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Episode 54

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Published on:

24th Apr 2025

#54 Scotty Johnson

This month, Mary had the chance to speak with career environmental activist, Scotty Johnson. Scotty has spent the last forty years working in conservation, climate education, and as a Permaculture design specialist. During his time, he's lectured extensively for former Vice-President Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, served as National Outreach representative for Defenders of Wildlife and founded the Lanai Permaculture Institute.

Through it all, Scotty has retained a passion for healing inherited from his father who worked as a country doctor in rural Arizona. Tending social ecologies, Scotty studied integrative medicine and Transpersonal psychology with pioneers like Andrew Weil and Stanislav Grof, investigating ancient healing methods practiced by the Tibetan Bon, Celtic, and other cross-cultural traditions. These explorations revealed that the Earth, like the human body, has an innate intelligence, keeping all functions healthy and balanced. Scotty believes that integrating different perspectives to engage this intelligence is uncharted territory with tremendous potential to hasten global restoration. He founded Taproot, a nonprofit effort based in Tucson, AZ, to further this awareness. 

You can learn more about Scotty Johnson by visiting the Taproot website https://taprootcollaborative.org/ . For exploring the integration of social ecological work, Scotty suggests the readings listed below.

And remember, as Scotty emphasized, take precious care of yourselves and don’t give up.

Readings:

"Dream of the Earth." Thomas Berry.

"The Secret Teachings of Plants." Harold Buhner.

"Braiding Sweetgrass." Robin Wall Kimmerer

"Entangled Earth." Merlin Sheldrake.

"Cosmos and Psyche." Richard Tamas.

MUSIC

Guitar 5 - Music by Johnson Cherian from Pixabay

Classic Guitar World Music Ajonnah - Music by Jonathan Dube Tembo from Pixabay

Slow Emotion - Music by Rodolphe Rakotomalala from Pixabay

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About the Podcast

How It Looks From Here
Life in the time of climate change
The truth is, life looks different to you than it does to me. The way race and gender, education and work, and everyday circumstances come together in any person...well, it’s different.

Hosted by Mary Clare, How It Looks From Here brings you diverse perspectives through engaging interviews. It's easy to think that everyone is feeling the same way you are - but they’re not. For every person, how it looks from where they are matters. And, with every interview, we’re enriched. It's helping.
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Mary Clare

Mary M Clare is a social scientist focused on social and cultural phenomena. She is an American Psychological Association Fellow, and the author of over 100 scholarly articles and three books, the latest, FULL ECOLOGY - REPAIRING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NATURAL WORLD, co-authored with Gary Ferguson. Mary is both truly curious and truly interested in the way people see life and how sharing those perspectives can strengthen the way we are in community.