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No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

250: Unabridged Interview: Paul Rosolie

No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

Lee Camp

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.8555 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This is our unabridged interview with Paul Rosolie. He’s been dragged through the Amazon on the back of a giant anaconda, stood in seventy-foot flames trying to save burning animals, and slept on jungle floors for decades to protect a forest most of us will never see. Conservationist and author Paul Rosolie joins Lee C. Camp to tell the extraordinary story of how a dyslexic kid from Brooklyn followed a calling into the Amazon rainforest — and gave his life to protecting it. From near-death encounters and viral moments to faith, sacrifice, and hope, this conversation explores what it truly takes to change the world and why the future of human flourishing is inseparable from the fate of the wild. Key Ideas: -Answer the Call: Paul’s life shows how vocation often begins not with credentials, but with saying yes to the next faithful step placed before you. -Love What You Protect: Conservation, Paul argues, is not driven by ideology but by intimacy — knowing rivers, animals, and people well enough to fight for them. -Stay Human in Crisis: Facing ecological collapse without despair requires resisting cynicism and choosing hope as a disciplined, courageous act. -Courage Is Costly: Following a true calling often demands sacrifice — financial, relational, and personal — but meaning grows precisely in that cost. -The World Is Connected: The Amazon is not “out there”; it regulates climate, water, and life everywhere, binding New York, Bangalore, and the jungle canopy together. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Show Notes, Resources and Transcript⁠⁠ for abridged episode with Paul Rosolie⁠ Thank you to our sponsors: Boll and Branch: Get 20% off plus free shipping by visiting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BollAndBranch.com/NSE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join NSE+⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — our subscriber-only community — for ad-free listening, member-only bonus content, and early access to live show tickets. Your membership helps make No Small Endeavor sustainable. No Small Endeavor: An award-winning podcast that asks what it means to live a good life. Through conversations with leading thinkers across theology, philosophy, psychology, politics, and the social sciences, we explore human flourishing, meaning and purpose, faith and culture, science and religion, virtue and character, community, and the practices that help shape a good life grounded in truth, beauty, and goodness. Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@nosmallendeavor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Host Lee C. Camp: Lee has worked as a professor of theology & ethics for more than 25 years, teaching and writing on topics of faith & politics, inter-religious dialog, and human flourishing at the intersection of theology, moral philosophy, and social sciences. Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@leeccamp ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, friend Lacey Camp, you're listening to No Small Endeavor.

0:05.2

This is our unabridged interview with conservationist Paul Rosalie.

0:09.1

I loved this interview, and I find Paul just fascinating.

0:13.1

This is about Paul's work, his life that he's given to doing conservation work in the Amazon.

0:18.6

As you'll hear, he is a first-rate adventurer doing things that often sound

0:23.4

absolutely crazy, and yet he's given all of that to doing something that we all desperately need,

0:30.2

whether we realize it or not. So enjoy this interview with Paul Rosalie on his latest book,

0:34.6

Jungle Keepers, What It Takes to save the world. Enjoy.

0:40.0

Are you curious about the hidden side of everything? Then I have a podcast for you. I'm Stephen

0:46.3

Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio. Each week we hear from some of the most fascinating

0:51.0

scholars and thinkers as we tackle big topics like how whales became

0:55.8

the face of environmental activism, how to succeed at failing, and whether public transportation

1:01.3

should be free. Go ahead. Listen to Freakonomics Radio wherever you get your podcasts.

1:09.9

Paul Rosalie, welcome.

1:12.6

Thanks for having me.

1:13.5

How's it going?

1:14.1

It's great.

1:14.7

How about yourself?

1:15.4

In New York City for the big book launch?

1:18.0

Yes, in a very different jungle today than usual.

1:21.2

Well, congratulations on the new book.

1:22.7

It's a beautiful book, and it's a wonderful book, and I very much enjoy reading it.

...

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