Brian Thomas Swimme: Host & Co-Writer

Brian Thomas Swimme is a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oregon in 1978 for work in gravitational dynamics. He brings the context of story to our understanding of the 13.7 billion year trajectory of cosmogenesis. Such a story, he feels, will assist in the emergence of a flourishing Earth community. 

Swimme is the author of The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos and The Universe is a Green Dragon. He is co-author of The Universe Story, which is the result of a 10 year collaboration with the cultural historian, Thomas Berry.  Swimme is also the creator of three educational video series: Canticle to the Cosmos (1990), Earth’s Imagination (1998), and The Powers of the Universe (2006).

He lectures widely and has presented at conferences sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, The World Bank, UNESCO, The United Nations Millennium Peace Summit, and the American Museum of Natural History.

For further information: www.brianswimme.org 

Brian Thomas Swimme Introduction

Mary Evelyn Tucker: Executive Producer & Co-Writer

Mary Evelyn Tucker is a Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar at Yale University where she has appointments in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Divinity School, the Department of Religious Studies, and the Center for Bioethics. She teaches in the joint MA program in religion and ecology and directs the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale with her husband, John Grim.

Her special area of study is Asian religions. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in Japanese Confucianism. Her concern for the growing environmental crisis, especially in Asia, led her to organize with John Grim a series of ten conferences on World Religions and Ecology at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard (1995-1998). Together they are series editors for the ten volumes from the conferences distributed by Harvard University Press. After the conference series, she and Grim founded the Forum on Religion and Ecology at a culminating conference at the United Nations in 1998.

Tucker and Grim studied world religions with Thomas Berry and worked closely with him for some 30 years. Tucker edited several of Berry's books: The Great Work, Evening Thoughts, and The Sacred Universe.  To bring Berry's work forward she has also worked closely with evolutionary philosopher, Brian Thomas Swimme, for some 25 years.  They have collaborated together on the Journey of the Universe project.

Tucker has been involved with the Earth Charter since its inception. She served on the International Earth Charter Drafting Committee from 1997-2000 and is a member of the Earth Charter International Council.

For further information and a complete list of Mary Evelyn Tucker’s publications, go to: http://emergingearthcommunity.org/mary-evelyn-tucker

John Grim: Executive Producer

John Grim is Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar at Yale University with appointments at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale Divinity School, the Department of Religious Studies and the Center for Bioethics. Both he and Mary Evelyn Tucker direct the master’s program in Religion and Ecology at Yale.

He is also Coordinator of the Forum on Religion and Ecology with Mary Evelyn, and series editor with her of “World Religions and Ecology,” from the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions.  In that series he edited Indigenous Traditions & Ecology: the Interbeing of Cosmology & Community (Harvard, 2001). He is also the author of The Shaman (Oklahoma University Press, 1983). With Mary Evelyn he edited Worldviews and Ecology (Orbis, 5th printing 2000), and a Daedalus volume (2001) entitled, Religion and Ecology: Can the Climate Change?

For further information: http://emergingearthcommunity.org/john-grim

Patsy Northcutt: Co-Producer/Director • Editor

Patsy’s love of filmmaking is coupled with her passion, creativity and commitment to producing stories that highlight a positive and sustainable future. Based in the San Francisco bay area, she has over 25 years experience as a Producer, Director and Editor.

The programs that she’s produced, directed and/or edited focus on creating cultural and environmental awareness in areas such as green building, alternative transportation, species extinction, solutions for the future, green plans, criminal and social justice, green(ing) business and teen pregnancy.

Her credits includes: The Ecological Footprint: Accounting for a Small Planet; Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream Symposium Film Project; Texas Gold; Building Sustainability with The Natural Step.

For further information: www.northcuttproductions.com

David Kennard: Co-Producer/Director • Creative Development

David has more than 30 years of international experience as an award-winning producer, writer, director and communications consultant. He has played a leading role in the creation of many non-fiction television specials, books, multimedia products and media campaigns, and has produced fifteen major international documentary series.

His work as a producer and director includes: Keeping Score with Michael Tilson Thomas; Cosmos with Carl Sagan; Connections with James Burke; The Ascent of Man with Jacob Bronowsli; We The People with Peter Jennings; Joseph Campbell: The Hero’s Journey; The Heart of Healing with Jane Seymour; Global Warming with Alanis Morrisette; The Final Hours: Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight; The Promise of Play with Jane Goodall; and 2001:HAL’s Legacy with Arthur C. Clarke.

His work has won the National Emmy, International Emmy, Dupont Columbia, American Historical Association, National Education Film Festival, International Science Film Festival, Houston Worldfest, Alexander Hamilton, Cine Golden Eagle, BAFTA and Peabody Awards.

For further information:  www.incafilms.com

Catherine Lynn Butler: Co-Producer • Distribution Coordinator

Having started her media career in Washington, D.C. at National Public Radio, Catherine migrated west to work in the feature-film industry before finding her true calling in education-focused documentary films. A seasoned storyteller, Catherine has written and produced award-winning science, culture and social POV shows for clients including PBS, The Discovery Channel, The National Science Foundation, The Learning Channel, independent filmmakers, as well as national and international non-profits

Credits include co-producing the Emmy-nominated PBS special Documenting the Face of America and co-writing the Emmy Award-winning Women of Tibet. She also produced the independent feature The Future of Food, a film-festival favorite that has been used to affect social and environmental change. In 2011, she co-founded BigTree Media, LLC, a multi-media company dedicated to inspiring kids to rediscover the wonders of nature.

For further information: www.butlerfilms.tv

Ian Salvage: Cinematographer

British Director of Photography Ian Salvage has expertly lensed some of the most intriguing documentary and dramatic narrative stories from around the world.

From a BBC nature special on threatened elephants, to illuminating the visuals for Sir David Attenborough’s documentary Charles Darwin – The Tree of Life, and filming a drama on the life of Isaac Newton, Salvage captures the unique beauty and action of every story and location.

Just a few of his extensive credits include: Modern Master-Matisse; Gustav Mahler-Keeping Score; Beautiful Mind-Tim Hunt; Museum of Life; and Francis Drake.

For further information: www.iansalvage.com

Thomas Berry (1914-2009): Special Consultant

Thomas Berry received his Ph.D. in European intellectual history with a thesis on Giambattista Vico. Widely read in Western history and theology, he also spent many years studying and teaching the cultures and religions of Asia. Thomas authored two books on Asian religions, Buddhism and Religions of India.

For more than twenty years, Thomas directed the Riverdale Center of Religious Research along the Hudson River. During this period he taught at Fordham University where he chaired the history of religions program and directed some twenty doctoral theses. With Brian Swimme he wrote The Universe Story (Harper San Francisco, 1992), which arose from a decade of collaborative research.

His contributions to discussions on the environment are in his books The Dream of the Earth (Sierra Club Books, 1998), The Great Work: Our Way into the Future (Random House/Bell Towers, 1999), and Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community (Sierra Club/University of California Press, 2006). His final books focusing on world religions were published in 2009: The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-first Century by Columbia University Press and The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth by Orbis Books. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim assisted Thomas in editing his books.

For further information: www.thomasberry.org

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