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

"In many cases, corporations are using [the museum's cultural capital] to reaffirm their status in a local community... Artists are increasingly concerned about the context in which their work is displayed and also the values of the museum and the sponsor." In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Mark Rectanus, a University Professor of German Studies (Emeritus) in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Iowa State University. His publications include research on the German publishing industry, the book and electronic media, contemporary German literature, corporate sponsorships, cultural politics, museum studies, and contemporary art. His most recent book is Museums Inside Out: Artist Collaborations and New Exhibition Ecologies. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include the influence of corporate funding on art and culture, what it might mean to decolonize museums in spite of many of their troubled pasts, how artist-activists have been shifting the politics of art from within, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Black Moss by Johanna Warren.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

“So-called ‘development’, envisioned outside of the community, more often than not brings challenges to the community because it doesn't take into consideration the aspirations, the culture, and the way of life of the people. It disregards the right of the people to self-determination. More than anything, it destroys the ecosystem of goods and services that people are reliant on.” In this episode, we welcome Sinegugu Zukulu, who describes himself as a champion of rural development, having worked all his life to promote development that directly benefits rural people. He works in community development in the Wild Coast, focusing on ecotourism development, agriculture and youth empowerment. It is Sinegugu’s work and life purpose to advocate for rural people living on communal land getting assistance to secure land tenure that supports their way of life without being pressured by imposed development. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include resisting top-down, imposed visions of development, the integrative role of heavy metals within living landscapes, the Amadiba community's land defense against industrial mining and oil drilling, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Hummingbird by Lea Thomas. The episode-inspired artwork is by Luise Hesse.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

"If you're looking at the broad trajectory of corporate capitalism, it's towards institutional intermediation in everything... This 'unbanked' concept is always presented as if somehow it obviously represents a step up in the world. But [really], you're getting captured within an institutional framework or a type of conglomeration of institutions." In this Green Dreamer episode, we welcome Brett Scott, a journalist, campaigner, monetary anthropologist and former financial broker. He is the author of Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets (2022), and The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance (2013). He publishes the Altered States of Monetary Consciousness newsletter and tweets as @suitpossum. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include how the banking sector functions to extract and centralize financial wealth, the questionable presumptions behind "financial inclusion," how the cash system might ironically serve as a constraint to corporate capitalism, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is The Witness by Rowan Rain. The episode-inspired artwork is by Carolina Altavilla.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

"To try and resolve the environmental problems that we're facing from within the same ontological and epistemological frameworks that have created the problem just can't work. The Western world needs to be rethinking the way it approaches what it is to be a human being on this planet, and what relationships are important." In this episode, we welcome Dr. Christine Winter (Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Ngati Pākeha), who is a senior lecturer in environmental, climate change, multispecies and indigenous politics. Her research focuses on the ways in which academic political theory, and particularly theories of justice, continue to perpetuate injustice for some people (and more specifically for Māori) and the environment. Her most recent research centers on ensuring the emerging field of a political theory of multispecies justice should have decolonial (and anticolonial) foundations. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include questioning the philosophies that underlie settler politics, reorienting towards multispecies and intergenerational justice to become good ancestors, moving beyond rights-based frameworks for protecting the more-than-human world, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Eye of the storm by Ali Dineen. The episode-inspired artwork is by Sophie Le Grelle.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“An animistic worldview is one I think that is deeply embedded in relationality, exactly the kind we need at this moment of crisis. So far from it being a ‘primitive thing,’ I think actually it can show us ways forward about how to be in the world, and how to be in the world with gratitude, knowledge, reciprocity.” In this episode, we welcome Andy Letcher, a Senior Lecturer at Schumacher College, Devon UK, where he runs the MA Engaged Ecology. He is the author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom and numerous papers and chapters about the nature of contemporary psychedelic experience. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include different interpretations of ecology and how they influence our approaches to caring for the planet, how the animistic worldview offers guidance for our paths towards collective healing, what it means to root personal engagements with psychedelic medicines within deeper cultural changes, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Power by India Blue. The episode-inspired artwork is by ) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"The idea of the catastrophic convergence essentially looks at how climate change interacts with the pre-existing crises of the legacy of US imperialism and Cold War militarism and neoliberal economic restructuring." In this episode, we welcome Christian Parenti, a Professor of Economics at John Jay College, City University of New York. His undergraduate and graduate teaching, and research, focus on: American economic history, environmental history, and the history of capitalism; climate change and sustainable energy; as well as war, policing, and political violence. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include what Parenti means by “big storms require big government”, viewing capital in part as social relations, various regional conflicts resulting from the "catastrophic convergence" of climate change, militarism and imperialism, and neoliberal economic restructuring, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Come The Rain by Maggie Clifford. The episode-inspired artwork is by Luise Hesse.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“Freedom and friendship have the same etymological root, which means beloved... [Historically, freedom] was about your people and that collectively, you were able to get the things that you needed for everyone to survive — food, shelter, water — and that children, disabled people, babies, and elders were cared for. This was how you were free — in the collective.” In this episode, we welcome Mia Birdsong, a pathfinder, author, and facilitator who steadily engages the leadership and wisdom of people experiencing injustice to chart new visions of American life. She has a gift for making visible and leveraging the brilliance of everyday people so that our collective gifts reach larger spheres of influence, cultural and political change, and create wellbeing for all of us. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include remembering a wiser and more radical meaning of “freedom”, re-envisioning what it means to feel safe and secure in a community, the generosity of receiving in relationships, and more. (The musical offering in this episode is Power to Change by Luna Bec.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“English embeds certain things just by virtue of its structure. It’s a very thing-ifying language; it’s very noun-heavy. Most of the Indigenous languages that I know of are very relational and verb-heavy. It’s a fundamentally different way of relating to the world and to community. If [the] Indigenous literature [you see] is all in English, then you’re missing a significant reality in terms of Indigenous forms of expression.” In this episode, we welcome Daniel Heath Justice, a Colorado-born citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He works on Musqueam territory at the University of British Columbia, where he is Professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English and holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture. A literary scholar, fantasy novelist, and cultural historian, his critical and creative work considers Indigenous kinship, sexuality, speculative fiction, and other-than-human relations. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include the role of storytelling in shaping culture, the politics of what gets validated as literature, the power of speculative fiction in seeding imaginations for other ways of being, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Tear Down The Wall by Forest Veil. The episode-inspired artwork is by Subin Yang.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"The transition from oral cultures into written cultures, for me, really signals a conceptual change that then uproots us from an embedded, environmental, relational existence, in such a way that a certain analytical, linear, and reductionist thinking becomes possible." In this episode, we welcome Sophie Strand, a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Her first book of essays The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine will be published by Inner Traditions in Fall 2022 and is available for pre-order. Her eco-feminist historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret will also be published by Inner Traditions in Spring 2023. Subscribe to her newsletter, and follow her work on Instagram. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include how the historical transition from oral to chirographic cultures might have reshaped how people perceive of and relate to the world, what it means to reroot myths and storytelling, the relationship between myth and science, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Everyday Magic by Luna Bec. The episode-inspired artwork is by Xiao Mei.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“There’s a lot of awareness about the direct lobbying of big money in politics. But that doesn’t take into account the much more dangerous way that big money is shaping the narrative through the media, even through funding in science and academia. That has led to this narrow fixation on carbon and an embrace of robots and satellites as the way to deal with climate change.” In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Helena Norberg-Hodge, a pioneer of the new economy movement and a leading proponent of “localization” (or decentralization). As the author of Ancient Futures and Local is Our Future, she also founded The International Alliance for Localization and Local Futures, which works to renew ecological, social and spiritual wellbeing by guiding communities towards a sustainable future of interconnected, localized economies. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include the limitations of using economic wealth as the indicator of a community’s quality of life, the false promises of “progress” and “development”, how economic globalization has been driving an erosion of relationships, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Tear Down the Wall by Forest Veil.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support