RIAH TINGER
By Sheri Hoyte
are “part of” and not “apart from” ral world. ...”
notion that humans have a “biblical right” toexert dominion over all creatures of the natural world. Over the course of 15 years, I wrote CFC to emphasize the exact opposite of this misguided thought. Heavily relying on the knowledge I gained and experiences I had throughout my career, my goal with CFC was to set the record straight and—in the process—bring readers to the understanding that we all are “part of” and not “apart from” our natural world. What is your goal with Coming Full Circle? I read newspaper articles, visited the websites of organizations such as PETA, Action for Dolphins and World Animal protection. I also watched videos regarding Japan and dolphins. I visited the websites of Japanese bloggers to learn about life in Japan. I traveled to Japan and hired private tour guides to learn all that I could about their culture. I asked a lot of questions and observed people’s behavior, learned by interacting with them, and met many nice and helpful people. However, my experiences were not all positive. I was yelled at by train employees, not because I did something wrong, but because I was a foreigner and they just didn’t like me. And one day when I was crossing the street with my tour guide, this man punched me hard in the arm and hurt me. When I told my tour guide, she said that it was because he liked me. I thought, no way. That guy really hated me and that’s why he hit me. But you know, that’s how it is when you travel anywhere— you meet good people and crazy people. What is your goal with Coming Full Circle? Bringing readers to the understanding that we all are “part of” and not “apart from” our natural world. Then—based on this realization—helping readers comprehend that we have both the moral obligation and profound ability to solve our climate change and biodiversity loss crises.
Budd Titlow
Mariah Tinger
Read the complete interview with Titlow and Tinger
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