April 3, 2020 - Civics 101 with Stacy Pulice, PhD

This month, we're turning Earth Day into Earth Month. Why only celebrate and discuss the power of Mother Nature and what we can do to help for one day? In the midst of the global crisis, we cannot forget about our beautiful Earth. Tune into our next few shows, replays of some of our favorite Earth-related topics, to learn from the experts on what we as citizens of the Earth can do to help!

Our first story with Stacy Pulice discussed how to repair a fraying democracy. Political theorist Teresa Bejan studied and wrote a book about civility. After concluding her studies, Bejan learned “the virtue that makes un-murderous coexistence possible [in society] is the virtue of civility,” as she states in her TED Talk. “Civility makes our disagreements tolerable so that we can share a life together, even if we don’t share a faith — religious, political or otherwise.” The point of civility, she says, is to allow us to “have fundamental disagreements without denying or destroying the possibility of a common life tomorrow with the people we think are standing in our way today.” It is up to all of us-- teaching our leaders to lead, voting, and putting country above party.

We next discuss citizen science, where any amateur, regardless of a scientific degree, can help participate in research and sample gathering. We tend to imagine that science is done by brainy, socially awkward guys in lab coats who quote mathematical equations like the rest of us quote song lyrics.  But really, science in America has always been done by regular people without a degree-- think Benjamin Franklin and his kite to understand electricity or the Wright brothers and the first airplanes. With new data sharing abilities and greater communication, “citizen scientists” are becoming more important to creating new science, and even the Federal Government is developing programs that recognize this. 

In times of global panic and unrest, it is important to elevate our compassion for one another and for the Earth, because in the end, that is what matters the most.

As a psychologist, educator, author, and speaker, Stacy Pulice, Ph.D. is committed to creating a collective awakening and a heroic response to the climate emergency. Having spent over 20 years advocating for a more humanistic approach to education systems, her current work explores the connections between education and environmentalism, and the role of mindfulness and empathy in shaping a more sustainable world. Among numerous projects she has launched and led with a focus on fostering emotional intelligence in the classroom, she is the founder of Wisdom of the Fool, a 501C3 aiming to nurture the physical and emotional wholeness of educators and students; the educational consultant on the board of AHA!, a non-profit providing social and emotional learning programs for at-risk teens; and the Chair of the Education Committee for the USC Civic Engagement Board of Councilors. In her latest book, Listen to the Children, Stacy shows that children thrive when educated from a life- and soul-affirming perspective, using the innovative practices identified as the 4 C’s: Care, Connection, Community, and Choice. Applied to environmental advocacy, the 4 C’s are a means of promoting climate truth and fostering positive action in service of planetary healing.