Presented by The Peter Matthiessen Center & Guild Hall

Renowned marine biologist, undersea explorer, and founder of Mission Blue, Dr. Sylvia Earle explores the power of writing to illuminate what we know—and don’t know—about the ocean, where the vast majority of life remains unseen. She highlights collaborative restoration efforts with the Shinnecock Bay Hope Spot, including Dr. Ellen Pikitch and the Indigenous Advisory Council. The bay’s designation as a Mission Blue Hope Spot signifies much more than scientific research and restoration; Hope Spots recognize a water body’s cultural, recreational, and traditional importance. Shinnecock Bay is integral to the local Indigenous community and holds great cultural, ecological, and spiritual value.

Joined by Dr. Carl Safina, marine ecologist, author, and founder of The Safina Center, she reflects on this pivotal moment for understanding our place in the ocean’s intricate web of life.

Presented by The Peter Matthiessen Center & Guild Hall

We live in a culture that rarely questions growth. Expansion—of markets, wealth, productivity, even the self—is often treated not only as an economic goal, but as a moral good. But what happens when growth begins to function as a belief system? What, in this framework, do we worship—and what do we lose?

Moderated by writer and editor Nina Channing, this conversation brings together three acclaimed thinkers whose work examines the values shaping contemporary life. Journalist and author Audrea Lim, whose writing explores climate change, labor, migration, and movements for social and environmental justice, considers how communities imagine more equitable and sustainable futures. Novelist and cultural critic Tara Isabella Burton, author of Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, investigates the new forms of belief, identity, ritual, and belonging that emerge in an increasingly secular and consumer-driven culture. Psychoanalyst and author Jamieson Webster brings a psychoanalytic lens to questions of desire, freedom, anxiety, and the psychological underpinnings of modern life.

Drawing on the work of writer, social justice advocate, and Zen priest Peter Matthiessen, the discussion explores alternatives to a culture organized around accumulation and endless expansion, asking how literature, environmental thought, and psychoanalysis might help us imagine different ways of living.