Spring Creek Podcast
This podcast is produced by the Spring Creek Project, an organization at Oregon State University that sponsors readings, lectures, conversations, residencies, and other events and programming on issues and themes of critical importance to the health of humans and nature. Our mission is to bring together the practical wisdom of environmental science, the clarity of philosophy, and the transformational power of the written word and the arts to envision and inspire just and joyous relations with the planet and with one another.
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The Art of Reconnection: Daniela Naomi Molnar and Danielle Vogel
12/06/2024
The Art of Reconnection: Daniela Naomi Molnar and Danielle Vogel
In the final episode of “The Art of Reconnection” series, co-host Daniela Naomi Molnar speaks with poet and ceremonialist about the scope, power, and possibility of language. Danielle is an experimental poet who is committed to an embodied, ceremonial approach to poetics and relies heavily on field research, cross-disciplinary studies, inter-species collaborations, and archives of all kinds. Her installations and site-responsive works are often extensions of her manuscripts and tend to the living archives of memory shared between bodies, languages, and landscapes. She is an associate professor at Wesleyan University and the author of several poetry collections, including A Library of Light, Edges & Fray, and Between Grammars. Daniela and Danielle’s conversation is an ode to the power of language — how the written and spoken word rings throughout the body, how it connects with extremely subtle forms of language both inside and outside our bodies, and how writing, editing, and reading become a ceremony. Their conversation ranges from darkness to lightness, from cellular activity to glacial activity, from the personal to the collective. They celebrate the way language acts as a mediating agent between our material and immaterial worlds, allowing us to connect to and therefore mend our interior lives and our environments. Daniela and Danielle invite us to wonder: How can language help us touch time? How do syllables and syntax carry memory in the same way a human body or a geologic body might? And how can becoming aware of the embodied nature of language help us connect across time, across lives, and across bodies? This podcast series was produced by the , an initiative of the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts at Oregon State University. The series was created in collaboration with in Corvallis, Oregon.
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The Art of Reconnection: Lee Emma Running and Ben Goldfarb
10/24/2024
The Art of Reconnection: Lee Emma Running and Ben Goldfarb
In part three of “The Art of Reconnection,” series co-host Lee Running speaks with guest Ben Goldfarb to take us on an exploration of roads. Their conversation invites us to see these in-between places in new ways. Ben is a conservation journalist and award-winning author. His writing has appeared in many outlets, including The Atlantic, National Geographic, and “The Best American Science and Nature Writing.” His first book “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter” won the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. And his latest book “Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet” was named one of the best books of 2023 by the New York Times. Lee creates arresting objects using cast iron, enamel, glass, bone, and handmade paper. Her work intimately explores the impact of human-built systems on the natural world, often incorporating the bodies and bones of animals killed on roads. She invites her audiences to renew their sense of kinship with non-human beings. Lee and Ben have each spent a great deal of time thinking about, walking along, and studying roads. Throughout this conversation, the two discuss this edge landscape, the species that live and die there, and how these arteries of civilization impact non-human beings and ways of life. Their conversation invites us to wonder how systems designed to connect people and places actually function to separate us from place and from each other. And they talk about how their art and writing call on us to take notice, to see, hear, feel, consider, and connect to the places we speed past. This podcast series was produced by the , an initiative of the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts at Oregon State University. The series was created in collaboration with The Arts Center in Corvallis, Oregon.
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The Art of Reconnection: Daniela Naomi Molnar and Marcia Bjornerud
10/11/2024
The Art of Reconnection: Daniela Naomi Molnar and Marcia Bjornerud
In part two of “The Art of Reconnection,” series co-host speaks with guest about the narratives, notions of time, and deep wisdom embedded within rocks. Marcia is a writer and a structural geologist whose scientific research, which focuses on the physics of earthquakes and mountain building, has taken her around the globe. She is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, and the LA Times. She is also the author of the books “Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World” and the recently published “Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks.” Throughout Marcia’s scientific and academic career, she has learned to listen to landscapes. She and Daniela discuss how the Western fallacies of objectivity and stability may act as a barrier to our innate capacity to notice landscapes not only with our instruments and hypotheses but also with our senses, our lived experiences, and our inherent curiosities. Daniela is a poet, artist, and writer who creates with color, water, language, and place. She makes large-scale abstract paintings with pigments she creates from plants, bones, stones, rainwater, and glacial melt. Gathered from specific biomes she has visited, these paints become palettes of place with which she investigates the earth’s site-specific capacity for both memory and resilience. This conversation muses on the vast time scales of geologic change, the alienation and spiritual poverty of the modern Western world, and how careful listening to the slow-moving land may help rattle apart the cage of human exceptionalism that has plagued our current era. Daniela and Marcia also invite us to wonder: What memory does the ground beneath you hold? How does connecting with that story change your experience of the place? And what might it mean for our collective future if we adopted a more geo-centric vision of the world and our place in it? This podcast series was produced by the , an initiative of the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts at Oregon State University. The series was created in collaboration with in Corvallis, Oregon.
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The Art of Reconnection: Lee Emma Running and Daniela Naomi Molnar
10/04/2024
The Art of Reconnection: Lee Emma Running and Daniela Naomi Molnar
In part one of “The Art of Reconnection” our series hosts, and , engage in a rich conversation about the ways their place-based practices of artmaking have transformed the quality of attention they bring to a place and their appreciation for the deep memory that is carried by the botanical, animal, and mineral elements found there. Daniela is a poet, artist, and writer who creates with color, water, language, and place. She makes large-scale abstract paintings with pigments she creates from plants, bones, stones, rainwater, and glacial melt. Gathered from specific biomes she has visited, these paints become palettes of place with which she investigates the earth’s site-specific capacity for both memory and resilience. Lee creates arresting objects using cast iron, enamel, glass, bone, and handmade paper. Her work intimately explores the impact of human-built systems on the natural world, often incorporating the bodies and bones of animals killed on roads. She invites her audiences to renew their sense of kinship with non-human beings. Throughout their conversation, Lee and Daniela reflect on how foraging for, taking care of, and collaborating with their materials — from cabbage leaf, to deer bone, to ocher — has cultivated in them a nuanced attention to place and a profound capacity for holding seeming opposites: violence and beauty, loss and resilience, brokenness and repair. They discuss how the intense sensitivity of their materials makes even the most prolific sources of pigment, like queen anne’s lace, intimately site-specific; how noticing the ways materials respond to each other necessarily troubles Western notions of separateness; and how meeting grief with care and attention can reshape and heal our relationship to places of loss. This conversation takes place shortly after Lee and Daniela’s shared exhibition “” was installed at The Arts Center in Corvallis, Oregon, in September 2024. While in Corvallis, Lee hosted a group dinner on a roadside verge, calling attention to the often forgotten border at the edge of our roads. We enter this conversation by way of the artists’ reflection on that experience. This podcast series was produced by the , an initiative of the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts at Oregon State University. The series was created in collaboration with The Arts Center in Corvallis, Oregon.
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The Art of Reconnection: Series Trailer
09/26/2024
The Art of Reconnection: Series Trailer
Welcome to “The Art of Reconnection,” a new podcast series produced by the Spring Creek Project, an initiative of the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts at Oregon State University. The series was created in collaboration with The Arts Center in Corvallis, Oregon. During this four-part series, place-based artists Lee Running and Daniela Naomi Molnar invite us to imagine ways of restoring our relationship to the land. Their artistic practices have helped them hold grief and love, anger and forgiveness, reverence and wonder. By creating art from a place—working with pigments ground from ancient rock or piecing together the precious bones of animals killed on roadsides—these artists are exploring ways to rekindle sacred connection to the land and the more-than-human beings who live there. Through conversations with each other and invited guests, hosts Lee and Daniela invite us to slow down, look deeply, and explore how places that hold the scars of human impacts not only carry the memory of loss but also the steadfastness of deep, geological time and the possibility of healing.
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Collective Climate Action: Osprey Orielle Lake on women leading the way in climate justice organizing
07/12/2024
Collective Climate Action: Osprey Orielle Lake on women leading the way in climate justice organizing
Because of unequal gender norms globally, women are impacted first and worst by climate change, and yet, one of the untold stories is how incredibly vital women are to local and global solutions. In this episode, Osprey Orielle Lake joins colleague Ashley Guardado to explore the ways in which empowering women worldwide is essential to climate justice work. Study after study shows that we must involve women at every level if we are to succeed in areas of just climate solutions, social equality, and bold transformative change. Osprey Orielle Lake is the founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International, an organization that unites women worldwide in building the movement for social and ecological justice. Osprey works internationally with grassroots, BIPOC and Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and diverse coalitions to accelerate the climate justice movement, build more resilient communities, and transition to a decentralized, democratized clean-energy future. She sits on the executive committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and on the steering committee for the Fossil Free Non-Proliferation Treaty. She is the author of the award-winning book “Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature” and her new book “The Story Is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis.” Additional resouces: Why Women: Women Speak: This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Collective Climate Action: Diego Arguedas Ortiz on lessons from climate journalism as we look for climate hope
06/19/2024
Collective Climate Action: Diego Arguedas Ortiz on lessons from climate journalism as we look for climate hope
Where is the space for hope in a world where it is almost impossible not to feel hopeless and broken? In that "almost," argues journalist Diego Arguedas Ortiz. In this episode, Diego argues that climate hope is linked with action: both ours and that of others alongside us. He follows the case of climate journalism, which was traditionally a domain of science and environment reporters; now, it is populated by political writers, sports editors and photojournalists that want to do their part. This expanding landscape offers a template for others to find their own space in the climate movement. Diego Arguedas Ortiz is Associate Director at the Oxford Climate Journalism Network of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford. There, he supports a community of over 600 reporters and editors from more than 120 countries as they improve the quality and impact of their climate journalism. A Costa Rican reporter, he has covered climate change as his main beat since 2013. His work has appeared in BBC Future, MIT Technology Review, Le Monde Diplomatique, Univision and Anthropocene, among other outlets. His work includes six UN Climate Conferences, the Panama Papers international collaboration in 2016 and on-the-ground reporting from a dozen countries. In 2015, he was the founder of Ojo al Clima, Central America's first climate news outlet, which he led as its editor until 2019. From 2019 to 2021, he worked as an advisor on climate change communication for the Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica and the Climate Change Directorate of Costa Rica. This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Collective Climate Action: Francesca Polletta on three misconceptions about social movements
06/14/2024
Collective Climate Action: Francesca Polletta on three misconceptions about social movements
People often think that social movements emerge when people get so frustrated with the state of things that they cannot not act. They think that only people who really believe in the cause join social movements. And they think that social movements only have an impact when they change the hearts and minds of the public. In this episode, Francesca Polletta draws on research about social movements to say why each one of these commonsensical beliefs is actually wrong. Then she suggests what lessons we can take from the reality of why movements emerge, why people participate, and when movements have an impact, especially for building a movement to stop climate change. Francesca Polletta is Chancellor’s Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. She studies the cultural dimensions of protest and politics, asking how and when politically disadvantaged groups have mobilized to make change. Her books include “Freedom Is an Endless Meeting: Democracy in American Social Movements,” “It Was Like a Fever: Storytelling in Protest and Politics,” “Inventing the Ties that Bind: Imagined Relationships in Moral and Political Life,” “Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements,” and, with Edwin Amenta, “Changing Minds: When Movements Have Cultural Impact.” Francesca is currently working on projects about the kinds of storytelling that have persuasive power and about the cultural impacts of the women’s movement. This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Collective Climate Action: Aisha Shillingford on audacious visioning to shape the future
06/06/2024
Collective Climate Action: Aisha Shillingford on audacious visioning to shape the future
In this episode, Aisha Shillingford invites us into a practice of imaginative world-building that involves thinking far into the future, deep intuition, and bold dreaming. She says we have the right and the responsibility to imagine another future, and what comes next depends on our ability to imagine. Aisha asks us to imagine not just changing our current system by knocking down what’s not working, but envisioning new systems altogether. She also reminds us that making space for imaginative work and allowing time for rest are necessary for entering a mindset of bold visioning and working toward the world we want to build. Aisha Shillingford is an artist, world builder, poet, and the Artistic Director of Intelligent Mischief. Her mixed-media collages, text-based work, street art, murals, installation and experiential design work reflect Black utopias, abolition, Black radical imagination, solidarity economics and climate futures. She has been an artist in residence within Laundromat Project's Creative Change Program, a mentor at the New Museum Incubator, and a Project Fellow at NYU Tisch Interactive Technology Program. She is committed to creating art, spaces and experiences that inspire Black folks to imagine and co-create beautiful futures together. This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Collective Climate Action: Jeremy Lent on climate breakdown as a symptom of a deeper malaise
05/31/2024
Collective Climate Action: Jeremy Lent on climate breakdown as a symptom of a deeper malaise
While we need urgent responses to climate breakdown, we will only make meaningful progress once we recognize that it is a symptom of a deeper underlying malaise affecting our society. Climate must be understood as one aspect of a multifaceted process of global ecological degradation caused by problematic characteristics of our socioeconomic system. In this episode, author Jeremy Lent explains how the underlying cultural foundations of modern civilization have led to our current crisis, and identifies the key leverage points that could redirect our society toward a more sustainable and flourishing future. Lent shows how it’s possible to envisage a robust foundation on which a coherent civilizational framework could be established to set the conditions for all human beings to thrive on a healthy, vibrant planet. Jeremy Lent is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. His award-winning books, “The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning” and “The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe,” trace the historical underpinnings and flaws of the dominant worldview, and offer a foundation for an integrative worldview that could lead humanity to a flourishing future. He has written extensively about the vision and specifics of an ecological civilization and is founder of the Deep Transformation Network, an online global community exploring pathways for a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth. This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Luminaries: Fred Swanson on Robert Michael Pyle's essay "The Long Haul"
05/30/2024
Luminaries: Fred Swanson on Robert Michael Pyle's essay "The Long Haul"
Today’s “Luminaries” guest is Fred Swanson, a former research geologist with the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, and a Senior Fellow of the Spring Creek Project. He is co-editor of the books “Forest Under Story: Creative Inquiry in an Old-Growth Forest” and “In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens.” Fred has a deep history with the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon’s Cascade Range as both a scientist who has studied this place for decades and a supporter of the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program that has hosted more than 120 writers and artists in residence at the Andrews Forest. During this episode, Fred shares how Robert Michael Pyle’s essay “The Long Haul” gave him a new perspective on his own role as a researcher and on the importance of taking the long view. Robert Michael Pyle is the author of nearly 30 books of prose and poetry. He is also a conservation biologist, butterfly expert, Guggenheim Fellow and one of the first writers-in-residence at the Andrews Forest. “The Long Haul” was an early contribution to the Long-term Ecological Reflections program, which is designed to last for 200 years, or approximately seven generations of human lives but only a quarter of the lifetime of the oldest red cedars. “Luminaries” is produced by the at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.
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Collective Climate Action: Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. on immersive storytelling and intersectionality in climate justice organizing
05/24/2024
Collective Climate Action: Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. on immersive storytelling and intersectionality in climate justice organizing
In this episode, Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. addresses the interconnected issues of climate change, poverty, economic injustice, and other social injustices affecting vulnerable communities. He explains that it takes collective organizing around the deeper problems of inequality to effectively address the climate crisis and he shares strategies the Hip Hop Caucus uses, including immersive storytelling across mediums, to tackle this work head-on. He discusses the importance of listening to and uplifting frontline leaders working on climate solutions in their communities and encourages us all to be intersectional environmentalists, recognizing that climate justice is racial justice and racial justice is climate justice. At the root of all this work, he speaks of cultivating a world worth saving and keeping hope alive. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is a community activist and the President and CEO of Hip Hop Caucus, a nonprofit addressing issues impacting underserved and vulnerable communities, including climate change. As a national leader within the Green Movement, Rev. Yearwood successfully bridges the gap between communities of color and environmental issue advocacy. He is a leader in campaigns calling for divestment from fossil fuels and increasing diversity in the climate movement. He has fought on the frontlines for vulnerable communities, including at the international climate negotiations in Paris and efforts to fight new oil pipeline developments in Maryland and at Standing Rock. In 2018, Rev. Yearwood helped launch Think 100%, Hip Hop Caucus’s award-winning climate communications and activism platform. Comprised of podcast, film, music, and activism opportunities, the platform challenges environmental injustices and shares just solutions to the climate crisis, including a transition to 100% renewable energy for all. This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Collective Climate Action: Peter Friederici on reframing the possibilities of climate breakdown
05/09/2024
Collective Climate Action: Peter Friederici on reframing the possibilities of climate breakdown
In this episode, Peter Friederici explains that societal responses to climate breakdown have been closely tied to the dominance of large-scale narratives that promote passivity and inaction. Close examination shows that these narratives follow the structure of classical tragedy as they support the status quo and inhibit creative change. We can do better by instead exploring alternative storytelling frameworks, such as comedy, that allow for adaptability, democratic decision-making, and the embodiment of radical hope. Peter Friederici is an award-winning writer who teaches classes in science communication and applied sustainability at Northern Arizona University. His articles and essays explore connections between humans and place, while much of his teaching-related work is focused on increasing the sustainability of regional food systems on the Colorado Plateau. His books include “Beyond Climate Breakdown: Envisioning New Stories of Radical Hope,” which explores how mindful new narrative frameworks can enable humans to better shape their future. This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Collective Climate Action: Tory Stephens on collective visioning for a just future
05/03/2024
Collective Climate Action: Tory Stephens on collective visioning for a just future
Climate change often feels overwhelming, leaving us with a sense of despair. To move forward, we need positive visions of a clean, green, and just world — yet these depictions are often lacking. In this episode, Tory Stephens explores why collective visioning and hopeful climate storytelling is a useful tool to creating a better future for all. From his personal journey of skepticism to embracing the power of imagination, he'll demonstrate how envisioning a better future can supercharge our climate efforts across creative projects, policy, advocacy and more. Tory Stephens creates opportunities that transform organizations and shift culture. He is a resource generator and community builder for social justice issues, people and movements. He currently works at Grist Magazine as their climate fiction creative manager, and he uses storytelling to champion climate justice and imagine green, clean, and just futures, including through Grist’s “” annual series. This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on Spring Creek Project’s .
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Luminaries: Brooke Kuhnhausen on Joy Harjo’s poem “Remember”
04/26/2024
Luminaries: Brooke Kuhnhausen on Joy Harjo’s poem “Remember”
Today’s “Luminaries” guest is Brooke Kuhnhausen, a psychologist who deeply values creativity and collaboration as portals of transformation and imagination so vitally needed for new ways of being together and caring for our living Earth. She practices depth and relational therapy in her private practice and also trains and consults with other therapists, teaching in various graduate programs and therapy institutes. She is a climate justice advocate, has been part of a number of eco-feminist collaborations with visual artists, and helps others shore up the resilient inner practices necessary to cope with climate grief and show up meaningfully in climate activist spaces. During this episode, Brooke reflects on Joy Harjo’s poem “Remember” from the collection “She Had Some Horses.” Brooke explores the depths of Harjo’s words by weaving in her own experience and the words of other writers and thinkers she admires. Joy Harjo (b. 1951) is a renowned poet, writer and musician from the Muscogee Nation. She served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. Her many honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and lifetime achievement awards from National Book Critics Circle and the Poetry Foundation. “She Had Some Horses” was first published in 1983. “Luminaries” is produced by the at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.
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Collective Climate Action: Emily Johnston on using our social nature to work for a thriving world
04/26/2024
Collective Climate Action: Emily Johnston on using our social nature to work for a thriving world
In this episode, Emily Johnston explains that the life we're living now isn't just on a collision course with Earth's limits; it's also historically abnormal in the extreme. How can we ensure that our social nature begins to work far more for a thriving world, than against one? Emily Johnston is an essayist (anthologized in “All We Can Save”) and poet (“”), as well as a co-founder of , and more recently of . She was also part of the valve-turner action in 2016, shutting down all the tar sands crude pipelines into the U.S. with four friends. She hosts the podcast “” This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Collective Climate Action: Jennifer Atkinson on channeling eco-anxiety into climate action
04/18/2024
Collective Climate Action: Jennifer Atkinson on channeling eco-anxiety into climate action
In this episode, Jennifer Atkinson explains that the age of climate consequences is upon us, and anxiety and despair are rising along with global temperatures. To successfully face the challenges ahead, we need to build more than solar panels and sea walls — we also need to build the emotional resilience to stay engaged in climate work over the long haul. She offers five key steps for navigating the psychological and emotional impacts of climate change while channeling our anxiety into collective efforts to create a livable future. Jennifer Atkinson is an author and Professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, Bothell. She researches eco-anxiety, grief and hope, and teaches seminars on climate and mental health that have been featured nationwide. Her most recent book, “The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators: How to Teach in a Burning World,” offers strategies to help young people navigate the emotional toll of climate breakdown. Her podcast “Facing It” also gives listeners tools to channel eco-anxiety into action. This talk is part of the series “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future” produced by the at Oregon State University. If you’d like to watch a video version of this talk, it’s available on .
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Collective Climate Action: Series Trailer
04/17/2024
Collective Climate Action: Series Trailer
Welcome to "Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future," a speaker series produced by the at Oregon State University. This series includes talks from a wide range of speakers. They invite us to imagine a world that centers climate justice and inspire us to find our role in creating that future. We examine why collective action matters and how to find or redefine our roles in the climate movement. And we explore how being a part of this critical social movement can help us live better, more meaningful, lives. We hope you share these talks with others to expand and inspire our collective work toward climate solutions.
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Luminaries: Robert Michael Pyle on Ann Haymond Zwinger’s “Beyond the Aspen Grove”
04/05/2024
Luminaries: Robert Michael Pyle on Ann Haymond Zwinger’s “Beyond the Aspen Grove”
Today’s “Luminaries” guest is Robert Michael Pyle, a renowned environmental writer, conservation biologist, butterfly expert, and Guggenheim Fellow. Bob is the author of nearly 30 books, including “Sky Time in Gray’s River,” “Chasing Monarchs,” “Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest, ”and “Wintergreen,” which received the John Burroughs Medal. During this episode, Bob shares how Ann Haymond Zwinger’s book “Beyond the Aspen Grove” changed his perception of what environmental writing could be. Zwinger (1925-2014) was an American writer and naturalist. "Beyond the Aspen Grove," published in 1970, was her first book. She went on to publish 20 more books on natural history, often featuring her own beautiful illustrations. Her writing covered many landscapes, including American deserts, alpine tundra, and Baja California, Mexico. She became a specialist on Western rivers. Zwinger was nominated for a National Book Award in Science in 1973, won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing in 1976, and won the Western Arts Federation Award for nonfiction in 1995, among many honors. “Luminaries” is produced by the at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.
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Luminaries: Leah Wilson on Bill Viola’s “The Crossing”
03/14/2024
Luminaries: Leah Wilson on Bill Viola’s “The Crossing”
Today’s “Luminaries” guest is , a place-specific visual artist and writer. Leah’s artwork is informed by physical engagement with the environment, keen observation, and a curiosity toward ecological research. Her art has been exhibited at galleries throughout the West Coast and her work is in public and private collections, including the Percent for Art Collection at Oregon State University. During this episode, Leah recounts her experience witnessing a video installation called “The Crossing” by video artist Bill Viola. She shares how, in the nearly three decades since she first saw the installation, it has impacted her relationships with fire and water. Bill Viola is an internationally celebrated artist who has been instrumental in establishing video as a vital form of contemporary art. In his 40-year career, he has created videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic music performances, flat panel video pieces, and works for television broadcast. Viola’s video installations envelop the viewer in image and sound, employing state-of-the-art technologies. They are shown in museums and galleries worldwide and are found in many distinguished collections. “” was created in 1996 and is part of the Guggenheim Museum’s collection. “Luminaries” is produced by the at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.
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Luminaries: Kathleen Dean Moore on W. S. Merwin’s “Unchopping a Tree”
03/01/2024
Luminaries: Kathleen Dean Moore on W. S. Merwin’s “Unchopping a Tree”
Our inaugural guest on “Luminaries” is Kathleen Dean Moore, a climate activist, philosopher, celebrated environmental writer, and one of the co-founders of the Spring Creek Project. She co-edited the collection “Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril” and is the author of several books, including “Wild Comfort,” “Holdfast,” “Great Tide Rising,” “Earth’s Wild Music,” and “Take Heart: Encouragement for Earth’s Weary Lovers.” During this episode, Kathy recalls a field course during which she and her students ponder the prose poem “Unchopping a Tree” by W.S. Merwin. Merwin (1927-2019) was an American poet who wrote or translated more than 50 books of poetry and prose, winning two Pulitzers and National Book Award, among many honors, in his decades-long career. In 2010, he was named the 17th Poet Laureate of the United States. “Unchopping a Tree” was originally published in 1970. You can find it in Merwin’s prose collection “The Miner’s Pale Children” or as a standalone piece in . “Luminaries” is produced by the at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.
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Luminaries: Series Trailer
02/22/2024
Luminaries: Series Trailer
Welcome to "Luminaries," a new podcast series produced by the at Oregon State University. Sometimes we come across a piece of writing, art, or music so vivid and brilliant it leaves us unequivocally changed. “Luminaries” invites guests who love the planet to share a personal story about a piece of writing or art that inspires or sustains their environmental thinking or work. We are inviting guests to choose a piece that makes their heart glow. The pieces range from essays, books, and poems, to artwork, music, and film. The guests will explore how the piece changed their thinking or life, how it sustains them, how it challenges them, or how it invites them to reimagine their relationship with the natural world. “Luminaries” will be an open-ended series. We will dip in and out of it over the months and years ahead. As a whole, the episodes will offer a radiant collection of creative work that people can tune into for inspiration, resolve, and respite as they do the critical work of loving and protecting the Earth.
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Inner Nature: Erin Geesaman Rabke and Leilani Navar
12/05/2023
Inner Nature: Erin Geesaman Rabke and Leilani Navar
This episode of Inner Nature is a warm exchange between old friends, Erin Geesaman Rabke and Leilani Navar, who, throughout this hour, weave together deep ecology, taoist cosmology, and the wondrous physical and emotional experience of being alive in a living world. Erin Geesaman Rabke describes herself as a somatic naturalist—a practitioner who integrates embodiment methods for healing into individual and community settings and the wider, wild world. She is the co-founder of “Embodiment Matters”—an organization that hosts retreats, classes, a podcast, and mentoring. Leilani Navar is a practitioner of acupuncture, herbal medicine, and dreamwork. She is the host of “Turning Season,” a podcast featuring news, stories, and conversations with people remembering and reimagining life-sustaining ways to be human on Earth. She is also the Assistant Director of the School for the Great Turning—an organization that hosts events fostering personal empowerment and planetary care. Erin and Leilani are both students of deep ecologist Joanna Macy and The Work That Reconnects—a network of people committed to participating in the healing of our interdependent world. Throughout this conversation, the pair invites you to settle into the home of your body, to experience how intimately connected it is, both physically and emotionally, to the natural world, and to consider how that relationship offers a deep well of strength and love that we can tap into to help us attend to the needs of these trying times. They also offer a resounding reminder that, often, what is not okay for our future is actually not okay for our present. Further reading and points of reflection: * * This podcast series is produced by the and at Oregon State University. Sign up for the and the to receive updates about new podcast episodes and other programming.
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Inner Nature: Lyla June Johnston and Riane Eisler
10/18/2023
Inner Nature: Lyla June Johnston and Riane Eisler
In this episode of Inner Nature, we join Lyla June Johnston and Riane Eisler. Their conversation takes us across the globe and throughout the annals of time, from a deeply ancient, harmonious, Neolithic settlement to the devastation of Nazi Europe, and from the pre-colonial mound-building societies of the Muskogee right up to present day. Throughout, they contrast systems of partnership, kinship, love, care, and humility vs. those of domination, violence, oppression, hierarchy, and hubris. They invite us to consider how a culture’s perceptions of gender parallel its regard for the environment. And they urge us to examine our lineages of trauma and to look to the past to understand what is possible for our future. Lyla June is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné, Cheyenne, and European descent. Lyla recently earned her PhD from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, studying how pre-colonial Indigenous Nations designed abundant food systems for both human and animal life. Riane Eisler is an attorney, social systems scientist, cultural historian, and futurist. She is the president of the Center for Partnership Systems and the author of several influential and acclaimed books, including “The Chalice and the Blade” and “Nurturing Our Humanity,” which outline what she calls the partnership and domination models of society. Lyla June and Riane both discuss and exemplify profound love and spiritual courage in this conversation, providing a model and foundation for re-building societies based on respect among genders, between species, and for the living land that sustains us. Further reading and points of reflection: * This podcast series is produced by the and at Oregon State University. Sign up for the and the to receive updates about new podcast episodes and other programming.
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Inner Nature: Patricia Jennings and Owsley Brown
06/30/2023
Inner Nature: Patricia Jennings and Owsley Brown
In this episode of Inner Nature, Patricia Jennings, who goes by “Tish,” and Owsley Brown offer insights on their work as collaborators for the , a curriculum that integrates empathy and mindfulness into elementary school education. Youth today, they say, are facing higher levels of anxiety and depression than previous generations in part due to rapid social and environmental change. Through the Compassionate Schools Project, Tish and Owsley have found that teaching practical tools, like meditation and self-awareness, creates remarkable shifts in how kids respond to these stresses. They discuss how these mindfulness practices help today’s youth prepare for and weather rapid change and develop into curious, creative, and resilient adults with the will and courage to enact the change needed to heal our planet. Patricia Jennings is a professor of education at the University of Virginia and an internationally recognized leader in social and emotional learning and mindfulness. She is a co-author of Flourish: The Compassionate Schools Project curriculum and is a co-investigator on a large randomized controlled trial to evaluate the curriculum’s efficacy. Tish is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development among Children and Youth. She was awarded the Cathy Kerr Award for Courageous and Compassionate Science by the Mind & Life Institute in 2018 and recently recognized by Mindful Magazine as one of "Ten Mindfulness Researchers You Should Know." Owsley Brown is a student of theology, a host and producer of the national interfaith event “The Festival of Faiths,” and a documentary filmmaker and producer known for films such as Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry. He is Chair of the Compassionate Schools Project, and also works with several foundations and nonprofit boards to support projects that sustain healthy communities by enhancing cultural, spiritual, and civic life. Further reading and points of reflection: * This podcast series is produced by the and at Oregon State University. Sign up for the and the to receive updates about new podcast episodes and other programming.
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Inner Nature: Dekila Chungyalpa and Mary Evelyn Tucker
04/25/2023
Inner Nature: Dekila Chungyalpa and Mary Evelyn Tucker
In this episode of Inner Nature, Dekila Chungyalpa speaks with long-time friend Mary Evelyn Tucker about a much-needed paradigm shift that would allow us to better hold space for the mystery and sacredness of our deeply interconnected planet. The mystery we’re immersed in on this planet is extraordinary, yet conventional worldviews and strictly scientific understandings tend to be reductionist and incomplete, ignoring the mystery and the intangibles so vital to healing and wholeness. Woven throughout this conversation is a call for new ways of being and knowing that center awe, relationality, reverence, and Indigeneity alongside science, technology, and policy. Recognizing that creation stories lead to paradigms, and paradigms become practice, Dekila and Mary Evelyn invite us to question the stories we tell and identify the implications these stories bear on our social and environmental well-being. They root us in deep time, offer a new understanding of grief, and invite us to experience uncertainty and wonder. They ask: How might our outlooks and behaviors change if we begin to value the wild world in sacred terms instead of economic profit? What happens when we follow Indigenous leadership or when we humbly engage with those who think differently than us? And what is gained when we allow ourselves to be truly awestruck by what is unknowable in this universe? Dekila Chungyalpa is a conservation scientist, daughter of a Tibetan Buddhist nun, and the founder and director of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Loka Initiative, a program that supports faith-led environmental action by building the capacity of faith-leaders and Indigenous tradition-bearers. Known as an innovator in the environmental field, Dekila began her career in 2001 working on community-based conservation in the Eastern Himalayas and went on to work on climate adaptation and free flowing rivers in the Mekong region for the World Wildlife Fund in 2004. In 2008, she helped establish Khoryug, an association of over 50 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries implementing environmental projects across the Himalayas. In 2009, she founded and led WWF Sacred Earth, a 5-year pilot program that built partnerships with faith leaders and religious institutions towards conservation and climate results in the Amazon, East Africa, Himalayas, Mekong, and the United States. She received the prestigious Yale McCluskey Award in 2014 and worked with the Yale School of Environmental Studies as an associate research scientist. Mary Evelyn Tucker is a scholar of Confucianism and world religions and the co-director of the Forum on Ecology and Religion at Yale University. She teaches in the joint MA program in religion and ecology. She is also the co-creator of the multimedia project Journey of the Universe that includes a book, an Emmy Award winning film, a series of podcast Conversations, and free online courses. She has authored and edited many books, including Confucianism and Ecology, Buddhism and Ecology, and Hinduism and Ecology, Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase, and Ecology and Religion. Tucker was a member of the Earth Charter Drafting committee and the International Earth Charter Council. She won the Inspiring Yale Teaching Award in 2015 and has been awarded five honorary degrees. With her husband John Grim, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture. Further reading and points of reflection: * by Dekila Chungyalpa. * , free online courses by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. This podcast series is produced by the and at Oregon State University. Sign up for the and the to receive updates about new podcast episodes and other programming.
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Inner Nature: David James Duncan and Fred Bahnson
03/15/2023
Inner Nature: David James Duncan and Fred Bahnson
In this episode of Inner Nature, David James Duncan talks with Fred Bahnson. Both David and Fred developed and deepened their own contemplative practices among the peaks of mountains and on the banks of western rivers, which in turn led them to lives of activism and advocacy. During this conversation, they invite us to consider many questions: Where do we find hope? And why is it necessary for sustaining a life of environmental activism? How can contemplative practices like purposeful silence and careful attention serve us? And what is the cultural and spiritual role of storytelling? They braid their own thoughts and writing with the words of other writers and spiritual leaders including William Stafford, Barry Lopez, and Saint Isaac of Syria. They discuss how committing to inner work can not only sustain the individual activist but can also help cultivate the kinds of caring and graceful communities that are needed to champion real and meaningful environmental change. is the author of the classic novels The River Why and The Brothers K, the story collection River Teeth, the nonfiction collection and National Book Award finalist My Story as Told by Water, the best-selling collection of “churchless sermons" God Laughs & Plays, and the upcoming novel writer William deBuys calls “one of the greatest imaginative achievements I’ve encountered in a lifetime of reading," Sun House. David’s work has won three Pacific Northwest Booksellers Awards, two Pushcart Prizes, a Lannan Fellowship, the Western States Book Award, and inclusion in Best American Sports Writing, Best American Catholic Writing, two volumes of Best American Essays, and five volumes of Best American Spiritual Writing. Fred Bahnson is an award-winning author, journalist, and essayist, telling stories at the intersection of ecological restoration, spirituality, and culture. He is the author of the book Soil and Sacrament: A Spiritual Memoir of Food and Faith. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, Orion, Notre Dame Magazine, Emergence, The Sun, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Spiritual Writing. He is also a documentary film writer and producer. He collaboratively wrote and produced Horizons, a documentary about climate change seen through the eyes of writer Barry Lopez. Alongside his career as a writer, Fred founded and directed two environmental nonprofits. Now, as Storytelling Lead at , Fred is part of a cross-disciplinary team of scientists, technologists, and carbon finance experts aligned on a common mission: to leverage voluntary carbon markets in order to support large-scale reforestation projects around the world. Further reading and points of reflection: * Check out Fred’s piece that he mentions in the episode, . This podcast series is produced by the and at Oregon State University. Sign up for the and the to receive updates about new podcast episodes and other programming.
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Inner Nature: Kaira Jewel Lingo and Kritee Kanko, Part 2
02/08/2023
Inner Nature: Kaira Jewel Lingo and Kritee Kanko, Part 2
In the second episode of Inner Nature, which is part 2 of a 2-part conversation, Kritee Kanko and Kaira Jewel Lingo highlight the importance of creating small, local communities for processing grief and anger, practicing mindfulness, and taking climate action. The conversation also invites a broader perspective on the environmental crisis, as they discuss climate breakdown in terms of its spiritual and social causes, such as trauma, dominance, and oppression. Kaira and Kritee leave us with hopeful guidance around meeting overwhelm and anger with wisdom, creativity, imagination, and love. is a Dharma teacher who has a lifelong interest in blending spirituality and meditation with social justice. She spent 15 years living as a nun at a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition and under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She is the author of . Now based in New York, she teaches and leads retreats internationally, provides spiritual mentoring, and interweaves art, play, nature, racial and earth justice, and embodied mindfulness practice in her teaching. She especially feels called to share the Dharma with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, as well as activists, educators, youth, artists, and families. Kritee (Dharma name Kanko) is a climate scientist, Zen Buddhist priest and grief ritual leader. She is the founding Dharma teacher of a Colorado non-profit , a community in the Buddhist lineage of Cold Mountain Zen to identify, face and "compost" our personal and ecological traumas through meditation and grief work and take strategic collective actions for healing. She leads traditional Zen retreats (sesshins) that offer koan training and co-leads healing retreats for people of color with other BIPOC leaders (including Kaira Jewel Lingo). As a senior scientist in the Climate Smart Agriculture Program at the Environmental Defense Fund, she is helping to implement methods of small farming at large scales in Asia with a three-fold goal of poverty alleviation, food security, and climate mitigation/adaptation. Kritee is also a founding board member of , a center that brings meditation in nature together with Dharma teachings for ecological action. Further reading and points of reflection: * Check out , an online course led by Kritee that teaches participants how to take sacred and radical direct actions related to climate justice and racial healing. * This episode’s call to action is centered on small group efforts. Consider gathering or joining a small group of 3 to 7 people who share a vision for reflective environmental action. This podcast series is produced by the and at Oregon State University. Sign up for the and the to receive updates about new podcast episodes and other programming.
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Inner Nature: Kaira Jewel Lingo and Kritee Kanko, Part 1
01/11/2023
Inner Nature: Kaira Jewel Lingo and Kritee Kanko, Part 1
In the first episode of Inner Nature, which is part 1 of a 2-part conversation, Kritee Kanko and Kaira Jewel Lingo set a foundation for understanding the mutuality and reciprocity of contemplative practice and environmental action. They invite us to consider many questions: How might we meet and hold personal and collective grief, anger, and trauma? How can we deepen our sense of “interbeing,” or interdependence? And how do we summon the courage to question the status quo, and build the wisdom to respond with a clear, sacred “no,” as is necessary, to protect one another and our planet? This conversation unfolds an acknowledgment of both the individual and systemic responses needed to the climate emergency. In doing so, Kaira Jewel and Kritee make clear the critical interconnectedness of environmental and racial justice. is a Dharma teacher who has a lifelong interest in blending spirituality and meditation with social justice. She spent 15 years living as a nun at a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition and under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She is the author of . Now based in New York, she teaches and leads retreats internationally, provides spiritual mentoring, and interweaves art, play, nature, racial and earth justice, and embodied mindfulness practice in her teaching. She especially feels called to share the Dharma with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, as well as activists, educators, youth, artists, and families. Kritee (Dharma name Kanko) is a climate scientist, Zen Buddhist priest and grief ritual leader. She is the founding Dharma teacher of a Colorado non-profit , a community in the Buddhist lineage of Cold Mountain Zen to identify, face and "compost" our personal and ecological traumas through meditation and grief work and take strategic collective actions for healing. She leads traditional Zen retreats (sesshins) that offer koan training and co-leads healing retreats for people of color with other BIPOC leaders (including Kaira Jewel Lingo). As a senior scientist in the Climate Smart Agriculture Program at the Environmental Defense Fund, she is helping to implement methods of small farming at large scales in Asia with a three-fold goal of poverty alleviation, food security, and climate mitigation/adaptation. Kritee is also a founding board member of , a center that brings meditation in nature together with Dharma teachings for ecological action. Further reading and points of reflection: * Check out , an online course led by Kritee that teaches participants how to take sacred and radical direct actions related to climate justice and racial healing. * Contemplate the concept of interbeing in . This podcast series is produced by the and at Oregon State University. Sign up for the and the to receive updates about new podcast episodes and other programming.
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Inner Nature: Series Trailer
12/07/2022
Inner Nature: Series Trailer
Welcome to the Inner Nature series—a collection of conversations between thought-leaders exploring the intersection of contemplative practice and environmental action. Over eight episodes, released once a month, we’ll explore how we can tend to our inner lives so we have the creativity and clarity to imagine the future we know is possible and the mental and emotional stamina to work toward that vision, even if it takes a lifetime. Each month, we’ll release a new conversation between some of the greatest contemplatives of our time as they reflect on how environmental activism is essential to our own, personal journey from separation to wholeness. Together, we’ll look at how the contemplative journey shapes our mindset, which ripples out into our relationships with one another and with the earth. Inner Nature is a collaborative endeavor between the and the , which are both at Oregon State University. The podcast is produced within the traditional homelands of the Marys River, or Ampinefu, Band of the Kalapuya people.
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