LIZ CUNNINGHAM
My mission is to inspire and empower others to forge a kinder and more just world. I write at the intersection of conservation, social justice and spirituality about the practices we need to care for the life of our planet, among others an engaged hope and a capacity to work together to face unprecedented challenges. My efforts are in support of an ethic of reciprocity, gratitude and care that offers humanity a path forward.
I live with my husband Charlie and our dog Elsa in what is now called Maine, home to the sovereign people of the Wabanaki Confederacy. We dwell on their unceded homelands.
More About My Work
My most recent book, Just One: The Power of Compassion is a meditation on the power of compassion in a crisis-laden world. My writing has appeared in numerous publications such as Alternet.org, Deep Times Journal, Disruptive Quarterly, Earth Island Journal, GreenBiz, the Marin Poetry Center Anthology, Seven Seas Magazine, Times of the Islands and The San Francisco Chronicle. Public outreach and community building is key to my work. I have spoken to audiences in a wide range of settings, from inner-city high schools to universities and large public venues such as the Commonwealth Club, The New York Times Building and the New England Aquarium.
Books
Just One: The Power of Compassion
Ocean Country: One Woman’s Voyage from Peril to Hope in Her Quest to Save the Seas.
Talking Politics: Choosing the President in the Television Age
More Writing
Deep Times Journal | Communities of Breath: The Great Turning and Our Breathing Earth
Our breath and the breath of the earth as window into the reciprocity that fuels life and can sustain us in times of chaos.
Plankton in Our Midst | Plankton and Our Breathing Earth
A longform essay in the exhibit catalog Plankton in Our Midst on the crucial role of plankton and the reciprocity at the heart of our breathing earth, an idea deeply understood by Indigenous traditions and recognized by science.
Mission Blue | Hope in the Coral Triangle
The humanitarian fallout from fisheries collapses is staggering. Approximately 120 million people depend on fisheries either for food or their livelihood in the Coral Triangle.
Seven Seas | Ocean Hope Chronicles: Hands-On Hope at Project Puffin
Project Puffin’s pioneering seabird colony methods in Maine inspired restoration projects around the world.
Asian Geographic | Stripped to the Bone
Reccord-breaking high temperatures trigger a coral bleaching event in the Turks and Caicos Islands which becomes a sentinel for climate change impacts.
Seven Seas | The World According to Pteropod
The respiratory habits of pteropods, oceanic snails, have much to tell us about climate change, interconnectivity, and the health of our seas.