In this episode I speak with Trebbe Johnson, author of ‘Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty in Earth's Broken Places.’ We discuss how in a "world devastated by human interaction and natural disaster — from clearcutting and fracking to extreme weather and urban sprawl — creating art, ritual, and even joy in wounded places is essential to our collective healing.”⚬
In this discussion, I ask Trebbe to go over some of the themes she presents in her book, in particular what it means for a place to be broken, and what it means for us as individuals when those places we have found respite are violated and desecrated by industry, development, deforestation, pollution, and the accelerating crises of global climate change and ecological collapse. “Often, we respond simply by abandoning these places, as if they no longer count. Or else we work so feverishly to restore them to a state somewhere between what we remember and what we long for, that we fail to pay attention to how they look—and how they affect us.”☀︎ How can we find meaningful engagement with these places, and what lessons can we learn in recognizing that “waste is an orphan from the circle of life”?✦ We discuss this and more in this episode.
Trebbe is the author of ‘The World Is a Waiting Lover,’ ‘101 Ways to Make Guerrilla Beauty,’ and ‘Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty in Earth's Broken Places.' She is the founder and executive director of the non-profit organization Radical Joy For Hard Times, and her articles about people’s emotional and spiritual relationship with nature have appeared in Orion, Sierra, Ecopsychology, The Ecologist, The Nation, Harper’s and other magazines. She lives with her husband, Andrew Gardner, in rural northeastern Pennsylvania.✧
Sources:
Episode Notes:
- Learn more about Trebbe and her work: https://trebbejohnson.com
- Purchase ‘Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty in Earth's Broken Places’: http://bit.ly/RadJoyBook
- Learn more about Trebbe’s organization Radical Joy For Hard Times: https://www.radicaljoyforhardtimes.org
- The songs featured in this episode are “Sand Castle (feat. Barnes Blvd.)” and “Today” by Through & Through from the EP Melancholy.