Listening for Signal

LISTENING for SIGNAL

The original Council on the Uncertain Human Future held a reunion meeting at La Mesita Ranch (Pueblo of Pojoaque) in northern New Mexico in February 2016. Drawing on earlier conversations on the climate crisis, they raised new questions about why it is happening, who are we as humans and how we might respond. In Listening for Signal, they extend their conversations and questions to us.

View full film here, full council sessions and member interviews here.

COUNCIL MEMBERS

For more information on the national Council members who participated, please see their member bios here.

THE FILMMAKER

Nara Garber is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker with experience in all genres, and a strong preference for content with redeeming social and/or educational value. She directs, produces, does cinematography, editing, writing and “tilts at windmills,” all with fierce intelligence, gentle humor and steady care.

THE COUNCIL PRACTICE

Council is a more intentional conversation – in form, process and purpose. An ancient form of dialogue, it is practiced in the seeking of collective wisdom and discernment. Its tenets are simple – to speak authentically and spontaneously, to speak and listen from the heart, to share time, and to honor confidentiality.

As members sit in circle, a question or prompt is offered, and each member responds as the talking piece moves around the circle. The piece is a reminder to pause, listen and speak spontaneously.

GLASS PLANET

The Council’s talking piece was a special glass planet. In November 2007, it was carried to the International Space Station and back in honor of Council member Diana Chapman Walsh by Pamela Melroy, Wellesley ’83. Melroy was the Commander of the STS-120 mission of Discovery, one of only two women ever to command a NASA space shuttle.

The planet was created by glass artist Josh Simpson (whose wife Cady Coleman is an astronaut).