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The Lament of the Bigfoot

October 23, 2024

(Recorded October 7, 2024)

Description

​​In a polarized and fractured society, those who draw attention to the ecological devastation wrought by human activities, and those who champion the importance of protecting non-human life, increasingly face the label of being ‘anti-human.’ In this Frankly, Nate reads a poem he wrote 20 years ago this month “The Lament of the Bigfoot” which highlights the disproportionate role humans have on the ecosystems they inhabit and reflects on how his attitudes have both changed and stayed the same 20 years on.

Yes, the scale of the human enterprise has resulted in unprecedented harm to Earth’s biosphere. But separate from – and indeed as a result of – our past decisions, it is our actions today that will steer the future. Imagine how different that future might look if humanity harnessed its ingenuity and innovation to become active contributors, embedded within the web of life.

Is it possible to overcome ‘the agenda of the gene‘? And if so: how? And when? In what ways could humans actively enhance ecosystems by creating, rather than appropriating, biological productivity? And how might we reframe cultural and economic incentives to accelerate the shift towards an ecological civilization? Big open questions.

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Show Notes

PDF Transcript

01:12 – Herman Daly + TGS Episode

02:07 – Bigfoot

02:09 – ‘The Lament of the Bigfoot’ poem

04:43 – Patterson/Gimlin film

05:03 – Atossa Soltani

06:24 – Jared Diamond + cutting down the last tree

06:56 – Daniel Quinn + Takers and Leavers

07:13 – What if Climate Change was a Hoax?

08:03 – Leaving the stability of the Holocene

08:32 – Pella Thiel + TGS Episode

09:40 – Joanna Macy + Council of All Beings

10:32 – TGS Episode on Energy Blindness in economics

10:43 – Net Primary Productivity (NPP) + Human appropriation of NPP

10:58 – Regenerative agriculture + impact on soil health

11:27 – Restoring wetlands 

11:35 – Reconnecting water flows

11:50 – Carbon stored in wetlands

11:58 – Forests grow at *2.5% per year

12:14 – 19 terawatt metabolism

13:13 – *6 of 9 planetary boundaries have been exceeded

13:24 – Maximum Power Principle, Economic Superorganism

13:53 – Frankly on emerging shift in consciousness

15:58 – Four Horsemen

17:40 – Mary Oliver + poem

Nate Hagens

Nate Hagens

Nate Hagens is the Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF) an organization focused on educating and preparing society for the coming cultural transition. Allied with leading ecologists, energy experts, politicians and systems thinkers ISEOF assembles road-maps and off-ramps for how human societies can adapt to lower throughput lifestyles.

Nate holds a Masters Degree in Finance with Honors from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. He teaches an Honors course, Reality 101, at the University of Minnesota.