William Shatner’s Enduring Love for Planet Earth

Outside Podcast

Wilderness, Sports

4.3 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2023

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The actor’s flight into space in 2021 left him with an urgent desire to make us aware of the fragility of our home—a feeling that has yet to fade away. Media reports at the time, as well as Shatner’s own writing about his voyage with Blue Origin, focused on the grief he experienced looking into the blackness of space. But there was always much more to it. As part of an exploration into the power of awe for Outside, contributing editor Florence Williams spoke to Shatner, now 92, about how confronting forces larger than ourselves—be that beauty and wonder or horror and sadness—can be overwhelming yet ultimately transformative. The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by REI Co-op, which believes that life outside is essential.
0:09.0	Research demonstrates numerous physical and mental benefits to heading out your door.
0:13.9	Unfortunately, one in three Americans simply don't have outside spaces close to where
0:19.4	they live.
0:20.7	Challenges range from a lack of public transportation to a highway that cuts off a neighborhood
0:25.3	from a park to systemic issues.
0:27.9	It's a problem that affects the entire country, which is why REI is on a mission to get every
0:33.6	American outside in five minutes or less.
0:37.2	The movement is called outside in five, and it includes a combination of support for
0:42.2	local community-led organizations and a national campaign to pass the outdoors for all act.
0:49.2	Whether it's re-greening city blocks, creating safe bike lanes, or simply making our outdoor
0:54.0	spaces more equitable, together we can make getting to the park, a walk in the park.
1:00.2	Learn more and take action at REI.com-forward-slash-outside-in-five.
1:12.4	From outside magazine, this is the outside podcast.
1:24.9	I'd like to ask you about your fascination with space because you've had it your whole life,
1:30.8	and I wonder when it started. Was there a particular time do you remember?
1:37.6	I have a specific moment in time where I was probably 11, 12, somewhere around there,
1:46.2	and I had been sent to a summer camp outside of Montreal.
1:53.0	I was a city boy, and I was sitting on a log and it was night, and I was looking up into the stars,
2:01.0	and because of the light refraction from the city, I'd never really seen the stars
2:06.2	where there was no light pollution, and I stared up and I fell over backwards on the log,
2:12.6	fell back on my back. I was so awed by the panoply.
	...

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