The RegenNarration

This extra to episode 72 features an additional few minutes with author, systems thinker and regenerative soils educator, Nicole Masters. It stems from the enthralling part of our conversation in the main episode about soil, the microbiome, gut health and our immune systems (from around the 40-minute mark). This triggered a question that I’d thought about a while back, after speaking with Dr Zach Bush on all this for episode 62. What are the implications of all this for the polarised debates around vaccinations? Title slide: Nicole Masters (supplied).You can hear the rest of our conversation in the main episode, ‘Restoring the Metropolis of Living Earth: From the chemical paradigm to nature’s paradigm’. You’ll find a series of photos on that web page too. Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

The world is desertifying at a truly alarming rate. It’s estimated that thirty footy fields of soil are lost per minute around the world. And after thousands of years of human agriculture, there may only be 60 harvests left in those soils. But if you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you’ll know there’s another option here – a regenerative transformation is emerging with at times staggering speed and success. And in some of my recent conversations, you’ll have heard me mention one of the brilliant – and entertaining - women leading the way. Nicole Masters is one of the world’s most respected advocates and educators in regenerating our food and related systems. She is a systems thinker, regenerative soils educator, founding director of Integrity Soils, and author of the brilliant book ‘For the Love of Soil: Strategies to Regenerate our Food Production Systems’. Nicole is bringing living soil into view, for farmers and other producers, and for all of us really - helping us see, value and tend, perhaps our most vital fellow living organism on the planet.Nicole joins Anthony online from her home in Montana, USA, for a deeply personal conversation grounded in this transformative time. Title slide: Nicole Masters and friend (supplied). See the episode web page for more photos.Music:Faraway Castle, by Rae Howell and Sunwrae.Find more:You can hear more of my conversation with Nicole in an extra to this episode, coming soon. Nicole's website (including a link to Nicole's renowned TED talk and more on her book).Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

This is an extract of our live panel conversation from the end of episode 71, ‘The Law of the Land: Creating a regenerative system of law’. Each speaker has just presented for 10 minutes, so we pick up here at the beginning of our all-in conversation with Professor Kate Auty, Dr Alessandro Pelizzon, Nicola Rivers and Michael Leunig. It starts with Kate relating the success of the Koori Courts to our collective needs right now. We go on to explore varied cultural understandings of law and the living world, where and how people are making law work well, and how we might reframe our thinking to regenerate the law of the land.Title slide (L-R): Michael Leunig & Anthony James (obscured here but visible in full on the website), Kate Auty, Nicola Rivers & Alessandro Pelizzon (pic: Chris Grose).You can hear the rest of our conversation on the main episode 71, ‘The Law of the Land: Creating a regenerative system of law’. You’ll find a series of links in the show notes of the main episode too, including to an extra with the rest of this conversation along with audience Q&A. And there are some photos of the event on the website (linked above).Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

This extra to episode 71 features the rest of our live conversation with Professor Kate Auty, Dr Alessandro Pelizzon and Nicola Rivers. We pick up the last 5 minutes of our conversation on stage, before 20 minutes or so of outstanding audience Q&A. The conversation delves further here into the global movement for the rights of nature, including where it’s being done well, the “intensely practical” role we have in all this, and how to think about law as part of the overarching transition to regenerative societies.Title slide: Coolamon tree (source).Find more:You can hear the rest of our conversation in the main episode, The Law of the Land: Creating a regenerative system of law.You’ll find a series of links in the show notes of the main episode too, and a photo of the panel in action on the website (link above). Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Decades of legal protection for the living world haven’t stopped it being progressively destroyed. So what do we need to do, and what’s currently being done, to regenerate the law of the land and better protect and restore the living world?Thinking about all this again in recent weeks prompted me to go back to a recording of a live panel event I produced on the topic at Melbourne’s Federation Square back in 2015 (billed Preventing Crimes Against Nature at the time). I was moved all over again by the conversation that night, featuring some of the major system changes at play, and the cultural changes so intertwined with them.You’ll hear:Nicola Rivers, co-CEO of Environmental Justice Australia, who came to this event directly from the first national conference of the Panel of Experts on Environmental Law deliberating on the 'next generation' of legislative frameworks for the protection of nature Dr Alessandro Pelizzon is now Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Justice at Southern Cross University, one of the founding members of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, and supported the drafting of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesProfessor Kate Auty, brilliant community figurehead, former Victorian and ACT Commissioner of Sustainability and Environment, and now Chair of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) VictoriaMichael Leunig, National Living Treasure, cartoonist & esteemed elder of the Understandascope, generating a wellspring of commentary on political, cultural and emotional life spanning more than forty years. Each guest speaks for 10 minutes, before our all-in conversation.Note: Ellen Sandell, MP for the seat of Melbourne where this event was held, sent a brief message in, which is why you’ll hear her referred to. Title slide: Gantheaume Point, near Broome in the Kimberley region of WA (pic: Anthony James).Thanks Carly, James & the Understandascope team for co-creating this event, Chris Grose from Scout Films, & the National Sustainable Living Festival.Music:Faraway Castle, by Rae Howell & Sunwrae - watch the wonderful film clip.Find more:You can hear the rest of our conversation with audience Q&A in an extra to this episode.Sign thiSend us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

On Monday 28 September, one of this country’s most awarded and long-standing documentary series, Australian Story, featured regenerative farmer and best-selling author, Charles Massy AO. Charles’ best-selling book, ‘Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth’ has been described by Paul Hawken as “a definitive masterpiece that takes its place along with the writings of Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, Masanobu Fukuoka, Humberto Maturana, and Michael Pollan. No work has more brilliantly defined regenerative agriculture and the breadth of its restorative impact upon human health, biodiversity, climate, and ecological intelligence.” Charles writes and talks about the growing repertory of stories of what are in some cases extraordinary tales of regeneration – including his own. He also takes a look behind that regeneration, at how change happens not just in the land, but in the landscape of our minds. This is an extract of my conversation with Charles Massy at his Severn Park farm a couple of years ago, just prior to his touring the global edition of the book. You’ll hear the last half hour or so of what became episode 32, ‘An Underground Insurgency: Regenerative Agriculture & Human Transformation’. It remains one of the top handful of episodes played on this podcast, and one of my most cherished and memorable conversations. Title slide: New trees as part of the patchwork restoring biodiversity, ecological & farm function (pic: Anthony James).Find more:You can hear the rest of our conversation in episode 32, ‘An Underground Insurgency: Regenerative Agriculture & Human Transformation’. You’ll find a series of links in the show notes there too, including to an extra with Charles, and photos on the episode web page. Watch the Australian Story episode on Charles, streaming worldwide. And if you'd like to hear more from Dianne and Ian Haggerty, also featured in the Australian Story episode on Charles, listen to our recent conversation on location in the WA wheat belt.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

There are so many notable parts of this episode with Tyson Yunkaporta that, true to the title of this extract, invite you to come sit with us for the hour and a bit of the main episode (and the extra if you'd like more). But having said that, this is another little extract I did want to highlight. It’s our foundational exchange early in the piece on long-form podcasting being the new camp fire. Particularly in the absence of being around a real fire for much of this year, I like Tyson’s articulation of this frame. And his subsequent reflection on what this says about our allegedly shrinking attention spans. Title slide: Tyson with his daughter at the launch of Sand Talk (supplied – full pic is on the web page of the main episode, linked below).You can hear the rest of our conversation on the main episode 70, ‘Sand Talk: Indigenous thinking, saving the world & living creation’.You’ll find a series of links in the show notes of the main episode too, including to an extra with Tyson. There are a series of photos on the main episode page too.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Tyson Yunkaporta, a researcher and author known for his book 'Sand Talk,' dives into profound discussions about Indigenous culture. He reflects on the impact of land displacement and the resulting crisis of meaning in modern society. Tyson shares an inspiring story about receiving a Yolngu songline instruction from Old Man Juma, leading him to profound realizations in the Snowy Mountains. His thoughts on cultural completeness versus fragmentation highlight the wisdom of respecting elders, offering a captivating blend of storytelling and insight.

This extra to episode 70 features the rest of my conversation with Tyson Yunkaporta, author of the award-winning book Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World. This is the part of our conversation that picked up after Tyson’s toilet stop. We delve further here into the universality of loss in being separated from land, the fascinating convergence of thinking around the centrality of the gut to our larger intelligence or big spirit, and the essential value of being with those different to us.Title slide: Tyson Yunkaporta (source: the Team Human podcast).Music:Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.Find more:You can hear the rest of our conversation in the main episode 70, Sand Talk: Indigenous thinking, living creation & saving the world.You’ll find a series of links in the show notes there too, along with some additional photos on the website.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Tyson Yunkaporta is the author of award-winning book, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, and a Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Knowledges at Deakin University in Melbourne. He’s also a poet and artist carving traditional tools and weapons, processes that were central to writing the book. Tyson belongs to the Apalech Clan from Western Cape York in far north Queensland, with community/cultural ties all over Australia. Fellow Indigenous writer, last year’s Miles Franklin Award winner Melissa Lucashenko, called Sand Talk ‘An extraordinary invitation into the world of the Dreaming’. Tommy Orange, best-selling author of ‘There There’, said ‘This book shows how vital and alive and essential Indigenous ways of being and thinking are.’Tyson’s Australian publisher Text describes the book as looking at global systems from an Indigenous perspective, asking how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation, and how we can do things differently. A few months ago, Sand Talk was published internationally by Harper Collins, with this statement: A paradigm-shifting book in the vein of Sapiens that brings a crucial Indigenous perspective to historical and cultural issues of history, education, money, power, and sustainability—and offers a new template for living.Well, it’ll be wonderfully new to many, and of course profoundly old to others. Either way, it’s rich and essential terrain to be travelling together. Especially with the spirit of generosity and trust that Tyson embodies here. I’m still feeling deeply moved by this one. And frankly, changed again. This conversation was recorded Thursday 13 August.Title slide: Tyson Yunkaporta from Australian publisher Text’s promotional video for the book. Music:Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.Find more:You can hear more of my conversation with Tyson in the extra to this episode, This Galactic Executive Function.Original Australian version of ‘Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World’, published by Text. International version of the book, published by Harper Collins.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!