The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Theatre, Dance, LGBTQ, Climate Change, Social Justice, Spirituality, Feminism, Tech, Sustainability

Mia Funk’s work appears in public and private collections, including the U.S. Library of Congress, Dublin Writers Museum, Office of Public Works, and other museums and culture centers. She has received awards and honors, including the Prix de Peinture from the Salon d’Automne and exhibited in the Grand Palais. Her paintings of Francis Bacon have won prizes and were exhibited in Paris and Brussels for Bacon’s centenary. As a writer and interviewer, she contributes to various national publications. Funk served on the National Advisory Council of the American Writers Museum and serves on the advisory board of the European Conference for the Humanities. www.creativeprocess.info · www.miafunk.com

"The heart also reports to the brain and receives from the brain. So our bodies are in dialogue with the brain. And we don't really know where consciousness is, we sort of imagine it's somewhere in the head. We have no real reason to suppose that it's just we identify it with our sight and we, therefore, think it must be somewhere up there behind the eyes, but it's something that takes in the whole of us and to which the whole of us contributes.”“We think in the west of resistance as something negative but it's actually part of the creative process. Without resistance nothing new can come into being, so the very things that we think of as perhaps obstructing or negating are the very things that will lead to something new and greater. We need to get over this idea. For example, we're only able to move in space because there is friction. Friction is a force that stops you moving but without a degree of friction, you cannot actually move. You wouldn't have anything to move in relation to. So perfection is itself an imperfection. And in a number of traditions, this is memorialized by the idea that when you create something there should deliberately be some imperfection in it.”Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar. He is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. He has been a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch.  He has published original articles and research papers in a wide range of publications on topics in literature, philosophy, medicine and psychiatry.  He is the author of a number of books, including The Matter with Things, and The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.· https://channelmcgilchrist.com · www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar. He is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and former Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital, London. He has been a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch.  He has published original articles and research papers in a wide range of publications on topics in literature, philosophy, medicine and psychiatry.  He is the author of a number of books, including The Matter with Things, and The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.· https://channelmcgilchrist.com · www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Tom Perrotta is the bestselling author of nine works of fiction, including Election and Little Children, both of which were made into Oscar-nominated films, and The Leftovers, which was adapted into a critically acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning HBO series. His other books include Bad Haircut, The Wishbones, Joe College, The Abstinence Teacher, Nine Inches, and his newest, Mrs. Fletcher. His work has been translated into a multitude of languages. Perrotta grew up in New Jersey and lives outside of Boston. http://tomperrotta.com · www.creativeprocess.info

Peter Weller · Actor, Art Historian & Director Peter Weller is a renowned theater and Hollywood actor. His performance in films such as Robocop and Naked Lunch garnering him much critical and commercial success over the years. Unbeknownst to most, Weller has spent much of his time over the decades, honing his appreciation for the visual and musical arts through his studies of the Renaissance era. Earning a Masters in  Roman architecture from Syracuse University before moving onto a PHD in Renaissance art from UCLA, Weller has even penned numerous academic papers covering the era’s influence on modern art. Recently, Weller has even returned to the setting of RoboCop in Detroit, Michigan to deliver a lecture on “The Crisis in Beauty”. Peter has also contributed an essay to a music anthology The Creative Process has co-curated for Routledge Press. Weller’s essay details his memories of the late Miles Davis, who was both a friend and an inspiration.www.creativeprocess.info

Peter Weller · Actor, Art Historian & DirectorPeter Weller is a renowned theater and Hollywood actor. His performance in films such as Robocop and Naked Lunch garnering him much critical and commercial success over the years. Unbeknownst to most, Weller has spent much of his time over the decades, honing his appreciation for the visual and musical arts through his studies of the Renaissance era. Earning a Masters in  Roman architecture from Syracuse University before moving onto a PHD in Renaissance art from UCLA, Weller has even penned numerous academic papers covering the era’s influence on modern art. Recently, Weller has even returned to the setting of RoboCop in Detroit, Michigan to deliver a lecture on “The Crisis in Beauty”. Peter has also contributed an essay to a music anthology The Creative Process has co-curated for Routledge Press. Weller’s essay details his memories of the late Miles Davis, who was both a friend and an inspiration.www.creativeprocess.info

“I think believing in something is also part of the responsibility of the believer to sift through these things. So there are a lot of people saying I'm green because they do something less badly. So for me, it’s not green yet, it's just less bad. It's not really good yet. It's not really fabulous, but that just means there's an opportunity to keep going to share information and help each other because in the end, I think what we're dealing with now is the recognition that the world has a very serious issue with climate, that's very clear now. So how can we help each other? The question is no longer what is wrong with the way you're doing it. The real question now is how can I help you?”McDonough advises leaders on ESG strategies through McDonough Innovation, is an architect with William McDonough + Partners, and provides product assessments through MBDC, the creators of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program.  He has been active with the World Economic Forum for 25 years and served as the inaugural chair of their Meta-Council on the Circular Economy. He recently articulated the Circular Carbon Economy, a framework for carbon management, and presented the concept at COP25 and at 2020 G20 workshops. William McDonough is a globally recognized leader in sustainable design and development. He has written and lectured extensively on design as the first signal of human intention. He co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. McDonough advises leaders on ESG strategies through McDonough Innovation, is an architect with William McDonough + Partners, and provides product assessments through MBDC, the creators of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program.  He has been active with the World Economic Forum for 25 years and served as the inaugural chair of their Meta-Council on the Circular Economy. He recently articulated the Circular Carbon Economy, a framework for carbon management, and presented the concept at COP25 and at 2020 G20 workshops. McDonough has co-founded not-for-profit organizations, including Fashion for Good, GreenBlue, Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. He has been on the faculty of Stanford University (2004-present) and is a Distinguished Research Professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) focused on Circular Carbon Economy. Time magazine recognized him as a “Hero for the Planet,” noting: “His utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world," and in 2019 Fortune magazine named him #24 of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders.· https://mcdonough.com· mcdonoughpartners.com· https://mcdonoughpartners.com/projects · www.oneplanetpodcast.org · www.creativeprocess.info

William McDonough is a globally recognized leader in sustainable design and development. He has written and lectured extensively on design as the first signal of human intention. He co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. McDonough advises leaders on ESG strategies through McDonough Innovation, is an architect with William McDonough + Partners, and provides product assessments through MBDC, the creators of the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Products Program.  He has been active with the World Economic Forum for 25 years and served as the inaugural chair of their Meta-Council on the Circular Economy. He recently articulated the Circular Carbon Economy, a framework for carbon management, and presented the concept at COP25 and at 2020 G20 workshops. McDonough has co-founded not-for-profit organizations, including Fashion for Good, GreenBlue, Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute. He has been on the faculty of Stanford University (2004-present) and is a Distinguished Research Professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) focused on Circular Carbon Economy. Time magazine recognized him as a “Hero for the Planet,” noting: “His utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world," and in 2019 Fortune magazine named him #24 of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders.· https://mcdonough.com· mcdonoughpartners.com· https://mcdonoughpartners.com/projects · www.oneplanetpodcast.org · www.creativeprocess.info©DuHun Photography

“It’s basically a seed bank of genetic and metabolic diversity. The Earth’s entire microbiome is just a tremendous treasure trove of history, evolution, and diversity. So I would say we have no idea what’s in a lot of that diversity. It's like the dark matter of the universe. People call it the dark matter of the microbiome, and we're still figuring out what that matter does. We know that they're tremendously diverse. The sequencing revolution that happened over the last 20 or 30 years has made it possible to measure the diversity, but we don't know what that diversity is really doing or how to harness it if we need it. So would be wise not to disrespect it.”Dr. Steven Allison is a Professor of Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. He holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. As part of the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative, Dr. Allison was named the UC Irvine Climate Action Champion in 2016. He teaches ecosystem ecology and directs the Ridge to Reef Graduate Training Program, an interdisciplinary program focused on skills development for students pursuing careers in environmental fields. His research addresses the resilience of microbial communities to drought and the effect of rapid climate change on carbon losses from southern California ecosystems. Dr. Allison is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Editor-in-Chief at the interdisciplinary journal Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. Since 2021, he has served as a member of the Green Ribbon Environmental Committee for the City of Irvine and director of UC Irvine’s Newkirk Center for Science and Society.· allisonlab.bio.uci.edu/· newkirkcenter.uci.edu· https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa · www.oneplanetpodcast.org · www.creativeprocess.info· www.ted.com/talks/steven_allison_earth_s_original_inhabitants_and_their_role_in_combating_climate_change?language=en

Dr. Steven Allison is a Professor of Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. He holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. As part of the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative, Dr. Allison was named the UC Irvine Climate Action Champion in 2016. He teaches ecosystem ecology and directs the Ridge to Reef Graduate Training Program, an interdisciplinary program focused on skills development for students pursuing careers in environmental fields. His research addresses the resilience of microbial communities to drought and the effect of rapid climate change on carbon losses from southern California ecosystems. Dr. Allison is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Editor-in-Chief at the interdisciplinary journal Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene. Since 2021, he has served as a member of the Green Ribbon Environmental Committee for the City of Irvine and director of UC Irvine’s Newkirk Center for Science and Society.· allisonlab.bio.uci.edu/· newkirkcenter.uci.edu· https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa · www.oneplanetpodcast.org · www.creativeprocess.info· www.ted.com/talks/steven_allison_earth_s_original_inhabitants_and_their_role_in_combating_climate_change?language=en