Paul Hawken on Reimagining Our Relationship to Carbon

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his new book “Carbon: The Book of Life,” Paul Hawken guides readers through the integral role of carbon in our world and daily lives. Carbon is a miracle element that is the basis of life on earth, and yet, it has become maligned as the culprit of our climate change crisis. Hawken, a Bay Area native and longtime environmentalist and entrepreneur, offers a hopeful re-consideration of carbon, as a way to embrace our connection to the planet and guide us to climate solutions. We talk to Hawken about his new book, his work on environmental sustainability and how to reimagine our complex relationship with carbon and the planet as a whole. Guests: Paul Hawken, environmentalist, entrepreneur and author; his latest book is "Carbon: The Book of Life." His other books include "Regeneration," "Drawdown," "Blessed Unrest" and "The Ecology of Commerce." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:03.1	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Leslie McClureg. I'm in today for Alexis Madrigal.
1:08.6	Coming up on forum, best-selling author Paul Hawkin joins us to talk about his new book, Carbon,
1:14.6	The Book of Life. It's pretty miraculous that every breath you take contains carbon atoms that have cycled through dinosaurs, ancient forests, and even the deep ocean.
1:18.9	Carbon isn't just a climate problem.
1:20.7	It's the thread that connects every living thing.
1:23.4	Hawken challenges us to rethink our relationship with this essential element.
1:27.2	All that right after this news. Music Hawken challenges us to rethink our relationship with this essential element.
1:27.8	All that right after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Leslie McClureg. I'm in today for Alexis Madrigal. And for years,
1:54.0	I covered the environment, you know, the rising temperatures, the wildfires, the species on the brink of extinction,
2:00.7	basically a drumbeat of crises after crises.
2:04.6	And after a while, all of that bad news really wore me down. I am now a health reporter for that reason.
	...

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