Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration

What does it mean to "see" soil beyond their chemistry and biology—understanding also their cultural, relational, and historical embodiment? How have Colombian small and Indigenous farmers resisted—and thrived—even amidst decades of armed conflicts, scientific colonization, and epistemological and ontological violences? In this episode, we welcome Dr. Kristina Lyons, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, whose current research is situated at the interfaces of socio-ecological conflicts, transitional justice, community-based forms of reconciliation, militarized psychologies, and science and legal studies in Colombia. Her book, Vital Decomposition, weaves together an intimate ethnography of two kinds of practitioners: state soil scientists and small farmers who attempt to cultivate alternatives to commercial coca crops and the military-led, growth-oriented development paradigms intended to substitute them. *** Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletters at GreenDreamer.com. *Our episodes are minimally edited; please view them as open invitations to dive into every topic and resource explored.

In this episode, we welcome Nick Estes, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and co-founder of The Red Nation. Nick is a historian, journalist, and author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. Together, we unravel the topics of why truth-seeking to better understand history has become so politicized and contentious, the boarding school system that the U.S. used to assimilate Native children, The Red Deal as going beyond what The Green New Deal addresses, and more. (The musical offering in this episode is Mother by Jared Sowan, provided to us by Indigenous Cloud.) Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com. *Our episodes are minimally edited. Please view them as open invitations to dive deeper into each resource shared and topic explored.

In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Charles Eisenstein, a public speaker and author of the books Climate — A New Story, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible, The Ascent of Humanity, and Sacred Economics. Charles‘ work covers a wide range of topics, including the history of human civilization, economics, spirituality, and the ecology movement. And some primary themes that he explores include anti-consumerism, interdependence, and how myth and narrative influence culture. The musical offering shared in this episode is Mother by Jared Sowan, provided to us by Indigenous Cloud. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com. Support our show: GreenDreamer.com/support *Our episodes are minimally edited; please view them as invitations to dive deeper into every subject and resource explored.

How might we lean into appreciative inquiry in support of a cycle of healing? And what does it mean to view conflicts as potentials for collective breakthroughs? In this episode, we welcome Shilpa Jain, the Executive Director of YES! and a facilitator, author, and educator on topics including globalization, creative expressions, ecology, democratic living, innovative learning, and unlearning. The musical offering in this episode is Grandmother’s Song by Hand Drum Songs, provided to us by Indigenous Cloud. *** ABOUT: Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and weekly newsletter at GreenDreamer.com. Support the show at GreenDreamer.com/support. *Our episodes are minimally edited; please view them as open invitations to dive deeper into the topics and resources explored.

What signs are there that the dominant culture has trended towards one of “choice paralysis”, with many stuck in “infinite browsing mode”? And how might encouraging people to commit—to causes, place, people, projects—support the societal transformation many deeply yearn for? In this episode, we welcome Pete Davis, a writer and civic advocate from Falls Church, Virginia. Pete works on civic projects aimed at deepening American democracy and solidarity, and he is the co-founder of Getaway and the Democracy Policy Network. Pete became well-known for his Harvard Law School graduation speech, “A Counterculture of Commitment,” which has been viewed more than 30 million times and became the basis for his book, Dedicated: The case for commitment in an age of infinite browsing. The musical offering in this episode is Around the World by Wig Wam, provided to us by Indigenous Cloud. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com. Support Green Dreamer: GreenDreamer.com/support *Our episodes are minimally edited; please view them as open invitations to dive deeper into the resources and topics explored.

What are the differences between “food security”, “food justice”, and “food sovereignty”? And while food aid and soup kitchens play a critical role in the immediate term, how might they still help to uphold the same power dynamics that historically marginalized communities wish to compost? In this episode, we welcome Karen Washington, a farmer and activist, to Green Dreamer. Karen is a co-owner/farmer at Rise & Root Farm in Chester, New York, and in 2010, she co-founded Black Urban Growers (BUGS), an organization supporting growers in both urban and rural settings. Karen currently serves on the boards of the New York Botanical Gardens, Mary Mitchell Center, Soul Fire Farm, and Black Farmer Fund, and is widely recognized for her community leadership and organizing. The musical offering in this episode is American Trilogy by First Nations Elvis, provided by Indigenous Cloud. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com. Support our work: GreenDreamer.com/support *Our episodes are minimally edited; please view them as open invitations to dive deeper into the resources and topics explored.

How does viewing people as “contextual beings” help us to realize the systemic changes that need to be made? What does it mean to have spiritual and political praxis—to see the shortcomings of New-Age spirituality when practiced in silos? In this episode, we welcome Alnoor Ladha, the co-founder and Executive Director of The Rules and a board member of Culture Hack Labs, a co-operatively run advisory for social movements and progressive organizations. Alnoor comes from a Sufi lineage and writes about the crossroads of politics and spirituality in troubled times. His work focuses on the intersection of political organizing, systems thinking, structural change, and narrative work. The musical offering in this episode is Grandmother’s Song by Andrea Roan, provided by Indigenous Cloud. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and weekly newsletter at GreenDreamer.com. Support the show at GreenDreamer.com/support. *Our episodes are minimally edited; please view them as open invitations to dive deeper into the topics and resources explored.

What does it mean to see the inflammation of our bodies and Earth as interconnected and as signals of what is wrong outside? How did the major philanthropies shape the field of modern medicine to privilege or devalue certain forms of knowledge? In this episode, we're joined by Rupa Marya, MD and Raj Patel, co-authors of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice. Rupa Marya is a physician, an activist, a mother, and a composer. She is an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, co-founder of the Do No Harm Coalition, and co-founder of the Deep Medicine Circle. Currently, she is helping to set up Mni Wiconi Clinic and Farm at Standing Rock, and she is also part of the Farming Is Medicine project. Raj Patel is a research professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and a research associate at Rhodes University, South Africa. He is the author of Stuffed and Starved and The Value of Nothing, and the coauthor of A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things. He is the co-director of the groundbreaking documentary “The Ants and the Grasshopper”, and he currently serves on the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems. The musical offering in this episode is Around the World by Wig Wam, provided to us by Indigenous Cloud. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com; support our show to continue at Patreon.com/GreenDreamer. *Our episodes are minimally edited; please view them as open invitations to explore the discussed topics and resources further.

What is it that drives our individualistic pursuits for ethical purity? How do we embrace complicity as the starting point and begin to take responsibility for our messy histories? In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Alexis Shotwell, whose work focuses on complexity, complicity, and collective transformation. A professor at Carleton University, on unceded Algonquin land, she is the co-investigator for the AIDS Activist History Project and the author of Knowing Otherwise: Race, Gender, and Implicit Understanding and Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times. The musical offering shared in this episode is Mother by Jared Sowan, provided to us by Indigenous Cloud. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Support our work: Patreon.com/GreenDreamer *Our episodes are minimally edited. Please view them as invitations to dive deeper into every topic explored and resource mentioned.

Dr. Tyson Yunkaporta discusses re-orienting toward growth of intimacy, depth, and diversity. Topics include disrupting patterns, balancing feedback loops, challenges of economic growth, illusions of progress, and navigating language in culture wars. He also explores depression as a superpower and hope for the planet's future.