This is more an update than a proper episode, announcing that I am putting the Quillwood Podcast on hold while I work on other creative and educational projects. I might return to it at some point, but have no specific plans on when that might happen. I hope you have enjoyed and benefitted from the episodes I have released, and hope our paths cross at a Quillwood Academy event sometime soon.Support the show

In this final episode of season one of the Quillwood Podcast, host Eric Garza thanks listeners, invites them to reflect on season one, and invites feedback about any element of the podcast. The first episode of season two will go live on the upcoming winter solstice, December 21 of 2022.Links and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyQuillwood Podcast Episode 1: Two StoriesSupport the show

Stephen Jenkinson is an author, storyteller, musician, and cultural activist. He is best known for his books Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, and Come of Age: A Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. He founded the Orphan Wisdom School, located outside Ottowa, in Canada.Outline00:00 - 02:19 — Episode introduction02:19 - 08:48 — Broadening our understanding of ancestry08:48 - 18:33 — Culture, limits, and the extension of the human will18:33 - 22:45 — Entitlement and privilege22:45 - 29:44 — The cultural poverty behind white supremacy29:44 - 40:53 — Education, learning, and ambivalence40:53 - 54:49 — Getting older versus becoming an elder54:49 - 58:15 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesOrphan Wisdom SchoolDie Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and SoulCome of Age: A Case for Elderhood in a Time of TroubleQuillwood AcademyTelling Tales of ChangeSupport the show

Denise Casey works with people of all ages as a storyteller, performing artist, voice movement therapy practitioner, group facilitator, and mindfulness coach. She and Eric talk about the value in learning to tell our stories, liberating ourselves from stories that are not working, seeing the ways we lie to ourselves, and healing the pain that our bodies carry, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:11 — Episode introduction02:11 - 09:33 — The value in learning to tell our stories09:33 - 17:50 — Liberating ourselves from stories that are not working17:50 - 27:39 — Seeing the ways we lie to ourselves27:39 - 34:45 — Healing the pain that our bodies carry34:45 - 41:34 — Struggling with the energy of people pleasing41:34 - 46:34 — Fear as a barrier to telling our story46:34 - 48:09 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesGotThisVoice.comQuillwood AcademyTelling Tales of ChangeInside Out Writing: I Got a Story to Tell (Denise's workshop)The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel van der KolkWhen the Body Says No: The Hidden Cost of Stress, by Gabor MatéLove and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger, by Lama Rod OwensLama Rod OwensLama John MckranskyPlaying the GameQP #2: Dancing with the Cannibal Giant, with Sherri MitchellSupport the show

Layla AbdelRahim is an independent scholar who writes about our narrative attachment to predatory and parasitic economic systems. She and Eric talk about colonization and the colonization of our minds, epistemology and the foundation of our narratives, wildness versus domestication, the origins of domesticated and colonized narratives, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:44 — Episode introduction02:44 - 20:00 — Colonization and the colonization of our minds20:00 - 24:48 — Epistemology and the foundation of our narratives24:48 - 34:15 — Wildness and domestication34:15 - 47:04 — Origins of domesticated, colonized narratives47:04 - 56:02 — Layla's vision of where things are headed56:02 - 56:42 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesLayla AbdelRahim's websiteLayla AbdelRahim's Patreon PageQuillwood AcademyUndaunted Study GroupWild Children — Domesticated Dreams: Civilization and the Birth of Education, by Layla AbdelRahimChildren's Literature, Domestication, and Social Foundation: Narratives of Civilization and Wilderness, by Layla AbdelRahimColumbus and Other Cannibals: The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism, by Jack D ForbesMary Douglas (anthropologist)John ZerzanClaude Lévi-Strauss (anthropologist)Michel Foucault (philosopher)Pierre Bourdieu (sociologist)Support the show

Jessica Canham co-founded the award-winning video production company LINK International Productions, and manages Caapi Cottage Retreats, a transformational retreat center on the island of Dominica. She and Eric talk about characteristics that support systems of mutual aid, turning necessary skills into novelties, ethics of service and the impacts of inequality, and planning and organizing systems of mutual aid, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:52 — Episode introduction02:52 - 05:32 — Defining mutual aid05:32 - 09:52 — Characteristics that support systems of mutual aid09:52 - 12:34 — Turning necessary skills into novelties in the industrial world12:34 - 18:43 — Ethics of service and the impacts of inequality18:43 - 26:14 — Systems of mutual aid emerge in disasters26:14 - 37:35 — Planning and organizing systems of mutual aid37:35 - 42:41 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesLove in Action Video SeriesCaapi Cottage RetreatsQuillwood AcademyUndaunted Study GroupWhat Is This Global Crisis Asking Of Us (free webinars)Margaret Wheately (author)WhatsAppFront Porch ForumSupport the show

Dr. Elizabeth Boulton is an independent researcher who was a transport officer in the Australian Army who did tours of duty in East Timor and Iraq and who has done humanitarian work in Ghana, Nigeria, and Sudan. She and Eric talk about global warming as a hyperobject and a hyperthreat, expanding our awareness of the harm we cause, and the entangled nature of planetary, human, and state security, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:38 — Episode introduction02:38 - 10:13 — Global warming as a hyperobject10:13 - 15:49 — Global warming as a hyperthreat15:49 - 18:52 — Expanding our awareness of the harm we cause18:52 - 27:17 — Entangled nature of planetary, human, and state security27:17 - 37:59 — Incorporation of depletion and consumption in hyperthreat narrative37:59 - 51:41 — Role of conservation in security strategy51:41 - 65:26 — Finding agency against the hyperthreat65:26 - 78:18 — Censorship of alternative security narratives78:18 - 80:55 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesDestination Safe EarthQuillwood AcademyUndaunted Study GroupHyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World, by Timothy MortonThe Nine Planetary BoundariesThe Great Simplification, with Nate Hagens (Quillwood Podcast #6)Plan E: A Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century Era of Entangled Security and Hyperthreats, by Elizabeth BoultonAn Introduction to Plan E: Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century Era of Entangled Security and Hyperthreats, by Elizabeth BoultonSupport the show

Carolyn Baker is a writer and educator who most recently authored the book Undaunted: Living Fiercely into Climate Meltdown in an Authoritarian World. She and Eric talk about the meaning of undanted, living fiercely in an increasingly autocratic world, seeing today's converging crises as a rite of passage, learning lessons from our ordeal, and living with uncertainty, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:44 — Episode introduction02:44 - 09:59 — The quality and value of being undaunted09:59 - 17:26 — Living fiercely and an increasingly autocratic world17:26 - 30:11 — Seeing today's converging crises as a rite of passage30:11 - 33:05 — Learning the lessons from our ordeal33:05 - 44:47 — Reflections on certainty and not giving up44:47 - 46:34 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesCarolyn Baker's websiteUndaunted: Living Fiercely into Climate Meltdown in an Authoritarian World, by Carolyn BakerSubscribe to Carolyn's Daily News DigestQuillwood AcademyReality Blind Reading GroupStephen Jenkinson's Orphan Wisdom SchoolThe Physics of Climate Change, by Lawrence M. KraussDo the Work: An Antiracist Activity Book, by W. Kamau Bell and Kate SchatzLyla June Johnston Interview on As Temperatures RiseSupport the show

David Blittersdorf is the President and CEO of AllEarth Renewables, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Post Carbon Institute as well as Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. He and Eric talk about the percentage of fossil energy we can reasonably expect to replace with renewable energy, the limitations of renewable energy, energy return on energy invested, and what drew David to the renewable energy industry, among other things.Outline00:00 - 03:14 — Episode introduction03:14 - 06:48 — What percentage of fossil energy we can replace with renewables06:48 - 17:05 — Mineral limitations in large scale conversion to renewables17:05 - 20:46 — The resource peaking process, and peaking of global oil supply20:46 - 33:41 — Energy return on energy invested, and energy blindness33:41 - 42:31 — What attracted David to the renewable energy industry42:31 - 48:04 — Resistance to wind and solar generation capacity48:04 - 52:07 — Navigating today's changing world52:07 - 54:22 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesAllEarth RenewablesQuillwood AcademyReality Blind Reading GroupPeak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines, by Richard HeinbergThe Energy Return on Invested of Biodiesel in Vermont, by Eric GarzaJimmy Carter's 1977 energy policy speech (YouTube)Pliocene and Eocene provide best analogs for near-future climates (K.D. Burke et al, in Proceedings for the National Academies of Sciences)Support the show

Arthur Haines is a Maine hunting and recreation guide, forager, ancestral skills mentor, author, public speaker, and botanical researcher. In this episode he and Eric talk about the benefits of eating and gathering wild foods, how not all impacts we might have on wild plant populations are negative, practices for properly harvesting fiddleheads and wild leeks, and strategies for regulating the harvest of wild edible plants, among other things.Outline00:00 - 03:11 — Episode introduction03:11 - 07:17 — What Arthur and his family have been harvesting and eating07:17 - 17:04 — Benefits of eating and gathering wild foods17:04 - 31:11 — Interacting with wild foods, and how not all impact is negative31:11 - 34:23 — Lamenting commercial harvesting of wild foods34:23 - 52:00 — Practices for properly harvesting fiddleheads and wild leeks52:00 - 64:30 — Strategies for regulating the harvest of wild plant foods64:30 - 73:03 — Overcoming the mindset of exploitation and conquest73:03 - 76:16 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesArthur Haines' websiteQuillwood AcademyReality Blind Reading GroupIngestion of Mycobacterium vaccae decreases anxiety-related behavior and improves learning in mice (Journal of Behavioral Processes)Immerse Yourself in a Forest for Better Health (New York Department of Environmental Conservation)Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources, by M. Kat AndersonPopulation viability analysis of American Ginseng and Wild Leek harvested in stochastic environments (Journal of Conservation Biology)Support the show

Lyla June Johnston is a Diné writer, singer, spoken word artist, and activist. In this episode she and Eric talk about indigenous food ways, the deeper meaning of the word "food", power structures inherent in industrial food systems, and learning lessons from the rise and collapse of civilization, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:14 — Episode introduction02:14 - 08:58 — What inspires Lyla to pursue indigenous food ways as a course of study08:58 - 10:31 — Fragilities in modern industrial food systems10:31 - 19:40 — Exploring the deeper indigenous meaning of the word "food"19:40 - 25:22 — Indigenous food ways and the local food movement25:22 - 31:04 — Power structures inherent in industrial food systems31:04 - 37:48 — Learning big lessons from the rise and collapse of civilization37:48 - 40:31 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyTelling Tales of ChangeAuthoritarian and Democratic Technics, by Lewis Mumford (Technology and Culture)An Interview of Lyla June Johnston (As Temperatures Rise, on YouTube)Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future, edited by Melissa NelsonWe're Not Done With DAPL: How Investors Can Still Support Indigenous Rights, by Morgan Simon (Forbes, the article Lyla alludes to at the end of the episode)Support the show

In this episode Eric reflects on how a lesson from an old martial arts mentor has influenced his thinking about today's converging crises, and how getting back to basics can help us feel safe in a changing world.Outline00:00 - 03:09 — Episode introduction03:09 - 08:15 — A lesson on staying safe from a martial arts master08:15 - 13:20 — Five needs we must meet to feel safe13:20 - 14:45 — Invitation to reflect on how to avoid violence14:45 - 16:52 — Invitation to reflect on how to stay warm or cool16:52 - 18:33 — Invitation to reflect on how to maintain access to water and food18:33 - 20:13 — Invitation to reflect on how to find community and social engagement20:13 - 21:33 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupBujinkan Indianapolis DojoSupport the show

In this episode Eric reflects on different ways of framing and talking about collapse, using metamorphosis as a metaphor to help us make sense of collapse, choosing our metaphors for collapse wisely, and the various physical, ecological, and social forces that are driving today's changing world.Outline00:00 - 02:25 — Episode introduction02:25 - 05:56 — Different ways of framing and talking about collapse05:56 - 09:44 — Metamorphosis as a metaphor to help us make sense of collapse09:44 - 16:17 — Adaptive cycle as a model to put collapse in a broader context16:17 - 21:41 — Reckoning with our blindness to the ubiquity of change21:41 - 24:23 — Choosing our metaphors for collapse wisely24:23 - 29:48 — The role of energy, materials, and money in forcing social change29:48 - 34:26 — The role of ecological and social turbulence in forcing social change34:26 - 37:58 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupThe Great Simplification (Nate Hagens' podcast)The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age, by John Michael GreerThe Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, by James Howard KunstlerHow Does A Caterpillar Turn Into A Butterfly, by Ferris Jabr (Scientific American)Adaptive Cycles (Resilience Alliance website)The adaptive cycle: more than a metaphor, by Shana M. Sundstrom and Craig R. Allen (Ecological Complexity)How Civilizations Fall: A Theory of Catabolic Collapse, by John Michael GreerAnalysis: World has already passed 'peak oil', BP figures reveal (Carbon Brief)Simon Michaux: "Minerals Blindness" (The Great Simplification podcast)Joe Rogan Experience #1245 - Andrew Yang (YouTube)The Social Dilemma (trailer on YouTube)Support the show

Lyla June Johnston is a Diné writer, singer, spoken word artist, and activist. In this episode she talks to Eric about making peace with European heritage, colonial histories, place-based identities, reconnecting with our indigenous heritage, the sophistication of traditional ecological knowledge, and the fragility of American society, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:03 — Episode introduction02:03 - 07:47 — Making peace with European heritage07:47 - 18:50 — Colonial histories, trauma, and place-based identities18:50 - 22:41 — Processing a fear of remembering22:41 - 29:06 — Reconnecting with our indigenous heritage intuitively29:06 - 33:42 — Showing courage as we reclaim an indigenous identity33:42 - 36:55 — Creating parallel systems rather than repairing broken systems36:55 - 42:53 — The sophistication of traditional ecological knowledge42:53 - 46:57 — American society as a fragile, precarious system46:57 - 48:54 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupThe Story of How Humanity Fell in Love with Itself Once Again, by Lyla June JohnstonMamwlad, a song by Lyla June JohnstonSupport the show

Dr. Kate Booth and Tristan Sykes co-founded the platform Just Collapse. In this wide-ranging episode they talk to Eric about justice and collapse as place-based phenomenon, overshoot and the Seneca effect, collapse risks in Hobart, Tasmania and Vermont, USA, collapse awareness and collapse acceptance, structural violence as collapse avoidance, and seeing overshoot ecology and justice as issues of accountability, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:04 — Episode introduction02:04 - 04:03 — Dr. Kate Booth and Tristan Sykes introduce themselves04:03 - 07:47 — Justice and collapse as place-based phenomenon07:47 - 13:08 — What a just collapse might look like in Hobart, Tasmania13:08 - 18:30 — Overshoot and the Seneca effect18:30 - 26:34 — Collapse risks in Vermont, USA, and how some places matter more than others26:34 - 29:57 — Regions buying their way out of collapse29:57 - 34:23 — Collapse awareness, collapse acceptance, and talking collapse34:23 - 39:46 — Structural violence as collapse avoidance39:46 - 43:40 — Hope, hopelessness, and motivation43:40 - 50:20 — Managing our nervous system responses while engaging with collapse50:20 - 56:20 — Seeing overshoot ecology and justice as issues of accountability56:20 - 64:05 — How hard it is to find a path to redemption64:05 - 68:08 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupJust Collapse websiteJust Collapse on FacebookBrave Little State, on Vermont Public RadioGesturing Towards Decolonial Futures CollectiveStaying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, by Donna HarawayPost Doom, Michael Dowd's websiteGlobal Footprint CalculatorSlavery Footprint CalculatorSupport the show

Host Eric Garza invites listeners on a deep time walk that explores the energetics of human evolution and human development. He begins this journey as our lineage parts ways with ancestors of today's chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), taking us through the development of stone tools, the harnessing of fire for warmth and cooking, the crafting of spears, clothing, and bows and arrows, and lastly more modern technologies designed to harness exosomatic energy sources often derived from fossil fuels.Outline00:00 - 02:59 — Episode introduction02:59 - 06:18 — Pedagogical benefits of deep time06:18 - 09:07 — Looking at human evolution and development through an energy lens09:07 - 16:52 — Early human development, stone tools, harnessing fire16:52 - 19:08 — The Great Escalation: spears, clothes, and the bow and arrow19:08 - 22:56 — Agriculture and the expansion of ecological debt22:56 - 31:05 — Modern energy innovations, and exosomatic energy31:05 - 32:03 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupOvershoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, by William Catton Jr.Deep Time WalkWork that ReconnectsFat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains, by Richard Kemeny (Scientific American)Every human culture includes cooking—this is how it began, by Graham Lawton (New Scientist)The First Spears, by Zach Zorich (Archeology)The History of Clothing and Textiles (Wikipedia)Bow and Arrow Hunting, by K. Kris Hirst (Thought Co.)History of agriculture (Wikipedia)Marion King Hubbert Support the show

Cliff Berrien is a drummer, percussionist, DJ, and music educator who uses music to develop creativity, catalyze connections, promote cultural dexterity, help to heal trauma, and deepen contemplative somatic awareness. In this episode he and Eric talk about the deep time perspective, contemplative practice and dissociation, and generative catastrophe, among other things.Outline00:00 - 06:12 — Episode introduction06:12 - 17:13 — The deep time perspective17:13 - 23:33 — The influence of Race and the Cosmos23:33 - 39:54 — Contemplative practice and dissociation39:54 - 55:34 — Exploding stars and generative catastrophe55:34 - 56:25 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesThe Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley RobinsonQuillwood AcademyRace and the Cosmos, by Dr. Barbara HolmesBayo AkomolafeWalter Earl FlukerRasmaa MenakemAlexis Pauline GumbsHis Holiness the Dalai LamaThe Radiance Sutras, by Lorin RocheVanessa Andreotti and the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures CollectiveThe Four DenialsThe Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, by David Graeber and David WengrowThomas BerryBrian SwimmeLimits to Growth, by Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William BehrensStudy pinpoints timing of oxygen's appearance in Earth's atmosphere, by Jennifer ChuSupport the show

Bayo Akomolafe is an author, speaker, a trans-public intellectual, post-activist, and a father, among many other things. In this episode he and Eric talk about resilience, the generative qualities of failure, finding safety amidst uncertainty, trauma as a capitalist project, cancel culture, individualism, and belonging as an artifact, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:18 — Episode introduction02:18 - 07:40 — Going into the cracks07:40 - 15:58 — Resilience, giving up, experimentalism15:58 - 21:11 — Nervous systems and feeling safe in uncertainty21:11 - 30:50 — Staying balanced, embracing failure30:50 - 57:21 — Trauma, cancel culture, and belonging57:21 - 58:15 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyBayo Akomolafe's websiteThe Unbusinesslike Nature of BusinessRailway spine as a post-traumatic disorderLauren Berlant, authorAchille Mbembe, philosopherSupport the show

Nathan Hagens founded the Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future, and hosts The Great Simplification podcast. In this episode he and Eric talk about the genesis of his phrase The Great Simplification, the link between debt and growth, energy blindness, the three grand challenges facing us today, finding our people, and attending to our mental health and resilience, among other things.Outline00:00 - 02:33 — Episode introduction02:36 - 14:24 — The genesis of The Great Simplification14:24 - 19:22 — Avoiding binary outcomes19:22 - 26:24 — The link between debt and growth26:24 - 33:44 — Energy blindness33:44 - 36:19 — Energy and power density of fossil carbon36:19 - 40:04 — Three grand challenges40:04 - 44:22 — Finding our people, talking this through44:22 - 48:09 — Attending to our mental health and resilience48:09 - 54:27 — Walking the talk and staying grateful54:27 - 55:24 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademyThe Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley RobinsonThe Oil Drum: Discussions About Energy and Our FutureInstitute for the Study of Energy and Our FutureThe Great Simplification, with Nate HagensOlympic Cyclist Vs. Toaster: Can He Power It? (YouTube video)Human-powered Tesla Model X Charger (YouTube)Energy Blind, Part 1 of 5 / The Great Simplification Series (YouTube)Support the show

Sophie Strand is a writer, poet, and compost heap based in New York's Hudson Valley. Her writing focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. In this episode she and Eric talk about rewilding the sacred masculine, apocalypses past and present, healing and trauma in this age of turmoil, making kin, and embracing incompletion, among other things.Outline00:00 - 03:36 — Episode introduction03:36 - 07:58 — Lunations of masculinity07:58 - 10:37 — Apocalypses past, present, and future10:37 - 23:31 — Healing and trauma in this age of turmoil23:31 - 30:07 — Making kin with life and land30:07 - 37:16 — Looking critically at trauma37:16 - 46:30 — Embracing compost and incompletion46:30 - 49:38 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesQuillwood AcademySophie Strand's Instagram (@cosmogyny)Sophie Strand on FacebookSophieStrand.comSophie Strand's SubstackThe Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine, by Sophie StrandStaying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, by Donna HarawayThe Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel van der KolksHospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism, by Vanessa Machado de OlivieraSupport the show