[NEW EPISODE] After Earth Day

“The mission of Mind Body Health & Politics is to expand consciousness, stimulate thought, enhance mental and physical health, and encourage community.” — Dr. Richard L. Miller

I'm excited to welcome back to the program Obi Kaufmann, an artist, writer, and conservationist whose work beautifully combines science and art to tell stories about California's natural world. In our post-Earth Day discussion, Obi takes us into the complexities of ecological philosophy and the challenges we face in understanding and stewarding our environment.

Obi's perspective challenges conventional notions of environmentalism and our relationship with nature. He questions the very language we use to describe the natural world, stating, "Nature is a word that has very little meaning. I'm not exactly sure, on any granular level, how that can really be applied towards my experience of the world."

Can we define “nature”? What is the dividing line between the natural and the artificial?

We also explore the intricacies of California's water management issues, with Obi sharing insights from his book The State of Water. Despite recent rains, he warns that California hasn't seen the worst of the drought yet, explaining, "California, we do know historically – and in fact the people of California are still around to tell us about what happened – we're not talking about five years of drought, we're not talking about 20 years of drought, we're talking about centuries of drought."

Obi also discusses the paradoxical nature of our efforts to save the environment, such as destructive wind farms being built on nature sanctuarites, noting, "We're developing this systematic wholly paradoxical paradigm, where we are trading nature to save nature. We are spending nature to save nature."

Throughout our conversation, Obi emphasizes the importance of biodiversity and the resilience it provides to ecosystems. He argues that the balance between scientific innovation and indigenous-led ecological thought is a more positive and hopeful way of discussing the reorganization of thought in terms of social constructs and the concept of nature.

“[W]e are trading nature to save nature. We are spending nature to save nature.”

As we navigate the ecological challenges of the 21st century, Obi invites us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world and to embrace a more holistic, interconnected worldview. His upcoming book, The State of Fire: Why California Burns, promises to shed light on the complex factors contributing to California's wildfire crisis. Follow Obi on Instagram at Coyote Thunder, and while you’re there make sure to follow me as well.

I hope you'll join Obi and me for this thought-provoking discussion about the future of environmentalism and our role in stewarding the natural world.

Tune in for this healthy conversation at TalkRadio.nyc

Show Notes

Segment 1

On this episode of Mind, Body, Health, & Politics, Dr. Miller is joined by Obi Kaufmann, an artist, writer, and conservationist as they will be having a post-Earth Day discussion. To start the episode off, Dr. Miller asks Obi about his point of view as a naturalist on the slogan, “From each according to his ability to each according to his need.” Dr. Miller does offer his point of view on the different country systems that the slogan can apply to after Obi shares his view, but Obi also challenges it a little bit in a peaceful discussion on the matter. 

Segment 2

As the conversation continues, Dr. Miller talks about a drought Obi has some concerns about along with discussing the current climate crisis, despite having some rain within the past few months to help with the drought. They also primarily use California's climate and the endangerment of species as prime examples in their discussion. 

Segment 3

Dr. Miller and Obi continue to discuss California’s interesting biodiversity portfolio and beaver restorations, where people try to make an environment that will attract beavers to come and settle into the area. They move on to discuss that humans are a part of nature and a part of the earth and cannot be separated from it. Dr. Miller asks to share the stories behind Obi's tattoos, a honeybee on Obi’s hand and the other saying “WILDLIFE” on his other knuckles. 

Segment 4

As the episode comes to a close, Dr. Miller and Obi talk about Obi’s passion for art and writing encyclopedias based on nature and wildlife. They also discuss current news about nature preservation in California, as there were talks about placing a wind farm near a lovely river in California. Dr. Miller and Obi wrap up their conversation by putting in their final thoughts on numerous topics like the history behind the California State Flag and different conservation organizations in California. 

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Transcript