Philosophy, Ideas, Critical Thinking, Ethics & Morality: The Creative Process: Philosophers, Writers, Educators, Creative Thinkers, Spiritual Leaders, Environmentalists & Bioethicists

"The point of life is to be happy, and the way to be happy is to be a success. – It's horseshit. This is not the point of life. It's a lie. The second part is, you must be willing to fail. Not, oh, I'm going to tolerate a little bit of it. I am going to totally fail at this, but I'm still going to do it anyway."Andre Dubus III’s nine books include the New York Times’ bestsellers House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and his memoir, Townie. His work has been included in The Best American Essays and The Best Spiritual Writing anthologies. His novel, House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award and was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. His most recent books are the novel, Such Kindness and a collection of personal essays, Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin. Dubus has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, two Pushcart Prizes, and is a recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His books are published in over twenty-five languages, and he teaches at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. www.andredubus.comwww.andredubus.com/ghost-dogswww.andredubus.com/house-of-sand-and-fogwww.andredubus.com/such-kindnesswww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

What can reading teach us about loss, healing, and survival? How can we transform anger into empathy? What can we learn from the creative act about turning personal setbacks into opportunities for self-discovery and growth?Andre Dubus III’s nine books include the New York Times’ bestsellers House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and his memoir, Townie. His work has been included in The Best American Essays and The Best Spiritual Writing anthologies. His novel, House of Sand and Fog was a finalist for the National Book Award and was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. His most recent books are the novel, Such Kindness and a collection of personal essays, Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin. Dubus has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, two Pushcart Prizes, and is a recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His books are published in over twenty-five languages, and he teaches at the University of Massachusetts Lowell."There's a wonderful essay by the American poet William Stafford, where he says the poet, before writing, must put herself into a place of openness or receptivity. And he said, you're being receptive when you are. And this is really hard, I think, especially for Americans who still eat a steady diet of the following: The point of life is to be happy, and the way to be happy is to be a success. – It's horseshit. This is not the point of life. It's a lie. And the second part is, you must be willing to fail. Not, oh, I'm going to tolerate a little bit of it. I am going to totally fail at this, but I'm still going to do it anyway."www.andredubus.comwww.andredubus.com/ghost-dogswww.andredubus.com/house-of-sand-and-fogwww.andredubus.com/such-kindnesswww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"You have the brain, and you have the heart, and you cannot feed only the brain without feeding the heart. So feeding the heart means creating authentic relations between people and educating children to have compassion, empathy, and respect for others, nature, animals, and other human beings. I'm a bit afraid that today we feed only the brain and not the heart. And when we want to put these Neuralink implants in the brain, we forget that there is the heart where maybe we should also work a little bit more."Bertrand Piccard is a notable Swiss environmentalist, explorer, author, and psychiatrist. His ventures include being the first to travel around the world in a non-stop balloon flight and years later in a solar-powered airplane. He is regarded as a pioneer in clean technology. Piccard is also the founder of the Solar Impulse Foundation, which has identified over 1500 actionable and profitable climate solutions and connects them with investors. As a UN Ambassador for the Environment, his goal is to convince leaders of the viability of a zero-carbon economy, which he will demonstrate via his next emission-free project Climate Impulse, a green hydrogen-powered airplane that can fly nonstop around the earth.http://www.solarimpulse.comhttps://climateimpulse.org/https://bertrandpiccard.com/Photos:Bertrand Piccard with Ilham Kadri, CEO Syensqo (main technological partner of Climate Impulse)Bertrand Piccard @ Solar Impulse, Jean Revillard

What is the future of green aviation? How do we share environmental solutions to unite people and change the climate narrative from sacrifice and fear to enthusiasm and hope?Bertrand Piccard is a notable Swiss environmentalist, explorer, author, and psychiatrist. His ventures include being the first to travel around the world in a non-stop balloon flight and years later in a solar-powered airplane. He is regarded as a pioneer in clean technology. Piccard is also the founder of the Solar Impulse Foundation, which has identified over 1500 actionable and profitable climate solutions and connects them with investors. As a UN Ambassador for the Environment, his goal is to convince leaders of the viability of a zero-carbon economy, which he will demonstrate via his next emission-free project Climate Impulse, a green hydrogen-powered airplane that can fly nonstop around the earth."You have the brain, and you have the heart, and you cannot feed only the brain without feeding the heart. So feeding the heart means creating authentic relations between people and educating children to have compassion, empathy, and respect for others, nature, animals, and other human beings. I'm a bit afraid that today we feed only the brain and not the heart. And when we want to put these Neuralink implants in the brain, we forget that there is the heart where maybe we should also work a little bit more."http://www.solarimpulse.comhttps://climateimpulse.org/https://bertrandpiccard.com/Photos:COPSummitBertrand Piccard with Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCCVille de Demain exhibition, Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, Paris

"As long as your children believe your traditions are a good way to be human on Earth, they will continue to be like you. And your society and your civilization will continue. But the moment they see a better and more efficient way to do things, they will no longer believe in your ways, and your traditions will collapse in a whisper. I think what is very, very important for the young generations - because they hear every day and everywhere that this is the end of our world because of many things, particularly about the question of climate change - and we must tell young generations, first of all, we don't know anything about the future. Maybe the future is incredibly nice. Incredibly nice, because we are going to have at a certain moment absolute energy, the ability to travel anywhere in space, the ability to colonize any satellite in our solar system, and maybe with no more any kind of fitness, no more cancer, nothing else. So the future can be bright and incredible. And the young generations should keep in mind that they are on a magical planet which is full of beauty and they must love it and preserve it as best as they can with hope."Ludovic Slimak is a paleoanthropologist at the University of Toulouse in France and Director of the Grotte Mandrin research project. His work focuses on the last Neanderthal societies, and he is the author of several hundred scientific studies on these populations. His research has been featured in Nature, Science, the New York Times, and other publications. He is the author of The Naked Neanderthal: A New Understanding of the Human Creature.http://ww5.pegasusbooks.com/books/the-naked-neanderthal-9781639366163-hardcoverhttps://lampea.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article3767www.odilejacob.fr/catalogue/sciences-humaines/archeologie-paleontologie-prehistoire/dernier-neandertalien_9782415004927.phpwww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Who were the Neanderthals? And what can our discoveries about them teach us about intelligence, our extractivist relationship to the planet, and what it means to be human?Ludovic Slimak is a paleoanthropologist at the University of Toulouse in France and Director of the Grotte Mandrin research project. His work focuses on the last Neanderthal societies, and he is the author of several hundred scientific studies on these populations. His research has been featured in Nature, Science, the New York Times, and other publications. He is the author of The Naked Neanderthal: A New Understanding of the Human Creature."As long as your children believe your traditions are a good way to be human on Earth, they will continue to be like you. And your society and your civilization will continue. But the moment they see a better and more efficient way to do things, they will no longer believe in your ways, and your traditions will collapse in a whisper. I think what is very, very important for the young generations - because they hear every day and everywhere that this is the end of our world because of many things, particularly about the question of climate change - and we must tell young generations, first of all, we don't know anything about the future. Maybe the future is incredibly nice. Incredibly nice, because we are going to have at a certain moment absolute energy, the ability to travel anywhere in space, the ability to colonize any satellite in our solar system, and maybe with no more any kind of fitness, no more cancer, nothing else. So the future can be bright and incredible. And the young generations should keep in mind that they are on a magical planet which is full of beauty and they must love it and preserve it as best as they can with hope."http://ww5.pegasusbooks.com/books/the-naked-neanderthal-9781639366163-hardcoverhttps://lampea.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article3767www.odilejacob.fr/catalogue/sciences-humaines/archeologie-paleontologie-prehistoire/dernier-neandertalien_9782415004927.phpwww.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"I started as a scholar of English literature in particular. And then I realized I didn't like boundaries. I've always tried to explore other domains and areas of knowledge. So I moved on to the relationship between literature and science because what has always fascinated me is how science is written, circulated, and understood and how science is popularized and narrativized. The Role of Utopian Studies in Sustainability led me straight to sustainability and to envision possible future societies. For example, the sciences and the humanities coexist and thrive on and sustain each other. And if you think about the best or the worst possible futures, then after a while, you come to think about whether futures may be sustainable or not. More importantly, we should try to envision ways of living in the future that may be acceptable and, above all, enjoyable for everyone."Paola Spinozzi is Professor of English Literature at the University of Ferrara and currently serves as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation. She is the coordinator of the PhD Programme in Environmental Sustainability and Wellbeing and the co-coordinator of Routes towards Sustainability. Her research encompasses the ecological humanities and ecocriticism, utopia and sustainability; literature and the visual arts; literature and science; cultural memory. She has co-edited Cultures of Sustainability and Wellbeing: Theories, Histories and Policies and published on post/apocalyptic and climate fiction, nature poetry, eco-theatre; art and aesthetics, imperialism and evolutionism in utopia as a genre; the writing of science; interart creativity.https://docente.unife.it/paola.spinozzi https://www.unife.it/studenti/dottorato/it/corsi/riforma/environmental-sustainability-and-wellbeinghttps://www.routesnetwork.net https://www.routledge.com/Cultures-of-Sustainability-and-Wellbeing-Theories-Histories-and-Policies/Spinozzi-Mazzanti/p/book/9780367271190.www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How can we create positive change? What does it mean to have an ecological mind? How can interdisciplinary collaborations help us move beyond educational silos and create sustainable futures?Paola Spinozzi is Professor of English Literature at the University of Ferrara and currently serves as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation. She is the coordinator of the PhD Programme in Environmental Sustainability and Wellbeing and the co-coordinator of Routes towards Sustainability. Her research encompasses the ecological humanities and ecocriticism, utopia and sustainability; literature and the visual arts; literature and science; cultural memory. She has co-edited Cultures of Sustainability and Wellbeing: Theories, Histories and Policies and published on post/apocalyptic and climate fiction, nature poetry, eco-theatre; art and aesthetics, imperialism and evolutionism in utopia as a genre; the writing of science; interart creativity."I started as a scholar of English literature in particular. And then I realized I didn't like boundaries. I've always tried to explore other domains and areas of knowledge. So I moved on to the relationship between literature and science because what has always fascinated me is how science is written, circulated, and understood and how science is popularized and narrativized. The Role of Utopian Studies in Sustainability led me straight to sustainability and to envision possible future societies. For example, the sciences and the humanities coexist and thrive on and sustain each other. And if you think about the best or the worst possible futures, then after a while, you come to think about whether futures may be sustainable or not. More importantly, we should try to envision ways of living in the future that may be acceptable and, above all, enjoyable for everyone."https://docente.unife.it/paola.spinozzi https://www.unife.it/studenti/dottorato/it/corsi/riforma/environmental-sustainability-and-wellbeinghttps://www.routesnetwork.net https://www.routledge.com/Cultures-of-Sustainability-and-Wellbeing-Theories-Histories-and-Policies/Spinozzi-Mazzanti/p/book/9780367271190.www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

How would the life of Jesus be told through the eyes of his mother? How can literature help us understand history and the nature of identity? Maciej Hen was born in 1955 in Warsaw. He graduated from the Cinematography Department at the Film School in Łódź. For years he has been trying his hand at diverse activities, from music to all fields of journalism and television lighting design. As a prose writer, Hen has published four novels so far: Według niej (2004, DUE; the English translation, According to Her, published in 2022 by Holland House Books, was shortlisted to the EBRD Literary Prize in 2023), Solfatara (2015, W.A.B., 2016 Gombrowicz Prize and shortlisted for the Norwid Prize and the Angelus Prize), Deutsch dla średnio zaawansowanych, Segretario and one non-fiction book, Beatlesi w Polsce (The Beatles in Poland)."Polish intellectuals, artists, and writers are still in that never-ending argument on Polish history in terms of why Poland lost its independence after being some kind of empire and what the injustices and historical harms were. The traumas of World War II and the period before WWII, the Communist period, and everything of that nature are topics of argument that are really present in Polish culture, creativity, and literature. On the other hand, contemporary Polish literature is very much form-oriented, not so much content-oriented, except for some topics focusing on the peasant background of the society or discussing injustices the peasant class suffered, and that's it. But generally, contemporary Polish literature is very much language-oriented. There is a race towards experimentalism to be observed. And I, quite frankly, try to be beyond all of that because I'm a content-oriented type of writer. Of course, the language issues are important for me, too, but not dominant."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maciej_Henwww.hhousebooks.com/shortlisted-ebrd-according-to-herwww.wydawnictwoliterackie.pl/autor/1271/maciej-henhttps://www.instagram.com/maciej.hen/www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064871385361www.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"My favorite teacher was in second grade. I had a teacher named Mrs. Abo who let me write all my homework assignments in rhyme. And it was like such a simple thing. I asked her if I could write all my homework assignments in rhyme. And she said, "Absolutely!" And she gave me permission to be wildly creative while still doing my work. And little moments like that can really change a kid's life. And I lobbied with this group called the Creative Coalition. We went and lobbied in DC to really fight for the arts being added to the STEM programs to make them STEAM programs because they're so interconnected. It's creative imagination that got us to the moon. It's science fiction stories that are getting us to Mars. It's like that. You know, playing the piano helps you in math. It's all part of the beautiful development of the brain, and it helps so much for learning other things."From her role as Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the hit Fox series House M.D, to her starring role as Abby McCarthy in Bravo's first scripted series Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce, Lisa Edelstein's range of roles are as diverse talent. Some of Edelstein's feature credits include Keeping the Faith, What Women Want, Daddy Daycare, As Good as It Gets, and Fathers and Sons. She played a Holocaust survivor and adopted mother in the drama television series Little Bird. The story centres on a First Nations woman who was adopted into a Jewish family during the Sixties Scoop, as she attempts to reconnect with her birth family and heritage.Lisa’s career began by writing, composing, and performing an original AIDS awareness musical Positive Me at the renowned La Mama Experimental Theater Club in New York City. In the wake of COVID, Lisa began to paint using old family photographs as starting points. Her incredibly detailed paintings capture intimate relationships and spontaneous moments with honesty and compassion.https://lisaedelstein.komi.io/www.lisaedelsteinpaintings.com/www.imdb.com/name/nm0249046www.creativeprocess.infowww.oneplanetpodcast.orgIG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcastArtworks:“Beach Day”, “Marsha”, “Karen” Courtesy of the ArtistLisa Edelstein in the StudioPhoto credit: Holland Clement, Courtesy of the artist