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.

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 LinkShow LinksTom Browne Tracker SchoolFascinating biography of Jon’s lifeJon’s websiteCoyote’s Guide to connecting with NatureWhat The Robin Knows: Bird Language, Revealing the Secrets of NatureDescription of 8 ShieldsSan bushmenAnimas Valley InstituteSchool of Lost BordersMusic: 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 LinkShow Links:Darren SilverSibling Society by Robert BlyArnold Van Gennup - Three StagesMyth of the Handless MaidenTom Brown Tracker SchoolFox WalkingCore Routine - Sit SpotAnimas Valley InstituteSchool of Lost BordersMusic: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd 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 LinkShow Links:Tom Browne Tracker SchoolAnimas Valley InstituteSchool of Lost BordersJon’s websiteCoyote’s Guide to Connecting with NatureWhat The Robin KnowsDarren SilverMyth of the Handless MaidenFox WalkingCore Routine - Sit SpotMusic: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL 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 anymoreHow designers can experiment with the presence of microbial lives in their citiesThe phenomenon of weed watching and why it’s gone viralCelebrity hen and mango farmers in China who have broken down the rural-urban dividePlacefulness as a doorway into caringHow 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 schoolsThe failings of snazzy car insulation made from myceliumAnd more ;)Episode Website LinkShow Links:John’s website Design for Multi Species Cities Regenerative Empathy Paper Sugi ProjectBack to the Land Summer School Urban Rural Connection in China Internet of natureLook out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty ImagesMusic: 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 LinkShow Links:Gavin’s website The Way of the Coyote BookKinship: Belonging in a World of RelationsGreencorps of ChicagoChicago WildernessBeing Salmon, Being HumanLook out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty ImagesMusic: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd 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 LinkShow Links:John’s website Design for Multi Species Cities Back to the Land Summer School Urban Rural Connection in ChinaGavin’s website The Way of the Coyote BookKinship: Belonging in a World of RelationsGreencorps of ChicagoChicago WildernessBeing Salmon, Being HumanLook out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.Photo Credit: Jason Klassi via Getty ImagesMusic: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. June Harrower, a specialist in multi-species entanglements under climate change, discusses blending art and science in ecological research. They explore human impact on ecosystems, plant sentience, and the intersection of art, care, and environmental activism. The episode also covers their exhibition featuring leaves as portals and advocacy for Joshua tree conservation.

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: BeeWisdom website and resources Apis Arborea - the development of tree-based hivesSandira’s book “Bee Wisdom: Teachings from the hive 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 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 LinkShow Links:BeeWisdom website and resourcesApis Arborea - the development of tree-based hivesSandira’s book “Bee Wisdom: Teachings from the hiveJuniper’s website and resourcesConversations on Botanical EntanglementsJoshua Trees and Art Algae SocietySymbioArtlab environmental arts production companyLook 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.