advocate of teaching attention training skills to kids in school. This can help them develop focus, become more self aware, better able to manage their unruly emotions, more able to tune in to those around them, and to understand that their actions matter. All of these things can be instilled in kids, and there are programs in social and emotional learning that are very good at doing this. I think it's great to give people that scaffolding for life early on. If you learn how to handle anxiety early on in life, then eco-anxiety, for example, won't be as big a problem. You'll still be able to do what needs to be done, and you'll be able to do it better because you're less anxious. You’ll have clarity and calm, which is the better state in which to be effective. I would like everyone, including young people, to remember that the classic traditional human capacities, like paying full attention to yourself and to other people, and caring about yourself and those people, matter enormously. As does spending time in nature to feel at home, to feel calm, to feel good.” www.danielgoleman.info www.harpercollins.com/products/optimal-daniel-golemancary-cherniss?variant=41046795288610 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/69105/emotional-intelligence-by-daniel-goleman/ www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

“I grew up with folktales and fairytales from the Indonesian archipelago, from the Nusantara. And of course I grew up with the stories from the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen and actually I like them better than the Disney version because they're more bloody and gory. I guessed that also shaped my preferences for more dark and gothic stories as I grew up. I did English literature at the University of Indonesia. I wrote a BA thesis on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And my mother was a very imaginative person. She loved making her own stories, so I think I inherit that from her. But she never had the chance to explore her creative side—there were certain expectations for women at that time to get married. She was harsh. But I know why I considered her monstrous when she was younger. She was trying to reject society's expectations in her own way, but we didn't understand her. And so I became really interested in the so-called bad women or monstrous women, in a way that these women allow me to ask questions around the structures that create them. Her whole presence taught me to really appreciate the knowledge that was created by generations of women before me. Part of the work I do now is work with a feminist collective to actually question knowledge production, who is excluded from it, who is being marginalized because of it, and my mother played a great role in steering me in that direction.” Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney. https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184 www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How are writing and travel vehicles for understanding? How can we expand the literary canon to include other voices, other cultures, other experiences of the world? Intan Paramaditha is a writer and an academic. Her novel The Wandering (Harvill Secker/ Penguin Random House UK), translated from the Indonesian language by Stephen J. Epstein, was nominated for the Stella Prize in Australia and awarded the Tempo Best Literary Fiction in Indonesia, English PEN Translates Award, and PEN/ Heim Translation Fund Grant from PEN America. She is the author of the short story collection Apple and Knife, the editor of Deviant Disciples: Indonesian Women Poets, part of the Translating Feminisms series of Tilted Axis Press and the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Asian Cinemas (forthcoming 2024). Her essay, “On the Complicated Questions Around Writing About Travel,” was selected for The Best American Travel Writing 2021. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University and teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University, Sydney. “I grew up with folktales and fairytales from the Indonesian archipelago, from the Nusantara. And of course I grew up with the stories from the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen and actually I like them better than the Disney version because they're more bloody and gory. I guessed that also shaped my preferences for more dark and gothic stories as I grew up. I did English literature at the University of Indonesia. I wrote a BA thesis on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And my mother was a very imaginative person. She loved making her own stories, so I think I inherit that from her. But she never had the chance to explore her creative side—there were certain expectations for women at that time to get married. She was harsh. But I know why I considered her monstrous when she was younger. She was trying to reject society's expectations in her own way, but we didn't understand her. And so I became really interested in the so-called bad women or monstrous women, in a way that these women allow me to ask questions around the structures that create them. Her whole presence taught me to really appreciate the knowledge that was created by generations of women before me. Part of the work I do now is work with a feminist collective to actually question knowledge production, who is excluded from it, who is being marginalized because of it, and my mother played a great role in steering me in that direction.” https://intanparamaditha.com www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/626055/the-wandering-by-intan-paramaditha/9781787301184 www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Environmentalists, writers, artists, activists, and public policy makers explore the interconnectedness of living beings and ecosystems. They highlight the importance of conservation, promote climate education, advocate for sustainable development, and underscore the vital role of creative and educational communities in driving positive change. 00:00 "The Conditional" by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón 01:27 The Secret Language of Animals: Ingrid Newkirk, President of PETA 03:03 A Love Letter to the Living World: Carl Safina, Ecologist & Author 04:11 Exploring the Mysteries of Soil and Coral Reefs: Merlin Sheldrake, Biologist, Author of Entangled Life 04:47 Exploring Coral Reefs: Richard Vevers, Founder of The Ocean Agency 05:56 The Importance of Climate Education: Kathleen Rogers, President of EarthDay.org 07:02 The Timeless Wisdom of Turtles: Sy Montomery, Naturalist & Author 07:38 Optimism in the Face of Environmental Challenges: Richard Vevers 08:32 Urban Solutions for a Sustainable Future: Paula Pinho, Director, Just Transition, Consumers, Energy Efficiency & Innovation, European Commission 08:57 The Circular Economy: Walter Stahel, Founder & Director of the Product-Life Institute 09:39 The Power of Speaking Out for Sustainability: Paula Pinho 10:16 Empowering the Next Generation Through Education: Jeffrey Sachs, President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast www.maxrichtermusic.com https://studiorichtermahr.com Max Richter’s music featured in this episode are “On the Nature of Daylight” from The Blue Notebooks, “Path 19: Yet Frailest” from Sleep. Music is courtesy of Max Richter, Universal Music Enterprises, and Mute Song.

“As technology becomes more dominant, the arts become ever more important for us to stay in touch the things that the sciences can't tackle. What it's actually like to be a person? What's actually important? We can have this endless progress inside this capitalist machine for greater wealth and longer life and more happiness, according to some metric. Or we can try and quantify society and push it forward. Ultimately, we all have to decide what's important to us as humans, and we need the arts to help with that. So, I think what's important really is just exposing ourselves to as many different ideas as we can, being open-minded, and trying to learn about all facets of life so that we can understand each other as well. And the arts is an essential part of that.” How is being an artist different than a machine that is programmed to perform a set of actions? How can we stop thinking about artworks as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences? In this conversation with Max Cooper, we discuss the beauty and chaos of nature and the exploration of technology music and consciousness. Max Cooper is a musician with a PhD in computational biology. He integrates electronic music with immersive video projections inspired by scientific exploration. His latest project, Seme, commissioned by the Salzburg Easter Festival, merges Italian musical heritage with contemporary techniques, was also performed at the Barbican in London. He supplied music for a video narrated by Greta Thunberg and Pope Francis for COP26. In 2016, Cooper founded Mesh, a platform to explore the intersection of music, science and art. His Observatory art-house installation is on display at Kings Cross until May 1st. https://maxcooper.net https://osterfestspiele.at/en/programme/2024/electro-2024 https://meshmeshmesh.net www.kingscross.co.uk/event/the-observatory The music featured on this episode was Palestrina Sicut, Cardano Circles, Fibonacci Sequence, Scarlatti K141. Music is from Seme and is courtesy of Max Cooper. www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How is being an artist different than a machine that is programmed to perform a set of actions? How can we stop thinking about artworks as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences? In this conversation with Max Cooper, we discuss the beauty and chaos of nature and the exploration of technology music and consciousness. Max Cooper is a musician with a PhD in computational biology. He integrates electronic music with immersive video projections inspired by scientific exploration. His latest project, Seme, commissioned by the Salzburg Easter Festival, merges Italian musical heritage with contemporary techniques, was also performed at the Barbican in London. He supplied music for a video narrated by Greta Thunberg and Pope Francis for COP26. In 2016, Cooper founded Mesh, a platform to explore the intersection of music, science and art. His Observatory art-house installation is on display at Kings Cross until May 1st. “As technology becomes more dominant, the arts become ever more important for us to stay in touch the things that the sciences can't tackle. What it's actually like to be a person? What's actually important? We can have this endless progress inside this capitalist machine for greater wealth and longer life and more happiness, according to some metric. Or we can try and quantify society and push it forward. Ultimately, we all have to decide what's important to us as humans, and we need the arts to help with that. So, I think what's important really is just exposing ourselves to as many different ideas as we can, being open-minded, and trying to learn about all facets of life so that we can understand each other as well. And the arts is an essential part of that.” https://maxcooper.net https://osterfestspiele.at/en/programme/2024/electro-2024 https://meshmeshmesh.net www.kingscross.co.uk/event/the-observatory The music featured on this episode was Palestrina Sicut, Cardano Circles, Fibonacci Sequence, Scarlatti K141. Music is from Seme and is courtesy of Max Cooper. www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"Our brain is the organ from which our rich experience of the world arises. Brains are responsible for love, for sadness, and these profound experiences are those in which I sought to investigate." Clayton Page Aldern is an award winning neuroscientist turned environmental journalist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Economist, and Grist, where he is a senior data reporter. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a Master's in Neuroscience and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Oxford. He is also a research affiliate at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington. He is the author of The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Minds, Brains, and Bodies, which explores the neurobiological impacts of rapid environmental change. https://claytonaldern.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717097/the-weight-of-nature-by-clayton-page-aldern https://csde.washington.edu www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How does a changing climate affect our minds, brains and bodies? Clayton Page Aldern is an award winning neuroscientist turned environmental journalist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Economist, and Grist, where he is a senior data reporter. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a Master's in Neuroscience and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Oxford. He is also a research affiliate at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington. He is the author of The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Minds, Brains, and Bodies, which explores the neurobiological impacts of rapid environmental change. "Our brain is the organ from which our rich experience of the world arises. Brains are responsible for love, for sadness, and these profound experiences are those in which I sought to investigate." https://claytonaldern.com www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717097/the-weight-of-nature-by-clayton-page-aldern https://csde.washington.edu www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"What saved me as a young person, I think, was how I connected with the arts. And I was exposed to this sort of world of possibility. What I hope for children is sort of courageous curiosity. I feel that they have to pursue their creative impulses, and I hope that art can inspire them to do that. That's what I always do. When I'm creating work, I always want it to be inspiring in a way. Not inspiring like a Hallmark movie, you know, like not happy, not necessarily, but provocative in a way that inspires thought, inspires creativity. So when I see young people, what I always try and encourage in them is sort of courage. Courage at facing the world, not being afraid of the world, and being. And I think that art can provide that, can bolster that courage." Don McKellar is a highly accomplished writer, director, and actor. He has written films including Roadkill, Highway 61, Dance Me Outside, The Red Violin, and Blindness. He won the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival for his directorial debut, Last Night, which he also wrote and starred in. He is an eight-time Genie Award nominee and a two-time winner. He wrote the book for the acclaimed musical The Drowsy Chaperone, for which he received a Tony Award. Most recently, Don served as writer, executive producer, and co-showrunner on The Sympathizer, a television adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The series was co-created with Park Chan-wook. www.imdb.com/name/nm0001528/mediaviewer/rm2411273728/?ref_=nm_ov_ph www.imdb.com/title/tt14404618/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%20sympa www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast Photo courtesy of HBO

What are the stories we tell ourselves to justify our actions in times of war? How can the arts convey complexity and foster understanding? Don McKellar is a highly accomplished writer, director, and actor. He has written films including Roadkill, Highway 61, Dance Me Outside, The Red Violin, and Blindness. He won the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival for his directorial debut, Last Night, which he also wrote and starred in. He is an eight-time Genie Award nominee and a two-time winner. He wrote the book for the acclaimed musical The Drowsy Chaperone, for which he received a Tony Award. Most recently, Don served as writer, executive producer, and co-showrunner on The Sympathizer, a television adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The series was co-created with Park Chan-wook. "What saved me as a young person, I think, was how I connected with the arts. And I was exposed to this sort of world of possibility. What I hope for children is sort of courageous curiosity. I feel that they have to pursue their creative impulses, and I hope that art can inspire them to do that. That's what I always do. When I'm creating work, I always want it to be inspiring in a way. Not inspiring like a Hallmark movie, you know, like not happy, not necessarily, but provocative in a way that inspires thought, inspires creativity. So when I see young people, what I always try and encourage in them is sort of courage. Courage at facing the world, not being afraid of the world, and being. And I think that art can provide that, can bolster that courage." www.imdb.com/name/nm0001528/mediaviewer/rm2411273728/?ref_=nm_ov_ph www.imdb.com/title/tt14404618/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%20sympa www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast Photos courtesy of HBO Susan Downey, Robert Downey Jr., Don McKellar Robert Downey Jr. in The Sympathizer, photo by Beth Dubber/HBO Hoa Xuande in The Sympathizer, photo by Hopper Stone/HBO