Talking on the water

Since 1983, the Resource Institute, headed by Jonathan White, has held an ongoing series of "floating seminars" aboard a 65-foot schooner, events led by leading thinkers and artists in a broad array of disciplines. Ten years in the making, here is a sparkling collection of interviews, conducted by White, with the writers, scientists, environmentalists, and poets that gathered on board to explore our relationship to the wild. Readers can listen to science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin discuss the nature of language; microbiologist Lynn Margulis contemplate Darwin's career and the many meanings of evolution and anthropologist Richard Nelson talk about the spiritual life of Alaska's native people. Rounding out the group are such visionaries as writers Gretel Ehrlich, Paul Shepard, and Peter Matthiessen, conservationists David Brower and Roger Payne, theologian Matthew Fox, activist Janet McCloud, Jungian analyst James Hillman, poet Gary Snyder, and ecologist Dolores LaChapelle. By identifying the common link between these conversations, we embark on the search for a deeper and more meaningful understanding of ourselves and the environment.