Conversation about new book, When Time Is Short, on NPR / Ideastream with Drew Maziasz

“New book examines our relationship with Earth, and it's potential end, through a religious lens” (in which I lead with my story of my bear story) …

The damage being done to the environment by human beings is widespread and concerning.

So intense, that some scientists argue that no matter how much we change our actions - it's just too late.

Timothy Beal, a professor of religious studies at Case Western Reserve University has a new book out that meditates on the finite nature of our future, and the potential for a human-less Earth.

But the book isn't as depressing as it might sound.

When Time Is Short: Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene looks at how exactly we got to this tenuous relationship with the planet, and points to how Judeo-Christian teachings may have influenced how we have dealt with the Earth's environment.

Beal also examines a more harmonious way to co-exist with nature in what may be our end of days."