In this episode, we welcome Nick Estes, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and co-founder of The Red Nation. Nick is a historian, journalist, and author of Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance . Together, we unravel the topics of why truth-seeking to better understand history has become so politicized and contentious, the boarding school system that the U.S. used to assimilate Native children, The Red Dea...
Oct 12, 2021•59 min•Ep. 328
In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Charles Eisenstein, a public speaker and author of the books Climate — A New Story , The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible , The Ascent of Humanity , and Sacred Economics. Charles‘ work covers a wide range of topics, including the history of human civilization, economics, spirituality, and the ecology movement. And some primary themes that he explores include anti-consumerism, interdependence, and how myth and narrative influe...
Oct 05, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 328
How might we lean into appreciative inquiry in support of a cycle of healing? And what does it mean to view conflicts as potentials for collective breakthroughs? In this episode, we welcome Shilpa Jain, the Executive Director of YES! and a facilitator, author, and educator on topics including globalization, creative expressions, ecology, democratic living, innovative learning, and unlearning. The musical offering in this episode is Grandmother’s Song by Hand Drum Songs, provided to us by Indigen...
Sep 28, 2021•51 min•Ep. 327
What signs are there that the dominant culture has trended towards one of “choice paralysis”, with many stuck in “infinite browsing mode”? And how might encouraging people to commit—to causes, place, people, projects—support the societal transformation many deeply yearn for? In this episode, we welcome Pete Davis , a writer and civic advocate from Falls Church, Virginia. Pete works on civic projects aimed at deepening American democracy and solidarity, and he is the co-founder of Getaway and the...
Sep 22, 2021•42 min•Ep. 326
What are the differences between “food security”, “food justice”, and “food sovereignty”? And while food aid and soup kitchens play a critical role in the immediate term, how might they still help to uphold the same power dynamics that historically marginalized communities wish to compost? In this episode, we welcome Karen Washington , a farmer and activist, to Green Dreamer. Karen is a co-owner/farmer at Rise & Root Farm in Chester, New York, and in 2010, she co-founded Black Urban Growers (BUG...
Sep 14, 2021•40 min•Ep. 325
How does viewing people as “contextual beings” help us to realize the systemic changes that need to be made? What does it mean to have spiritual and political praxis—to see the shortcomings of New-Age spirituality when practiced in silos? In this episode, we welcome Alnoor Ladha , the co-founder and Executive Director of The Rules and a board member of Culture Hack Labs , a co-operatively run advisory for social movements and progressive organizations. Alnoor comes from a Sufi lineage and writes...
Sep 07, 2021•53 min•Ep. 324
What does it mean to see the inflammation of our bodies and Earth as interconnected and as signals of what is wrong outside ? How did the major philanthropies shape the field of modern medicine to privilege or devalue certain forms of knowledge? In this episode, we're joined by Rupa Marya, MD and Raj Patel, co-authors of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice . Rupa Marya is a physician, an activist, a mother, and a composer. She is an associate professor of medicine at the Univers...
Aug 31, 2021•50 min•Ep. 323
What is it that drives our individualistic pursuits for ethical purity? How do we embrace complicity as the starting point and begin to take responsibility for our messy histories? In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Alexis Shotwell, whose work focuses on complexity, complicity, and collective transformation. A professor at Carleton University, on unceded Algonquin land, she is the co-investigator for the AIDS Activist History Project and the author of Knowing Otherwise: Race, Gender, and Impli...
Aug 24, 2021•50 min•Ep. 322
If material, economic growth is merely an illusion within a closed-loop system, what does it mean to re-orient towards the growth of intimacy, depth, complexity, and diversity? What does "Indigenous thinking" mean, if not some monolithic, prescriptive way of seeing the world? In this episode, we welcome Dr. Tyson Yunkaporta, an academic, an arts critic, and a researcher who is a member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland. He carves traditional tools and weapons and also works as a senior...
Aug 17, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 321
How might we think and act differently if we recognized ourselves in our “Long Body”—seeing our continually transforming identities beyond our physical bodies into the past and the future? In the midst of an increasing loneliness epidemic, where so many feel disoriented, disassociated, and uprooted, how do we begin to regain a deep sense of belonging to dwell in place? In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Leny Mendoza Strobel, a Kapampangan from Central Luzon in the Philippines, who is currently...
Aug 10, 2021•52 min•Ep. 320
How might "eco-" or "ethical" certifications fall short of our hopes or expectations for what they mean and guarantee? What is it that leads many socially-driven food startups to become co-opted? In this episode, we welcome Errol Schweizer. Born in The Bronx, New York, Errol has over 25 years of experience in the food industry—from grill cook, stock clerk, and purchasing manager, to V.P. of Grocery, a position he held at Whole Foods for seven years. He has developed plant-based, Organic, Non-GMO...
Aug 03, 2021•58 min•Ep. 319
Why are the major social binaries inadequate in explaining the basis of our varied injustices? What is needed to translate our relational shifts from domination to partnerism into structural shifts in our societal configuration? In this episode, we welcome Dr. Riane Eisler, a systems scientist, futurist, attorney, and macro-historian whose research, writing, and speaking have transformed the lives of people worldwide. She is president of the Center for Partnership Systems (CPS), Editor-in-Chief ...
Jul 27, 2021•55 min•Ep. 318
What does it mean that we have a crisis in form —that our problems go deeper than the visible systems we often attribute them to? What might we gain from surrendering human control and centrality, slowing down even as we feel increasing urgency to address social injustice and climate change? In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Bayo Akomolafe. Rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, Bayo is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life-partner to Ije, son and brother. A wid...
Jul 20, 2021•45 min•Ep. 317
How does the dominant western society privilege certain ways of knowing over others—that may be critical to guiding our path to collective healing? How might we better understand the role of “safety” through the lens of connection phenomenology? In this episode, we're joined by Gabriel Kram, a connection phenomenologist, the Convener of the Restorative Practices Alliance, and the Co-Founder of the Academy of Applied Social Medicine. Gabriel is also the author of the book, Restorative Practices o...
Jul 13, 2021•51 min•Ep. 316
How has modern water architecture changed our relationship with water? What are some success stories of resilience from communities pushing back against those attempting to privatize and monopolize control over water? In this episode, we speak with Karen Piper, the author of Cartographic Fictions, Left in the Dust , The Price of Thirst , and a memoir called A Girl's Guide to Missiles . Her interests are water architecture, climate change, weapons development history, creative nonfiction, and wor...
Jul 06, 2021•39 min•Ep. 315
What is the Pyrocene, and why do we need to tell a new narrative around fire? How did colonial forms of conservation disrupt Indigenous cultural burning practices, increasing the likelihood of eruptive, destructive fires today? In light of wildfire season beginning again on the west coast of Turtle Island, we are resharing this pertinent conversation (ep281) with fire historian Stephen Pyne. About Stephen Pyne Stephen Pyne is an emeritus professor at Arizona State University and mostly a fire hi...
Jun 29, 2021•43 min
What is “settler time” and what does it mean to queer temporality? How might an expansion of who we include as family and kin help us to reimagine alternative ways of governance—beyond it taking the form of something outside and on top of, rooted in domination and control, and upholding the constructed boundaries between “the private” and “the public”? Dr. Mark Rifkin is a professor of English and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies at UNC Greensboro. He's served as president of the Native Amer...
Jun 22, 2021•42 min•Ep. 314
What are some of the distinctive qualities of supremacist cultures—as opposed to liberatory ones? And if liberatory cultures do not have an inherent interest in dominating and overpowering, would it have what it takes to overtake power-hungry supremacist societies? Daniel Lim is a queer, Chinese-Burmese social change maker. He founded Daniel Lim Consulting, a social justice consulting firm that supports organizations to build regenerative and liberatory cultures. His practice is informed by the ...
Jun 15, 2021•46 min•Ep. 313
How can non-Native peoples engage with Indigenous cuisines in ways that are rooted in reciprocity and respect? How can people connect with and help to revitalize Native ingredients and foodways? Brian Yazzie, also known as Yazzie the Chef (Diné/Navajo), is from Dennehotso, Arizona, and based out of Saint Paul, MN. Yazzie has a degree of Associate in Applied Science (AAS) in Culinary Arts from Saint Paul College 2016. He is a summer resident chef at Dream of Wild Health farm, a delegate of Slow F...
Jun 08, 2021•41 min•Ep. 312
How is mapping for abundance an act of defiance against cartographies of capital and commodification? How might shifting away from a worldview of scarcity to one of abundance manifest greater societal, cultural, and systemic transformations? In this episode, we welcome Candace Fujikane, co-editor of a special issue of Amerasia Journal, Whose Vision? Asian Settler Colonialism in Hawaiʻi (2000) and Asian Settler Colonialism: From Local Governance to the Habits of Everyday Life in Hawaiʻi (2008). S...
Jun 01, 2021•55 min•Ep. 311
What does it mean to shift our ways of addressing ecological imbalances and diseases from antibiotic to probiotic? How are large-scale rewilding projects in the west related to biodiversity loss and land conversion in the ‘developing’ countries where food production is increasingly outsourced to? In this episode, we welcome Jamie Lorimer, a Professor of Environmental Geography at the University of Oxford. His research explores the cultures and politics of wildlife conservation, and he is the aut...
May 25, 2021•44 min•Ep. 310
What harms do saviorist narratives perpetuate through voluntourism and heropreneurship—when they hold the intentions of doing good? How does the dichotomy of the Global North and Global South reinforce certain ideologies around societal progress? In this episode, we welcome Manpreet Kaur Kalra, a social impact advisor, educator, and activist working to decolonize storytelling. She navigates the intersection of impact communication and sustainable global development. She educates using a variety ...
May 18, 2021•58 min•Ep. 309
What does it mean for the world of conservation to see forest ecosystems as complex, sentient, and intelligent? How have the reductive tools of Western science been limiting in our abilities to fully understand the relationships within forests—as well as our human relationships with them? In this episode, we are honored to welcome Suzanne Simard Ph.D., who was born in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia and educated at the University of British Columbia and Oregon State University. She is...
May 11, 2021•46 min•Ep. 308
What are regenerative, seed-to-sow fashion systems? And what should we know about India's ongoing, historic farmer protests—and how it disproportionately impacts those most influenced by the Green Revolution? In this episode, we welcome Nishanth Chopra, the visionary behind Oshadi Collective, which is rebuilding regenerative, artisanal fashion and textiles system. They value the Earth, nurture the soil, and respect their community of farmers, spinners, dyers, weavers, makers, and designers first...
May 04, 2021•33 min•Ep. 307
What can the pandemic teach us about the true meaning of ‘security’? Why must we challenge the dominant culture's ideas of wealth and success—in order to realize true abundance? In this episode, we welcome Jon Jandai foremost a farmer and secondly a widely-known earthen builder in Thailand. Jo is from Yasothorn Province and has been farming all his life. He began building earthen homes on his family farm in 1997, and started doing workshops on earthen building in 2002, initially traveling the co...
Apr 27, 2021•40 min•Ep. 306
What if neither the Green New Deal nor the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals will help us address ecological breakdown? Why do frontline Earth activists say that the green movement has lost its way? In this episode, we're joined by Max Wilbert and Lierre Keith, co-authors of Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It . Song featured in this episode: The Fading by Joan Shelley Green Dreamer with Kamea Chayne is a podcast exploring our pa...
Apr 20, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 305
What does it mean to practice ‘systems sensing’ and lean into our different ways of knowing? How do we slow down in the urgency of the climate crisis to recreate new patterns of being for the future? In this episode, we welcome Luea Ritter, a process steward, action researcher, and co-founder of Collective Transitions, an action-learning and research organization dedicated to building shared capacity for fostering and maintaining transformational shifts. Her work weaves societal change processes...
Apr 13, 2021•52 min•Ep. 304
What is the relationship between cartography and power? How are high-tech map-making tools being utilized to support Indigenous sovereignty and community rights? In this episode, we welcome Steve, an award-winning cartographer from the buffalo clan, who is Anishinaabe/Saulteaux and a member of the Ebb and Flow First Nation from Manitoba. He is the co-founder, director, and past president of the Firelight Group. Steve founded the annual Indigenous Mapping Workshop. Song featured in this episode: ...
Apr 06, 2021•37 min•Ep. 303
How might we reimagine education and the primary purposes it serves? What is the significance of having a regenerative revolution? In this episode, we welcome John Clark, an eco-communitarian anarchist writer, activist, and educator who lives and works in New Orleans—where his family has been for twelve generations. His most recent book is 'Between Earth and Empire: From the Necrocene to the Beloved Community.' In 2013, John founded La Terre Institute for Community and Ecology with the goals of ...
Mar 30, 2021•51 min•Ep. 302
What is green governmentality? How might the commodification of nature experiences limit our ways of relating to Earth? In this episode, we're joined by Stephanie Rutherford Ph.D., an associate professor at the Trent University School of the Environment. Stephanie's work is interdisciplinary, focusing on the intersections among the environmental, humanities, animal studies, and environmental politics. She's also the author or coeditor of three books that consider these themes with a new book for...
Mar 26, 2021•39 min•Ep. 301
