THE SPACESHIP EARTH PODCAST

In a captivating conversation, Azul Carolina Duque, a Colombian artist and educator focused on embodied sound and decolonial futures, shares her unique insights. She emphasizes music as a living entity rather than a consumable product. The importance of collective healing and reconnecting with the land is highlighted, along with the transformative power of play and imagination. Azul discusses how elders can guide personal growth and responsibility, urging listeners to embrace uncomfortable truths for a more interconnected world.

This episode was from a live panel I hosted recently here in my home city of Bath, UK.A conversation with a brilliant crew embedded with the lands and rivers who are working to steward, guardian, protect, connect and regenerate life between human communities and more than human ecologies.This was part of a community engagement day for West Country Bio-Regional project We Are Avon.We Are Avon is a movement of landworkers, organisations and communities collaborating for regional transformation of our land, river and food systems.This is a self organising bottom up collective of folks around the Avon River who are collaborating and experimenting to envision a bio-regional future - this is proper roll up your sleeves become the change movement - very much in the spirit of becoming crew.The panel was focussed specifically on exploring rivers, our relationships to them, the state they are in and why they are such a key connection in a bio-regional project.My guests were a quite brilliant crew:Amelia Crews - ocean and river activist, community energy organiser and climate and nature action dynamo.Eva Perrin - Aquatic Ecologist, PhD graduate in freshwater biogeochemistry, community activator for citizen science and river protection, co-founder of Conham Bathing Group and Rave on for the Avon.Hamish Evans - permaculturist, regenerative farmer and prefigurative activist - co-founder MiddleGround GrowersPaul Powlesland - river guardian, rights for nature campaigner and activist lawyer.Four amazing humans serving life, becoming the change, doing difficult yet joyful work.This is a dynamic conversation, full of insight, provocation and invitation to get stuck into whatever hood/river/forest you find yourself close to.It’s very much a conversation about entanglements, relationships and interdependence, the future we’re being called to shape is one of new relationships, of learning to relate in new ways to ourselves, to each other and to this more than human world we call home.And the ways we relate to the wild waters of this Earth is such a fundamental indicator of the health of the human and more than human crew on Spaceship Earth.What does it look like to see ourselves, not at the centre of a landscape of place, but decentered, in kinship, in relationship with all life that is there ?What does it look like to step into a way of being that sees us in a place of kinship, as part of a sacred web of life, not above it trying to create power and control over it, but within - in relationship with.So I hope this conversation inspires you to get out there and find your own way back into this great mysterious entanglement of life, becoming crew on Spaceship Earth.If you’re in the Avon hood, come and get involved in We Are Avon - links belowLINKSJoin the We Are Avon info and broadcast channel ( no chat)We Are Avon InstagramAmelia CrewsPaul Powlesland on TwitterEva PerrinMiddleGround GrowersRiver Roding TrustLawyers for NatureConham Bathing GroupThriving Avon CharterInto the Dark - Winter learning Journey from Becoming Crew Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Bayo Akomolafe is a philosopher, writer, and post-activist exploring societal themes like whiteness and interconnectedness. He invites listeners to rethink divisions imposed by societal structures, highlighting how whiteness normalizes chaos. The conversation delves into the significance of embracing our imperfections and the importance of navigating the cracks in reality. Bayo encourages reflection on justice, solidarity, and personal growth, ultimately inspiring a collective journey towards understanding and transformation in these complex times.

Vanessa Andreotti, Dean of Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria and author of "Hospicing Modernity," dives into the themes of intergenerational responsibility and ecological justice. She discusses the urgency of acknowledging destructive systems for a thriving future and emphasizes the power of collective action. Topics include the importance of unlearning colonial narratives, the role of education in fostering emotional maturity, and the interconnectedness of waste management and healing. Andreotti advocates for authentic storytelling to engage younger generations in addressing complex societal issues.

Time for some tunes.Time for moving.As Autumn unfoldsI offer you another Earth Sessions mixFallingA gathering of tracks that have been looping heavily of late for me.A deep, cosmic, organic house vibe.I hope they move you in some way as things fall.If you enjoy this, check out the artists, producers and labels in this selection, they are all exceptional creators with stunning offerings to dig into.More conversations coming soon.Right I’m off to see Sasha and Digweed.Wishing you peace wherever you are.Track Listing on Site Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What does one do when everything in our world feels so unhinged ?As the planet becomes swamped this week with flooding and hurricanes, climate protest as we know it, in the UK at least, carries an increasingly high chance of arrest and conviction.Politics even with a new administration feels as stuck, exhausted, divisive and non-participatory as ever.As the polycrisis intensifies, the systems of governance and ways of organising ourselves become more ossified and brittle, and we can see how woefully unfit for purpose they have become for a complex uncertain future.Now must be the time to accelerate constructive, people-powered participation, for more of us to begin to practice, rehearse, prototype and birth the new moves and the new systems that will put life at the centre.Because ask yourself - if we’re not doing it - is it going to happen from the top down - led by Govt, Media and Corporations ?Do you still trust that putting an X in a box during an election is going to do the job, to tackle all the things that keep you awake at night about the future and the rapidly unravelling and violent present ?My guest in this episode is active citizen - Clare Farrell.With a background in sustainability, fashion and more recently climate activism as one of the original Co-founders of Extinction Rebellion.As a designer her work has expanded beyond clothing and material products and into experience design and participation design, strategic communications and strategies for positive social change. Clare has been focussing her energies and creativity of late towards constructive forms of social and cultural transformation in the UK.Manifesting through work with The Humanity Project - a platform focussing on grassroots, participatory democracy via innovative local citizens assembliesandwith Hard Art Collective - with artist and activist Brian Eno - an artist led ‘feel tank’ exploring how we might weave new cultural contexts that put care and solidarity at the centre.We explore:* Grassroots Democracy and Intersectional Issues* The Power of Collective Imagination* The Role of Non Violent Protest and Civil Disobedience* Legal Systems and the Fight for Justice* The Importance of Disruption in Social Movements*  Imaginative Capacity and Hard Art* The Role of Artists in Cultural Change* Participatory Democracy and Cultural Networks* Designing Spaces for Interaction and Engagement in people led changeUltimately to build a connected, resilient society based on care, compassion, freedom and love is going to need big numbers of people actively participating in local assemblies and community organising in the places they live and through the networks and influence they hold.Citizens not consumers as my friend Jon Alexander puts it.Becoming Crew on Spaceship Earth as we like to say around here.Play Out SongSeeds - Olivia Fern feat Carrie Tree Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Dive into a six-minute immersive journey that reflects on humanity's connection with Earth's ecosystems. This segment critiques the narratives that divide us from nature and promotes a sense of shared existence. It invites listeners to engage with the evolving inquiry of community and collaboration. Expect thought-provoking insights and an open invitation to participate in future gatherings, both online and offline, as we collectively explore what it means to nurture our planet and each other.

Episode 92 is a conversation with three very smart, courageous and thoughtful humans from new regenerative venture with a massive ambition - Nature 2Gail Gallie, Jay Lipman and Patricia Zurita are co-founders who between them represent highly experienced operators and practitioners across worlds of campaigning and mobilisation, ethics driven finance and global conservation.Nature 2 is a collaboration that seeks to connect, build and scale systems to urgently drive finance into protecting and regenerating the natural world globally.At this moment in time there is a funding gap around nature, biodiversity and ecosystem protection and regeneration of approximately 830 billion dollars (gulp!)  - something they call the ‘nature financing gap.’Nature 2 are on a mission to close that gap. Seeking to catalyse the finance and investor communities to commit to directing 2% of managed assets towards nature based solutions.We explore:* Nature 2: A new mission - how this idea emerged, how it works and the roles within this collaborative venture* The role of finance in nature conservation* The importance and complexity of shifting destructive subsidies towards regenerative practices* Navigating capitalism and conservation* Balancing big company action with local farmers and land based communities* Mapping the most urgent places on Earth for nature conservation and regeneration* Philanthropy and capitalism and the entanglement of todays economic system design with climate and ecological breakdown* Stories and communication to engage funding and investor communitiesThis conversation was recorded in spring 2024. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

My guest on this episode David Johnstone is in my view a beautiful example of a human taking responsibility and using their gifts, experience and influence to cultivate the courage and creativity to face into the uncomfortable questions we are being confronted with* To speak up to the messy contradictions of this moment* To raise awareness of the massive changes coming down the line* To  experiment with weirder movesTo keep self examining not just the impacts of business as usual but to imagine and participate in business unusual, where we commit to the messy process of healing, reconnecting, reimagining and liberating. He is founder, CEO and Executive Creative Director of global design studio, Accept and Proceed , host of the brilliant podcast ~Endless Vital Activity, convener of strange solstice gatherings We don’t know what this is yet on Hackney Marshes.David is a humble, curious, insightful, creative human, a radical experimenter with a big heart and infections imagination.This was a wide ranging conversation exploring his work in brand design, his journey working with global corporations, awakening to the impacts of commercial creativity,  of taking responsibility for the impacts we are making through these creative human entities we call ‘brands.’This has led to the Design for the Future mission of Accept and Proceed which he unpacks alongside an exploration of brand power, the ‘dark ages of the future’, ‘Together World’ strategy and the emergence of new relational entanglements between humans, enterprise and this living mysterious Spaceship Earth we call home.We explore:The nervous energy of these timesPanpsychism and ConsciousnessDavid's journey into brandThe power and responsibility of brandDesigning for a ‘Together World’Navigating the Three Horizons FrameworkEmbracing complexity and uncertaintyUnderstanding business and systemic cycles - death and endingsThe significance of tuning into Earth’s patterns like sunrisesImagining brand futuresLINKSAccept and ProceedDavid Johnston InstagramAccept and Proceed InstagramEndless Vital Activity Podcast Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I’m in conversation with Jasmine Isa Qureshi - a multimedia journalist, marine biologist, queer ecologist, award winning spoken word / published poet and storyteller.She writes and studies across ecology, conservation, trans / queer / muslim identity, politics and sociology.Her work seeks to understand the systems by which we and nature have grown intertwined and apart, explore the intersections of identities, origins as queer, global majority folk, and provide alternative systems for our futures, by sparking discussions, thoughts and creating resources to make these as accessible as possible.She is currently working on her first book.We explore:* Personal identity and its connection to the natural world* Anthropocentrism and the Human vs nature binary* Queer Ecology and Queerness - perspectives and misconceptions* Colonialism and identity and the dismantling of colonial structures to envision inclusive and liberating systems.* Intersectionality and Global majority futurism* The necessity of community, interdependence, and the power of unlearning and renewal to craft liberating, inclusive futures free from systemic oppression.LinksJasmine Qureshi websiteJasmine Qureshi Instagram Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe