Emergence Magazine Podcast

In this week’s story, biologist Brian Isett ponders the age-old question his young daughter will inevitably ask — Where did the Moon come from? — and uncovers how the Earth got Her seasonal song. He introduces us to Theia, the proto-planet that came crashing into the surface of our infant planet four and a half billion years ago, tilting the Earth on Her axis and birthing the Moon. This meeting ultimately shaped the passing of time, the movement of tides, and the cycle of the seasons as we have known them. With the seasons now changing in response to our neglect of the Earth, Theia offers a reminder that these rhythms have always evolved through relationship.  Read the essay.  Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Image: Earth’s reflection on the Moon / NASA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sharing a depth of attention for what stands to be lost in our relationship with the seasons, Volume 6 contributors Terry Tempest Williams and Susan Murphy Roshi come together to explore the theme of requiem in this first conversation of a companion series to Seasons. Drawing on their respective essays, “A Hollow Bone” and “Alive In the Skin of a River’s Flow,” Terry and Susan contemplate what becomes present amid absence, a love for the burning world, and ways we can move with flock consciousness through this time of ecological uncertainty. Read the transcript.  Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How might our understanding of plants transform if it embraced the voices of plants themselves? In this conversation, research scientist Monica Gagliano speaks about her groundbreaking research on plant communication and cognition, informed by knowledge imparted by plants through visions, dreams, and sensations. Sharing stories of how her remarkable experiments have evolved alongside a relationship of reciprocity and trust with the plants she studies, Monica offers a model for how we can radically bridge the rigor of Western scientific methodology with the deeply human and spiritual act of listening to plants.  Read the transcript. Photo by Andrea Pellerani. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Ben Goldfarb follows the winding course of the Klamath River, from Oregon’s high desert plateaus to the Pacific Ocean in Northern California, as its four most obstructive dams are dismantled under a restoration plan reopening hundreds of miles of salmon spawning habitat. Ben chronicles how the prolonged absence of salmon has reshaped this waterway, its surrounding redwood forests and canyons, and the Yurok, Karuk, Hoopa, and Shasta tribes for whom this creature is not only sustenance, but sacred kin. Tracing the monumental effort to restore the vital presence of salmon, Ben witnesses how the restitching of relationships between land, fish, and humans is nourishing this ecosystem anew.  Read the essay, featuring a postscript from Ben as he returns to the Klamath Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Photo by Kiliii Yüyan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join eco-philosopher Joanna Macy and award-winning poet Anita Barrows as they explore the beauty of Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry. They delve into themes of divine unknowability and the unity of nature with the transcendent. Listeners will hear reflections on urban suffering, the yearning for a restored earth, and the importance of embracing both joy and sorrow. Macy and Barrows invite a deeper connection with the world through Rilke's verses, urging us to trust in our longing while celebrating the richness of existence.

In this week’s story, Australian writer and Zen roshi Susan Murphy explores how haiku’s reflections of the seasons are being disrupted by the climate crisis. How will this poetic form bear witness to the ferocity of change reshaping the seasons? Woven with verses from Bashō, Buson, Issa, and fellow Volume 6 contributor Ron C. Moss, this story contemplates whether haiku may, in fact, be a vessel for holding the paradox of the seasons in this moment: allowing us to both mourn and love a rapidly evolving Earth.  Read the essay.  Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Image: Asako Narahashi, Kawaguchiko #5, 2003 © Asako Narahashi / Courtesy of Ibasho Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merlin Sheldrake, a renowned researcher and author in mycology, delves into the fascinating world of mycelial networks and their ecological wisdom. He discusses how fungi offer a decentralized approach to problem-solving, emphasizing mutualism over individualism. Sheldrake draws parallels between mycelial behaviors and human creativity, highlighting how crises can lead to new symbiotic relationships. The conversation invites us to embrace uncertainty and explore the hidden potentials within fungi, encouraging a profound connection with the natural world.

Join Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer as she dives into her new book, The Serviceberry. She introduces the concept of the Honorable Harvest, emphasizing principles like restraint and gratitude. Robin discusses the sacred connections between gifts and nature, critiquing the commodification of resources like water. Through storytelling, she highlights how community and mutual flourishing can foster ecological healing. Kimmerer argues for local gift economies, deepening our human and environmental relationships, all through a lens of practical reverence.

In November, we celebrated the launch of our latest print edition, Seasons, at the Tate Modern in London. Recorded live at the event, this conversation featuring four Volume 6 contributors, delves into each of their stories and the themes of requiem, invitation, and celebration at the heart of their seasonal experiences. From honoring the fragility of spring birdsong, to finding an expanded sense of self through seasonal “noticelings,” this wide-ranging and lively exchange explores the myriad ways of remembering our relationship with the seasons.  Read the transcript.  Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this conversation from our archive, Australian writer and Zen roshi Susan Murphy immerses us in the ancient tradition of koan and the power of the “not-knowing mind” to open a treasury of resources for meeting the climate crisis. Sharing several koans from Zen masters that push at the boundaries of our consciousness, she speaks to the way they can draw us deeper into kinship and reminds us that the Earth Herself is a koan waiting to be known.  Read the transcript. Photo by Warren Summers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices