To attain the level of resilience that cultural rewilding calls for, requires moving away from an economy based on extraction for profit that lays waste to local ecosystems and destroys ancient ways that people have lived from the land. To move away we need alternatives, and examples of how other people have found and maintained sustainability. How have humans lived in a myriad of ways for millennia without destroying their land and not living in greatly unequal societies? What is a subsistence economy and what makes them so resilient? To talk with me about this today is Dr. Helga VierichDr. Vierich was born in Bremen, west Germany and immigrated with her parents to Canada, growing up in North Bay, Ontario. She began her studies at the University of Toronto in 1969. From 1977-1980, as part of her research, she lived in the Kalahari among hunter-gatherers in the Kweneng district with Richard B. Lee supervising. During this time she worked as a consultant on the effects of the extreme drought in Botswana. She was awarded her Ph.D. by the University of Toronto in 1981 and went to work as a Principal Scientist at the West African Economics Research Program, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (headquarters in Hyderabad, India). She worked as a visiting professor of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky from 1985 to 1987, then as an adjunct professor of Anthropology at the University of Alberta from 1989 to 1997. From 1999-2022 she worked as an instructor at the Yellowhead Tribal College in Alberta. Now retired, she spends her time on a rural farm with her husband. Notes:• Dr. Vierich’s Website• Why they matter: hunter-gatherers today• Before farming and after globalization: the future of hunter-gatherers may be brighter than you think• Changes in West African Savanna agriculture in response to growing population and continuing low rainfallPhoto by Vasilina SirotinaSupport the show

Rewilding is about seeking a reciprocal relationship to the environment and to one another. Material and cultural conditions kept humans in relative check with their ecologies for potentially millions of years, so what were they? If we are to understand this, we must hold up a lens and look at the diversity of hunter-gatherers (both past and present) to fully realize what their cultural and environmental limitations were–and are–today. Why did some abandon that way of life while others have fought to the death to defend it? What led humans to switch from one subsistence strategy to another, and what were the social and ecological effects of these changes? Is it possible to fully know? What do we know? To talk about these core rewilding questions with me, is Dr. Robert Kelly.Dr. Kelly first became involved in archaeology in 1973, as a high school student. He received his BA from Cornell University in anthropology in 1978, his MA from the University of New Mexico in 1980, and his doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1985. He has taught at various Colleges since 1986; from 1997 until retirement in 2023 he taught at the University of Wyoming. Dr. Kelly is the author of over 100 articles, books, and reviews, including The Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers, The Fifth Beginning, and Archaeology, the most widely used college textbook in the field. He is a past president of the Society for American Archaeology, past editor of American Antiquity, North America’s primary archaeological journal, and past secretary of the Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association. He has been a distinguished lecturer at many universities around the country and the world, including Argentina, Germany, France, Finland, Norway, Japan, and China, and he has worked on archaeological projects in Nevada, California, New Mexico, Kentucky, Georgia, Maine, Chile and, for the past 25 years, Wyoming and Montana. He has received over two million dollars in funding, with multiple grants from the National Science Foundation. Since 1973, the archaeology, ethnology, and ethnography of foraging peoples has been at the center of his research.Notes:Robert Kelly, Professor Archaeology at University of WyomingThe Fifth BeginningThe Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers: The Foraging Spectrum (Revised) CARTA: Violence in Human Evolution – Robert Kelly: Do Hunter-Gatherers Tell Us About Human Nature?ANTHRO, ART, (CLOVIS) and the APOCALYPSE: Live from the field with Dr. ROBERT KELLY | DIH Podcast #1Human Behavioral Ecology (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology, Series Number 92) 1st EditionSupport the show

City landscapes are perhaps the most decimated and human centric habitats in today’s world. These landscapes are in need of thoughtful rewilding. Cities are some of the most domesticated places, but also positioned in some of the most historically fertile places. Cities were built where they are, because these places had access to a diverse array of resources. Many think rewilding means running away to the wilderness–but that’s not the case. For one, this is not a practical reality for most people. Two, because of their prime location and social capital, cities are both ripe for, and in desperate need of, rewilding. Permaculture, with its inspiration and core principles deriving from more regenerative sedentary, delayed-return societies such as indigenous horticulture, can be an effective tool for the urban rewilder. Using permaculture for place-making, becoming a part of your place, is a great way to start this journey. To talk with me about this today is Mark Lakeman.Mark is the founder of the non-profit placemaking movement and organization known as The City Repair Project. He is also principal and design director of the community architecture and planning firm Communitecture. He is an urban place-maker and permaculture designer, community design facilitator, and an inspiring catalyst in his very active commitment to the emergence of sustainable cultural landscapes everywhere.  Every design project he is involved with furthers the development of a beneficial vision for human and ecological communities. Whether this involves urban design and placemaking, permaculture and ecological building, encourages community interaction, or assists those who typically do not have access to design services, Mark’s leadership has benefited communities across the North American continent.Notes:CommunitectureCity Repair ProjectMaya Forest Garden, by Anabel Ford  and Ronald NighA Pattern Language by Christopher AlexanderPhenologyPhoto by Greg RaismanSupport the show

The longer a culture exists in a place, the more stories they have of that place. These stories act a way for people to interact with the land where they live and also act as social filters for how to perceive the land as well. Stories also engage people with the landscape through their imagination and when linked to a physical activity can make the connection more embodied and enjoyable. Humans learn through play, and playing with stories can be a great way to reconnect ourselves with the landscape and its inhabitants. To talk with me about this on the podcast, is a returning guest, Jason Godesky. Jason Godesky is an independent tabletop roleplaying game designer and world builder. He and his wife Giulianna Lamanna are the creators of the Fifth World, an open source shared universe that imagines what the future that we in the rewilding community want could look like.Notes:The Fifth WorldThe Power of Myth by Joseph CampbellIf This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? By J. Edward ChamberlinWisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache by Keith H. BassoSupport the show

There are few opportunities for people living in modern contexts to experience what life would be like living in a band of hunter-gatherers. While there are still several cultures in the world living this way, most are protected from outsiders through organizations like Survival International. While rewilding isn’t a synonym for primitive living, or a total return to hunting and gathering societies, we can learn a lot about how to live in a regenerative way through contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, as well as experiences that can replicate aspects of those societies. Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS) in Utah is one such place to get a taste of the immediate-return hunting and gathering experience. I recently attended their Hunter-Gatherer course, and here to talk about it with me is one of the core instructors for that program, Randy Champagne.Originally from Michigan, Randy found his way to the deserts of Utah after taking a survival course that sparked his love for the wild. He has been at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School since 2008 where he’s been teaching and practicing ancestral and modern survival skills. His passion is in traditional hunting and gathering techniques. He was a participant on the television show ALONE, testing his skills solo on Seasons 2 and 5 on Vancouver island and in Mongolia.NOTES:Randy Champagne InstagramBOSS Hunter-Gatherer CourseSupport the show

Fascist ideology has been on the rise, with a calculated effort on the part of fascists, to infiltrate environmental movements. Rewilding has seen its fair share of this over the years. As a return to our egalitarian roots, rewilding is the political opposite of fascism. And yet, there are foot holds of sort, within the ideology and world view that fascists can exploit for their own gain. To protect ourselves from this fascist creep, we need to be aware of it and also aware of the problematic aspects of where our own ideologies can be misconstrued to lead us astray. In this episode I’m chatting with Cara Delia Schwab.Cara is an anthropologist with a masters degree from the University of Heidelberg. Her thesis was on racism and resistance through media and art in the US. She went back to school to get a B.A. in social work and has been working in that field since 2015 (with immigrants and refugees mostly). She is a “wilderness” instructor in training with Wildnisschule Odenwald. Her plan for the future is to teach foraging classes through her business www.wildnisliebe.de. She has an allotment garden, where she grows her own food. Her ideal life would be writing and spending the rest of the day outside somewhere weaving baskets and working with her hands.NotesCara Delia Schwabwww.wildnisliebe.deCara’s InstagramWildnisschule Odenwald—The Rise of EcofascismHierarchy in the ForestMothers and OthersThe Lies That BindNo Politics But Class PoliticsSupport the show

In this episode I’m talking shop with my friend and colleague Sharon Kallis. Sharon facilitates a community organization similar to Rewild Portland in Vancouver BC called Earthand Gleaners Society. She is an award winning artist who focuses on fiber arts through a locavore lens, by growing, foraging, and gleaning raw materials and processing them into fiber and weaving them into finished products. She is known for her community art installations wherein she connects people to their place through creative collective works of art, often with garden waste, invasive species, or other locally available materials. Her book, Common Threads: weaving community through collaborative eco-art, was published by New Society Publishers in 2014 and is used in many post secondary programs as a model for creative engagement in shared green spaces. I met Sharon through our shared passion for using invasive species for arts projects. As fellow community organizers within an urban rewilding context, Sharon and I often converse to share ideas, commiserate over similar challenges that we face, and celebrate our successes. In the following conversation you’ll get a bit of all three of those as we discuss the ins and outs, and triumphs and failures, of running community rewilding organizations in the city. Notes: Sharon Kallis Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sharonkallis/ Earthand Gleaners Society https://earthand.com/ Common Threads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer https://bookshop.org/a/24844/97815713...Support the show

On this episode I am once again chatting with my friend and colleague Woniya Thibeault. This episode contains spoilers for the television series ALONE, of which Woniya has been a contestant on twice. If you haven’t watched season 6 or Alone Frozen, I recommend doing so before listening. Woniya came in second place on ALONE season 6, and more recently won half a million dollars when she came in first place on Alone Frozen. Both times she brought a rewilding, relational perspective to her experience and to the public. However, when creating a show there is always a lot that ends up being edited out. To increase awareness for her journey and to teach the public more lessons that didn’t make it onto the show, Woniya wrote a book titled “Never Alone” about her experience on Season 6 of the show. Woniya has always been someone who has inspired me through her dedication and passion for living in a way that is more connected to our ecologies. In this conversation we talk about her new book, her experiences, survival challenges, and more. Notes:Never Alone by Woniya ThibeaultWoniya’s PatreonBuckskin RevolutionYouTubeInstagramALONE: FrozenSupport the show

Rewilding looks different in places all around the world, but also shares many similarities: from settler-colonialism to mainstream co-option. In this episode we’ll be looking at Rewilding in Eastern Australia. My guest is Eva Angophora.Founder of Wild Beings, barefoot wanderer Eva has spent the most part of the last 5 years living outside in various wild locations, learning and practicing living skills such as friction fire, natural tanning, leatherwork, animal processing/using the whole animal, weaving, natural rope making, wild foods foraging and bird identification. Passionate about sharing a more connected wholesome culture and providing spaces where people can connect with the Old Ways and incorporate more of these skills and practices into their lifestyle choices that lead to connection & a more empowered way of self sufficiency. Eva is a Bushcraft educator working in schools and facilitator of Ancestral Skill Sharing Gatherings, rewilding  workshops, wilderness immersions and women's rewilding gatherings through Wild Beings, co-facilitating alongside Wildcraft Australia for their seasonal family village camps.NotesEva’s InstagramWild Beings WebsiteWild Beings Instagram---Rewilding 101What is the difference between mob, clan, tribe, language group?Fish Leather: tanning and sewing with traditional methodsALONE AustraliaAI will increase inequality and raise tough questions about humanity, economists warnThe Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph TainterSupport the show

Subsistence–the way we acquire our food–is a central aspect of rewilding. To talk with me both about the anthropology of subsistence but also the challenges and practicality of it is James V. Morgan. James is a former professional anthropologist who has spent nearly two decades studying and working with indigenous hunter-gatherers on three continents. He has spent years trying to understand the relationship between anarchist theory and action and indigenous politics and lifeways. He is currently working on three different books surrounding these topics titled, "Human Rewilding in the 21st Century: Why Anthropologists Fail" and “Anarchy After Graeber” with the third book yet to be titled. His previous writings have appeared in Hunter-Gatherer Research, Human Ecology, Oak Journal, Black and Green Review, Wild Resistance, and Alaska Fish and Wildlife News. More than only pursuing research and writing, Jaime is also an active subsistence hunter and forager, extensively involved in the material arts of rewilding and bushcraft, mostly off-grid in the far north.NOTES:Anarcho-Primitivism/Primal AnarchyGreen Anarchy MagazineOak JournalBlack and Green Review/Wild ResistanceUltrasocial: The Evolution of Human Nature and the Quest for a Sustainable Future by John GowdyPhoto by Elly Furlong on UnsplashSupport the show

Permaculture is a design science for creating regenerative landscapes. In rewilding, we often perceive it as a kind of technology based on ancient hunter-gatherer-horticultural subsistence strategies from around the world. While there are many valuable criticisms about permaculture (just as there are about rewilding), it is still one of the most effective tools for creating alternative subsistence strategies to the extractive ones that dominate our world today. To understand how far we’ve come, we need to listen to the elders of the movement and hear all they have endured and accomplished to get us where we are today. Hazel Varrde is one such elder for me, and the rewilding community.Hazel began gardening around age five. They earned degrees in Forestry and Systematic Botany from Syracuse University and SUNY College of Forestry in 1969. Hazel taught Wild Edible Plants and Woods-lore at Laney College in Oakland CA in the early 70’s and helped Bill Mollison teach the first Permaculture Design Course at Evergreen State College in 1982. Hazel has taught various Permaculture courses ever since, becoming a notorious teacher and proponent of social forestry. I first met Hazel in 2009 during my Permaculture Design Certificate course with Toby Hemenway. Hazel was the only guest teacher in the class who seemed to share my vision of a rewilded future, and I knew that I needed to go and learn from them directly. I took their Social Forestry class in 2015, and then came back as a guest teacher the following year. I’ve since continued to practice various forms of social forestry, while sending many people their way. Land tending is an integral part of rewilding, and social forestry is an inspiring model for us to use. Hazel has finally finished their book on Social Forestry, and you can pre-order it now. I am happy to help get the word out.NotesSocial Forestry by Tomi Hazel VaardeSiskiyou PermacultureMentionsPlaying with Fire: Social Forestry with Hazel by Peter Michael BauerSupport the show

For regular listeners to the podcast, and those entrenched in the rewilding movement, we know that rewilding looks different in various places, and has different meanings (sometimes often leading to conflict). While human, anarchic rewilding has been around just as long as conservation rewilding, they often seem to be at odds–especially when it comes to the support of state institutions. Which is no surprise. Often times conservation efforts are state sponsored, leading to displacement of people in the name of resource conservation rather than creating regenerative systems of land management. States have it in their best interest to control food production, and conservation falls under this form of management. It’s not liberatory, nor is it a long term solution to an economy based on extraction. Human rewilding, in contrast, is considered a radical approach that aims to connect people to their place through direct land management and subsistence practices. This circumvents state power, pitting people against the institutions that aim to control everyone. In order to gain more resources from the current power structures, rewilders must walk a fine line between what is acceptable, and what we can get away with. In the end, if it seems like we may be making too much headway in creating an alternative way of life, the state will take away whatever resources it has lent us.One organization I see facing this dilemma at the moment, is The Rewild Project, a non-profit focused on environmental education and ecological restoration, based in the in the United Kingdom. Their mission is to re-connect people to nature and their ancestral heritage through arts and crafts, growing food, outdoor learning and community-building projects. To talk with me about their programs and the challenges they have faced and are currently facing is their director, Scott Baine. Scott has led a life of eco defense activism, nature connection, traveling the world learning survival skills, and community organizing around rewilding and rewilding related concepts. He returned to the UK to study land tending practices of permaculture and regenerative agroforestry, with the aim to create edible forest gardens. Scott is passionate about rewilding people, not just the landscape.NotesThe Rewild Project WebsiteRewild Project on InstagramRewild Project on Facebook—Green Anarchy Magazine Rewilding Issue Ishmael by Daniel QuinnEdible Forest GardensInclosure Act 1773Half of England is owned by less than 1% of the populationRight to RoamThe Book of Trespass by Nick HayesFor Wilderness or Wildness? Decolonising RewildingRewild group kicked out after taking children for walk on frozen lake to teach them of the dangersSociocracySupport the show

I first learned about animism in the book The Story of B by Daniel Quinn. While the term animism was initially invented by anthropologists as a way of classifying place-based, indigenous religions the world over, it has taken on a much deeper and expansive meaning in recent years. In many ways it transcends the notion of religion or spirituality to more of an ecological ethos encoded in stories, to shape a person's perception of the environment in terms of reciprocity. For this reason, animism is a prevalent way of perceiving and engaging with the world in the rewilding movement. Through animism, we can once more find belonging to people and place, and align ourselves with the cycles and systems of the ecologies where we dwell. Here to discuss the topic of animism with me today, is Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen. Rune is an historian of religion, Ph.d., educated from the Universities of Uppsala and Copenhagen. Rune has lived in many countries and done fieldwork in a number of contemporary (primarily Afro-descendant)  religions, but since childhood he has had Nordic religion as a strong field of interest. Today Rune is working on applying contemporary developments in anthropology to rethink the way we address Nordic religion both in terms of scholarship, but also as a reservoir of cultural knowledge for environmental activism and sustainability sensitization. Rune Hjarnø's ongoing work on developing the Nordic Animism perspective can be supported through this Patreon profile.NotesRune Rasmussenhttps://nordicanimism.com/https://www.youtube.com/user/Runehrhttps://www.patreon.com/nordicanimismMentionsThe Story of B by Daniel QuinnAn Animist Testament by Daniel QuinnAnimism by Graham Harvey The Handbook of Contemporary Animism Edited by Graham HarveyPerceptions of the Environment by Tim IngoldPanpsychism, the philosophy of Animism - Interview with Prof. Arne Johan Vetlesen.Saving the Indigenous Soul with Martin PrechtelTerry Jones’ The BarbariansThe Primitive Celts https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x72r71pThe Savage Goths https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x42a2epThe Brainy Barbarians https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x72r71rThe End of the World https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x42v7ipSand Talk by Tyson YonkaportaMaori SpiralBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall-KimmererCover Photo by https://unsplash.com/@michael957Support the show

Rewilding means a return to living in reciprocity with the ecologies in which we dwell, and with each other. It is a movement that critiques and rejects social hierarchies and authoritarianism as the “natural” state of humanity. Through contemporary anthropology, paleoanthropology, and archaeology, the rewilding philosophy pieces together how humans created and thrived in egalitarian societies for tens of thousands of years-perhaps hundreds of thousands of years. In one sense, it is essentially a call to anarchy: stateless societies, with collective decision making.Hierarchy at the scale of what we call “the state” only becomes possible from the intensification and the control of food production, through the growing of annual grains. This sedentary, predictable surplus provides the material conditions for a small group of people to force a larger group of people to produce this food for them. These authoritarian societies take many different shapes, from less violent and coercive to the most extreme forms of control and domination, so abhorrent, we recognize them as so-called “crimes against humanity.” Through the rewilding lens, fascism can be seen as the ultimate pinnacle of the authoritarian, hierarchical state, of domestication to the fullest extent possible; using the most modern technologies for total and complete submission of people and of nature. Fascism is the furthest, most oppositional force from our innate wildness. This means that rewilding is inherently anti-fascist.When rewilding as a buzzword for “returning to a wild state” hit the mainstream mostly through diet and fitness culture (such as the so-called paleo lifestyle), it was watered down and perceived by a public that has been taught misconceptions of “wildness.” Projections of grunting cavemen and social darwinism’s notions of aggression and competition stand in for actual anthropology of living, thriving, egalitarian societies. This biased and incomplete picture of wildness has cast an oppressive shadow over the term rewilding, allowing in individuals who promote hate and inequality as the natural state of humans. As we have seen in the past, fascism is often a reactionary attempt by the people to maintain order during a decline or societal collapse. As we enter a time of economic uncertainty, climate crises, and more, fascism is a growing, ever present threat. To keep rewilding on course, to educate people on the collaborative, mutual aid relationships that define human wildness, rewilders must actively work against fascism today, and the fascist creep, into our ideologies and movements.To talk with me today about this growing threat, is Alexander Reid Ross. Alexander is a scholar with a diverse background. He earned his PhD in the Earth, Environment, Society program at Portland State University. He is the editor of the book Grabbing Back: Essays Against the Global Land Grab, and authored a book on the transnational far right called Against the Fascist Creep. He is a researcher whose focus is on exposing the far right and fascist movements that exist today.Notes@areidross on twitterAgainst the Fascist Creep by Alexander Reid RossPalingenetic ultranationalismHierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior by Christopher BoehmThe Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout Support the show

Anthropology is at the core of rewilding. Understanding the various ways in which humans act and why, helps us draw a picture of what is possible for humanity. Rewilding pulls its inspiration from the millions of years that humans lived in relative harmony with our environments–without causing the sixth mass extinction and without creating large-scale inequality, and how these crises came about. To make cultural transformations, we have to understand where material determinism and intentional idealism come together.On this episode of the Rewilding Podcast, I’ve invited Daniel, the host of the What is Politics YouTube channel, to explain how this all works. What is Politics is a compelling series that delves into the natural histories and anthropology of politics, in the form of didactic storytelling. I came across Daniel’s long form videos on YouTube last year when I was complaining about how off the mark David Graeber’s book the Dawn of Everything is, (how much it omits, how much it ignores, how much it simply pretends doesn’t already exist on this subject) and someone sent me a link to the What is Politics critiques. People had been asking me to write a review, and I couldn’t get past the first 100 pages of what I considered a misdirection. The amount of time it would taken to review the book felt daunting, and I kept putting it off. I was super relieved to find and watch the What is Politics reviews, to see that someone had gone through the whole book with a fine-tooth comb and so much deeper than I ever could have. Now when people ask me what my thoughts are on the Dawn of Everything, I just send them to the What is Politics YouTube channel. It's a huge relief to be honest. For these reasons and more, I’m excited to have Daniel as a guest on the Rewilding Podcast, to talk about the material realities that give rise to, and/or provide the fuel for, certain human political and social organizations.NotesDaniel's What is Politics YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@WHATISPOLITICS69Hierarchy in the Forest by Christopher Boehmhttps://bookshop.org/a/24844/9780674006911Chris Knight WorksDawn Review: https://mronline.org/2021/12/20/the-dawn-of-everything-gets-human-history-wrong/Early Human Kinship Was Matrilineal: https://libcom.org/article/engels-was-right-early-human-kinship-was-matrilinealThe Science of Solidarity: http://www.chrisknight.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/The-Science-of-Solidarity1.pdfDid Communism Make Us Human: https://brooklynrail.org/2021/06/field-notes/Did-communism-make-us-humanThe Human Symbolic Revolution: http://radicalanthropologygroup.org/sites/default/files/pdf/pub_knight_power_watts_big.pdfThe Pseudoscience of 'The Secret'https://www.livescience.com/5303-pseudoscience-secret.htmlNo Time for Bullies: Baboons Retool Their Culturehttps://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/science/no-time-for-bullies-baboons-retool-their-culture.htmlThe Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph TainterSupport the show

In this episode I’m chatting with Kara Moses. Kara is a biologist and educator teaching nature connection, rewilding, wild living skills and woodland management. She is a writer, a climate activist, chair of the Cambrian Wildwood project in west Wales, she created Radical Nature Connection at the Ulex Project in the pyrenees which brings nature connection practice into relationship with our struggles to challenge interlocking systems of oppression, such as racism, patriarchy, colonialism, and ableism and our efforts to build movements forging a life-affirming future. You can learn more about her work at her website rewildeverything.org and her social media handle RewildEverything.Kara and I discuss the different ways rewilding has been used and the ways it has been perceived, and the challenges of using the word. We follow Kara through her transformative journey from primatology to direct action climate activism to nature connection, how she came to rewilding and beyond. This is a fun and deep conversation from a fellow rewilder who has dealt with similar and very different challenges than myself, in terms of spreading rewilding.Notes: www.RewildEverything.orgTwitter: @Kara_L_MosesInsta: @RewildEverythingFacebook: @RewildEverything• www.CambrianWildwood.org• How lemurs fight climate change• Meet Kara Moses, the activist who helped shut down a Welsh coal mine• Feral by George Monbiot  • Wild Awake Ireland• ‘It’ll take away our livelihoods’: Welsh farmers on rewilding and carbon markets• Anthropogenic heathlands: disturbance ecologies and the social organisation of past super-resilient landscapes• Radical Nature Connection (RNC)• My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem• Queer Nature• Rewild Portland • Weaving Earth• We are the 99%• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall-Kimmerer• The Old Way• Access to You is a Privilege• What Kinship is and What it is Not by Marshall SahlinsSupport the show

In this episode I chat with Tao Orion. Tao holds a degree in Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture from UC Santa Cruz and a MSc degree in Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She is the author of Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A Permaculture Approach to Ecosystem Restoration. Tao and I chat about invasive species, transforming people’s perceptions of them, learning to manage them without the  use of herbicides and how we might start rethinking land management especially as global food growing and distribution systems start to shrink and collapse.Show Notes:Tao’s WebsiteBeyond the War on Invasive SpeciesSilent Spring by Rachel CarsonTending the Wild by M. Kat AndersonThe New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature's SalvationIn contrast to green image, Portland continues using weedkiller Roundup in parksWhat Will They Do with His Garden?Finisia MedranoSupport the show

My guest for this episode is ​Samantha Zipporah. Samantha is devoted to breaking the spells of oppression in reproductive & sexual health through education, healing & liberation.  She has over 20 years of experience honing her craft as an educator, guide & caregiver tending to fertility, sex, & cycles spanning the full womb continuum. Sam’s work rises from an ancient lineage of midwives, witches, & wise women​. A fierce champion of critical thinking skills, her knowledge is integrative & inclusive of modern medicine & science​ as well as traditional & ancient healing practices. S​am provides vital education for everyone from professionals to preteens in her books, courses, & live classes. Her online community The Fruit of Knowledge features monthly live workshops & an abundance of resources & dialogue for womb wisdom keepers & seekers.In this conversation Samantha and I talk about rewilding contraception, and a few of the threads connected to that.NotesSamantha’s Websitehttps://www.samanthazipporah.com/Samantha’s Linktreehttps://linktr.ee/samanthazipporahSamantha’s Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/samanthazipporah/Other Mentions:Peter’s “How to Rewild Yourself” MemesSeeing Like a State by James C. ScottSand Talk by Tyson YonkaportaCaliban and the Witch by Silvia FedericiIUD Side Effects Facebook GroupIUD Awareness WebsitePlease Bleed: Plants and Practical MagicConscious Contraception SkillshareMiscarriage and Abortion Support CourseIncidence of Post-Vasectomy Pain: Systematic Review and Meta-AnalysisSupport the show

Hannes Wingate is an artist, builder, designer, and outdoor survival-skills instructor. He was educated at Central St. Martins College of Art in London. He is known internationally for constructing giant, human sized nests from natural materials found within close range of the build site. He has traveled the world, spending time living with and learning traditional skills from the Sami, Maori, Basque and Native American cultures.In this conversation Hannes and I discuss his practice as an artist, looking at how he transforms people’s perspectives through his sculptural art, storytelling. We touch on some interweaving philosophies and practices like biomimicry, ancestral skills and how creativity lends itself to state resistance. In the second half, Hannes debriefs my experience at Boulder Outdoor Survival School.Notes: Hannes’ InstagramBurnside NestBoulder Outdoor Survival SchoolMaking by Tim IngoldEli Loomis InterviewSupport the show

In this episode I talk with my friend, Rachael Rice. Rachael is an artist, writer, death worker and certified weirdo who crafts scroll-stopping content for people who want to shape change. Her work centers collapse-informed learnings about grief, death, myth, magic and meaning-making in pale times. A neurodivergent queer witch navigating multiple health diagnoses and broadly coded as a white cis woman, Rachael is of Swedish, Scottish, Irish, French, German and English ancestry living and loving with her partner whose income supports her work on the lands of the Chinook in Portland, Oregon. She works in a dozen kinds of media, plays four instruments, speaks three languages, parents two children, and hollers at one cat, usually not all at once. In this conversation, Rachael and I discuss what it means to be “collapse aware,” what death work is and how it relates to societal collapse, and ways you can engage with it. Notes:Rachael’s WebsiteRachael’s InstagramMentions:Collapse Care w/ Carmen Spagnola“Curse of Knowledge”Death Doula/MidwifeLotka Volterra CycleDiminishing-ReturnsSupport the show