Nature As Guide In Perilous Times with Osprey Orielle Lake

Seeing the peril and promise of this moment in time, Osprey tells stories that renew our energy and summon our will to rise up in meaningful ways for the sake of the natural world as well as all civilization. We must infuse our cultural discourse with the language and wisdom of nature. Lake shows us that lasting changes in our way of life will arise, and find broad support only when nature in all its transformative beauty and power, is once again front and center in our everyday consciousness.  She offers a frank inquiry into the causes that have led to our current global peril, and provides a deep well of hope and profound insight. She regales us with many stories of her adventures in nature, one of which was to take some inner city young people to the desert where, for the first time in their lives, they experienced the full measure of the night sky filled with stars. She says there is no substitute for the visceral experience of “looking up at night sky and taking a moment to realize, wow, we’re on this spaceship earth, as Bucky Fuller was famous to say . . . how does that affect our actions and our choices when we remember that we are part and particle of this great, mysterious, numinous journey called life; I think the stars give us that. When we don’t have that, our experience as a human being is actually diminished.  I think we need the measure of seeing the stars, remember where we are, why we’re here, what we’re doing here in this truly amazing miracle called life.”  (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Bio

Osprey Orielle Lake is the Founding Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus, where she is working nationally and internationally with grassroots leaders, policy-makers, business people and scientists to promote resilient communities and foster a post-carbon energy future, while also addressing societal transformation. She is an advisor to the International Eco-Cities Framework and Standards Initiative; an international advocate for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature; and has traveled to five continents studying ancient and modern cultures while making presentations at international conferences and universities. In addition to her advocacy work, she is a bronze sculptor and author.

Her book is the winner of a 2011 Nautilus Book Award:

• Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature (White Cloud Press 2010)

To learn more about the work of Osprey Orielle Lake go to www.ospreyoriellelake.com.

 Topics explored in this dialogue include:

• What is humanity’s old collective story, and why it no longer serves our best interests
• What are some elements that must be contained in a new collective story
• Why nature programs on TV should not be a substitute for being in nature
• Why is it necessary for children to have time to play in nature
• Why it is important to see the full night sky beyond the city lights
• How water is life, and how it is reflecting back to us the choices we’ve been making
• Where we are going can be more joyful, connected, earth and people-related
• Why we need to listen to indigenous peoples, who have been holding many keys to ancestral knowledge
• Why we need to be vigilant about free and open access to the internet
• How laws that involve the rights of nature can help us move back towards the right to flourish

Hosted by: Justine Willis Toms             Interview Date: 1/11/2012            Program Number: 3424

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