60 acast.com Lifeworlds https://shows.acast.com/lifeworlds en Alexa Firmenich Nature, Climate, Philosophy Alexa Firmenich Lifeworlds is an intimate dialogue with our planet’s ecologies and with those who are translators and bridges between the human and beyond-human.


Our guests are farmers, lawyers, scientists, investors, indigenous scholars, artists, and many more — with them, we explore the mindsets, skills and actions required to forge deep connections with nature and to enter into close relationship with the lifeworlds of other beings.


We begin to change the world when we change our ways of seeing and being. Lifeworlds points us towards a deeper reformulation of core human identities, asking who it is we share the Earth with and what our human role may be at this pivotal moment in time. It is through the doorway of inhabiting and understanding multiple perspectives that we can begin to heal a culture and psyche that is steeped in duality. We have lost our place as humans amongst all life. This is our call for healing, engagement and wonder.

www.lifeworld.earth

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]]> Lifeworlds is an intimate dialogue with our planet’s ecologies and with those who are translators and bridges between the human and beyond-human.


Our guests are farmers, lawyers, scientists, investors, indigenous scholars, artists, and many more — with them, we explore the mindsets, skills and actions required to forge deep connections with nature and to enter into close relationship with the lifeworlds of other beings.


We begin to change the world when we change our ways of seeing and being. Lifeworlds points us towards a deeper reformulation of core human identities, asking who it is we share the Earth with and what our human role may be at this pivotal moment in time. It is through the doorway of inhabiting and understanding multiple perspectives that we can begin to heal a culture and psyche that is steeped in duality. We have lost our place as humans amongst all life. This is our call for healing, engagement and wonder.

www.lifeworld.earth

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> false Alexa Firmenich info+62c700e8b155a500150a868f@mg-eu.acast.com 62c700e8b155a500150a868f lifeworlds episodic https://assets.pippa.io/shows/62c700e8b155a500150a868f/1657209182023-bb316d188a4b1f8bcaf74da9972fa72d.jpeg https://shows.acast.com/lifeworlds Lifeworlds <![CDATA[36. Stingless Bees, Ancient Honey & the Amazon's Future – with Dr. Rosa Vasquez Espinosa]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:36:03 GMT 1:11:09 69ce8cc43a785fb94b8185bd false https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/stinglessbeesamazonfuture 69ce8cc43a785fb94b8185bd 62c700e8b155a500150a868f 36-stingless-bees-ancient-honey-the-amazons-future-with-dr-r full 4 36 What if one of the most powerful tools for saving the Amazon rain-forest was a bee most people have never heard of?

Enter the stingless bee – a 65 million year old resident of Earth that produces honeys teeming with medicinal molecules and has co-evolved with indigenous Amazonian communities across millennia. Today, these bees are at the keystone species at the heart of a pioneering conservation movement spanning science, law, economics and Indigenous rights: one that recently secured the world's first legal recognition of the rights of an insect.


Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza is the National Geographic Explorer and conservation scientist whose NGO Amazon Research Internacional is spearheading these initiatives. In this episode we explore the life world of the bees themselves, the pioneering science and bio-economies emerging around their extraordinary honey, the deep co-evolutionary bond between stingless bees and Amazonian communities, and how bridging indigenous and Western knowledge is proving essential for the forest, for the communities who steward the bees and the legal frameworks being built to protect them.


Episode Website Link: https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/stinglessbeesamazonfuture


Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> What if one of the most powerful tools for saving the Amazon rain-forest was a bee most people have never heard of?

Enter the stingless bee – a 65 million year old resident of Earth that produces honeys teeming with medicinal molecules and has co-evolved with indigenous Amazonian communities across millennia. Today, these bees are at the keystone species at the heart of a pioneering conservation movement spanning science, law, economics and Indigenous rights: one that recently secured the world's first legal recognition of the rights of an insect.


Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza is the National Geographic Explorer and conservation scientist whose NGO Amazon Research Internacional is spearheading these initiatives. In this episode we explore the life world of the bees themselves, the pioneering science and bio-economies emerging around their extraordinary honey, the deep co-evolutionary bond between stingless bees and Amazonian communities, and how bridging indigenous and Western knowledge is proving essential for the forest, for the communities who steward the bees and the legal frameworks being built to protect them.


Episode Website Link: https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/stinglessbeesamazonfuture


Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[35. From Stardust To Sentience: Astrobiology & Life in the Cosmos – with Adam Frank]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 06:00:00 GMT 59:38 69a9cb79f6d1583bb884cc33 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 69a9cb79f6d1583bb884cc33 62c700e8b155a500150a868f life-in-the-cosmos full 4 35 What is life, and are we alone in the universe?

In this episode I sit down with Adam Frank, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester, prolific science communicator, and author of five books including The Blind Spot and The Little Book of Aliens. Adam is one of the most compelling voices working at the intersection of astrobiology, philosophy, and the human future.

We journey from the stunning variety of exoplanets we're only beginning to map, to the deep questions on detecting life in space. Adam argues that the search for extraterrestrial life can't be separated from the question of what life means here on Earth. Astrobiology, it turns out, may be our most useful mirror for understanding our own civilisational moment.

We also get into the hard problem of consciousness, the blind spot at the heart of modern science, and how cosmology like art and myth - can be a gateway to awe. A conversation that leaves you more at home in the strangeness of the universe and probably less certain about what “alive” even means.

Episode Website Link

Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Hubble Space Telescope

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> What is life, and are we alone in the universe?

In this episode I sit down with Adam Frank, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester, prolific science communicator, and author of five books including The Blind Spot and The Little Book of Aliens. Adam is one of the most compelling voices working at the intersection of astrobiology, philosophy, and the human future.

We journey from the stunning variety of exoplanets we're only beginning to map, to the deep questions on detecting life in space. Adam argues that the search for extraterrestrial life can't be separated from the question of what life means here on Earth. Astrobiology, it turns out, may be our most useful mirror for understanding our own civilisational moment.

We also get into the hard problem of consciousness, the blind spot at the heart of modern science, and how cosmology like art and myth - can be a gateway to awe. A conversation that leaves you more at home in the strangeness of the universe and probably less certain about what “alive” even means.

Episode Website Link

Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Hubble Space Telescope

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 34. Black Mountains College: Rethinking Education for Our Times - with Ben Rawlence 34. Black Mountains College: Rethinking Education for Our Times - with Ben Rawlence Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:00:00 GMT 58:12 69806ac613c1477af2a40d07 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 69806ac613c1477af2a40d07 62c700e8b155a500150a868f black-mountains-college-rethinking-education-for-our-time full 3 34 Today’s episode explores a simple but urgent question: is our education system still fit for the world we’re entering? Climate disruption, AI, and uncertainty demand new forms of education fit for complexity and change.

A rich lineage of alternative and experimental education has been evolving for decades, seeking to make learning more holistic, place-based, creative, and ecologically grounded. The focus of today’s conversation is one of those institutions: Black Mountains College in Wales. BMC is building a university model explicitly designed for a warming world, where nature is often the classroom and curriculum blends ecology and climate science with the arts, systems thinking, and community-rooted practice.

I’m joined by its co-founder and CEO, Ben Rawlence, award-winning writer and former human rights researcher, to explore:

  • The historicity of Western educational systems
  • What the role of a university should be in society
  • Black Mountains College as model of the future of education 
  • The role of ecological imagination
  • Youth, eco anxiety and the challenges of parenting in today’s planetary moment

Episode Website

Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Today’s episode explores a simple but urgent question: is our education system still fit for the world we’re entering? Climate disruption, AI, and uncertainty demand new forms of education fit for complexity and change.

A rich lineage of alternative and experimental education has been evolving for decades, seeking to make learning more holistic, place-based, creative, and ecologically grounded. The focus of today’s conversation is one of those institutions: Black Mountains College in Wales. BMC is building a university model explicitly designed for a warming world, where nature is often the classroom and curriculum blends ecology and climate science with the arts, systems thinking, and community-rooted practice.

I’m joined by its co-founder and CEO, Ben Rawlence, award-winning writer and former human rights researcher, to explore:

  • The historicity of Western educational systems
  • What the role of a university should be in society
  • Black Mountains College as model of the future of education 
  • The role of ecological imagination
  • Youth, eco anxiety and the challenges of parenting in today’s planetary moment

Episode Website

Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Poetry | Fruitful Darkness with Rilke Poetry | Fruitful Darkness with Rilke Sun, 26 Oct 2025 05:45:33 GMT 17:42 68fdb57ddeee754a726f27f5 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/fruitfuldarknessrilke 68fdb57ddeee754a726f27f5 62c700e8b155a500150a868f poetry-fruitful-darkness-with-rilke bonus 3 This Lifeworlds episode is a devotional journey into the work of Rainer Maria Rilke, the lyrical German poet of thresholds and embracing transformations.


Through readings of his most luminous poems and writings, we explore how Rilke guides us deliciously in reconciling suffering and turmoil with tremendous beauty. It’s an offering for anyone standing in the in-between, for those moving through sublimation, and longing for those secret, dazzling encounters with primal life forces.


Rilke’s words are an invitation in. To move towards. His poems are prayers…. “to go out into our hearts as onto a vast plain, so that life can feel us as it reaches for us.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> This Lifeworlds episode is a devotional journey into the work of Rainer Maria Rilke, the lyrical German poet of thresholds and embracing transformations.


Through readings of his most luminous poems and writings, we explore how Rilke guides us deliciously in reconciling suffering and turmoil with tremendous beauty. It’s an offering for anyone standing in the in-between, for those moving through sublimation, and longing for those secret, dazzling encounters with primal life forces.


Rilke’s words are an invitation in. To move towards. His poems are prayers…. “to go out into our hearts as onto a vast plain, so that life can feel us as it reaches for us.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[33. Empatheatre: Social Sculpture & Feeling Across Worlds - with Dylan McGarry]]> Thu, 16 Oct 2025 04:00:00 GMT 1:17:20 68ee0b9c06cd1a7c23681c69 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 68ee0b9c06cd1a7c23681c69 62c700e8b155a500150a868f empatheatre full 3 33 In this episode, we explore the role of theatre and empathy in transforming worldviews. Dr. Dylan McGarry is one of the founders of Empatheatre, a South African theatre-making company and methodology that turns research and storytelling into living social sculpture. Their plays create what they call amphitheatres for empathy - spaces where art, ritual, and dialogue help people listen across difference, from mining conflicts to ocean governance to human-wildlife coexistence.

Empatheatre’s productions have brought together communities, policymakers, and activists that rarely meet, showing how imagination can transform civic life. The process of creating the plays generates profound potentials for restorative justice. As Dylan says, empathy is not about agreement, but about creating a vessel strong enough to hold our differences while keeping us in relation.

We will cover:

  • Empathy as a creative act
  • Theatre and storytelling as Trojan horses that open conversations that traditional politics often can’t
  • How to design spaces that allow lifeworlds to touch and the practices that help us shift into another’s perspective
  • How empathy, when practiced collectively, becomes a form of governance: a new infrastructure for democracy and care

Episode website

Links:

Photo Credit: Casey Pratt. It captures a significant moment in a collaborative theatre-making & storytelling project titled "Umkhosi Wenala"

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> In this episode, we explore the role of theatre and empathy in transforming worldviews. Dr. Dylan McGarry is one of the founders of Empatheatre, a South African theatre-making company and methodology that turns research and storytelling into living social sculpture. Their plays create what they call amphitheatres for empathy - spaces where art, ritual, and dialogue help people listen across difference, from mining conflicts to ocean governance to human-wildlife coexistence.

Empatheatre’s productions have brought together communities, policymakers, and activists that rarely meet, showing how imagination can transform civic life. The process of creating the plays generates profound potentials for restorative justice. As Dylan says, empathy is not about agreement, but about creating a vessel strong enough to hold our differences while keeping us in relation.

We will cover:

  • Empathy as a creative act
  • Theatre and storytelling as Trojan horses that open conversations that traditional politics often can’t
  • How to design spaces that allow lifeworlds to touch and the practices that help us shift into another’s perspective
  • How empathy, when practiced collectively, becomes a form of governance: a new infrastructure for democracy and care

Episode website

Links:

Photo Credit: Casey Pratt. It captures a significant moment in a collaborative theatre-making & storytelling project titled "Umkhosi Wenala"

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 32. Depth Psychology and Soul Initiation – with Bill Plotkin from Animas Valley Institute 32. Depth Psychology and Soul Initiation – with Bill Plotkin from Animas Valley Institute Fri, 11 Jul 2025 08:09:52 GMT 1:14:45 6870ac8aea74e132fbc6efbe false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 6870ac8aea74e132fbc6efbe 62c700e8b155a500150a868f depth-psychology-and-soul-initiation-with-bill-plotkin full 3 32 In this episode, I sit down with Bill Plotkin, founder of Animas Valley Institute. Over the past 40 years, Bill has developed intricate, nature-based models of human development and education that challenge dominant psychological frameworks and invite us into a maturation process rooted in wholeness, wildness, and the more-than-human world.

We explore their three major maps of a person’s “soul-centric journey” and cover topics including:

  • Why most modern humans remain developmentally stuck in early adolescence
  • The 8-stage Soulcentric Developmental Wheel and how it mirrors nature’s rhythms
  • The four cardinal facets of the psyche, and the inner protectors that distort them
  • Whether other species undergo their own versions of soul initiation
  • Why the path to a mature culture will not come from the strategic mind, but from descent, mystery, and imagination
  • This is a deep-dive into a body of work that’s revolutionizing the lives of thousands of people, and how to think about adulthood, education, and healthy human cultures.

Episode Website Link

Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Midjourney

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> In this episode, I sit down with Bill Plotkin, founder of Animas Valley Institute. Over the past 40 years, Bill has developed intricate, nature-based models of human development and education that challenge dominant psychological frameworks and invite us into a maturation process rooted in wholeness, wildness, and the more-than-human world.

We explore their three major maps of a person’s “soul-centric journey” and cover topics including:

  • Why most modern humans remain developmentally stuck in early adolescence
  • The 8-stage Soulcentric Developmental Wheel and how it mirrors nature’s rhythms
  • The four cardinal facets of the psyche, and the inner protectors that distort them
  • Whether other species undergo their own versions of soul initiation
  • Why the path to a mature culture will not come from the strategic mind, but from descent, mystery, and imagination
  • This is a deep-dive into a body of work that’s revolutionizing the lives of thousands of people, and how to think about adulthood, education, and healthy human cultures.

Episode Website Link

Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Midjourney

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 31. Holistic Landscape Restoration and Inspirational Returns – with Willem Ferwerda from Commonland 31. Holistic Landscape Restoration and Inspirational Returns – with Willem Ferwerda from Commonland Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:18:16 GMT 1:08:40 68652a40e950c231df6726c3 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 68652a40e950c231df6726c3 62c700e8b155a500150a868f holistic-landscape-restoration-and-inspirational-returns full 3 31 Almost 40% of Earth’s land is degraded, meaning that the natural cycles that sustain biodiversity, water, food, and livelihoods are breaking down. This degradation is an ecological crisis, and, it also lies at the root of massive social breakdown, displacement, and conflict. And it’s accelerating.


In this episode, I speak with Dutch ecologist and entrepreneur Willem Ferwerda, founder of Commonland, one of the leading global initiatives tackling land degradation via large-scale holistic landscape restoration. Their work spans over 20 countries, with projects restoring millions of hectares from South Africa to Spain, Australia to the Netherlands. We get into their unique 4 Returns Framework - a powerful, intuitive model that integrates ecological, social, financial, and inspirational/spiritual returns.


We talk about:

  • Communities building long-term visions together across sectors
  • The importance of meeting different audiences where they are
  • The role of storytelling, spirituality, and local leadership
  • How restoring land helps restore meaning and purpose
  • And how, ultimately, all this work is about regenerating life


Episode Website Link


Show links:

Look out for meditations, poems and readings in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Commonland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Almost 40% of Earth’s land is degraded, meaning that the natural cycles that sustain biodiversity, water, food, and livelihoods are breaking down. This degradation is an ecological crisis, and, it also lies at the root of massive social breakdown, displacement, and conflict. And it’s accelerating.


In this episode, I speak with Dutch ecologist and entrepreneur Willem Ferwerda, founder of Commonland, one of the leading global initiatives tackling land degradation via large-scale holistic landscape restoration. Their work spans over 20 countries, with projects restoring millions of hectares from South Africa to Spain, Australia to the Netherlands. We get into their unique 4 Returns Framework - a powerful, intuitive model that integrates ecological, social, financial, and inspirational/spiritual returns.


We talk about:

  • Communities building long-term visions together across sectors
  • The importance of meeting different audiences where they are
  • The role of storytelling, spirituality, and local leadership
  • How restoring land helps restore meaning and purpose
  • And how, ultimately, all this work is about regenerating life


Episode Website Link


Show links:

Look out for meditations, poems and readings in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Commonland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> From Orbit to Intimacy | Beyond the Overview Effect From Orbit to Intimacy | Beyond the Overview Effect Tue, 10 Jun 2025 07:55:20 GMT 16:24 6847e4e8d61256a5783c6bcf false https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/lifeworldsinworlding 6847e4e8d61256a5783c6bcf 62c700e8b155a500150a868f from-orbit-to-intimacy-beyond-the-overview-effect bonus What if the next shift in planetary consciousness didn’t come from looking back at Earth from space, but from listening deeply to the voices already here? In this thought piece I propose the “inworlding effect” as the overview effect of our time: one where developments in science, technology, law, and many other disciplines are revealing our entangled presence within a multispecies world.


Medium Article Link

Episode Website Link

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> What if the next shift in planetary consciousness didn’t come from looking back at Earth from space, but from listening deeply to the voices already here? In this thought piece I propose the “inworlding effect” as the overview effect of our time: one where developments in science, technology, law, and many other disciplines are revealing our entangled presence within a multispecies world.


Medium Article Link

Episode Website Link

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 30. Grief, Song and Ceremonies of Mourning - with Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey 30. Grief, Song and Ceremonies of Mourning - with Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey Tue, 20 May 2025 16:53:24 GMT 1:05:29 682c9642f5721925a0dd9c3f false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 682c9642f5721925a0dd9c3f 62c700e8b155a500150a868f grief-song-and-ceremonies-of-mourning full 3 30 Today we’re joined by artist, musician and communal grief ritual facilitator Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey to speak about the cultural forgetting of communal mourning, the sacred role of professional mourners, and the re-emergence of grief ceremonies as necessary spaces of remembrance, healing and repair.


Ahlay brings her experience weaving song, body, and ritual into collective spaces where grief is given breath and movement, and we explore the history of grief practices across cultures, the political power of public mourning, and how grief can soften the heart and stitch community back together. We explore what to expect in a communal grief ceremony, and ahlay shares the story behind her 200-voice album WAILS: Songs for Grief, inspired by whales, ancestral sorrow, and Francis Weller’s work. Within the episode are woven tracks of her haunting songs, so tune up your headphones, and sink in.


Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Cover image (Earth Altering)


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Today we’re joined by artist, musician and communal grief ritual facilitator Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey to speak about the cultural forgetting of communal mourning, the sacred role of professional mourners, and the re-emergence of grief ceremonies as necessary spaces of remembrance, healing and repair.


Ahlay brings her experience weaving song, body, and ritual into collective spaces where grief is given breath and movement, and we explore the history of grief practices across cultures, the political power of public mourning, and how grief can soften the heart and stitch community back together. We explore what to expect in a communal grief ceremony, and ahlay shares the story behind her 200-voice album WAILS: Songs for Grief, inspired by whales, ancestral sorrow, and Francis Weller’s work. Within the episode are woven tracks of her haunting songs, so tune up your headphones, and sink in.


Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo Credit: Cover image (Earth Altering)


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 29. Carbon and the Grammar of Life - with Paul Hawken 29. Carbon and the Grammar of Life - with Paul Hawken Tue, 22 Apr 2025 17:25:28 GMT 1:03:25 6807b67d23cb4388be80a1ea false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 6807b67d23cb4388be80a1ea 62c700e8b155a500150a868f carbon-and-the-grammar-of-life full 3 29 In this episode we’re joined by the renowned environmentalist, activist and author Paul Hawken to explore the lifeworld of carbon and its role as a vital agent in the story of life.


Paul speaks about the dysfunctions in Western language on how we speak about climate and nature, and why metaphors of war, control, and fixing actually perpetuate the very mindset that created the crises in the first place. We explore common traps we fall into, and how to recarbonize, to bring life back and restore relationality in how we think, feel, and act.


This is a wide-ranging and intimate conversation on language, grief, science, reverence, and what it means to come home to Earth and to the deeper meanings of life.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> In this episode we’re joined by the renowned environmentalist, activist and author Paul Hawken to explore the lifeworld of carbon and its role as a vital agent in the story of life.


Paul speaks about the dysfunctions in Western language on how we speak about climate and nature, and why metaphors of war, control, and fixing actually perpetuate the very mindset that created the crises in the first place. We explore common traps we fall into, and how to recarbonize, to bring life back and restore relationality in how we think, feel, and act.


This is a wide-ranging and intimate conversation on language, grief, science, reverence, and what it means to come home to Earth and to the deeper meanings of life.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[28. Whale Dreaming & Ocean Songlines - with WHAIA]]> Thu, 03 Apr 2025 14:21:48 GMT 1:19:08 67ee997c952471313215ac3c false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 67ee997c952471313215ac3c 62c700e8b155a500150a868f whale-dreaming-and-ocean-songlines full 3 28 In this episode, we journey into the vibrational worlds of sound, ancestry, and deep listening with Whaia, a Ngāti Kahungunu woman of Māori descent and First Nations sonic weaver and multi-instrumentalist.

Raised between the salt of the Pacific and the red dust of the Australian desert, Whaia’s voice carries ancient songlines, blending traditional Māori instruments, crystalline singing bowls, and her original mother tongue, the language of Te Rā, the Sun. We explore her work singing with whales, reclaiming cultural instruments once left silent in museums, and remembering the sacred oceanic highways navigated by her Polynesian ancestors, guided by the stars and whale ancestors.


This is a conversation about song as medicine, the voice as ceremony, and reclaiming lineage through sound. We ask: what might the whales be singing to us now? What frequencies are we called to remember in order to heal ourselves and our waters?


Stay on after the episode wraps to hear a special feature from Whaia’s debut album WHAIA & WATER — the first of a twelve-part series known as her Sacred Sonic Sessions.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo of Whaia: Chanel Baran Photo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> In this episode, we journey into the vibrational worlds of sound, ancestry, and deep listening with Whaia, a Ngāti Kahungunu woman of Māori descent and First Nations sonic weaver and multi-instrumentalist.

Raised between the salt of the Pacific and the red dust of the Australian desert, Whaia’s voice carries ancient songlines, blending traditional Māori instruments, crystalline singing bowls, and her original mother tongue, the language of Te Rā, the Sun. We explore her work singing with whales, reclaiming cultural instruments once left silent in museums, and remembering the sacred oceanic highways navigated by her Polynesian ancestors, guided by the stars and whale ancestors.


This is a conversation about song as medicine, the voice as ceremony, and reclaiming lineage through sound. We ask: what might the whales be singing to us now? What frequencies are we called to remember in order to heal ourselves and our waters?


Stay on after the episode wraps to hear a special feature from Whaia’s debut album WHAIA & WATER — the first of a twelve-part series known as her Sacred Sonic Sessions.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo of Whaia: Chanel Baran Photo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Poetry | The World Thinks in Poetry Poetry | The World Thinks in Poetry Wed, 26 Mar 2025 09:53:50 GMT 7:05 67e3ce5d881b5fd2eb8414f4 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/worldthinksinpoetry 67e3ce5d881b5fd2eb8414f4 62c700e8b155a500150a868f poetry-the-world-thinks-in-poetry full 3 In a remote cabin in Vancouver Island in 2019, far away, I sat by the shore. I listened. I re-read poetry. I swam with jellyfish. I ate bright salmon berries and raw samphire. I gazed around and listened to the songs of the land. This piece of writing is a result of my days there.


Full poem on Lifeworlds Website

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]]> In a remote cabin in Vancouver Island in 2019, far away, I sat by the shore. I listened. I re-read poetry. I swam with jellyfish. I ate bright salmon berries and raw samphire. I gazed around and listened to the songs of the land. This piece of writing is a result of my days there.


Full poem on Lifeworlds Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 27. The Ecology Of Health - with Dr. Mackenzie Hall 27. The Ecology Of Health - with Dr. Mackenzie Hall Tue, 18 Mar 2025 13:01:55 GMT 1:12:33 67d96cdc8e0ad1dccd796ae2 false https://shows.acast.com/lifeworlds/episodes/the-ecology-of-health 67d96cdc8e0ad1dccd796ae2 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-ecology-of-health full 3 27 Where does your body end and the Earth begin? In this episode, we explore the real and poetic parallels between human health and planetary health, and how nature’s language moves in our bodies. 


Joining me is Dr. Mackenzie Hall, a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine, who helps us trace the Earth’s vital systems through the lens of humans as ecological systems.

We ask:

  • How could one imagine the Earth’s vital organs as reflected in human anatomy?
  • How does the Earth balance and health and detoxify, and how might this mirror how we work with our own bodies?  
  • How does the body's energetic system hold, manage and deal with pathology? 
  • How do we listen for the Earth’s pulse?
  • How could this affect how we work as earth protectors and regenerators? 


This brings up a profound point: if we are to ensure the Earth’s aliveness, we have to feel it as our own body. And, if we can sense the Earth’s rhythms as our own, can we also become its white blood cells, human agents of healing embracing and embodying its circulatory wildness?


Episode Website Link:  https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/theecologyofhealth


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Where does your body end and the Earth begin? In this episode, we explore the real and poetic parallels between human health and planetary health, and how nature’s language moves in our bodies. 


Joining me is Dr. Mackenzie Hall, a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine, who helps us trace the Earth’s vital systems through the lens of humans as ecological systems.

We ask:

  • How could one imagine the Earth’s vital organs as reflected in human anatomy?
  • How does the Earth balance and health and detoxify, and how might this mirror how we work with our own bodies?  
  • How does the body's energetic system hold, manage and deal with pathology? 
  • How do we listen for the Earth’s pulse?
  • How could this affect how we work as earth protectors and regenerators? 


This brings up a profound point: if we are to ensure the Earth’s aliveness, we have to feel it as our own body. And, if we can sense the Earth’s rhythms as our own, can we also become its white blood cells, human agents of healing embracing and embodying its circulatory wildness?


Episode Website Link:  https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/theecologyofhealth


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Soulfire Sessions II: with David McConville Soulfire Sessions II: with David McConville Tue, 18 Feb 2025 11:59:56 GMT 1:02:37 67b37bb7bce64a0601a3ba14 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 67b37bb7bce64a0601a3ba14 62c700e8b155a500150a868f soulfire-sessions-with-david-mcconville full 3 David McConville is a transdisciplinary artist and researcher who explores how technology shapes our perspectives of Earth—from local places to our cosmic context. Our conversation examines how worldviews influence infrastructure, using Los Angeles as a case study. We explore the paradigm of "living infrastructure," discussing how David's studio Spherical collaborates with communities and organizations to develop mapping and co-design tools. Even if you’re not in LA, this episode offers valuable insights into how communities can work together to create resilient infrastructure systems that honor their unique cultural needs and local environments.



Links:


Bio:

David McConville is co-founder and lead cosmographer of Spherical, a strategic design and integrative research studio based in xučyun / Oakland, CA. His PhD in Art and Media from Plymouth University examined how cosmological perspectives shape cultural imaginaries and ecological practices.


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> David McConville is a transdisciplinary artist and researcher who explores how technology shapes our perspectives of Earth—from local places to our cosmic context. Our conversation examines how worldviews influence infrastructure, using Los Angeles as a case study. We explore the paradigm of "living infrastructure," discussing how David's studio Spherical collaborates with communities and organizations to develop mapping and co-design tools. Even if you’re not in LA, this episode offers valuable insights into how communities can work together to create resilient infrastructure systems that honor their unique cultural needs and local environments.



Links:


Bio:

David McConville is co-founder and lead cosmographer of Spherical, a strategic design and integrative research studio based in xučyun / Oakland, CA. His PhD in Art and Media from Plymouth University examined how cosmological perspectives shape cultural imaginaries and ecological practices.


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[From Your Host: Season’s Reflections and Q&A]]> Tue, 28 Jan 2025 12:06:33 GMT 1:10:19 6798c67ef1249a371b8f1968 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 6798c67ef1249a371b8f1968 62c700e8b155a500150a868f q-and-a full 3 In this episode, I share some reflections on Season 2, before diving into our first listener-guided Q&A!

You’ll be hearing from fellow listeners who enquired on topics like:

  • Earth-centered governance
  • De-extinction
  • Alternative economies
  • Language and stories about nature
  • Which lifeworld I’d inhabit
  • Green tech and individual agency
  • What is the purpose of humans?

Thank you to everyone who sent in these thought-provoking questions.

Episode Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> In this episode, I share some reflections on Season 2, before diving into our first listener-guided Q&A!

You’ll be hearing from fellow listeners who enquired on topics like:

  • Earth-centered governance
  • De-extinction
  • Alternative economies
  • Language and stories about nature
  • Which lifeworld I’d inhabit
  • Green tech and individual agency
  • What is the purpose of humans?

Thank you to everyone who sent in these thought-provoking questions.

Episode Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[26. Speculative Designs & Embodied Imaginations - with Superflux]]> Tue, 17 Dec 2024 16:00:37 GMT 1:11:07 676160c4e33879c62866df1c false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 676160c4e33879c62866df1c 62c700e8b155a500150a868f speculative-designs-and-embodied-imaginations full 2 26 What if you could inhabit the future? In this episode, we dive into the work of Superflux, the visionary design studio turning imagination into tangible worlds. From multispecies banquets and rewilded ecological sanctuaries to mythic friezes that re-enchant cityscapes, co-founder Anab Jain shares how embodied experiences can transform how we see — and shape — the world.

Join us as we explore speculative design, active hope, and the power of imagination to move us beyond ecological breakdown and into interspecies thriving. A celebration of wonder, possibility, and the art of asking: "What if?"

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> What if you could inhabit the future? In this episode, we dive into the work of Superflux, the visionary design studio turning imagination into tangible worlds. From multispecies banquets and rewilded ecological sanctuaries to mythic friezes that re-enchant cityscapes, co-founder Anab Jain shares how embodied experiences can transform how we see — and shape — the world.

Join us as we explore speculative design, active hope, and the power of imagination to move us beyond ecological breakdown and into interspecies thriving. A celebration of wonder, possibility, and the art of asking: "What if?"

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Practice | Body Compass Practice | Body Compass Wed, 02 Oct 2024 06:23:44 GMT 14:28 66fbfeb9cb6b8e9ccc320bc0 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/bodycompass 66fbfeb9cb6b8e9ccc320bc0 62c700e8b155a500150a868f bodycompass bonus 2 This is my take on ancient and intuitive sensory experience that taps into the innate intelligence of the human body, a blend of body compass, Zen Beginner's Mind, a shamanic medicine walk and Goethean science.


The practice asks you to find a place in the natural landscape where you could walk undisturbed for some time, and have an encounter with an element of nature. A true act of lifeworld-ing!


I guide you through a short introduction and the instructions. Attached on the website page is a link to the full instructions in PDF, and listed here in much briefer bullets below.


I recommend listening in full, then using either of the instructions when you choose to do the practice itself.


Abbreviated instructions

·     Before entering into the natural landscape, you’ll walk to a threshold place, and stop.

·     Here you will physically draw a threshold that you will walk across.

·     Once you’ve done that, pause, connect with the land, speak your intention, ask for permission.

·     Cross the threshold, and start walking towards where you feel a tug. Be conscious of the way your body can intuitively lead the way. Use the senses.

·     At some point, you may come across a being in the land that catches your attention. It could be a spiders web, a stone, a patch of moss, a dead bough of a tree, a stream, a blade of grass, truly anything. Approach, introduce yourself.

·     Spend a moment in presence with them, in beginners mind.

·     Use Goethe’s Exact Sense Perception instructions –then imagine it transforming. Then release to receive. Let it communicate back to you.

·     Stay here as long as feels right.

·     When it comes to the time to go, thank this natural being and start walking back to your threshold place.

·     When you cross the threshold, thank the land and when you’re ready, step across back into the other world.

·     Gently wipe out the threshold door and take some time upon returning to digest anything that may have arisen for you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> This is my take on ancient and intuitive sensory experience that taps into the innate intelligence of the human body, a blend of body compass, Zen Beginner's Mind, a shamanic medicine walk and Goethean science.


The practice asks you to find a place in the natural landscape where you could walk undisturbed for some time, and have an encounter with an element of nature. A true act of lifeworld-ing!


I guide you through a short introduction and the instructions. Attached on the website page is a link to the full instructions in PDF, and listed here in much briefer bullets below.


I recommend listening in full, then using either of the instructions when you choose to do the practice itself.


Abbreviated instructions

·     Before entering into the natural landscape, you’ll walk to a threshold place, and stop.

·     Here you will physically draw a threshold that you will walk across.

·     Once you’ve done that, pause, connect with the land, speak your intention, ask for permission.

·     Cross the threshold, and start walking towards where you feel a tug. Be conscious of the way your body can intuitively lead the way. Use the senses.

·     At some point, you may come across a being in the land that catches your attention. It could be a spiders web, a stone, a patch of moss, a dead bough of a tree, a stream, a blade of grass, truly anything. Approach, introduce yourself.

·     Spend a moment in presence with them, in beginners mind.

·     Use Goethe’s Exact Sense Perception instructions –then imagine it transforming. Then release to receive. Let it communicate back to you.

·     Stay here as long as feels right.

·     When it comes to the time to go, thank this natural being and start walking back to your threshold place.

·     When you cross the threshold, thank the land and when you’re ready, step across back into the other world.

·     Gently wipe out the threshold door and take some time upon returning to digest anything that may have arisen for you.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 25. The Connected Wild: Earth’s Internet of Animals - with Dr. Martin Wikelski 25. The Connected Wild: Earth’s Internet of Animals - with Dr. Martin Wikelski Tue, 24 Sep 2024 16:48:21 GMT 1:03:45 66f2eb022f380b4f2f300140 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 66f2eb022f380b4f2f300140 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-connected-wild full 2 25 Throughout history, many cultures have observed and interpreted animal behavior to predict events and read the landscapes around them. The multispecies lives of our planet weave an astonishing network of information across the face of the globe, a web of knowledge compromised of thousands of creatures communicating with each other, across species, and with their environments.

How we listen in on this collective intelligence? Today’s guest Martin Wikelski is director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space (ICARUS) - a project which has been dubbed as ‘the internet of animals’. Their team has created a global ecological monitoring system, attaching remote sensing chips to thousands of animals in the wild, in effect uncovering and translating, as Martin says, ‘the collective intelligence of life on earth’. 

By tuning in to the communication and culture of animals, the project his project reveals the planet's hidden workings with enormous implications for conservation, global finance, and human infrastructure.

We explore many of these forward-thinking ideas in this episode, adding another layer to Lifeworlds’ ongoing question: How do we sense the planetary and see through the perspectives of other life?


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Throughout history, many cultures have observed and interpreted animal behavior to predict events and read the landscapes around them. The multispecies lives of our planet weave an astonishing network of information across the face of the globe, a web of knowledge compromised of thousands of creatures communicating with each other, across species, and with their environments.

How we listen in on this collective intelligence? Today’s guest Martin Wikelski is director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space (ICARUS) - a project which has been dubbed as ‘the internet of animals’. Their team has created a global ecological monitoring system, attaching remote sensing chips to thousands of animals in the wild, in effect uncovering and translating, as Martin says, ‘the collective intelligence of life on earth’. 

By tuning in to the communication and culture of animals, the project his project reveals the planet's hidden workings with enormous implications for conservation, global finance, and human infrastructure.

We explore many of these forward-thinking ideas in this episode, adding another layer to Lifeworlds’ ongoing question: How do we sense the planetary and see through the perspectives of other life?


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 24. Guardians of the Earth: The Rise of Ecocide Law - with Pella Thiel 24. Guardians of the Earth: The Rise of Ecocide Law - with Pella Thiel Tue, 27 Aug 2024 00:00:31 GMT 55:30 66c620a1222779d3ef3cc6cf false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 66c620a1222779d3ef3cc6cf 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-rise-of-ecocide-law full 2 24 Could the destruction of nature become considered as serious a crime as that of genocide? How does the structure of law shape a civilisation’s norms, behaviors and overarching story?


Today we’ll be discussing international Ecocide law, a massively growing movement that wants to embed the notion of ‘ecocide’ crime at the highest levels of law - at the International Criminal Court in The Hague - and create a powerful deterrent for the further damage to ecosystems and people globally.


Our guest is Pella Thiel, a maverick ecologist, farmer, author and who has co-founded the Swedish hubs of international networks like Transition Sweden, End Ecocide Sweden and is an associate of the Centre for Environment and Development Studies at Uppsala University. Pella was awarded the Swedish Martin Luther King Award in 2023 and the Environmental Hero of the year 2019.


We discuss: 

  • Why ecocide law is different & a game changer as compared with other environmental laws
  • How it can help create a new moral baseline, shifting global values and mindsets
  • Where the tensions or synergies might lie between the Rights of Nature and Ecocide law
  • The notion of positive tipping points
  • And how an Embassy of the Baltic Sea might play out as a practice center for ecological community building


Episode Website Link

Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo credit: Law Statue 


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Could the destruction of nature become considered as serious a crime as that of genocide? How does the structure of law shape a civilisation’s norms, behaviors and overarching story?


Today we’ll be discussing international Ecocide law, a massively growing movement that wants to embed the notion of ‘ecocide’ crime at the highest levels of law - at the International Criminal Court in The Hague - and create a powerful deterrent for the further damage to ecosystems and people globally.


Our guest is Pella Thiel, a maverick ecologist, farmer, author and who has co-founded the Swedish hubs of international networks like Transition Sweden, End Ecocide Sweden and is an associate of the Centre for Environment and Development Studies at Uppsala University. Pella was awarded the Swedish Martin Luther King Award in 2023 and the Environmental Hero of the year 2019.


We discuss: 

  • Why ecocide law is different & a game changer as compared with other environmental laws
  • How it can help create a new moral baseline, shifting global values and mindsets
  • Where the tensions or synergies might lie between the Rights of Nature and Ecocide law
  • The notion of positive tipping points
  • And how an Embassy of the Baltic Sea might play out as a practice center for ecological community building


Episode Website Link

Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo credit: Law Statue 


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 23. Wild Avatars: Nature in Virtual Reality - with Marshmallow Laser Feast 23. Wild Avatars: Nature in Virtual Reality - with Marshmallow Laser Feast Wed, 07 Aug 2024 13:32:40 GMT 1:08:52 66b36ac8ec20c36e8e08ae2d false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 66b36ac8ec20c36e8e08ae2d 62c700e8b155a500150a868f 23-wild-avatars-nature-in-virtual-reality full 2 23 Have you ever wondered what it would be like to breathe yourself into your own body? To flow with the out-breath of trees into your own fractaling lungs, to dance ribbonlike into an ancient ceiba’s vasculature, to stitch an ecosystem together as a mycelium highways sparkling with energy? In this episode we explore the transformational potential of virtual reality through the work of Marshmallow Laser Feast, an artist collective that has emerged as a leading VR creators in the last decade. 


They exhibited internationally from London to New York, Melbourne to Seoul, their work included in major exhibitions at institutions including the Barbican Centre, Saatchi Gallery, Sundance Film Festival, and SXSW. 'In The Eyes Of The Animal' was nominated for the Design of the Year by Design Museum Beazley Awards and won the Wired Innovation Award (2016). Most recently, the team at MLF won the Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes Award for Innovation in Storytelling and Best VR Film at VR Arles Festival for ‘TreeHugger, Wawona’. 


Ersin Han Ersin is the director of MLF and describes to us how they use dazzlingly aesthetic real-time VR experiences to explore the invisible perspectives of nature’s lifeworlds – and how they are constantly pushing the bounds of what technology makes possible in expanding our ecological sensitivities. I enquire into:


  • Who they need to speak to in order to create their masterpieces and translate the umwelts of other species? What other scientists, poets, musicians, make this possible?
  • What is it that virtual reality can create that no other medium can?
  • What is the building block of a multisensory story?
  • What are some of the astounding ways that other beings experience the world that are divergent from the human?
  • How could global education be redesigned based on kinesthetic educative tools like VR?


Episode Website Link.


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo credit: MLF exhibition at AMCI in Australia (photo from their website)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Have you ever wondered what it would be like to breathe yourself into your own body? To flow with the out-breath of trees into your own fractaling lungs, to dance ribbonlike into an ancient ceiba’s vasculature, to stitch an ecosystem together as a mycelium highways sparkling with energy? In this episode we explore the transformational potential of virtual reality through the work of Marshmallow Laser Feast, an artist collective that has emerged as a leading VR creators in the last decade. 


They exhibited internationally from London to New York, Melbourne to Seoul, their work included in major exhibitions at institutions including the Barbican Centre, Saatchi Gallery, Sundance Film Festival, and SXSW. 'In The Eyes Of The Animal' was nominated for the Design of the Year by Design Museum Beazley Awards and won the Wired Innovation Award (2016). Most recently, the team at MLF won the Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes Award for Innovation in Storytelling and Best VR Film at VR Arles Festival for ‘TreeHugger, Wawona’. 


Ersin Han Ersin is the director of MLF and describes to us how they use dazzlingly aesthetic real-time VR experiences to explore the invisible perspectives of nature’s lifeworlds – and how they are constantly pushing the bounds of what technology makes possible in expanding our ecological sensitivities. I enquire into:


  • Who they need to speak to in order to create their masterpieces and translate the umwelts of other species? What other scientists, poets, musicians, make this possible?
  • What is it that virtual reality can create that no other medium can?
  • What is the building block of a multisensory story?
  • What are some of the astounding ways that other beings experience the world that are divergent from the human?
  • How could global education be redesigned based on kinesthetic educative tools like VR?


Episode Website Link.


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Photo credit: MLF exhibition at AMCI in Australia (photo from their website)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 22. Zen Buddhism and the Soul of Lifeworlding - with Brother Spirit and Sister True Dedication / Plum Village 22. Zen Buddhism and the Soul of Lifeworlding - with Brother Spirit and Sister True Dedication / Plum Village Tue, 04 Jun 2024 19:46:01 GMT 1:25:33 665f5f9746cf460012c6e346 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 665f5f9746cf460012c6e346 62c700e8b155a500150a868f zen-buddhism-and-the-soul-of-lifeworlding full 2 22 Today’s episode brings us into the heart and philosophy of Zen Buddhism, as practiced by the Plum Village monastic community that was founded in 1982 by the Vietnamese peace activist, monk, poet, and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Today it has grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery, with over 200 resident monks and nuns, and known as one of the most actively engaged Buddhist communities offering insight on the modern world, and on the climate and ecological crises.


We’ve spoken on the show about fragmented consciousness, a mind that sees parts and not the whole. Meditation and other Buddhist practices are one of the core ways of how we can heal minds and views. And so we will hear from two Plum Village monks: Sister True Dedication and Brother Spirit. Before entering the monastery, Sister True Dedication studied History & Political Thought at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist for BBC News. In the early years of her monastic training, she assisted Thich Nhat Hanh in their engaged Buddhist actions for human rights, religious freedom, applied ethics, and ecology. Brother Spirit began his monastic training in Plum Village in 2008, and before ordaining he studied mathematics at Cambridge and worked professionally as a composer, and as such has since composed many of the community’s beloved chants. They both helped to found the international Wake Up Movement, a community of young meditators finding new ways to combine mindfulness and engaged Buddhism.

We talk about:

  • the fragmentation of consciousness
  • how to hold the perspective of non duality and interbeing within unlikely contexts, and how doing so grants us agency and transformation
  • dehumanization, de animation, and what Buddhism teaches about our relationship to other life and other intelligences
  • the Mayahana Diamond Sutra (the world’s earliest printed text) and its invitation for us to reconsider four key notions of existance
  • how to find and make peace with one’s activism
  • the seeds of wisdom that lie dormant in 4000-year-old magnolia trees
  • how to hold the suffering of the world and call upon our ancestors for support
  • spiritual bypassing, instrumentalising, and get out of jail free cards

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd 

Photo credit: Plum Village website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Today’s episode brings us into the heart and philosophy of Zen Buddhism, as practiced by the Plum Village monastic community that was founded in 1982 by the Vietnamese peace activist, monk, poet, and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Today it has grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery, with over 200 resident monks and nuns, and known as one of the most actively engaged Buddhist communities offering insight on the modern world, and on the climate and ecological crises.


We’ve spoken on the show about fragmented consciousness, a mind that sees parts and not the whole. Meditation and other Buddhist practices are one of the core ways of how we can heal minds and views. And so we will hear from two Plum Village monks: Sister True Dedication and Brother Spirit. Before entering the monastery, Sister True Dedication studied History & Political Thought at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist for BBC News. In the early years of her monastic training, she assisted Thich Nhat Hanh in their engaged Buddhist actions for human rights, religious freedom, applied ethics, and ecology. Brother Spirit began his monastic training in Plum Village in 2008, and before ordaining he studied mathematics at Cambridge and worked professionally as a composer, and as such has since composed many of the community’s beloved chants. They both helped to found the international Wake Up Movement, a community of young meditators finding new ways to combine mindfulness and engaged Buddhism.

We talk about:

  • the fragmentation of consciousness
  • how to hold the perspective of non duality and interbeing within unlikely contexts, and how doing so grants us agency and transformation
  • dehumanization, de animation, and what Buddhism teaches about our relationship to other life and other intelligences
  • the Mayahana Diamond Sutra (the world’s earliest printed text) and its invitation for us to reconsider four key notions of existance
  • how to find and make peace with one’s activism
  • the seeds of wisdom that lie dormant in 4000-year-old magnolia trees
  • how to hold the suffering of the world and call upon our ancestors for support
  • spiritual bypassing, instrumentalising, and get out of jail free cards

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd 

Photo credit: Plum Village website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Poetry | A Sunset with Mary Oliver Poetry | A Sunset with Mary Oliver Sun, 26 May 2024 07:48:50 GMT 15:02 6652e963b7e09a0012284ce6 false https://shows.acast.com/lifeworlds/episodes/poetry-a-sunset-with-mary-oliver 6652e963b7e09a0012284ce6 62c700e8b155a500150a868f poetry-a-sunset-with-mary-oliver full 2 Woven together loosely by my narrative, this special episode traces through a selection of five dazzling poems from the Pulitzer-prize winning poet Mary Oliver; bringing us into giddy relationship with the natural world -- with geese and grasshoppers and miracles and scars and existential queries on what makes life worth living. Mary's sharp and gentle perception of nature, her ability to communicate its messages with such simple and profound language, is at once both balm and flame for the soul.

 

 “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.” – Mary Oliver

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Woven together loosely by my narrative, this special episode traces through a selection of five dazzling poems from the Pulitzer-prize winning poet Mary Oliver; bringing us into giddy relationship with the natural world -- with geese and grasshoppers and miracles and scars and existential queries on what makes life worth living. Mary's sharp and gentle perception of nature, her ability to communicate its messages with such simple and profound language, is at once both balm and flame for the soul.

 

 “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.” – Mary Oliver

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[21. The Science of Plant Intelligence & Neurobiology - with Paco Calvo]]> Tue, 02 Apr 2024 19:45:14 GMT 1:08:25 660c5b8a37d900001626479d false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 660c5b8a37d900001626479d 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-science-of-plant-intelligence-neurobiology full 2 21 Are plants conscious? Do they experience forms of cognition and intelligence that go beyond patterned and hard-wired evolutionary behaviors? Do intelligence and consciousness really require a brain and central nervous system? Or should we consider intelligence on Earth to be less brain-bound, perhaps not even residing in the individual self, but rather in an enmeshment within an ecosystem? A swarm intelligence, a networked mind, distributed, adaptive, like a murmuration of starlings in the setting sun. And how would we even begin to start answering these questions empirically?

Today it is my explicit intention to change the way that you think about the kingdom of plants and the intelligence that resides within it. This is a controversial topic with scientists on all sides of the spectrum vehemently advocating for or against concepts.

It was Darwin who first introduced to the Western world the concept of the "root brain" hypothesis, where the tips of plant roots act in some ways like a brain, a distributed intelligence network. They challenge our very notions of an individual. Plants exhibit qualities that are adaptive, flexible, and goal directed – all hallmarks of an intelligence that goes beyond hard wired impulsive responses. They make decisions, perform predictive modeling, share nutrients and recognize kin. Electrical and chemical signalling systems have been identified in plants very similar to those found in the nervous systems of animals, including neurotransmitters like dopamine and melatonin.

Our guest today is Paco Calvo, a professor at the University of Murcia in Spain, where he leads the Minimal Intelligence Lab focusing on the study of minimal cognition in plants. He combines insights from biology, philosophy, and cognitive science to explore plant behavior, decision-making, and problem-solving, challenging conventional perspectives of his field. Paco has said that ‘to ‘know thyself’, one has to think well beyond oneself, or even one’s species. We are only one small part of a kaleidoscopic variety of ways of being alive.

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Are plants conscious? Do they experience forms of cognition and intelligence that go beyond patterned and hard-wired evolutionary behaviors? Do intelligence and consciousness really require a brain and central nervous system? Or should we consider intelligence on Earth to be less brain-bound, perhaps not even residing in the individual self, but rather in an enmeshment within an ecosystem? A swarm intelligence, a networked mind, distributed, adaptive, like a murmuration of starlings in the setting sun. And how would we even begin to start answering these questions empirically?

Today it is my explicit intention to change the way that you think about the kingdom of plants and the intelligence that resides within it. This is a controversial topic with scientists on all sides of the spectrum vehemently advocating for or against concepts.

It was Darwin who first introduced to the Western world the concept of the "root brain" hypothesis, where the tips of plant roots act in some ways like a brain, a distributed intelligence network. They challenge our very notions of an individual. Plants exhibit qualities that are adaptive, flexible, and goal directed – all hallmarks of an intelligence that goes beyond hard wired impulsive responses. They make decisions, perform predictive modeling, share nutrients and recognize kin. Electrical and chemical signalling systems have been identified in plants very similar to those found in the nervous systems of animals, including neurotransmitters like dopamine and melatonin.

Our guest today is Paco Calvo, a professor at the University of Murcia in Spain, where he leads the Minimal Intelligence Lab focusing on the study of minimal cognition in plants. He combines insights from biology, philosophy, and cognitive science to explore plant behavior, decision-making, and problem-solving, challenging conventional perspectives of his field. Paco has said that ‘to ‘know thyself’, one has to think well beyond oneself, or even one’s species. We are only one small part of a kaleidoscopic variety of ways of being alive.

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Soulfire Sessions I: with Daniel Schmachtenberger Soulfire Sessions I: with Daniel Schmachtenberger Tue, 19 Mar 2024 08:30:40 GMT 57:46 65f93ebdfaa83e0016b2c782 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 65f93ebdfaa83e0016b2c782 62c700e8b155a500150a868f soulfire-sessions-with-daniel-schmachtenberger full 2 Soulfire Sessions have come to Lifeworlds! These occasional special episodes will be our take on the good old concept of a fireside chat. Intimate, philosophical, challenging, sometimes zany, always insightful, these are discussions with visionaries who don’t often get the airtime to speak about their deeper ways of being and feeling – and what lights their souls on fire.

In this first session I speak with my dear friend Daniel Schmachtenberger, a social philosopher and founding director of the Civilisation Research Institute. Daniel has a particular interest in the topics of catastrophic and existential risk, artificial intelligence, civilization and institutional decay and collapse as well as progress, collective action problems, social organization theories, and the relevant domains in philosophy and science.

With the fire roaring, we delve into the psychological and metaphysical underpinnings of the metacrisis, traversing topics such as fragmented consciousness, Daoism, wholeness, feeling in service to thinking, dharma enquiries, conflict theory, and what it might mean to live a meaningful life.

Links:

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Soulfire Sessions have come to Lifeworlds! These occasional special episodes will be our take on the good old concept of a fireside chat. Intimate, philosophical, challenging, sometimes zany, always insightful, these are discussions with visionaries who don’t often get the airtime to speak about their deeper ways of being and feeling – and what lights their souls on fire.

In this first session I speak with my dear friend Daniel Schmachtenberger, a social philosopher and founding director of the Civilisation Research Institute. Daniel has a particular interest in the topics of catastrophic and existential risk, artificial intelligence, civilization and institutional decay and collapse as well as progress, collective action problems, social organization theories, and the relevant domains in philosophy and science.

With the fire roaring, we delve into the psychological and metaphysical underpinnings of the metacrisis, traversing topics such as fragmented consciousness, Daoism, wholeness, feeling in service to thinking, dharma enquiries, conflict theory, and what it might mean to live a meaningful life.

Links:

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 20. Seeds: The Life Keepers - with Milka Chepkorir Kuto 20. Seeds: The Life Keepers - with Milka Chepkorir Kuto Tue, 12 Mar 2024 12:25:09 GMT 59:12 65f049a7abb93a001765ea48 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 65f049a7abb93a001765ea48 62c700e8b155a500150a868f seeds-life-keepers-with-milka-chepkor-kuto full 2 20 Seeds. Memory keepers. Speckled time travellers. Capsules of deep, earth wisdom. To control seeds is to control life. To be a seed is to hold the genetic code of turning starlight into matter, of morphing your body into soft green tips that tremble in the wind and drink fire. There is a deep co-evolutionary relationship that exists in your bones, between humans, land, ecology, and seeds.


And we are losing them. An absence of flourishing seed systems directly correlates with a loss of cultural identity for thousands of communities around the world. Life for rural communities fractures. We’re losing our seed keepers. The freedom of seeds therefore becomes a political act of justice, on food sovereignty, indigenous rights, and restoring power back into the hands of farmers. So how does this rich history weave into the story of today’s guest?


Milka Chepkorir Kuto is an anthropologist and climate and human rights activist. She is a member of the Sengwer indigenous community of Kenya’s Rift Valley, and she has become a representative for her people in defending their land rights after violent evictions from their traditional lands. Milka is also a Coordinator of Defending Territories of Life at ICCA Consortium, and has worked the UN Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her community is now working to revitalize people-land relationships through indigenous knowledge, and Milka works with the women to save and protect their ancestral ways and seed systems. As Milka speaks, you can feel in her spirit this visceral connection to place, story, food, culture, a weaving of seed, hand, heart, human, forest. Milka herself is a seed, a story keeper, a culture holder, an inspirational tie between ancestral knowing and the modern world.


Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Milka’s Crowdfunding Site for Lifeworlds listeners: “Help the Indigenous Sengwer Peoples of Kenya”

Revitalizing Sengwer People-Land Relationships

Seed savers network Kenya

Global Alliance for Future of Food

Open Seed Sharing

Earthed course: Saving Seeds for a Better Future

Will Bonsall, Scatterseed Project

Movie: SEED, The Untold Story

Gaia Foundation Seed Sovereignty

Seeds of Freedom Trilogy

Navdanya from Vandana Shiva

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Cover Photo by AI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Seeds. Memory keepers. Speckled time travellers. Capsules of deep, earth wisdom. To control seeds is to control life. To be a seed is to hold the genetic code of turning starlight into matter, of morphing your body into soft green tips that tremble in the wind and drink fire. There is a deep co-evolutionary relationship that exists in your bones, between humans, land, ecology, and seeds.


And we are losing them. An absence of flourishing seed systems directly correlates with a loss of cultural identity for thousands of communities around the world. Life for rural communities fractures. We’re losing our seed keepers. The freedom of seeds therefore becomes a political act of justice, on food sovereignty, indigenous rights, and restoring power back into the hands of farmers. So how does this rich history weave into the story of today’s guest?


Milka Chepkorir Kuto is an anthropologist and climate and human rights activist. She is a member of the Sengwer indigenous community of Kenya’s Rift Valley, and she has become a representative for her people in defending their land rights after violent evictions from their traditional lands. Milka is also a Coordinator of Defending Territories of Life at ICCA Consortium, and has worked the UN Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her community is now working to revitalize people-land relationships through indigenous knowledge, and Milka works with the women to save and protect their ancestral ways and seed systems. As Milka speaks, you can feel in her spirit this visceral connection to place, story, food, culture, a weaving of seed, hand, heart, human, forest. Milka herself is a seed, a story keeper, a culture holder, an inspirational tie between ancestral knowing and the modern world.


Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Milka’s Crowdfunding Site for Lifeworlds listeners: “Help the Indigenous Sengwer Peoples of Kenya”

Revitalizing Sengwer People-Land Relationships

Seed savers network Kenya

Global Alliance for Future of Food

Open Seed Sharing

Earthed course: Saving Seeds for a Better Future

Will Bonsall, Scatterseed Project

Movie: SEED, The Untold Story

Gaia Foundation Seed Sovereignty

Seeds of Freedom Trilogy

Navdanya from Vandana Shiva

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Cover Photo by AI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Sound Journey | Music of the Waters Sound Journey | Music of the Waters Mon, 19 Feb 2024 20:10:54 GMT 33:25 65d3b5ce73847f0017801b01 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/soundjourneymusicwaters 65d3b5ce73847f0017801b01 62c700e8b155a500150a868f sound-journey-music-of-the-waters bonus 2 This musical journey has been produced for Lifeworlds by the vocal artist Moncaya. It is a sonic ode to the waters of the Earth and the rivers that flow, and a deep and loving conversation between two dear friends.


Moncaya is a singer-songwriter and composer whose namesake derives from the mountain that rises in a vast dry plain in Northern Spain, her homeland; a mecca for the Iberian Celts and generations of healers, witches, and spiritual practioners. In this musical journey, she has woven our words with the sounds of the Rio Magdalena, a powerful estuary that flows through the state of Mexico bringing water to the entire city, and stitched it all together with her hauntingly beautiful voice and utterances. Listen to the end, where you can catch the track in its full splendor.


This song is part of a wider movement – an open call for musicians around the world to create music, using water samples mainly gathered by Splice, a global library of musical resources for artists and creators. The movement is founded with the intent to give voice to water through different sonic universes made available to any musical artist, anywhere. 


I ask Moncaya at one point in this conversation how she as an artist can translate with integrity the experience of a whole other lifeworld – that of water itself. She chuckles, and with her characteristic clarity and warmth, responds, “You don't give voice to the waters…. You just explore with a pure heart, and whatever comes is good enough”.


Moncaya was trained as an engineer and worked developing technology for conflict resolution and peace-building in countries at war, including Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Syria and Tunisia. Currently based in Mexico City, her expression flows through her creations which blend the timeless essence of folk and world music with the freshness of electronic elements, creating a powerful bridge between tradition and innovation.


So my friends, my invitation is to listen to this episode quietly, with a spacious heart, and let it wash over you.

 

Links

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> This musical journey has been produced for Lifeworlds by the vocal artist Moncaya. It is a sonic ode to the waters of the Earth and the rivers that flow, and a deep and loving conversation between two dear friends.


Moncaya is a singer-songwriter and composer whose namesake derives from the mountain that rises in a vast dry plain in Northern Spain, her homeland; a mecca for the Iberian Celts and generations of healers, witches, and spiritual practioners. In this musical journey, she has woven our words with the sounds of the Rio Magdalena, a powerful estuary that flows through the state of Mexico bringing water to the entire city, and stitched it all together with her hauntingly beautiful voice and utterances. Listen to the end, where you can catch the track in its full splendor.


This song is part of a wider movement – an open call for musicians around the world to create music, using water samples mainly gathered by Splice, a global library of musical resources for artists and creators. The movement is founded with the intent to give voice to water through different sonic universes made available to any musical artist, anywhere. 


I ask Moncaya at one point in this conversation how she as an artist can translate with integrity the experience of a whole other lifeworld – that of water itself. She chuckles, and with her characteristic clarity and warmth, responds, “You don't give voice to the waters…. You just explore with a pure heart, and whatever comes is good enough”.


Moncaya was trained as an engineer and worked developing technology for conflict resolution and peace-building in countries at war, including Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Syria and Tunisia. Currently based in Mexico City, her expression flows through her creations which blend the timeless essence of folk and world music with the freshness of electronic elements, creating a powerful bridge between tradition and innovation.


So my friends, my invitation is to listen to this episode quietly, with a spacious heart, and let it wash over you.

 

Links

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 19. Conservation Photography and Beauty Activism – with Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier 19. Conservation Photography and Beauty Activism – with Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier Tue, 19 Dec 2023 02:21:05 GMT 54:27 6580ef2d7cfac4001634c87e false https://www.lifeworld.earth 6580ef2d7cfac4001634c87e 62c700e8b155a500150a868f 19-conservation-photographer full 2 19 Audacious, spunky, courageous, defiant, sensitive, compassionate, fierce… These are just some of the words that I feel radiating from the formidable spirit and woman that is Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier. Hailed as one of the most influential conservation photographers of our time, this Mexican national has dedicated her entire life to protecting the world's oceans - and through her work, has inspired millions of people to do the same. 


Cristina was one of the first pioneers in the concept and field of conservation photography. Once told to sit down and be quiet early on in her career when she asked how photography could be used as advocacy for the world’s last wild places, Cristina now has millions of followers, who are drawn to the stunning and strategic communications of her non-profit organisation Sea Legacy (which she founded with her husband Paul Niklen). It serves as a platform for many storytellers and local communities doing critical conservation work - in that way, they are amplifiers of the world’s most far flung voices and the ocean’s precious inhabitants. With that photography, should we be pushing out pictures showing the majesty of nature? Or should conservation photography also run a whole gamut of realistic but potentially emotionally distressing content? As we discuss today, it's a fine line and a delicate balance to tread in telling it as it is, whilst infusing hope in others, AND not wearing oneself down in anger or despair as we do so.


We also speak about common myths or misconceptions that exist about the ocean as well as speculate on the creation of blue economies, what justice looks like for coastal communities, and how the world might change the immense value of these blue natural capital ecosystem would be entered into the PNL of a country.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Audacious, spunky, courageous, defiant, sensitive, compassionate, fierce… These are just some of the words that I feel radiating from the formidable spirit and woman that is Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier. Hailed as one of the most influential conservation photographers of our time, this Mexican national has dedicated her entire life to protecting the world's oceans - and through her work, has inspired millions of people to do the same. 


Cristina was one of the first pioneers in the concept and field of conservation photography. Once told to sit down and be quiet early on in her career when she asked how photography could be used as advocacy for the world’s last wild places, Cristina now has millions of followers, who are drawn to the stunning and strategic communications of her non-profit organisation Sea Legacy (which she founded with her husband Paul Niklen). It serves as a platform for many storytellers and local communities doing critical conservation work - in that way, they are amplifiers of the world’s most far flung voices and the ocean’s precious inhabitants. With that photography, should we be pushing out pictures showing the majesty of nature? Or should conservation photography also run a whole gamut of realistic but potentially emotionally distressing content? As we discuss today, it's a fine line and a delicate balance to tread in telling it as it is, whilst infusing hope in others, AND not wearing oneself down in anger or despair as we do so.


We also speak about common myths or misconceptions that exist about the ocean as well as speculate on the creation of blue economies, what justice looks like for coastal communities, and how the world might change the immense value of these blue natural capital ecosystem would be entered into the PNL of a country.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 18. Satellites, Data and Earth Observation: Signal from Noise – with Dan Hammer 18. Satellites, Data and Earth Observation: Signal from Noise – with Dan Hammer Thu, 09 Nov 2023 18:07:49 GMT 55:37 654d1bf7a6863e001203e055 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 654d1bf7a6863e001203e055 62c700e8b155a500150a868f satellites-data-and-earth-observation full 2 18 How can satellite data and computation fundamentally shift how we understand our place on a changing Earth, and amongst other species? Can we use all that newfound knowledge, transparency, and intelligent data architecture to become better stewards? Allowing the earth to behold itself and its own lifeworld in a whole new way… And what are the ethical implications of having the power of such oversight? In whose hands?

Today our guest is Dan Hammer, Managing Partner at Ode, a data and design agency for the environment, and prior chief data scientist at the World Resources Institute, where he co-founded Global Forest Watch, a tool that tracked and monitored global deforestation patterns. He is founder of Spaceknow, a satellite image analytics start-up, and was a senior advisor in the Obama White House, a Presidential Innovation Fellow at NASA, creator of Global Plastic Watch and Amazon Mining Watch.

His work has used direct earth observation to locate every wastewater pond in rural Alabama; to watch illegal mining unfold in the Amazon; and to find every plastic waste site along rivers in Vietnam. He created the application Climate TRACE for former Vice President Al Gore, the first facility-level global inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, and much more.

In this episode speak about his new endeavour which is attempting to create an open source foundation model for nature  – where you can “start to query the landscape like you would Google Maps”. I ask Dan how he manages to strike a balance between high level global information layers, and local relevance, and whether is it really possible that a global model can actually help people on the ground develop a deeper intimacy and action with the lifeworlds of where they reside.

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> How can satellite data and computation fundamentally shift how we understand our place on a changing Earth, and amongst other species? Can we use all that newfound knowledge, transparency, and intelligent data architecture to become better stewards? Allowing the earth to behold itself and its own lifeworld in a whole new way… And what are the ethical implications of having the power of such oversight? In whose hands?

Today our guest is Dan Hammer, Managing Partner at Ode, a data and design agency for the environment, and prior chief data scientist at the World Resources Institute, where he co-founded Global Forest Watch, a tool that tracked and monitored global deforestation patterns. He is founder of Spaceknow, a satellite image analytics start-up, and was a senior advisor in the Obama White House, a Presidential Innovation Fellow at NASA, creator of Global Plastic Watch and Amazon Mining Watch.

His work has used direct earth observation to locate every wastewater pond in rural Alabama; to watch illegal mining unfold in the Amazon; and to find every plastic waste site along rivers in Vietnam. He created the application Climate TRACE for former Vice President Al Gore, the first facility-level global inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, and much more.

In this episode speak about his new endeavour which is attempting to create an open source foundation model for nature  – where you can “start to query the landscape like you would Google Maps”. I ask Dan how he manages to strike a balance between high level global information layers, and local relevance, and whether is it really possible that a global model can actually help people on the ground develop a deeper intimacy and action with the lifeworlds of where they reside.

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Meditation | The Cosmos in Your Food Meditation | The Cosmos in Your Food Tue, 07 Nov 2023 02:19:30 GMT 12:36 65499eb2a6fced0012612034 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 65499eb2a6fced0012612034 62c700e8b155a500150a868f meditation-the-cosmos-in-your-food bonus 2 A guided meditation to bring you into a state of communion and intimacy with the Earth through the daily, sacred act of eating. 


Many ancient traditions have their ways of giving thanks to our connection with food and the planet’s bounteous harvest. Here, I have been inspired by the Zen Buddhist lineage of Plum Village, and the tenderness and beauty of bringing in all of life through every bite.


I recommend you do it as you are about to enjoy a special meal…


(Audio: New Earth - Beautiful Koshi Wind Chimes Healing Spring Meditation 432hz; Image: grapevinedesigns.in)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> A guided meditation to bring you into a state of communion and intimacy with the Earth through the daily, sacred act of eating. 


Many ancient traditions have their ways of giving thanks to our connection with food and the planet’s bounteous harvest. Here, I have been inspired by the Zen Buddhist lineage of Plum Village, and the tenderness and beauty of bringing in all of life through every bite.


I recommend you do it as you are about to enjoy a special meal…


(Audio: New Earth - Beautiful Koshi Wind Chimes Healing Spring Meditation 432hz; Image: grapevinedesigns.in)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 17. Tales of the Arctic Deep – with Sylvia Earle, Johan Rockström and Taylor Griffith 17. Tales of the Arctic Deep – with Sylvia Earle, Johan Rockström and Taylor Griffith Thu, 12 Oct 2023 16:46:09 GMT 1:55:16 6527f27a52b38a00117efdff false https://www.lifeworld.earth 6527f27a52b38a00117efdff 62c700e8b155a500150a868f tales-of-the-arctic-deep full 2 17 A special three part episode recorded onboard a Climate and Oceans expedition in the Norwegian Arctic. We’ll hear about the dark mysteries of the deepest realms of the ocean from “Her Deepness” herself, Dr. Sylvia Earle (possibly the most admired and loved oceanographer of the last century). Followed by the latest Planetary Boundaries Earth science from Johan Rockstrom, and the role of ocean storytelling and immersive art installations from Taylor Griffith.

Together, their voices weave a tale of the predicament and possibility of the Arctic and high seas; how to sense the lifeworlds of all the creatures who glow and sparkle and live in the dark within the greatest unexplored part of Earth's biosphere; we learn about ocean exploration in the 21st century, the dangers of deep sea mining, and the role of discovery and art in bringing us into the pulsing heart of the planet’s watery body. I love this episode so much, and I hope you will too. 

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> A special three part episode recorded onboard a Climate and Oceans expedition in the Norwegian Arctic. We’ll hear about the dark mysteries of the deepest realms of the ocean from “Her Deepness” herself, Dr. Sylvia Earle (possibly the most admired and loved oceanographer of the last century). Followed by the latest Planetary Boundaries Earth science from Johan Rockstrom, and the role of ocean storytelling and immersive art installations from Taylor Griffith.

Together, their voices weave a tale of the predicament and possibility of the Arctic and high seas; how to sense the lifeworlds of all the creatures who glow and sparkle and live in the dark within the greatest unexplored part of Earth's biosphere; we learn about ocean exploration in the 21st century, the dangers of deep sea mining, and the role of discovery and art in bringing us into the pulsing heart of the planet’s watery body. I love this episode so much, and I hope you will too. 

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 16. Climate Grief, Eco-anxiety, and Loving a World in Turmoil – with Britt Wray 16. Climate Grief, Eco-anxiety, and Loving a World in Turmoil – with Britt Wray Wed, 13 Sep 2023 16:08:01 GMT 1:10:34 6501d499e83f8e0011a49606 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 6501d499e83f8e0011a49606 62c700e8b155a500150a868f climate-grief-eco-anxiety full 2 16 A necessary and beautiful episode on the emotional terrain of climate grief, loss, sadness, anxiety, and all the ways we can cope either maladaptively or adaptively to this challenging moment in time.

This is an intimate conversation that makes the case for allowing ourselves to ‘feel it all’. Because from the depth of feeling comes the power of action, hope, resilience and community. If we ignore the reality of this mental health crisis, we are turning our backs on the potential that can emerge on the other side of initiation. We discuss different frameworks for processing climate anxiety - practical resources, approaches and philosophical underpinnings of a phenomenon that is sweeping the world, especially among youth populations.

Dr Britt Wray is one of the world’s most esteemed and loved researchers on this topic, having published the viral newsletter and book Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis. She is Director Special Initiative of the Chair on Climate Change & Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences of Stanford Medicine, advancing research and approaches in the field with communities facing the reality of ecological and social breakdown.

Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity

Photo: Midsummer Eve Celebration

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> A necessary and beautiful episode on the emotional terrain of climate grief, loss, sadness, anxiety, and all the ways we can cope either maladaptively or adaptively to this challenging moment in time.

This is an intimate conversation that makes the case for allowing ourselves to ‘feel it all’. Because from the depth of feeling comes the power of action, hope, resilience and community. If we ignore the reality of this mental health crisis, we are turning our backs on the potential that can emerge on the other side of initiation. We discuss different frameworks for processing climate anxiety - practical resources, approaches and philosophical underpinnings of a phenomenon that is sweeping the world, especially among youth populations.

Dr Britt Wray is one of the world’s most esteemed and loved researchers on this topic, having published the viral newsletter and book Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis. She is Director Special Initiative of the Chair on Climate Change & Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences of Stanford Medicine, advancing research and approaches in the field with communities facing the reality of ecological and social breakdown.

Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity

Photo: Midsummer Eve Celebration

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[Myth | Remembrance & Initiation of the Soul]]> Tue, 11 Jul 2023 15:31:09 GMT 34:56 64ad75bd5d1e2b0011232508 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 64ad75bd5d1e2b0011232508 62c700e8b155a500150a868f myth-remembrance-initiation-of-the-soul bonus 2 An essential part of living into different lifeworlds resides in the mythic realm – the currents of poetry, mysticism and story that stream in the archetypal world below the world. Today I bring you a myth, from Darren Silver, rite of passage and vision quest guide; it is a myth that has laid dormant for many years and is finally here to be told.  


On the surface it’s a story of twins, of a brother and a sister, and of their initiation. There is magical surrealism here, and mythic beings, ancient and enduring laws of reciprocity, of the ways of the forest, of how to barter in ancient exchanges of the soul. There are riddles and agreements and creatures that speak and weave wisdom through grit and pain and love. 


The enduring message that this myth leaves me with is that initiation does not come bundled in cozy sound baths and sipping cacao on a beach — initiation is painful and tears us to our bones, and yet it is a sublime liberation, because through initiation, we manifest our gifts into the world. And as Darren says, for our gift to manifest, we have to wager our own skin. 


So sit back and listen to this one closely. Be present, receptive, and dignify the messages that are coming through as medicine for you, because something will strike you close. Allow yourself to be carried away by the myth. And so we begin.


Credit: Photo of Stag (Flickr)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> An essential part of living into different lifeworlds resides in the mythic realm – the currents of poetry, mysticism and story that stream in the archetypal world below the world. Today I bring you a myth, from Darren Silver, rite of passage and vision quest guide; it is a myth that has laid dormant for many years and is finally here to be told.  


On the surface it’s a story of twins, of a brother and a sister, and of their initiation. There is magical surrealism here, and mythic beings, ancient and enduring laws of reciprocity, of the ways of the forest, of how to barter in ancient exchanges of the soul. There are riddles and agreements and creatures that speak and weave wisdom through grit and pain and love. 


The enduring message that this myth leaves me with is that initiation does not come bundled in cozy sound baths and sipping cacao on a beach — initiation is painful and tears us to our bones, and yet it is a sublime liberation, because through initiation, we manifest our gifts into the world. And as Darren says, for our gift to manifest, we have to wager our own skin. 


So sit back and listen to this one closely. Be present, receptive, and dignify the messages that are coming through as medicine for you, because something will strike you close. Allow yourself to be carried away by the myth. And so we begin.


Credit: Photo of Stag (Flickr)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[15. Re-Weaving Landscapes: Wildlife Crossings & Designing for Nature as the Client ]]> Mon, 26 Jun 2023 23:01:45 GMT 1:10:41 6495a59ef937660011fc56a2 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/reweavinglandscapes 6495a59ef937660011fc56a2 62c700e8b155a500150a868f 15-re-weaving-landscapes-wildlife-crossings-designing-for-na full 2 15 The roads on which we drive are unlikely to strike us as an exciting source of design innovation or interspecies dialogue. And yet, some of the most fascinating experiments and living laboratories are taking place around the world in how humans can build structures of hope and creativity for other species to flourish, despite having their habitats sliced in half by concrete veins. 


Earth is a fluid organism and needs connected landscapes like a canvas upon which to paint its life. Roads, on the other hand, are the single most destructive element in the process of habitat fragmentation (not to mention the millions of deaths due to collisions and the massive economic cost of these accidents). Over the coming 30 years, an additional 25 million km of roads will be built across the planet’s surface. So today in the show, we speak to pioneers in the world of wildlife crossings and design competition leaders who have spurred the process of globally rethinking and redesigning human structures to grapple with the concept of “wilderness” and the radical interconnectedness of nature and culture.


Jeremy Guth is a trustee of the Woodcock Foundation, and an ARC founding sponsor. Nina-Marie is the Graduate Director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University where she leads the Ecological Design Lab, and has created a series of courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Design called Wild Ways.

 

Episode Website Link:  https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/reweavinglandscapes 


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> The roads on which we drive are unlikely to strike us as an exciting source of design innovation or interspecies dialogue. And yet, some of the most fascinating experiments and living laboratories are taking place around the world in how humans can build structures of hope and creativity for other species to flourish, despite having their habitats sliced in half by concrete veins. 


Earth is a fluid organism and needs connected landscapes like a canvas upon which to paint its life. Roads, on the other hand, are the single most destructive element in the process of habitat fragmentation (not to mention the millions of deaths due to collisions and the massive economic cost of these accidents). Over the coming 30 years, an additional 25 million km of roads will be built across the planet’s surface. So today in the show, we speak to pioneers in the world of wildlife crossings and design competition leaders who have spurred the process of globally rethinking and redesigning human structures to grapple with the concept of “wilderness” and the radical interconnectedness of nature and culture.


Jeremy Guth is a trustee of the Woodcock Foundation, and an ARC founding sponsor. Nina-Marie is the Graduate Director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University where she leads the Ecological Design Lab, and has created a series of courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Design called Wild Ways.

 

Episode Website Link:  https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/reweavinglandscapes 


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 14. Musicians of the Planet: On Making Interspecies Songs – with David Rothenberg 14. Musicians of the Planet: On Making Interspecies Songs – with David Rothenberg Tue, 06 Jun 2023 00:00:52 GMT 1:01:38 647a0868b771bd0011660c9d false https://www.lifeworld.earth 647a0868b771bd0011660c9d 62c700e8b155a500150a868f musicians-of-the-planet-with-david-rothenberg full 2 14 A clarinet plugged into an underwater hydrophone, playing with liquid humpback whale songs below the surface. A huddled group of musicians under a night-time forest in Berlin, singing with nightingales. A 17-year swarm of cicadas alighting upon a sole jazz musician. These are the scenographies that David Rothenberg provokes with his interspecies music compilations, asking us, why should we only play music with other humans and not improvise along with the original musicians of the planet herself? 

For human music and song emerged from a world that sings, hums, beats, chirps, and human translations of these sounds have captured our imaginations from our tribal origins through to the first recordings of humpback whales that spurred anti-whaling conventions in the 70s and electronic synthesizers. 

Today’s episode brings us into this creative engagement with the planet, exploring how we are transformed when we open up to a world of music, beauty and art created by nature every day. So my friends, listen wider, expand your sense of music, and have David Rothenberg, interspecies musician, writer, and philosopher, show us how to become not just passive listeners but active participants in the symphony.  

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Songs: Nightingale sounds are from David, and the Monkey Chant is from Kecak from Bali (Bridge Records)



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> A clarinet plugged into an underwater hydrophone, playing with liquid humpback whale songs below the surface. A huddled group of musicians under a night-time forest in Berlin, singing with nightingales. A 17-year swarm of cicadas alighting upon a sole jazz musician. These are the scenographies that David Rothenberg provokes with his interspecies music compilations, asking us, why should we only play music with other humans and not improvise along with the original musicians of the planet herself? 

For human music and song emerged from a world that sings, hums, beats, chirps, and human translations of these sounds have captured our imaginations from our tribal origins through to the first recordings of humpback whales that spurred anti-whaling conventions in the 70s and electronic synthesizers. 

Today’s episode brings us into this creative engagement with the planet, exploring how we are transformed when we open up to a world of music, beauty and art created by nature every day. So my friends, listen wider, expand your sense of music, and have David Rothenberg, interspecies musician, writer, and philosopher, show us how to become not just passive listeners but active participants in the symphony.  

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Songs: Nightingale sounds are from David, and the Monkey Chant is from Kecak from Bali (Bridge Records)



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 13. The Sounds of Life: Bioacoustics, A.I. and Ethics – with Karen Bakker 13. The Sounds of Life: Bioacoustics, A.I. and Ethics – with Karen Bakker Tue, 23 May 2023 12:12:41 GMT 1:01:48 64628f2901a21a00114efb52 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 64628f2901a21a00114efb52 62c700e8b155a500150a868f sounds-of-life-bioacoustics-ai-and-ethics-with-karen-bakker full 2 13 The world around us is constantly vibrating with sounds we cannot hear. This magical soundscape evades our senses, tempts us by its elusive presence and beckons us to look deeper.

Our ability to listen in is rapidly evolving. Over the last decades, scientists have begun installing digital listening devices in nearly every ecosystem. This process of deciphering what nature is saying is called “bioacoustics” and “ecoacoustics”. Massive advances in both hardware and artificial intelligence are permitting us to go where no artificial ear has gone before.

Recent breakthroughs unveil that many more species are speaking in ways we didn’t know were possible, with far richer behaviors than were previously known.

Karen Bakker - Canadian scientist, author, Professor at UBC and Rhodes Scholar - tells us how bioacoustics is poised to alter humanity’s relationship with our planet by expanding our sense of sound. 

We can develop mobile protected areas for animal climate refugees. Simply by singing, a whale can turn aside a container ship. Acoustic enrichment can help corals regenerate.

Acknowledging these forms of communication requires us to confront our entrenched ideas of sentience and intelligence. This seeks to understand non-human communication on its own terms and brings up new ethical and moral dilemmas. Who grants us consent to listen in to the conversation of bats? And as we inhabit such different lifeworlds, might we have enough shared concepts that would enable any kind of translation? 

Episode Website Link

Photo: Karen’s Book

Music: Electric Ethnicity

Coral sounds Tim Lamont

Bat sound Tomáš Bartonička

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> The world around us is constantly vibrating with sounds we cannot hear. This magical soundscape evades our senses, tempts us by its elusive presence and beckons us to look deeper.

Our ability to listen in is rapidly evolving. Over the last decades, scientists have begun installing digital listening devices in nearly every ecosystem. This process of deciphering what nature is saying is called “bioacoustics” and “ecoacoustics”. Massive advances in both hardware and artificial intelligence are permitting us to go where no artificial ear has gone before.

Recent breakthroughs unveil that many more species are speaking in ways we didn’t know were possible, with far richer behaviors than were previously known.

Karen Bakker - Canadian scientist, author, Professor at UBC and Rhodes Scholar - tells us how bioacoustics is poised to alter humanity’s relationship with our planet by expanding our sense of sound. 

We can develop mobile protected areas for animal climate refugees. Simply by singing, a whale can turn aside a container ship. Acoustic enrichment can help corals regenerate.

Acknowledging these forms of communication requires us to confront our entrenched ideas of sentience and intelligence. This seeks to understand non-human communication on its own terms and brings up new ethical and moral dilemmas. Who grants us consent to listen in to the conversation of bats? And as we inhabit such different lifeworlds, might we have enough shared concepts that would enable any kind of translation? 

Episode Website Link

Photo: Karen’s Book

Music: Electric Ethnicity

Coral sounds Tim Lamont

Bat sound Tomáš Bartonička

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Meditation | Deep Time Meditation | Deep Time Wed, 03 May 2023 23:20:34 GMT 21:19 6452ec426dd225001148221a false https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/deeptime 6452ec426dd225001148221a 62c700e8b155a500150a868f meditation-deep-time bonus 2 This is a meditation I wrote and recorded to plunge us through epochs of cosmic time, through the tremendous evolutionary processes that preceded us, became us, and are us. It grants us invaluable context on the great tales of life whose memories are held in our bones.


This is our origin and lineage. I hope you find yourself nourished and moved by the experience.

 

This script is inspired by and takes language from the deep time practices of Joanna Macy and the Deep Time Walk of Stephan Harding and colleagues, along with some of the evolutionary notions explored in Otherlands by John Halliday – to them I am deeply grateful. My script here. Please credit if used or shared.


Music attribution: Take Off and Shoot a Zero. Stunt Island Album. Written, produced, and performed by Chris Zabriskie. Published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP). © 2011 Chris Zabriskie.


Art made with… You guessed it. Midjourney.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> This is a meditation I wrote and recorded to plunge us through epochs of cosmic time, through the tremendous evolutionary processes that preceded us, became us, and are us. It grants us invaluable context on the great tales of life whose memories are held in our bones.


This is our origin and lineage. I hope you find yourself nourished and moved by the experience.

 

This script is inspired by and takes language from the deep time practices of Joanna Macy and the Deep Time Walk of Stephan Harding and colleagues, along with some of the evolutionary notions explored in Otherlands by John Halliday – to them I am deeply grateful. My script here. Please credit if used or shared.


Music attribution: Take Off and Shoot a Zero. Stunt Island Album. Written, produced, and performed by Chris Zabriskie. Published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP). © 2011 Chris Zabriskie.


Art made with… You guessed it. Midjourney.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[12. The Art of Tracking & Wild Bison - with Toni Romani]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2023 00:00:39 GMT 51:52 6446ff1fab905000114b6f1b false https://www.lifeworld.earth 6446ff1fab905000114b6f1b 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-art-of-tracking-wild-bison-with-toni-romani full 2 12 This episode weaves live narrative, interview and descriptions on Romanian bison, wild forest adventures, and the lost ancient art and science of tracking.

Tracking is an ancient sensorial and survival strategy that our nomadic ancestors cultivated as state of profound observation. It led to the development of many innate abilities of the human mind and indeed, tracking is so ingrained in our very cells that it is synonymous with being human.

There is a movement today to revitalise tracking into a new modern profession, into a science that can help to monitor the impact of climate change and biodiversity loss and nature conservation. More on this in the show… 

Here I bring you into my own story of tracking animals and wild bison in the mountains of Romania with We Wilder, a social enterprise and cooperative founded by WWF Romania and local community members. We were engaging in a 4 day experience led by Toni Romani, a certified Cyber Tracker facilitator, and organised as part of building a local circular economy and connecting more people to the practicalities and experience of rewilding.  

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> This episode weaves live narrative, interview and descriptions on Romanian bison, wild forest adventures, and the lost ancient art and science of tracking.

Tracking is an ancient sensorial and survival strategy that our nomadic ancestors cultivated as state of profound observation. It led to the development of many innate abilities of the human mind and indeed, tracking is so ingrained in our very cells that it is synonymous with being human.

There is a movement today to revitalise tracking into a new modern profession, into a science that can help to monitor the impact of climate change and biodiversity loss and nature conservation. More on this in the show… 

Here I bring you into my own story of tracking animals and wild bison in the mountains of Romania with We Wilder, a social enterprise and cooperative founded by WWF Romania and local community members. We were engaging in a 4 day experience led by Toni Romani, a certified Cyber Tracker facilitator, and organised as part of building a local circular economy and connecting more people to the practicalities and experience of rewilding.  

Episode Website Link

Show Links:

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 11. The Inner Lives and Cultural Worlds of Animals – with Carl Safina 11. The Inner Lives and Cultural Worlds of Animals – with Carl Safina Tue, 04 Apr 2023 00:00:05 GMT 1:00:25 6426bc1593caf00012ab6932 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 6426bc1593caf00012ab6932 62c700e8b155a500150a868f inner-lives-and-cultural-worlds-of-animals-with-carl-safina full 2 11 Carl Safina is an ecologist, author, conservationist, and animal translator whose body of work probes how free-living animals experience life. His books Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel and Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace have won numerous awards. Audubon named Carl Safina among its “100 Notable Conservationists of the 20th Century.” 


Carl uncovers the rich truth that many species and animals have entire cultures, traditions, familial stories, and individual quests, that all are part of this symbiotic tapestry of tales that we call “nature”. He travels alongside the sweeping wingspans of albatrosses, the elephants of East Africa, the wolves of Yellowstone, the Orcas of the Pacific Northwest, sperm whales, seals, turtles, deciphering the role of matriarchs and elders, describing how individual personalities affect all kinds of behaviors, and how these creatures too experience mourning, loss, and grief. 


Here we speak about all these interlocking animal worlds and lives, their highly evolved and complex cultural systems, how the world is awash in waves of communication, the imperfect evolutionary work in progress known as human empathy, and how knowledge of their existence should drastically influence strategies of conservation and regeneration. We end on a profound note speaking to the role of beauty across species and minds.


(Tip: Listen to the end of this episode, the closing is particularly special...)


“Culture is Life itself adjusting and responding and expressing to the corner of this galaxy in which it finds itself” - Carl Safina

 

Episode Website Link.


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Photo Credit: Whales, Clark Miller 

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Carl Safina is an ecologist, author, conservationist, and animal translator whose body of work probes how free-living animals experience life. His books Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel and Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace have won numerous awards. Audubon named Carl Safina among its “100 Notable Conservationists of the 20th Century.” 


Carl uncovers the rich truth that many species and animals have entire cultures, traditions, familial stories, and individual quests, that all are part of this symbiotic tapestry of tales that we call “nature”. He travels alongside the sweeping wingspans of albatrosses, the elephants of East Africa, the wolves of Yellowstone, the Orcas of the Pacific Northwest, sperm whales, seals, turtles, deciphering the role of matriarchs and elders, describing how individual personalities affect all kinds of behaviors, and how these creatures too experience mourning, loss, and grief. 


Here we speak about all these interlocking animal worlds and lives, their highly evolved and complex cultural systems, how the world is awash in waves of communication, the imperfect evolutionary work in progress known as human empathy, and how knowledge of their existence should drastically influence strategies of conservation and regeneration. We end on a profound note speaking to the role of beauty across species and minds.


(Tip: Listen to the end of this episode, the closing is particularly special...)


“Culture is Life itself adjusting and responding and expressing to the corner of this galaxy in which it finds itself” - Carl Safina

 

Episode Website Link.


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Photo Credit: Whales, Clark Miller 

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[Season 1 | Your Host's Reflections & Resolutions!]]> Wed, 11 Jan 2023 15:03:02 GMT 26:51 63bc5bca65ae3d0011333b8c false https://www.lifeworld.earth 63bc5bca65ae3d0011333b8c 62c700e8b155a500150a868f reflections-resolutions bonus 1 My 2023 Reflections and Resolutions from Season One!


I created this podcast to explore how people can learn to inhabit the world from multiple perspectives, with the ultimate goal of being able to feel the Earth’s body as our own body. 

In this episode, I start the year and tie the bow on the closing of Season One, by looking back over our twenty or so conversations and harvesting the rich learnings and patterns that emerged across the show. There are three consistent topics I unearthed:

  • The challenge of how we integrate others into our models of the world
  • That tending to the lifeworlds of the earth begins to heal ourselves
  • A collection of insights from our guests on how to re-sensitise and re-animate ourselves to the aliveness of the world


It’s just me today with you in this episode, so lie back and I hope this harvest brings you inspiration and breadcrumbs to follow into the new year… 


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Photo Source: Imgur

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> My 2023 Reflections and Resolutions from Season One!


I created this podcast to explore how people can learn to inhabit the world from multiple perspectives, with the ultimate goal of being able to feel the Earth’s body as our own body. 

In this episode, I start the year and tie the bow on the closing of Season One, by looking back over our twenty or so conversations and harvesting the rich learnings and patterns that emerged across the show. There are three consistent topics I unearthed:

  • The challenge of how we integrate others into our models of the world
  • That tending to the lifeworlds of the earth begins to heal ourselves
  • A collection of insights from our guests on how to re-sensitise and re-animate ourselves to the aliveness of the world


It’s just me today with you in this episode, so lie back and I hope this harvest brings you inspiration and breadcrumbs to follow into the new year… 


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Photo Source: Imgur

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Poem | Being Human Poem | Being Human Fri, 09 Dec 2022 02:57:07 GMT 5:28 6392a412b4073b001080ddf0 false http://www.lifeworld.earth 6392a412b4073b001080ddf0 62c700e8b155a500150a868f poem-being-human bonus 1 Ever since I watched Naima Penniman (from the duet Climbing Poetree) recount her poem in this bewitching video, I’ve returned time and time again to these words, to the simplicity, playfulness, and sheer beauty of her message.


For me this poem is medicine. It reminds me of all the silly and wondrous things we human get caught inside of, and then we can wonder, how do other beings on Earth live their experiences of doubt, fear, joys, sorrows… What can we learn from them? Does it really have to be all so complicated after all?


Read full poem here: https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/poembeinghuman


(Photo source)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Ever since I watched Naima Penniman (from the duet Climbing Poetree) recount her poem in this bewitching video, I’ve returned time and time again to these words, to the simplicity, playfulness, and sheer beauty of her message.


For me this poem is medicine. It reminds me of all the silly and wondrous things we human get caught inside of, and then we can wonder, how do other beings on Earth live their experiences of doubt, fear, joys, sorrows… What can we learn from them? Does it really have to be all so complicated after all?


Read full poem here: https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes-blog/poembeinghuman


(Photo source)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Nature as Mentor - with Jon Young [Full Interview] Nature as Mentor - with Jon Young Tue, 29 Nov 2022 01:04:56 GMT 1:02:32 637ce5d8ba4647001075d3fb false https://www.lifeworld.earth 637ce5d8ba4647001075d3fb 62c700e8b155a500150a868f nature-as-mentor-with-jon-young bonus 1 Jon Young brings us into the ancient practice of nature connection mentoring. He describes how mentoring is a virtually extinct craft, and yet occupies critical importance in building the sensory awareness and neurology of young children. We delve into his rich tales of living among the San bushmen of Southern Africa, the role of wildlife tracking and bird language, insights on building ropes with the universe, and a turkey called Pete.


For over 40 years, Jon young has been a deep nature connection mentor, wildlife tracker, peacemaker, author, workshop leader, and storyteller. A pioneer in the Western field of nature-based education, he co-founded the Wilderness Awareness School in Washington and the 8 Shields Institute in California. Jon has authored the seminal books What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World (2013), and Coyote's Guide to Connecting to Nature (2007). In 2016, he received the Champion of Environmental Education Award for his life’s work and for fostering the growth of the nature connection movement on a global level.


Episode Website Link


Show Links


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Jon Young brings us into the ancient practice of nature connection mentoring. He describes how mentoring is a virtually extinct craft, and yet occupies critical importance in building the sensory awareness and neurology of young children. We delve into his rich tales of living among the San bushmen of Southern Africa, the role of wildlife tracking and bird language, insights on building ropes with the universe, and a turkey called Pete.


For over 40 years, Jon young has been a deep nature connection mentor, wildlife tracker, peacemaker, author, workshop leader, and storyteller. A pioneer in the Western field of nature-based education, he co-founded the Wilderness Awareness School in Washington and the 8 Shields Institute in California. Jon has authored the seminal books What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World (2013), and Coyote's Guide to Connecting to Nature (2007). In 2016, he received the Champion of Environmental Education Award for his life’s work and for fostering the growth of the nature connection movement on a global level.


Episode Website Link


Show Links


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Nature as Mentor - with Darren Silver [Full Interview] Nature as Mentor - with Darren Silver Tue, 29 Nov 2022 01:02:18 GMT 48:12 63767eba89d72a0011a8d4be true https://www.lifeworld.earth 63767eba89d72a0011a8d4be 62c700e8b155a500150a868f nature-as-mentor-with-darren-silver bonus 1 You may not yet know what a “vision quest” or a rite of passage is. But these traditions are as ancient as our bones. No matter whom your ancestors were, I would wager that if you travel the family branchings back far enough, you would discover that they too engaged in these ritual processes that tethered them into deeper connection with the earth’s forces.


Darren Silver is a rite of passage guide, nature-connected coach, ceremonialist, and educator. For two decades he has been working with ritual, wilderness living skills and guiding transformational experiences into land. A gifted storyteller and apprentice to the old myths, Darren weaves the power of the natural world, vision, and community in devotion to the remembrance of all that we are.

We ask:

Why does human culture need rites of passage and initiatory ceremonies?

What is the role of myth in society?

How does the Earth communicate to us, and how can we respond?

What is the role of courage in all this? How can we test our limits?


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> You may not yet know what a “vision quest” or a rite of passage is. But these traditions are as ancient as our bones. No matter whom your ancestors were, I would wager that if you travel the family branchings back far enough, you would discover that they too engaged in these ritual processes that tethered them into deeper connection with the earth’s forces.


Darren Silver is a rite of passage guide, nature-connected coach, ceremonialist, and educator. For two decades he has been working with ritual, wilderness living skills and guiding transformational experiences into land. A gifted storyteller and apprentice to the old myths, Darren weaves the power of the natural world, vision, and community in devotion to the remembrance of all that we are.

We ask:

Why does human culture need rites of passage and initiatory ceremonies?

What is the role of myth in society?

How does the Earth communicate to us, and how can we respond?

What is the role of courage in all this? How can we test our limits?


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 10. Nature as Mentor: Wilderness Rites and Tracking 10. Nature as Mentor: Wilderness Rites and Tracking Tue, 29 Nov 2022 01:00:47 GMT 41:49 637f867381921900103910b0 true https://www.lifeworld.earth 637f867381921900103910b0 62c700e8b155a500150a868f nature-as-mentor full 1 10 With Darren Silver & Jon Young.


You’ve heard from many voices in previous episodes on how they’ve learned to listen deeply to the world around them. Today, as a fitting closure, we’re going to get into the HOW of all of this, so that you can embark on your own journey.


Our two guests are wildlife trackers, wilderness guides, animal language experts and nature connection mentors. What they’ll share is that lifeworlding starts in the body, with core skills that were central to human cultures across time. These are ways of being that our modern world has rendered practically extinct, or rather exotic and primitive.


There was a time when the land spoke vividly to each one of us - a snapped twig on a trail, an odor on the breeze, every utterance from a bird’s beak would be harboring a message, guiding you through the savannah or a steep canyon, the stakes here being your survival, your family’s meal for the week, your escape from the jaws of a toothed predator. Imagine the heightened electric body of yours that pulsed through that land. This is a world I long to come home to, again and again.


These are the very things that keep me alive. Something visceral and untranslatable happens out there. When I peel away distractions, life becomes crystal clear. There is a sheer simplicity and poetic resonance to everything.


Our first guest Darren Silver explains what quests like these entail, and why our culture so desperately needs them. For two decades he’s been working with teenagers and adults in initiatory practice, rituals and wilderness skills. After Darren, you’ll hear from Jon Yong, a renowned elder, a master storyteller, and a pioneer in nature-based education, wildlife tracking and bird language. Jon’s books, How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World and Coyote's Guide to Connecting to Nature, sit proudly on my bookshelf, tattered and dog-eared, having guided me on many an adventure. He’ll bring us delightful tales from his time with the San bushmen of Southern Africa, his love for bird language, and his friendship with a turkey named Pete.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Darren Silver & Jon Young.


You’ve heard from many voices in previous episodes on how they’ve learned to listen deeply to the world around them. Today, as a fitting closure, we’re going to get into the HOW of all of this, so that you can embark on your own journey.


Our two guests are wildlife trackers, wilderness guides, animal language experts and nature connection mentors. What they’ll share is that lifeworlding starts in the body, with core skills that were central to human cultures across time. These are ways of being that our modern world has rendered practically extinct, or rather exotic and primitive.


There was a time when the land spoke vividly to each one of us - a snapped twig on a trail, an odor on the breeze, every utterance from a bird’s beak would be harboring a message, guiding you through the savannah or a steep canyon, the stakes here being your survival, your family’s meal for the week, your escape from the jaws of a toothed predator. Imagine the heightened electric body of yours that pulsed through that land. This is a world I long to come home to, again and again.


These are the very things that keep me alive. Something visceral and untranslatable happens out there. When I peel away distractions, life becomes crystal clear. There is a sheer simplicity and poetic resonance to everything.


Our first guest Darren Silver explains what quests like these entail, and why our culture so desperately needs them. For two decades he’s been working with teenagers and adults in initiatory practice, rituals and wilderness skills. After Darren, you’ll hear from Jon Yong, a renowned elder, a master storyteller, and a pioneer in nature-based education, wildlife tracking and bird language. Jon’s books, How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World and Coyote's Guide to Connecting to Nature, sit proudly on my bookshelf, tattered and dog-eared, having guided me on many an adventure. He’ll bring us delightful tales from his time with the San bushmen of Southern Africa, his love for bird language, and his friendship with a turkey named Pete.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Urban Ecologies - with John Thackara [Full Interview] Urban Ecologies - with John Thackara Tue, 15 Nov 2022 01:04:32 GMT 55:44 636d3cb857167f0012351cad false https://www.lifeworld.earth 636d3cb857167f0012351cad 62c700e8b155a500150a868f urban-ecologies-with-john-thackara bonus 1 John Thackara is a writer, curator and professor who develops design agendas for ecological restoration, urban-rural reconnection, and multi-species design.


He curated the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years, first in Amsterdam and later across India; he was commissioner of the UK social innovation biennial Dott 07, and the French design biennial City Eco Lab; and in 2019, he curated the Urban-Rural expo in Shanghai. His last book was How To Thrive In the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow’s World Today.


Here we discuss...

  • Why more information about the climate crisis just won’t cut it anymore
  • How designers can experiment with the presence of microbial lives in their cities
  • The phenomenon of weed watching and why it’s gone viral
  • Celebrity hen and mango farmers in China who have broken down the rural-urban divide
  • Placefulness as a doorway into caring
  • How a giant consulting firm could better design their employee sustainability programme (hint: it involves having real tasks to do)
  • Ecosystem restoration camps and place-based summer schools
  • The failings of snazzy car insulation made from mycelium
  • And more ;)


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty Images


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> John Thackara is a writer, curator and professor who develops design agendas for ecological restoration, urban-rural reconnection, and multi-species design.


He curated the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years, first in Amsterdam and later across India; he was commissioner of the UK social innovation biennial Dott 07, and the French design biennial City Eco Lab; and in 2019, he curated the Urban-Rural expo in Shanghai. His last book was How To Thrive In the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow’s World Today.


Here we discuss...

  • Why more information about the climate crisis just won’t cut it anymore
  • How designers can experiment with the presence of microbial lives in their cities
  • The phenomenon of weed watching and why it’s gone viral
  • Celebrity hen and mango farmers in China who have broken down the rural-urban divide
  • Placefulness as a doorway into caring
  • How a giant consulting firm could better design their employee sustainability programme (hint: it involves having real tasks to do)
  • Ecosystem restoration camps and place-based summer schools
  • The failings of snazzy car insulation made from mycelium
  • And more ;)


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty Images


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Urban Ecologies - with Gavin Van Horn [Full Interview] Urban Ecologies - with Gavin Van Horn Tue, 15 Nov 2022 01:02:05 GMT 46:41 636917288c19900012a5027e false https://www.lifeworld.earth 636917288c19900012a5027e 62c700e8b155a500150a868f urban-ecologies-with-gavin-van-horn bonus 1 Where does the city begin? How do animals disrupt our associations of what cities are? What even is urban wilderness?


Gavin Van Horn, Executive Editor of the Center for Humans and Nature, and author of the books The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds and Animal Encounters In The Chicago Wilderness, is here to disrupt long-held notions that cities are just concrete masses devoid of other life.


Gavin shares his tales from the city of Chicago, stories of brave citizens who transformed their neighbourhoods and rewove a social fabric with pollinator pathways, migratory bird preserves, and a catalytic Greencorps program. We hear about the mutual gaze that is shared between us and other life, and how to dial in to the stories that animals are telling about us among all that urban noise.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty Images


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Where does the city begin? How do animals disrupt our associations of what cities are? What even is urban wilderness?


Gavin Van Horn, Executive Editor of the Center for Humans and Nature, and author of the books The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds and Animal Encounters In The Chicago Wilderness, is here to disrupt long-held notions that cities are just concrete masses devoid of other life.


Gavin shares his tales from the city of Chicago, stories of brave citizens who transformed their neighbourhoods and rewove a social fabric with pollinator pathways, migratory bird preserves, and a catalytic Greencorps program. We hear about the mutual gaze that is shared between us and other life, and how to dial in to the stories that animals are telling about us among all that urban noise.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty Images


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 9. Urban Ecologies: Where’s Nature in the City? 9. Urban Ecologies: Where’s Nature in the City? Tue, 15 Nov 2022 01:00:46 GMT 52:28 636e8965cebe5000120800df false https://www.lifeworld.earth 636e8965cebe5000120800df 62c700e8b155a500150a868f urban-ecologies full 1 9 With Gavin Van Horn & John Thackara.


How can people living in urban settings engage with a teeming animal world – right on their doorsteps? Can we design cities from the perspective and the lifeworlds of other species? And by the way, where does the city even begin? How can animals disrupt our associations of what cities are?

 

Gavin Van Horn is the Executive Editor of the Center for Humans and Nature Press, and is the author of City Creatures: Animal Encounters in the Chicago Wilderness and The Way of Coyote. His story teaches a potent medicine for urban alienation, by honing our awareness to species like coyotes, robins, pollinators, and degraded urban forests. We talk about everyday intimacies, wild mutual gazes, the resplendence of pigeon feathers and examples of mutual healing when people repair urban lands and make nature whole.

 

John Thackara, writer, curator and professor, develops design agendas for ecological restoration, urban-rural reconnection, and multi-species environments. He curated the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years, and was commissioner of the UK Social Innovation Biennial and the Urban-Rural Expo in Shanghai. John’s expertise lies in the realm of futures design and next economies, and in our chat he shares compelling examples of urban rural reconnection, such as designers experimenting with microbial lives, the viral phenomenon of weed watching, celebrity farmers in china, and placefulness as a doorway into caring.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty Images


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Gavin Van Horn & John Thackara.


How can people living in urban settings engage with a teeming animal world – right on their doorsteps? Can we design cities from the perspective and the lifeworlds of other species? And by the way, where does the city even begin? How can animals disrupt our associations of what cities are?

 

Gavin Van Horn is the Executive Editor of the Center for Humans and Nature Press, and is the author of City Creatures: Animal Encounters in the Chicago Wilderness and The Way of Coyote. His story teaches a potent medicine for urban alienation, by honing our awareness to species like coyotes, robins, pollinators, and degraded urban forests. We talk about everyday intimacies, wild mutual gazes, the resplendence of pigeon feathers and examples of mutual healing when people repair urban lands and make nature whole.

 

John Thackara, writer, curator and professor, develops design agendas for ecological restoration, urban-rural reconnection, and multi-species environments. He curated the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years, and was commissioner of the UK Social Innovation Biennial and the Urban-Rural Expo in Shanghai. John’s expertise lies in the realm of futures design and next economies, and in our chat he shares compelling examples of urban rural reconnection, such as designers experimenting with microbial lives, the viral phenomenon of weed watching, celebrity farmers in china, and placefulness as a doorway into caring.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty Images


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Multi-species Entanglements - with Dr June Harrower [Full Interview] Multi-species Entanglements - with Dr June Harrower Tue, 01 Nov 2022 01:04:47 GMT 44:11 635fd5534a707a0012842b8e false https://www.lifeworld.earth 635fd5534a707a0012842b8e 62c700e8b155a500150a868f multi-species-entanglements-with-dr-june-harrower bonus 1 Specializing in multi-species entanglements under climate change, Dr Juniper Harrower works at the intersection of ecology, art, activism and policy.


She uses science methods and a multimedia art practice to investigate human influence on ecological systems, while seeking solutions that protect at-risk species and promote environmental justice. A founding member of the international arts collective The Algae Society Bioart Design Lab, she also founded the environmental arts production company SymbioArtlab. Harrower is the director of the art+science initiative at UC Santa Cruz where she also teaches art.


In this episode we discuss the tensions that might exist between the fields of art and science, and how Juniper manages to blend both disciplines in her research. We explore the different ways that each field asks questions, and samples (spoiler: ecology involves a lot of counting), and then move into descriptions of her art exhibitions which reveal the language of leaves, Joshua Trees, mycorrhizal networks, deep plant evolution and settler culture.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Specializing in multi-species entanglements under climate change, Dr Juniper Harrower works at the intersection of ecology, art, activism and policy.


She uses science methods and a multimedia art practice to investigate human influence on ecological systems, while seeking solutions that protect at-risk species and promote environmental justice. A founding member of the international arts collective The Algae Society Bioart Design Lab, she also founded the environmental arts production company SymbioArtlab. Harrower is the director of the art+science initiative at UC Santa Cruz where she also teaches art.


In this episode we discuss the tensions that might exist between the fields of art and science, and how Juniper manages to blend both disciplines in her research. We explore the different ways that each field asks questions, and samples (spoiler: ecology involves a lot of counting), and then move into descriptions of her art exhibitions which reveal the language of leaves, Joshua Trees, mycorrhizal networks, deep plant evolution and settler culture.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Multi-species Entanglements - with BeeWisdom [Full Interview] Multi-species Entanglements - with BeeWisdom Tue, 01 Nov 2022 01:02:13 GMT 53:32 6357d055d377b10011a0d0cb false https://www.lifeworld.earth 6357d055d377b10011a0d0cb 62c700e8b155a500150a868f multi-species-entanglements-with-beewisdom bonus 1 How do bees bridge people with nature? What is it like to be seduced by the sounds and smells of the hive? To be touched by a bee?


In this conversation with two master beekeepers, we delve into the beauty of working with bees and the broken belief systems and malpractices of the beekeeping industry (spoiler: this involves things like sugar feeding, ‘honey production pressure’, prevention of the swarm, and much more…). They also illuminate why we should rephrase the saying of ‘save the bees’ to a much wider and generative narrative of co-creation.


Sandira Belia and Annelieke van der Sluijs are the co-founders of Bee Wisdom, a platform where beekeepers and bee-lovers can learn how to work synergistically with bees, design new forms for natural hives, engage in ethical practices, and join bee grids. They impart a magic and mystery around the inner lives of bees that is a delight to listen to!


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> How do bees bridge people with nature? What is it like to be seduced by the sounds and smells of the hive? To be touched by a bee?


In this conversation with two master beekeepers, we delve into the beauty of working with bees and the broken belief systems and malpractices of the beekeeping industry (spoiler: this involves things like sugar feeding, ‘honey production pressure’, prevention of the swarm, and much more…). They also illuminate why we should rephrase the saying of ‘save the bees’ to a much wider and generative narrative of co-creation.


Sandira Belia and Annelieke van der Sluijs are the co-founders of Bee Wisdom, a platform where beekeepers and bee-lovers can learn how to work synergistically with bees, design new forms for natural hives, engage in ethical practices, and join bee grids. They impart a magic and mystery around the inner lives of bees that is a delight to listen to!


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 8. Multi-species Entanglements, or, How We Become Rapt in Other Lives 8. Multi-species Entanglements, or, How We Become Rapt in Other Lives Tue, 01 Nov 2022 01:00:04 GMT 44:05 63601b004a707a00128480fe false https://www.lifeworld.earth 63601b004a707a00128480fe 62c700e8b155a500150a868f multi-species-entanglements full 1 8 With BeeWisdom & Dr June Harrower.


Today on lifeworlds, we’re going to spend some time with the humming, buzzing, delectable nectar of the bees. Sandira Belia and Annelieke van der Sluijs are beekeepers and co-founders of Bee Wisdom, a platform where beekeepers and bee lovers can learn how to work synergistically with bees.


They’re here to unveil the mysterious, inner lives of the bee world. These days, many conversations about bees focus on their collapse, which can obscure and take us further away from the magic and mysteries of the bees. Could we instead learn to ask each other, have you ever been seduced by a bee? By the sounds and smells of the hive? Have you ever been healed by a bee? And how do beekeeping practices change when you start to see the world from the perspective and lifeworlds of the bees?


We then speak with Dr Juniper Harrower, a scientist who uses her multimedia art practice to investigate the human influence on ecological systems. Juniper is a founding member of the international arts collective The Algae Society Bioart Design Lab, founded the environmental arts production company SymbioArtlab and is the director of the art+science initiative at UC Santa Cruz. With Juniper we explore the theme of entanglement through making art and science with other species. She shows us how art and science can be complementary and yet drastically different helping answer research questions, and describes her current art exhibitions which reveal the secret language of leaves, Joshua Trees, mycorrhizal networks, deep plant evolution and settler culture.


Whether it’s through art, beekeeping, scientific study, or whatever else inspires you, ask yourself, how am I entangled in a web of other lives? How can I deepen this relationship so that it becomes a true collaboration? And have some fun with it. Hopefully today’s guests can inspire that creativity.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With BeeWisdom & Dr June Harrower.


Today on lifeworlds, we’re going to spend some time with the humming, buzzing, delectable nectar of the bees. Sandira Belia and Annelieke van der Sluijs are beekeepers and co-founders of Bee Wisdom, a platform where beekeepers and bee lovers can learn how to work synergistically with bees.


They’re here to unveil the mysterious, inner lives of the bee world. These days, many conversations about bees focus on their collapse, which can obscure and take us further away from the magic and mysteries of the bees. Could we instead learn to ask each other, have you ever been seduced by a bee? By the sounds and smells of the hive? Have you ever been healed by a bee? And how do beekeeping practices change when you start to see the world from the perspective and lifeworlds of the bees?


We then speak with Dr Juniper Harrower, a scientist who uses her multimedia art practice to investigate the human influence on ecological systems. Juniper is a founding member of the international arts collective The Algae Society Bioart Design Lab, founded the environmental arts production company SymbioArtlab and is the director of the art+science initiative at UC Santa Cruz. With Juniper we explore the theme of entanglement through making art and science with other species. She shows us how art and science can be complementary and yet drastically different helping answer research questions, and describes her current art exhibitions which reveal the secret language of leaves, Joshua Trees, mycorrhizal networks, deep plant evolution and settler culture.


Whether it’s through art, beekeeping, scientific study, or whatever else inspires you, ask yourself, how am I entangled in a web of other lives? How can I deepen this relationship so that it becomes a true collaboration? And have some fun with it. Hopefully today’s guests can inspire that creativity.


Episode Website Link


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Bedtime Story | Extinction is Loneliness Bedtime Story | Extinction is Loneliness Sun, 30 Oct 2022 10:01:36 GMT 9:20 635e4b814a707a0012824216 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 635e4b814a707a0012824216 62c700e8b155a500150a868f bedtime-story-extinction-is-loneliness bonus 1 I wrote this piece in a 6am flurry of sunrise inspiration, the words pouncing through me, stirred by a combination of books I’d been reading on plant science and deep evolutionary history (thank you, Stephen Harrod Buhner and Thomas Halliday).


All too often we read headlines about extinction or climate change, and it can be difficult to relate. Difficult for emotions to flow and process. I think we need to bring these notions intimately home, into the utterly personal, into the first-person experience of what it’s like to lose something forever. I wrote this piece from the perspective of life itself, relishing and feeling all the parts of its splendorous body.


It brings me tears and yet such sheer gratitude that we live inside of this kind of world... That we are this. There are still so many possibilities. Please sit back and enjoy this rather different bedtime story.


Find the written piece here. And pair with this song for something delicious.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> I wrote this piece in a 6am flurry of sunrise inspiration, the words pouncing through me, stirred by a combination of books I’d been reading on plant science and deep evolutionary history (thank you, Stephen Harrod Buhner and Thomas Halliday).


All too often we read headlines about extinction or climate change, and it can be difficult to relate. Difficult for emotions to flow and process. I think we need to bring these notions intimately home, into the utterly personal, into the first-person experience of what it’s like to lose something forever. I wrote this piece from the perspective of life itself, relishing and feeling all the parts of its splendorous body.


It brings me tears and yet such sheer gratitude that we live inside of this kind of world... That we are this. There are still so many possibilities. Please sit back and enjoy this rather different bedtime story.


Find the written piece here. And pair with this song for something delicious.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Ecocentric Law - with Abhayraj Naik [Full Interview] Ecocentric Law - with Abhayraj Naik Tue, 18 Oct 2022 00:04:33 GMT 48:36 6344356b433e3a00111c6b9a false https://www.lifeworld.earth 6344356b433e3a00111c6b9a 62c700e8b155a500150a868f ecocentric-law-with-abhayraj-naik bonus 1 Today I’m joined by Abhayraj Naik, a lawyer and activist-academic who teaches interdisciplinary courses on climate, environment, justice, law, policy, and research methods in universities across India.


We discuss the trajectory of the Rights of Nature in India, and how this legal approach differentiates itself from other forms of environmental law. Abhayraj shares why the Rights of Nature can catalyse entirely new world views on the human relationship to nature, and the thrilling, often philosophical, new sets of questions they unleash (who gets to speak on behalf of nature? How might one cross examine nature?).


We engage in a fun thought experiment on who should at the table when creating representation for natural beings, the skills required to implement such laws, the Rights of the River Ganga, and how the RON movement intersects with other religious or indigenous cultural traditions.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/lawabhayraj-naik


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Today I’m joined by Abhayraj Naik, a lawyer and activist-academic who teaches interdisciplinary courses on climate, environment, justice, law, policy, and research methods in universities across India.


We discuss the trajectory of the Rights of Nature in India, and how this legal approach differentiates itself from other forms of environmental law. Abhayraj shares why the Rights of Nature can catalyse entirely new world views on the human relationship to nature, and the thrilling, often philosophical, new sets of questions they unleash (who gets to speak on behalf of nature? How might one cross examine nature?).


We engage in a fun thought experiment on who should at the table when creating representation for natural beings, the skills required to implement such laws, the Rights of the River Ganga, and how the RON movement intersects with other religious or indigenous cultural traditions.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/lawabhayraj-naik


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> <![CDATA[[Full Interview] Ecocentric Law — with Dr John Borrows & Lindsay Borrows]]> Tue, 18 Oct 2022 00:02:03 GMT 58:40 63407c636ccca80012adebf5 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 63407c636ccca80012adebf5 62c700e8b155a500150a868f ecocentric-law-with-dr-john-borrows-and-lindsay-borrows bonus 1 The wonderful father-daughter duo of Dr John Borrows and Lindsay Borrows explore questions such as: Is law a noun or a verb? How can we read the archive of the law that is written upon the Earth? What exactly is indigenous law, and how can it serve to revitalise colonial law?


John Borrows has transformed Canada’s understanding of how indigenous and non-indigenous law can co-exist and created the world's first dual Indigenous law program at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. His publications include Recovering Canada; The Resurgence of Indigenous Law and Drawing Out Law. He is the 2017 Killam Prize winner in Social Sciences and the 2019 Molson Prize Winner from the Canada Council for the Arts, the 2020 Governor General’s Innovation Award. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2020. John is a members of the Chippewa First Nation in Ontario, Canada.


Lindsay Keegitah Borrows is mixed-rooted Anishinaabe and a citizen of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation. She is a lawyer, writer and teacher, whose work aims to support Indigenous communities to revitalize their traditional laws for application in contemporary contexts. She has worked with many legal traditions including Anishinaabe, Haíɫzaqv, Mi’kmaq, nuučaan̓uł, St’át’imc, Denezhu, Tsilhqot’in and Māori. She has worked as a lawyer at the Indigenous Law Research Unit (University of Victoria Faculty of Law), and at West Coast Environmental Law. She is a new professor at Queen's University Faculty of Law.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/lawjonandlindsay


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> The wonderful father-daughter duo of Dr John Borrows and Lindsay Borrows explore questions such as: Is law a noun or a verb? How can we read the archive of the law that is written upon the Earth? What exactly is indigenous law, and how can it serve to revitalise colonial law?


John Borrows has transformed Canada’s understanding of how indigenous and non-indigenous law can co-exist and created the world's first dual Indigenous law program at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. His publications include Recovering Canada; The Resurgence of Indigenous Law and Drawing Out Law. He is the 2017 Killam Prize winner in Social Sciences and the 2019 Molson Prize Winner from the Canada Council for the Arts, the 2020 Governor General’s Innovation Award. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2020. John is a members of the Chippewa First Nation in Ontario, Canada.


Lindsay Keegitah Borrows is mixed-rooted Anishinaabe and a citizen of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation. She is a lawyer, writer and teacher, whose work aims to support Indigenous communities to revitalize their traditional laws for application in contemporary contexts. She has worked with many legal traditions including Anishinaabe, Haíɫzaqv, Mi’kmaq, nuučaan̓uł, St’át’imc, Denezhu, Tsilhqot’in and Māori. She has worked as a lawyer at the Indigenous Law Research Unit (University of Victoria Faculty of Law), and at West Coast Environmental Law. She is a new professor at Queen's University Faculty of Law.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/lawjonandlindsay


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 7. Ecocentric Law: The Rights of Nature and Natural Law 7. Ecocentric Law: The Rights of Nature and Natural Law Tue, 18 Oct 2022 00:00:31 GMT 39:59 634828917397bb0012a8bfbb false https://www.lifeworld.earth 634828917397bb0012a8bfbb 62c700e8b155a500150a868f ecocentric-law-the-rights-of-nature-and-natural-law full 1 7 With Dr John Borrows, Lindsay Borrows & Abhayraj Naik.


This week we’re traveling from British Columbia to Bangalore, exploring two different legal systems that are revolutionizing the very foundations of our global system of law. In transforming how we advocate and litigate on behalf of nature, these approaches require legal professionals to develop a whole new series of skills and sensibilities which revolve around translating the lifeworlds of other beings. 


The wonderful daughter-father duo of Lindsay and John Borrows will talk about indigenous law systems in Canada. They are both lawyers and members of the Chippewas of the Nawash First Nation in Ontario. John created the world's first dual Indigenous law program at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and Lindsay’s work supports Indigenous communities in revitalizing their traditional laws for contemporary contexts. What I found so astonishing about this conversation is how indigenous law is written in the land itself, as a verb, a living being. Nature is the professor. Their case laws brim with interspecies stories.


We’ll then jump into the Rights of Nature with Abhayraj Naik. The Rights of Nature is a legal tool, now present in over 15 countries and 50 cities around the world, that confers the rights usually given to human beings over to other forms of life. Why does this matter? Put quite bluntly, under the current system of law in almost every country, nature is our slave. He’ll get into some fascinating components of the RON in India and the thrilling, often philosophical, new sets of questions they open up. Abhayraj is an activist-academic legal practitioner, co-founder of the Initiative for Climate Action, and holds degrees from the National Law School of India University and the Yale Law School.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/ecocentriclaw


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Dr John Borrows, Lindsay Borrows & Abhayraj Naik.


This week we’re traveling from British Columbia to Bangalore, exploring two different legal systems that are revolutionizing the very foundations of our global system of law. In transforming how we advocate and litigate on behalf of nature, these approaches require legal professionals to develop a whole new series of skills and sensibilities which revolve around translating the lifeworlds of other beings. 


The wonderful daughter-father duo of Lindsay and John Borrows will talk about indigenous law systems in Canada. They are both lawyers and members of the Chippewas of the Nawash First Nation in Ontario. John created the world's first dual Indigenous law program at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and Lindsay’s work supports Indigenous communities in revitalizing their traditional laws for contemporary contexts. What I found so astonishing about this conversation is how indigenous law is written in the land itself, as a verb, a living being. Nature is the professor. Their case laws brim with interspecies stories.


We’ll then jump into the Rights of Nature with Abhayraj Naik. The Rights of Nature is a legal tool, now present in over 15 countries and 50 cities around the world, that confers the rights usually given to human beings over to other forms of life. Why does this matter? Put quite bluntly, under the current system of law in almost every country, nature is our slave. He’ll get into some fascinating components of the RON in India and the thrilling, often philosophical, new sets of questions they open up. Abhayraj is an activist-academic legal practitioner, co-founder of the Initiative for Climate Action, and holds degrees from the National Law School of India University and the Yale Law School.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/ecocentriclaw


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Designs For Life - with Herb Hammond [Full Interview] Designs For Life - with Herb Hammond Tue, 27 Sep 2022 00:04:03 GMT 43:00 632dd9b0844fa70012f9f800 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 632dd9b0844fa70012f9f800 62c700e8b155a500150a868f designs-for-life-with-herb-hammond bonus 1 Herb’s career in British Columbia has centered on forestry, land based communities and natural systems. From his work as a conventional forester he went all the way to launching an embodied learning forestry school and The Silva Forest Foundation, which he ran with his wife for 30 years. They developed over 25 nature-based plans across Canada, and around the world, upending ways that large landscape management was done by communities.


In our conversation, we speak about the role of intuition and heart based thinking in developing nature-directed communities, how you get everyone on board, and the differences in indigenous thinking when it comes to forests. We also touch on the absurdity of exporting wood pellets for ‘biofuels’, how decaying wood acts as a natural sponge cleaning precious water, why “sustainable” forestry is not so sustainable, and his experience of getting the skeptical to hug a tree.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/natureplansherbhammond


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Herb’s career in British Columbia has centered on forestry, land based communities and natural systems. From his work as a conventional forester he went all the way to launching an embodied learning forestry school and The Silva Forest Foundation, which he ran with his wife for 30 years. They developed over 25 nature-based plans across Canada, and around the world, upending ways that large landscape management was done by communities.


In our conversation, we speak about the role of intuition and heart based thinking in developing nature-directed communities, how you get everyone on board, and the differences in indigenous thinking when it comes to forests. We also touch on the absurdity of exporting wood pellets for ‘biofuels’, how decaying wood acts as a natural sponge cleaning precious water, why “sustainable” forestry is not so sustainable, and his experience of getting the skeptical to hug a tree.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/natureplansherbhammond


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Designs For Life - with Dr Tara Martin [Full Interview] Designs For Life - with Dr Tara Martin Tue, 27 Sep 2022 00:02:36 GMT 54:26 632dd95ad577300012d03126 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 632dd95ad577300012d03126 62c700e8b155a500150a868f designs-for-life-with-dr-tara-martin bonus 1 I had the delightful honor of meeting Tara Martin when I lived on Vancouver Island. We canoed out to a tiny Salish Sea sand island and shared a delicious sunset picnic among old growth forests. I love Tara because she is a rare breed of scientist that can seamlessly blend rigorous data science and ecological analysis with deep intuition and cultural insight.


In this interview, we cover the basics of conservation decision science and “priority threat management” - a field she is pioneering - and how it can help policymakers prioritise complex conservation decisions. We discuss her lab’s work in the Frasier River Estuary and with First Nations across Canada. Listen to her vivid descriptions of lost eco-cultural landscapes, how she worked to save a preserved island and returned it back to indigenous stewards, how to have a seat at the table for the salmon, the role of art and beauty in conservation and the old-growth herbaceous elders that are hiding just out of sight.


Tara is a Professor in Conservation Decision Science with the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Liber Ero Chair in Conservation at UBC and is a pioneer in the field of Conservation Decision Science. Tara was recently awarded The Nature Conservancy Professor in Practice Award and is a member of the IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group and co-leads the Climate Adaptation Theme.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/natureplanstaramartin 


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> I had the delightful honor of meeting Tara Martin when I lived on Vancouver Island. We canoed out to a tiny Salish Sea sand island and shared a delicious sunset picnic among old growth forests. I love Tara because she is a rare breed of scientist that can seamlessly blend rigorous data science and ecological analysis with deep intuition and cultural insight.


In this interview, we cover the basics of conservation decision science and “priority threat management” - a field she is pioneering - and how it can help policymakers prioritise complex conservation decisions. We discuss her lab’s work in the Frasier River Estuary and with First Nations across Canada. Listen to her vivid descriptions of lost eco-cultural landscapes, how she worked to save a preserved island and returned it back to indigenous stewards, how to have a seat at the table for the salmon, the role of art and beauty in conservation and the old-growth herbaceous elders that are hiding just out of sight.


Tara is a Professor in Conservation Decision Science with the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Liber Ero Chair in Conservation at UBC and is a pioneer in the field of Conservation Decision Science. Tara was recently awarded The Nature Conservancy Professor in Practice Award and is a member of the IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group and co-leads the Climate Adaptation Theme.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/natureplanstaramartin 


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 6. Designs For Life: Priority Threat Management and Nature-Based Plans 6. Designs For Life: Priority Threat Management and Nature-Based Plans Tue, 27 Sep 2022 00:00:39 GMT 50:57 632dd8e79aabb40013b5b932 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 632dd8e79aabb40013b5b932 62c700e8b155a500150a868f designs-for-life full 1 6 With Dr Tara Martin & Herb Hammond.


Today we are joined by Dr. Tara Martin and Herb Hammond, who have pioneered fascinating methods in developing large-scale maps and management plans for biodiverse, high-priority conservation landscapes. What really sets them apart is their ability to integrate both cutting edge Western science and indigenous worldviews, a synthesis called "two-eyed seeing."

 

In these interviews, they debunk the misguided idea that separating humans from nature is the best way to restore and manage ecosystems, and show instead how human touch is vital in tending to the land. Tara and Herb are bridge builders, between the hard data science and predictive modelling, between governments and policy, along with private investment, and most importantly, the lived realities on the ground.

 

Dr Tara Martin is a scientist, professor, and the founder of the Martin Conservation Decisions Lab at the University of British Columbia. We cover the basics of conservation decision science and “priority threat management” (a tool she’s pioneered) and discuss her lab’s work with First Nations across Canada, especially in the Fraser River Estuary, along with the role of art and beauty. Peppered throughout the interview are glorious descriptions of the eco-cultural landscapes that she’s worked tirelessly to protect.

 

Herb Hammond is one of the most respected elders in the space of nature-based planning. Herb started out as a conventional forester but soon became dispirited with the destructive practices of the industry, and went on to found The Silva Forest Foundation which he ran with his wife Susie for 30 years. Over the course of their career they’ve developed over 25 large scale nature-directed plans for Canada and around the world, upending ways that landscape management is conceived and implemented.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/naturebasedplans


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Dr Tara Martin & Herb Hammond.


Today we are joined by Dr. Tara Martin and Herb Hammond, who have pioneered fascinating methods in developing large-scale maps and management plans for biodiverse, high-priority conservation landscapes. What really sets them apart is their ability to integrate both cutting edge Western science and indigenous worldviews, a synthesis called "two-eyed seeing."

 

In these interviews, they debunk the misguided idea that separating humans from nature is the best way to restore and manage ecosystems, and show instead how human touch is vital in tending to the land. Tara and Herb are bridge builders, between the hard data science and predictive modelling, between governments and policy, along with private investment, and most importantly, the lived realities on the ground.

 

Dr Tara Martin is a scientist, professor, and the founder of the Martin Conservation Decisions Lab at the University of British Columbia. We cover the basics of conservation decision science and “priority threat management” (a tool she’s pioneered) and discuss her lab’s work with First Nations across Canada, especially in the Fraser River Estuary, along with the role of art and beauty. Peppered throughout the interview are glorious descriptions of the eco-cultural landscapes that she’s worked tirelessly to protect.

 

Herb Hammond is one of the most respected elders in the space of nature-based planning. Herb started out as a conventional forester but soon became dispirited with the destructive practices of the industry, and went on to found The Silva Forest Foundation which he ran with his wife Susie for 30 years. Over the course of their career they’ve developed over 25 large scale nature-directed plans for Canada and around the world, upending ways that landscape management is conceived and implemented.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/naturebasedplans


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Meditation | Deep Ecology Meditation | Deep Ecology Tue, 20 Sep 2022 05:18:53 GMT 24:52 63294d3da3d9460012227f3e false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 63294d3da3d9460012227f3e 62c700e8b155a500150a868f meditation-deep-ecology bonus 1 Without being awake in our bodies

We can’t feel how our bodies belong to this earth

Feel the touch of the world upon you.

This one I will keep brief, and allow the practice to speak for itself. Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed for half an hour. If you can be outdoors, that’s even better. And settle in, allow yourself to be guided and drift into deep connection with the forces of our home planet.


Recorded in the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica -- thank you to all the birds and creatures who feature in this episode. I hope I have your consent.

Episode Link

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Without being awake in our bodies

We can’t feel how our bodies belong to this earth

Feel the touch of the world upon you.

This one I will keep brief, and allow the practice to speak for itself. Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed for half an hour. If you can be outdoors, that’s even better. And settle in, allow yourself to be guided and drift into deep connection with the forces of our home planet.


Recorded in the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica -- thank you to all the birds and creatures who feature in this episode. I hope I have your consent.

Episode Link

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] The Indigenous View - with Joe Martin (Tutakwisnapšiƛ) [Full Interview] The Indigenous View - with Joe Martin (Tutakwisnapšiƛ) Tue, 13 Sep 2022 00:04:04 GMT 52:46 631a2096e5ebe80014e67c9e true https://www.lifeworld.earth 631a2096e5ebe80014e67c9e 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-indigenous-view-with-joe-martin bonus 1 This is a beautiful conversation with Joe Martin, who is also known by his traditional name Tutakwisnapšiƛ.


We speak about his work as a master canoe and totem pole carver, and role as an elder in his community. Joe is a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation living in Tofino, Vancouver Island, and has carved over seventy canoes made from ancient trees. He has sparked a revitalization of this ancient art form in his own community and among neighboring nations in the Pacific Northwest.


In our talk, Joe describes how indigenous totem poles serve as visual living texts of natural laws of the land. He shares outlines of the learnings that are handed down in his tradition, from the land to grandparents to children. We learn about the teachings of the wolf, why bears are related to women’s puberty rituals, and how animals show us to only take what we need, and not for our greed.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/indigenousviewjoemartin


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> This is a beautiful conversation with Joe Martin, who is also known by his traditional name Tutakwisnapšiƛ.


We speak about his work as a master canoe and totem pole carver, and role as an elder in his community. Joe is a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation living in Tofino, Vancouver Island, and has carved over seventy canoes made from ancient trees. He has sparked a revitalization of this ancient art form in his own community and among neighboring nations in the Pacific Northwest.


In our talk, Joe describes how indigenous totem poles serve as visual living texts of natural laws of the land. He shares outlines of the learnings that are handed down in his tradition, from the land to grandparents to children. We learn about the teachings of the wolf, why bears are related to women’s puberty rituals, and how animals show us to only take what we need, and not for our greed.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/indigenousviewjoemartin


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] The Indigenous View - with Tyson Yunkaporta [Full Interview] The Indigenous View - with Tyson Yunkaporta Tue, 13 Sep 2022 00:02:38 GMT 57:37 631a1f48127e010016f6c4a1 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 631a1f48127e010016f6c4a1 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-indigenous-view-with-tyson-yunkaporta bonus 1 A delightful yarn with Tyson Yunkporta, Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk. Tyson is a member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland, Australia.


On this episode we discuss:

  • How their systems lab aggregates data and knowledge through indigenous sense-making protocols
  • “Avatar Depression” syndrome and how the West may begin to remember its own aboriginal knowledge
  • How giving names to nature can either kill, or create kinship
  • The role of ceremony in maintaining energy flows.. And why ceremony isn’t always such an enjoyable matter!
  • Why baramundi is not the correct name for a saltwater fish, and why biomimicry doesn’t work quite as well as we may think
  • How land seen as capital becomes a dying land
  • And finally, what happens when the dress rehearsal for an epic ceremony actually becomes the real thing!


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/indigenousviewtysonyunkaporta


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> A delightful yarn with Tyson Yunkporta, Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk. Tyson is a member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland, Australia.


On this episode we discuss:

  • How their systems lab aggregates data and knowledge through indigenous sense-making protocols
  • “Avatar Depression” syndrome and how the West may begin to remember its own aboriginal knowledge
  • How giving names to nature can either kill, or create kinship
  • The role of ceremony in maintaining energy flows.. And why ceremony isn’t always such an enjoyable matter!
  • Why baramundi is not the correct name for a saltwater fish, and why biomimicry doesn’t work quite as well as we may think
  • How land seen as capital becomes a dying land
  • And finally, what happens when the dress rehearsal for an epic ceremony actually becomes the real thing!


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/indigenousviewtysonyunkaporta


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 5. The Indigenous View: Protocols, Ceremony and Totem Poles 5. The Indigenous View: Protocols, Ceremony and Totem Poles Tue, 13 Sep 2022 00:00:26 GMT 45:34 6319fd060e34f50011ab2e58 false https://www.lifeworld.earth 6319fd060e34f50011ab2e58 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-indigenous-view full 1 5 With Tyson Yunkaporta & Joe Martin (Tutakwisnapšiƛ).


Today we’re joined by two master indigenous scholars and artists, who will be laying down clues from their ancestral cultures on how to interpret and read the laws of the land.


Our first conversation is what he likes to call a yarn, with Tyson Yunkporta, Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland, Australia. Tyson is the author of the book Sand Talk which was wildly successful, and I reckon part of its popularity is the way that Tyson is able to pack in such punchy wisdom along with his sharp-witted, trickster humor. We discuss how their lab collects data and knowledge through a very special indigenous sense-making protocol, and then applies it to issues like economic reform, broken landscapes, cyber safety and neuroscience. We delve into the importance of engaging with place, why a real ceremony is not all fun and games, and how the west can quit longing and start acting in rediscovering its own indigeneity.

 

We’ll then visit wisdom holder and elder Joe Martin, who will be speaking to us from British Columbia. Joe is a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and is a master canoe and totem pole carver, with over seventy canoes having been whittled and chiselled away by his hands. Just earlier this July, he and his community raised a new totem pole in ceremony at the ancient village of Opitsaht which depicts his family’s teachings of natural law. I’ve uploaded videos of the totem poles in the show notes, where you can see how each pole carries millennia old myths, stories and teachings about the human relationship with forces like the bear, wolf, raven, sun, moon and stars.

 

I hope that both of these conversations will entice you to uncover and excavate your own family lineage, all the brimming folk tales and myths and lifeworlds held by your people and the land where your blood and cosmologies sprouted from.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/indigenousview 


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Tyson Yunkaporta & Joe Martin (Tutakwisnapšiƛ).


Today we’re joined by two master indigenous scholars and artists, who will be laying down clues from their ancestral cultures on how to interpret and read the laws of the land.


Our first conversation is what he likes to call a yarn, with Tyson Yunkporta, Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland, Australia. Tyson is the author of the book Sand Talk which was wildly successful, and I reckon part of its popularity is the way that Tyson is able to pack in such punchy wisdom along with his sharp-witted, trickster humor. We discuss how their lab collects data and knowledge through a very special indigenous sense-making protocol, and then applies it to issues like economic reform, broken landscapes, cyber safety and neuroscience. We delve into the importance of engaging with place, why a real ceremony is not all fun and games, and how the west can quit longing and start acting in rediscovering its own indigeneity.

 

We’ll then visit wisdom holder and elder Joe Martin, who will be speaking to us from British Columbia. Joe is a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and is a master canoe and totem pole carver, with over seventy canoes having been whittled and chiselled away by his hands. Just earlier this July, he and his community raised a new totem pole in ceremony at the ancient village of Opitsaht which depicts his family’s teachings of natural law. I’ve uploaded videos of the totem poles in the show notes, where you can see how each pole carries millennia old myths, stories and teachings about the human relationship with forces like the bear, wolf, raven, sun, moon and stars.

 

I hope that both of these conversations will entice you to uncover and excavate your own family lineage, all the brimming folk tales and myths and lifeworlds held by your people and the land where your blood and cosmologies sprouted from.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/indigenousview 


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Money: In Service of Nature? - with Eric Smith [Full Interview] Money: In Service of Nature? - with Eric Smith Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:04:25 GMT 58:58 62ffb30fb443db00138a49c5 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62ffb30fb443db00138a49c5 62c700e8b155a500150a868f money-with-eric-smith bonus 1 Eric Smith has spent his career working at the intersection of economics and nature.


Most recently he was the director of the venture capital vehicle Neglected Climate Opportunities (NCO) at the Grantham Environmental Trust, where he co-led over 40 direct investments in start-ups across all stages that can remove carbon and GHG at scale.


He was previously with SJF Ventures and worked for BlackRock on climate finance, and currently is Founder/CEO of Edacious, a company working to differentiate food quality and connect the dots between soil and human health.


Eric is also a dear friend and someone with whom I often converse on our shared focus of investing on behalf of nature.


We were both in Mexico for a climate investing conference and caught up, beachside sand rolling in, on everything from:


  • His personal background in forestry and building certification frameworks around natural resource operations;
  • Working in Costa Rica on their Payment for Ecosystem Services model;
  • The tensions in regenerative agriculture and nature conservation;
  • Why he supports EO Wilson’s Half Earth theory;
  • If narrow metrics can ever be proxy enough for the complexity of a system;
  • The intrinsic vs economic values of nature;
  • Examples of start-ups and nature-serving businesses, and which ones are not suited for a venture capital model;
  • And more…


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/financeericsmith


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Eric Smith has spent his career working at the intersection of economics and nature.


Most recently he was the director of the venture capital vehicle Neglected Climate Opportunities (NCO) at the Grantham Environmental Trust, where he co-led over 40 direct investments in start-ups across all stages that can remove carbon and GHG at scale.


He was previously with SJF Ventures and worked for BlackRock on climate finance, and currently is Founder/CEO of Edacious, a company working to differentiate food quality and connect the dots between soil and human health.


Eric is also a dear friend and someone with whom I often converse on our shared focus of investing on behalf of nature.


We were both in Mexico for a climate investing conference and caught up, beachside sand rolling in, on everything from:


  • His personal background in forestry and building certification frameworks around natural resource operations;
  • Working in Costa Rica on their Payment for Ecosystem Services model;
  • The tensions in regenerative agriculture and nature conservation;
  • Why he supports EO Wilson’s Half Earth theory;
  • If narrow metrics can ever be proxy enough for the complexity of a system;
  • The intrinsic vs economic values of nature;
  • Examples of start-ups and nature-serving businesses, and which ones are not suited for a venture capital model;
  • And more…


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/financeericsmith


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Money: In Service of Nature? - with Lorenzo de Rosensweig [Full Interview] Money: In Service of Nature? - with Lorenzo de Rosensweig Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:02:05 GMT 55:43 62ffb154fdc03200120bba94 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62ffb154fdc03200120bba94 62c700e8b155a500150a868f money-with-lorenzo-de-rosensweig bonus 1 Lorenzo de Rosenzweig is what you might call an “OG” (original gangster) of the conservation finance world.


An engineer and marine biologist by training, for 25 years he was president of a $170 million endowment conservation trust fund - the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature - and for over 17 years he was chairman of the Mesoamerican Reef Fund. During his tenure in both institutions he led resource mobilization efforts that raised close to $410 million. He’s a member of the board of the Conservation Finance Alliance Executive Committee, the World Environment Center, The Healthy Reefs Initiative, and several other global trust funds.


Now “retired” he has started up a new enterprise, Terra Habitus A.C. — a regional environmental fund for Northern Mexico, focused on private lands conservation, borderlands cooperation, regenerative ranching, resource mobilization and environmental journalism.


Lorenzo is also a nature photographer and a watercolor artist, and is working on his first fiction book, a collection of illustrated essays on human nature and biodiversity called “Impossible animals in improbable environments”.


With this long list of accolades, and a long-time friendship and mentorship between us, who better to dig into the tricky questions surrounding finance’s relationship to the living world?


Join us as we talk about deep time and becoming a good ancestor; how to activate our senses and capacities to see the world for what it is; how to reconcile nature’s timelines with financial timelines; and some vivid tales on one lucky whale that saved a pelagic ecosystem from destruction.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/financelorenzoderosenzweig


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Lorenzo de Rosenzweig is what you might call an “OG” (original gangster) of the conservation finance world.


An engineer and marine biologist by training, for 25 years he was president of a $170 million endowment conservation trust fund - the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature - and for over 17 years he was chairman of the Mesoamerican Reef Fund. During his tenure in both institutions he led resource mobilization efforts that raised close to $410 million. He’s a member of the board of the Conservation Finance Alliance Executive Committee, the World Environment Center, The Healthy Reefs Initiative, and several other global trust funds.


Now “retired” he has started up a new enterprise, Terra Habitus A.C. — a regional environmental fund for Northern Mexico, focused on private lands conservation, borderlands cooperation, regenerative ranching, resource mobilization and environmental journalism.


Lorenzo is also a nature photographer and a watercolor artist, and is working on his first fiction book, a collection of illustrated essays on human nature and biodiversity called “Impossible animals in improbable environments”.


With this long list of accolades, and a long-time friendship and mentorship between us, who better to dig into the tricky questions surrounding finance’s relationship to the living world?


Join us as we talk about deep time and becoming a good ancestor; how to activate our senses and capacities to see the world for what it is; how to reconcile nature’s timelines with financial timelines; and some vivid tales on one lucky whale that saved a pelagic ecosystem from destruction.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/financelorenzoderosenzweig


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 4. Money: In Service of Nature? 4. Money: In Service of Nature? Tue, 30 Aug 2022 00:00:57 GMT 55:12 62ffae267cb3fe0014fa1c8a false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62ffae267cb3fe0014fa1c8a 62c700e8b155a500150a868f money-in-service-of-nature full 1 4 With Lorenzo de Rosensweig & Eric Smith.


This week we’re asking whether it’s possible to support the lifeworlds of nature with the very same tools that have caused them harm. We’ll be joined by Lorenzo de Rosenzweig, who has headed Latin America’s largest nature conservation trusts for over three decades. And Eric Smith, from the Grantham Neglected Climate Opportunities Fund and Edacious, will talk about venture capital investing in nature based solutions.


I’m interested in this topic because I invest capital in projects that regenerate nature through my vehicle Ground Effect. In that work I constantly encounter philosophical and practical tensions – namely that complex natural systems and the trillions of processes that enable life to exist can never be fully translated and priced by markets. Numbers and metrics can’t tell us about the touch of rough bark or the flutter of a beetle’s wing against our skin. And because money is fungible, it can often efface all distinctions and trigger the further commodification and abstraction of a living ecology. 


And yet finance can be used beneficially on behalf of nature. We can look at the maturing industry of biodiversity markets which attempt to move beyond single metrics like carbon, or debt for nature swaps, blue bonds, true cost accounting, payments for ecosystem services, and even more radical ideas like DAOs where nature owns itself. I’ve uploaded resources on the Lifeworlds library for those who want to go deeper on these innovations. Perhaps then, the conversation of “finance for nature” is about finding the right balance of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, and acknowledging where the role of markets begins and ends in the wider spectrum of systems change.


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Lorenzo de Rosensweig & Eric Smith.


This week we’re asking whether it’s possible to support the lifeworlds of nature with the very same tools that have caused them harm. We’ll be joined by Lorenzo de Rosenzweig, who has headed Latin America’s largest nature conservation trusts for over three decades. And Eric Smith, from the Grantham Neglected Climate Opportunities Fund and Edacious, will talk about venture capital investing in nature based solutions.


I’m interested in this topic because I invest capital in projects that regenerate nature through my vehicle Ground Effect. In that work I constantly encounter philosophical and practical tensions – namely that complex natural systems and the trillions of processes that enable life to exist can never be fully translated and priced by markets. Numbers and metrics can’t tell us about the touch of rough bark or the flutter of a beetle’s wing against our skin. And because money is fungible, it can often efface all distinctions and trigger the further commodification and abstraction of a living ecology. 


And yet finance can be used beneficially on behalf of nature. We can look at the maturing industry of biodiversity markets which attempt to move beyond single metrics like carbon, or debt for nature swaps, blue bonds, true cost accounting, payments for ecosystem services, and even more radical ideas like DAOs where nature owns itself. I’ve uploaded resources on the Lifeworlds library for those who want to go deeper on these innovations. Perhaps then, the conversation of “finance for nature” is about finding the right balance of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, and acknowledging where the role of markets begins and ends in the wider spectrum of systems change.


Show Links:


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Song | Mushroom Dance Song | Mushroom Dance Sat, 27 Aug 2022 11:41:00 GMT 24:52 630a02cc9af167001234001b false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 630a02cc9af167001234001b 62c700e8b155a500150a868f song-mushroom-dance bonus 1 “An improvisation with the natural vibrations of a certain place and time – via plant bioelectricity, latent electromagnetic radiation, and even the earth’s resonant hum…” Tarun Nayar, musician and biologist, captures the song of a mushroom’s bioelectricity, using the movement of water inside fungi and plants as electrical resistance. Like human skin, a mushroom skin possesses electrical properties which can be transposed into sound.


For more plant music, check out his page and full album.


let’s protect wild places ✨

listen to plant ragas 🌱🎶


Lifeworlds Page

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> “An improvisation with the natural vibrations of a certain place and time – via plant bioelectricity, latent electromagnetic radiation, and even the earth’s resonant hum…” Tarun Nayar, musician and biologist, captures the song of a mushroom’s bioelectricity, using the movement of water inside fungi and plants as electrical resistance. Like human skin, a mushroom skin possesses electrical properties which can be transposed into sound.


For more plant music, check out his page and full album.


let’s protect wild places ✨

listen to plant ragas 🌱🎶


Lifeworlds Page

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] The Inner Lives of Fungi - with Sophie Strand [Full Interview] The Inner Lives of Fungi - with Sophie Strand Tue, 16 Aug 2022 00:04:04 GMT 1:02:51 62f3be9f7f77c400141dca22 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62f3be9f7f77c400141dca22 62c700e8b155a500150a868f inner-lives-of-fungi-with-sophie-strand bonus 1 Woodchucks and bald eagles. Fungal fermentation. Compost heaps. Animism. Deviant animal sex. Disability. Jesus and Dionysus. Fungi, microbes, and the divine feminine critique.


It’s never a dull conversation with the brilliant and freewheeling articulate writer, poet and philosopher Sophie Strand.


Kick back and enjoy the ride.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/fungisophiestrand


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Woodchucks and bald eagles. Fungal fermentation. Compost heaps. Animism. Deviant animal sex. Disability. Jesus and Dionysus. Fungi, microbes, and the divine feminine critique.


It’s never a dull conversation with the brilliant and freewheeling articulate writer, poet and philosopher Sophie Strand.


Kick back and enjoy the ride.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/fungisophiestrand


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] The Inner Lives of Fungi - with Giuliana Furci [Full Interview] The Inner Lives of Fungi - with Giuliana Furci Tue, 16 Aug 2022 00:02:48 GMT 57:14 62f27e9c267f67001285e7da false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62f27e9c267f67001285e7da 62c700e8b155a500150a868f inner-lives-of-fungi-with-giuliana-furci bonus 1 Introducing Giuliana Furci. The woman who has been chosen by the fungi. The mother who is in love with the mould that grows on lemons. The founder and CEO of the Fungi Foundation, a Harvard University Associate, Dame of the Order of the Star of Italy (!), and Co-Chair of the IUCN Fungal Conservation Committee.


We travel through the day in the life of a fungi; how moving beyond plant and animal-centric language transforms our perception of the world; what it’s like to be on a bone-chilling fungal expedition in Patagonia; what the fungi can teach us about loneliness and rot; the perils around fungal IP, and why you should always go pee behind trees.


#thefutureisfungi


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/fungigiulianafurci


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Introducing Giuliana Furci. The woman who has been chosen by the fungi. The mother who is in love with the mould that grows on lemons. The founder and CEO of the Fungi Foundation, a Harvard University Associate, Dame of the Order of the Star of Italy (!), and Co-Chair of the IUCN Fungal Conservation Committee.


We travel through the day in the life of a fungi; how moving beyond plant and animal-centric language transforms our perception of the world; what it’s like to be on a bone-chilling fungal expedition in Patagonia; what the fungi can teach us about loneliness and rot; the perils around fungal IP, and why you should always go pee behind trees.


#thefutureisfungi


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/fungigiulianafurci


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 3. The Inner Lives of Fungi - Expeditions, Advocacy and Poetics 3. The Inner Lives of Fungi - Expeditions, Advocacy and Poetics Tue, 16 Aug 2022 00:00:33 GMT 45:11 62f27d2a4c87a60012bbb719 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62f27d2a4c87a60012bbb719 62c700e8b155a500150a868f the-inner-lives-of-fungi full 1 3 With Giuliana Furci & Sophie Strand.


Oh, the fungi! Without them we’d have no plants, no trees, no chocolate, no beer, yogurt, baked bread – all the good things! Yet despite their burgeoning popularity, science has barely scratched the surface of mapping and understanding the hidden world of fungi.


The more we learn, the more these ecosystem architects warp our minds of what we think is possible. They digest toxic radiochemical waste. Their mycelium networks with plant roots are the planet’s ecological stock exchanges. They stitch together ecosystems, sequester carbon, drive global nutrient cycles and underpin the world’s biodiversity. The entire way this kingdom of life sees and lives, its experienced lifeworld, is so entirely different to anything else on this planet.

 

Today we hear from two very distinct voices who speak on behalf of fungi. Giuliana Furci is the founder of the Fungi Foundation, the world’s first association that works on behalf of fungi, and Chile’s first female mycologist. Giuliana is a Harvard University Associate, Dame of the Order of the Star of Italy, and Co-Chair of the IUCN Fungal Conservation Committee.


Sophie Strand is one of the most brilliant rising writers on everything ranging from ecology, myth, mycelium and animism. With Sophie we traverse the terrain of fungal fermentation, compost heaps, deviant animal sex (yes you read that correctly), living with disability, Jesus, and fungal gods. It’s a good one.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/the-inner-lives-of-fungi


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Photo Credit: Steven Axford


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Giuliana Furci & Sophie Strand.


Oh, the fungi! Without them we’d have no plants, no trees, no chocolate, no beer, yogurt, baked bread – all the good things! Yet despite their burgeoning popularity, science has barely scratched the surface of mapping and understanding the hidden world of fungi.


The more we learn, the more these ecosystem architects warp our minds of what we think is possible. They digest toxic radiochemical waste. Their mycelium networks with plant roots are the planet’s ecological stock exchanges. They stitch together ecosystems, sequester carbon, drive global nutrient cycles and underpin the world’s biodiversity. The entire way this kingdom of life sees and lives, its experienced lifeworld, is so entirely different to anything else on this planet.

 

Today we hear from two very distinct voices who speak on behalf of fungi. Giuliana Furci is the founder of the Fungi Foundation, the world’s first association that works on behalf of fungi, and Chile’s first female mycologist. Giuliana is a Harvard University Associate, Dame of the Order of the Star of Italy, and Co-Chair of the IUCN Fungal Conservation Committee.


Sophie Strand is one of the most brilliant rising writers on everything ranging from ecology, myth, mycelium and animism. With Sophie we traverse the terrain of fungal fermentation, compost heaps, deviant animal sex (yes you read that correctly), living with disability, Jesus, and fungal gods. It’s a good one.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/the-inner-lives-of-fungi


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Photo Credit: Steven Axford


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Poem | Sometimes a Wild God Poem | Sometimes a Wild God Wed, 10 Aug 2022 08:57:54 GMT 5:06 62f373121f4ff70012d2bd4e false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62f373121f4ff70012d2bd4e 62c700e8b155a500150a868f poem-sometimes-a-wild-god bonus 1 Following the episodes on rewilding, I wanted to drive the message of wildness home with this spellbinding poem by Tom Hirons. It gives me chills every time I listen to it, remembering all the animals, all the chthonic forces, that we refuse to let in, the wild madness we long and thirst for, the shuddering pact we’ve made with this world before we were born.


Read the poem on: https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes/poemwildgod

Photo credit: Francesco Sambo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Following the episodes on rewilding, I wanted to drive the message of wildness home with this spellbinding poem by Tom Hirons. It gives me chills every time I listen to it, remembering all the animals, all the chthonic forces, that we refuse to let in, the wild madness we long and thirst for, the shuddering pact we’ve made with this world before we were born.


Read the poem on: https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes/poemwildgod

Photo credit: Francesco Sambo

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Rewilding - with Kris Tompkins [Full Interview] Rewilding - with Kris Tompkins Tue, 02 Aug 2022 00:04:11 GMT 1:04:00 62e26bccf2ffb90011f3de73 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62e26bccf2ffb90011f3de73 62c700e8b155a500150a868f rewilding-with-kris-tompkins bonus 1 Kristine Tompkins is an American conservationist who is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, and former CEO of Patagonia.


For nearly thirty years, along with her late husband Doug Tompkins, she has been protecting and restoring wild beauty and biodiversity by creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism and economic vitality across 14.7 million acres of parklands in Chile and Argentina.


Kris is Chair of National Geographic Society’s Last Wild Places campaign, the first conservationist to be awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the United Nations’ Global Patron for Protected Areas.


Kris shares with us just what "wild" means to her, how she transitioned from being a high-rolling businesswoman to living in the Chilean bush, the role of beauty in her life and why macaws need to befriend robots.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/rewildingkristompkins


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Kristine Tompkins is an American conservationist who is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, and former CEO of Patagonia.


For nearly thirty years, along with her late husband Doug Tompkins, she has been protecting and restoring wild beauty and biodiversity by creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism and economic vitality across 14.7 million acres of parklands in Chile and Argentina.


Kris is Chair of National Geographic Society’s Last Wild Places campaign, the first conservationist to be awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the United Nations’ Global Patron for Protected Areas.


Kris shares with us just what "wild" means to her, how she transitioned from being a high-rolling businesswoman to living in the Chilean bush, the role of beauty in her life and why macaws need to befriend robots.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/rewildingkristompkins


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Rewilding - with Derek Gow [Full Interview] Rewilding - with Derek Gow Tue, 02 Aug 2022 00:02:13 GMT 55:47 62e26aa4f9094c001178d8df true https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62e26aa4f9094c001178d8df 62c700e8b155a500150a868f rewilding-with-derek-gow bonus 1 With his hilariously sharp-witted, no-nonsense approach and radiating descriptions of nature’s landscapes, Derek Gow is a force to contend with.


He’s been one of the most vocal actors in the reintroduction of missing keystone species in England such as the beaver, the water vole and the white stork, butting heads with obnoxious lobbyists and government officials. He is currently rewilding his 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border where the Eurasian lynx, wild boar and harvest mice make home.


Our conversation ranges from the obstacles that prevent society in re-introducing critical species, all the way to Elizabethan fat bishops and voles that Gorgonzola river banks for other species to thrive. What is the mindset that sees all of land as "mine"? When were wolves seen as Gods, and what would it have been like to be a medieval traveller coming across one of these creatures “sodden like a Michelin man on a country path”? What barbarities have we committed against other species, and why should you think twice when buying herds of prehistoric Heck cattle?


Yep, this is a fun and brilliant one. (Listener tip: Derek packs more into a sentence that I could hope to do in a lifetime. Play at 1.5x at your own peril!)


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/rewildingderekgow


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With his hilariously sharp-witted, no-nonsense approach and radiating descriptions of nature’s landscapes, Derek Gow is a force to contend with.


He’s been one of the most vocal actors in the reintroduction of missing keystone species in England such as the beaver, the water vole and the white stork, butting heads with obnoxious lobbyists and government officials. He is currently rewilding his 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border where the Eurasian lynx, wild boar and harvest mice make home.


Our conversation ranges from the obstacles that prevent society in re-introducing critical species, all the way to Elizabethan fat bishops and voles that Gorgonzola river banks for other species to thrive. What is the mindset that sees all of land as "mine"? When were wolves seen as Gods, and what would it have been like to be a medieval traveller coming across one of these creatures “sodden like a Michelin man on a country path”? What barbarities have we committed against other species, and why should you think twice when buying herds of prehistoric Heck cattle?


Yep, this is a fun and brilliant one. (Listener tip: Derek packs more into a sentence that I could hope to do in a lifetime. Play at 1.5x at your own peril!)


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/rewildingderekgow


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 2. Rewilding – The Return of Exuberant Landscapes 2. Rewilding – The Return of Exuberant Landscapes Tue, 02 Aug 2022 00:00:19 GMT 49:54 62d6a1b0f8278100135e5d7d false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62d6a1b0f8278100135e5d7d 62c700e8b155a500150a868f rewilding full 1 2 With Derek Gow & Kris Tompkins.


The rewilding movement is currently sweeping across the world’s landscapes, restoring ecologies and species, re-naturalising rivers and forests.


Our two guests are trailblazers in this space – first we hear from Kristine Tompkins, ex-CEO of Patagonia who, together with her late husband Doug Tompkins, have protected over 14 million acres of wildlands and national parks across Latin America, along with over 30 million acres of marine areas. Kristine is Chair of the National Geographic Society’s Last Wild Places campaign and was the first conservationist to be awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.


Then we speak with Derek Gow, who is infamous amongst insider rewilding circles for his leadership in the re-introduction of the beaver back into European landscapes. Through Derek, and his delightfully funny and informative book 'Bringing back the Beaver', I’ve become somewhat obsessed with beavers. He’s been one of the most vocal actors in the reintroduction of missing keystone species in England such as the beaver, the water vole and the white stork, butting heads with obnoxious lobbyists and government officials. He is currently rewilding his 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border where the Eurasian lynx, wild boar and harvest mice make home.


This episode covers the basics of rewilding and goes into different models of restoring ecosystems into their rightful states, all the while discussing the mental impediments and frustrations that can occur in the attempt to rewild the most stubborn species of all — the human being.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/rewilding


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Photo of flower: Maewenn Bourcelot @maochan.talamoni

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Derek Gow & Kris Tompkins.


The rewilding movement is currently sweeping across the world’s landscapes, restoring ecologies and species, re-naturalising rivers and forests.


Our two guests are trailblazers in this space – first we hear from Kristine Tompkins, ex-CEO of Patagonia who, together with her late husband Doug Tompkins, have protected over 14 million acres of wildlands and national parks across Latin America, along with over 30 million acres of marine areas. Kristine is Chair of the National Geographic Society’s Last Wild Places campaign and was the first conservationist to be awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.


Then we speak with Derek Gow, who is infamous amongst insider rewilding circles for his leadership in the re-introduction of the beaver back into European landscapes. Through Derek, and his delightfully funny and informative book 'Bringing back the Beaver', I’ve become somewhat obsessed with beavers. He’s been one of the most vocal actors in the reintroduction of missing keystone species in England such as the beaver, the water vole and the white stork, butting heads with obnoxious lobbyists and government officials. He is currently rewilding his 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border where the Eurasian lynx, wild boar and harvest mice make home.


This episode covers the basics of rewilding and goes into different models of restoring ecosystems into their rightful states, all the while discussing the mental impediments and frustrations that can occur in the attempt to rewild the most stubborn species of all — the human being.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/rewilding


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL


Photo of flower: Maewenn Bourcelot @maochan.talamoni

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Practice | Sensing Place Practice | Sensing Place Thu, 28 Jul 2022 09:32:51 GMT 11:33 62e257c358469f0015bcb660 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62e257c358469f0015bcb660 62c700e8b155a500150a868f practice-sensing-place bonus 1 This is the first of the Lifeworlds ‘bonus’ episodes, designed to help us tune in somatically to the living world. We need to be grounding our connection to other lifeworlds into our very bodies for them to become lasting and real. Here we discover how to access these states through things like mindfulness, art, wilderness practices and poetry.


Today's exercise is about understanding the ground we stand on. The place that we call home. After a brief introduction, I present a series of prompts for you to do in your own time, over several weeks and months. It involves mapping out ecosystems, following trails of water, making a calendar of minute shifts in nature's ebbs and flows, and tuning in to the humming frequencies of what's around you.


Download the list and practice on: https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes/practicesensingplace

A useful tool for identifying species: https://www.inaturalist.org/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> This is the first of the Lifeworlds ‘bonus’ episodes, designed to help us tune in somatically to the living world. We need to be grounding our connection to other lifeworlds into our very bodies for them to become lasting and real. Here we discover how to access these states through things like mindfulness, art, wilderness practices and poetry.


Today's exercise is about understanding the ground we stand on. The place that we call home. After a brief introduction, I present a series of prompts for you to do in your own time, over several weeks and months. It involves mapping out ecosystems, following trails of water, making a calendar of minute shifts in nature's ebbs and flows, and tuning in to the humming frequencies of what's around you.


Download the list and practice on: https://www.lifeworld.earth/episodes/practicesensingplace

A useful tool for identifying species: https://www.inaturalist.org/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Unexpected Agricultures – with Michael Ableman [Full Interview] Unexpected Agricultures – with Michael Ableman Tue, 19 Jul 2022 00:04:34 GMT 1:03:48 62d552b39c7af30012e03534 false https://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62d552b39c7af30012e03534 62c700e8b155a500150a868f unexpected-agricultures-with-michael-ableman bonus 1 Michael Ableman is a farmer, author, photographer and urban food systems activist. Michael has been farming organically since the early 1970s and is considered one of the pioneers of the organic farming and urban agriculture movements.


He founded North America’s largest urban farm in downtown Vancouver, that employs people who are experiencing long term addiction and mental illness. Michael lives on his farm on Salt Spring Island, which I can only describe as the most glorious farm I have ever visited.


His story will inspire you to get dirt under your nails, to communicate and walk with the land in a whole new way, and to gain a greater understanding of how the act of farming can heal a divided society. Michael is exceptionally rare in his ability to blend the most pragmatic and captivating elements of farming with profound reflections on philosophy and life.


Enjoy this soulful and illuminating interview.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/unexpectedagriculturesmichael


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Michael Ableman is a farmer, author, photographer and urban food systems activist. Michael has been farming organically since the early 1970s and is considered one of the pioneers of the organic farming and urban agriculture movements.


He founded North America’s largest urban farm in downtown Vancouver, that employs people who are experiencing long term addiction and mental illness. Michael lives on his farm on Salt Spring Island, which I can only describe as the most glorious farm I have ever visited.


His story will inspire you to get dirt under your nails, to communicate and walk with the land in a whole new way, and to gain a greater understanding of how the act of farming can heal a divided society. Michael is exceptionally rare in his ability to blend the most pragmatic and captivating elements of farming with profound reflections on philosophy and life.


Enjoy this soulful and illuminating interview.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/unexpectedagriculturesmichael


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> [Full Interview] Unexpected Agricultures – with Lyla June Johnston [Full Interview] Unexpected Agricultures – with Lyla June Johnston Tue, 19 Jul 2022 00:02:20 GMT 1:06:39 62d027e1e616030012cbeb11 false http://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62d027e1e616030012cbeb11 62c700e8b155a500150a868f unexpected-agricultures-with-lyla-june bonus 1 Lyla June Johnston is an Indigenous public speaker, artist, poet, scholar and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. She blends her studies in human ecology at Stanford University, graduate work in Native American Pedagogy at the University of New Mexico, and the indigenous worldview she grew up with.


Lyla and I got together to discuss her brilliant PhD research on Indigenous Food Systems Revitalization. In this interview we discuss what 6000-year-old clam gardens in the Pacific Northwest, buffalo prairies, kelp forests, hemlock boughs, and herring eggs all have in common; the role of reciprocity in food systems; human beings as a keystone species; the reclamation of our own food production; land fragmentation, and thinking like a watershed.


Guided by indigenous values and understandings, this conversation charts the path to how we can restore our relationship to farming and food, and how these ancient ingenious systems can help us rethink our broken food systems.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/unexpectedagricultureslylajune


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Lyla June Johnston is an Indigenous public speaker, artist, poet, scholar and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. She blends her studies in human ecology at Stanford University, graduate work in Native American Pedagogy at the University of New Mexico, and the indigenous worldview she grew up with.


Lyla and I got together to discuss her brilliant PhD research on Indigenous Food Systems Revitalization. In this interview we discuss what 6000-year-old clam gardens in the Pacific Northwest, buffalo prairies, kelp forests, hemlock boughs, and herring eggs all have in common; the role of reciprocity in food systems; human beings as a keystone species; the reclamation of our own food production; land fragmentation, and thinking like a watershed.


Guided by indigenous values and understandings, this conversation charts the path to how we can restore our relationship to farming and food, and how these ancient ingenious systems can help us rethink our broken food systems.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/unexpectedagricultureslylajune


Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> 1. Unexpected Agricultures – The Human in the Food Web 1. Unexpected Agricultures – The Human in the Food Web Tue, 19 Jul 2022 00:00:29 GMT 48:55 62cec5f811998c0013e3f80d false http://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62cec5f811998c0013e3f80d 62c700e8b155a500150a868f unexpected-agricultures full 1 1 With Lyla June Johnston & Michael Ableman.


We’re going to kick off the season by getting our feet down in the soil to talk about agriculture! Our two guests present a compelling vision of how agricultural systems offer humans a deeper sense of purpose that goes beyond the provisioning of food.


This is because farmers and producers often spend their days immersed in the lifeworlds of the land — in the delicate stalks of green, the humming of pollinators, the beating of bird feathers and the pungent smells of sprouting crops. Their survival depends on them paying very close attention, seeing and interpreting the world through other eyes, and by doing so a whole other human psychology unfolds.


Lyla June Johnston is an indigenous scholar, public speaker, artist, and poet of Diné, Tsétsêhéstâhese and European lineages. Lyla studied human ecology at Stanford and is writing her PhD on Indigenous Food Systems Revitalization. She describes millennia-old methods of agriculture that were ingeniously designed to harness nature’s flows, ranging from expansive clam gardens in the Pacific Northwest to the American grasslands. You’ll hear about governance systems and worldviews required to cultivate such abundant landscapes and how we can restore our relationship to farming and food.


Michael Ableman has been an organic farmer for over 50 years and is considered one of the pioneers of the organic farming and urban agriculture movements. He founded North America’s largest urban farm located in Vancouver, that employs people who have been impacted by long term addiction and mental illness. This experience has proven to Michael how farming can support profound healing, and with us he shares his intimate approach to farming, dropping hints as to how you can also listen to the land.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/unexpectedagricultures

 

Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Photo Credit: Rob Kesseler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> With Lyla June Johnston & Michael Ableman.


We’re going to kick off the season by getting our feet down in the soil to talk about agriculture! Our two guests present a compelling vision of how agricultural systems offer humans a deeper sense of purpose that goes beyond the provisioning of food.


This is because farmers and producers often spend their days immersed in the lifeworlds of the land — in the delicate stalks of green, the humming of pollinators, the beating of bird feathers and the pungent smells of sprouting crops. Their survival depends on them paying very close attention, seeing and interpreting the world through other eyes, and by doing so a whole other human psychology unfolds.


Lyla June Johnston is an indigenous scholar, public speaker, artist, and poet of Diné, Tsétsêhéstâhese and European lineages. Lyla studied human ecology at Stanford and is writing her PhD on Indigenous Food Systems Revitalization. She describes millennia-old methods of agriculture that were ingeniously designed to harness nature’s flows, ranging from expansive clam gardens in the Pacific Northwest to the American grasslands. You’ll hear about governance systems and worldviews required to cultivate such abundant landscapes and how we can restore our relationship to farming and food.


Michael Ableman has been an organic farmer for over 50 years and is considered one of the pioneers of the organic farming and urban agriculture movements. He founded North America’s largest urban farm located in Vancouver, that employs people who have been impacted by long term addiction and mental illness. This experience has proven to Michael how farming can support profound healing, and with us he shares his intimate approach to farming, dropping hints as to how you can also listen to the land.


Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/unexpectedagricultures

 

Show Links:


Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.


Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Photo Credit: Rob Kesseler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Trailer Trailer Fri, 08 Jul 2022 06:07:45 GMT 3:11 62c7037a2e13a00012b71409 false http://www.lifeworld.earth/ 62c7037a2e13a00012b71409 62c700e8b155a500150a868f introducing-lifeworlds Introducing Lifeworlds trailer 1 Welcome to Lifeworlds - a podcast series that explores how to orient your life around nature.

Join me on this intimate journey into the eyes and minds of other species; learn from our guests how they’re living deeply in relationship with ecologies; be electrified by the possibilities of partnering with nature and the beauty it can bring to your life. 

Episodes launch fortnightly from 19th July, with meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between.

There's also a website brimming with resources at lifeworld.earth.


Music: The Rising by Tryad CCPL & Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]> Welcome to Lifeworlds - a podcast series that explores how to orient your life around nature.

Join me on this intimate journey into the eyes and minds of other species; learn from our guests how they’re living deeply in relationship with ecologies; be electrified by the possibilities of partnering with nature and the beauty it can bring to your life. 

Episodes launch fortnightly from 19th July, with meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between.

There's also a website brimming with resources at lifeworld.earth.


Music: The Rising by Tryad CCPL & Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

]]>