Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration

"I came up with the idea of ‘Eating the Landscape’ because I was thinking about our Indigenous ancestral foodways. It’s not just about food. It’s not just about nutrition. ‘Eating the Landscape’ is about this large, interconnected matrix of our relationship to place." In this episode, Enrique Salmón, Ph.D. guides us to see Indigenous foodways as parts of an interconnected matrix of our relationship to place. Introducing the concept of “kincentric ecology,” Enrique problematizes one-size-fits-all approaches to caring for the land. He also elaborates on why many Native peoples are opposed to memory banking as a way to preserve Indigenous knowledge. Having completed his dissertation on how the bioregion of his Rarámuri people of the Sierra Madres of Chihuahua, Mexico influences their language and thought, Enrique invites us to understand the layered meanings behind the phrase “Eating the Landscape”—looking at food not just as sources of nourishment but as avenues of growing one’s kinship. Ultimately, as opposed to the doom and gloom perspectives prevalent in mainstream environmentalism in regards to the role of humankind, Enrique leaves us with a calling of recognizing humans as a keystone species—where creation is not only a matter of what came before but an act of relational responsibility. About the guest: Enrique Salmón is the author of Iwígara: The Kinship of Plants and People and Eating The Landscape, a book focused on small-scale Native farmers of the Greater Southwest and their role in maintaining biocultural diversity. With a PhD. in anthropology from Arizona State University, he has been a Scholar in Residence at the Heard Museum and on the Board of Directors of the Society of Ethnobiology. Enrique has published several articles and chapters on Indigenous ethnobotany, agriculture, nutrition, and traditional ecological knowledge, and he teaches American Indian Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Cal State University East Bay. also serving as their Tribal Liaison. The musical offering featured in this episode is Flute Dance by Enrique Salmón. The episode-inspired artwork is by Cherie Kwok. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast. Join our Patreon and contribute a gift of any amount today to help keep our platform alive: greendreamer.com/support

“What we might want to do is learn where the word desertification comes from and when it should be used and when it is ill-used, at least to move forward into a more hopeful, more informed, more generous future that I think we all want.” Why should we challenge mass tree-planting projects as being politically neutral—as something that ought to garner universal support? What is the significance of reorienting our goals towards growing trees rather than planting trees? And what could it mean to love drylands as they are, troubling perspectives that problematize their existence? In this episode, we welcome Rosetta S. Elkin, the Principle of Practice Landscape, academic director of Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture Master’s in Landscape Architecture (MLA) program, and an Associate of The Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University. Rosetta’s work considers living environments with a particular focus on plant life and climate change. Rosetta teaches planting design, fieldwork, and seminars that advance a theory of plant life between ecology and horticulture. She is the author of books, articles, book chapters, and monographs including Plant Life: The Entangled Politics of Afforestation. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast. Join our Patreon and contribute a gift of any amount today to help keep our platform alive: greendreamer.com/support // The musical offering featured in this episode Lose My Mind by RVBY MY DEAR. //

“I use the language of entanglement rather than interdependence because entanglement implies that what’s fundamental is relationships.” What are some of the limitations of human rights frameworks and the institutions that uphold them? What does it mean to go beyond recognizing our interdependence to seeing our deep entanglements with our more-than-human world? And how is the much more holistic framing of “multispecies justice” still reductive in terms of the forms of beings that they recognize? In this episode, we welcome Professor Dany Celermajer, Deputy Director of the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney who leads the Multispecies Justice project. Through the experience of living through the black summer bushfires with a multispecies community, she began writing about a new crime of our age, Omnicide and subsequently Summertime. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast. Join our Patreon and contribute a gift of any amount today to help keep our platform alive: greendreamer.com/support // The musical offering featured in this episode Don't Ask Me by RVBY MY DEAR. //

“One thing that the United States got really good at doing was basically replacing all colonial products with synthetic ones—swapping technology in for territory and replacing colonies with chemistry.” How have synthetic chemistry and technology allowed the United States as an empire to cease its reliance on colonies? And what is the significance of recognizing the greater history of the empire—beyond the borders of its symbolic “logo map”? In this episode, we welcome Daniel Immerwahr, a historian and the Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. His most recent book is How to Hide an Empire. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast. Join our Patreon and contribute a gift of any amount today to help keep our platform alive: greendreamer.com/support // The musical offering featured in this episode is Lullaby by RVBY MY DEAR. //

“We often forget that Black farmers were the foundation of the civil rights movement. Actually, a lot of Black agrarian scholars and organizers, and even some policy advocates that have been doing this work for a long time, would say that there’d be no civil rights movement if it wasn’t for Black farmers.” In this episode, we welcome dr. shakara tyler, a returning-generation farmer, educator and organizer who engages in Black agrarianism, agroecology, food sovereignty and environmental justice as commitments of abolition and decolonization. She serves as Board President at the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), board member of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op (DPFC) and co-founder of the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund (DBFLF) and a member of the Black Dirt Farm Collective (BDFC). Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast. Join our Patreon and contribute a gift of any amount today to help keep our platform alive: greendreamer.com/support // The musical offering featured in this episode Over It by RVBY MY DEAR. //

“What I find worth remarking upon is the fact that the vast majority of people are so alienated from the Bluefin’s life world that they don’t know what an extraordinary creature she is—and instead just widely see her as a foodstuff, trafficked on the global market. It’s imperative for that worldview to change.” In this episode, we welcome Jennifer E. Telesca, Associate Professor of Environmental Governance in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment at the Nijmegen School of Management, Radboud University, the Netherlands. Her work takes a critical approach to ocean studies, spanning the interests of environmental diplomacy, ethnographies of international law in society, the human–animal relationship, political economy, the politics of extinction, and science and technology in policymaking. She conducts fieldwork at the United Nations and in treaty bodies, diplomatic missions, and other sites scaled supranationally. Red Gold: The Managed Extinction of the Giant Bluefin Tuna (University of Minnesota Press, 2020) is Telesca’s first single-authored book. Its on-the-ground, first-person research has shown just how damned the lives of fishes are in the very world entrusted to care for them in ocean governance. Her second book on hydrothermal vents, tentatively titled, The Midnight Zone, invites readers to honor creatures in all their mysterious and seemingly impossible forms at sites in the deep dark sea—open to regulatory oversight—where scientists believe life on Earth began. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include how the Giant Bluefin tuna went from being food for the poor to becoming a global delicacy symbolic of luxury, how fish have long been "an object through which global empires have been mediated," Jen's concerns with the scams and blue-washing of eco certifications in seafood, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode Over It by RVBY MY DEAR. The episode-inspired artwork is by Mi Young.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

In this episode, we welcome Thom van Dooren, a field philosopher and writer. Thom is Deputy Director at the Sydney Environment Institute and teaches at the University of Sydney and the University of Oslo. His current research and writing focus on some of the many philosophical, ethical, cultural, and political issues that arise in the context of species extinctions and human entanglements with threatened species and places. This research works across the disciplines of cultural studies, philosophy, science and technology studies, and related fields. He has explored these themes in depth in three books: Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction (Columbia University Press, 2014), The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds (Columbia University Press, 2019), and A World in a Shell: Snail Stories for a Time of Extinctions (MIT Press, 2022). (The musical offering featured in this episode Hummingbird by Lea Thomas. The episode-inspired artwork is by Haruka Aoki.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

In this episode, we welcome Rebecca Giggs, an award-winning author from Perth, Australia. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Emergence, the New York Times Magazine, Granta, and in anthologies including Best Australian Essays, and Best Australian Science Writing. Rebecca’s nonfiction focuses on how people feel towards animals in a time of technological and ecological change. Rebecca’s debut book is Fathoms: The World in the Whale. Some of the topics we explore include how whaling accelerated and shaped the historical process of industrialization, what impacts various industrial activities have had on whale songs and cultures, the critical role of migratory species, such as the Bogong moth, on enriching the habitats that they pass through, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Eye of The Storm by Ali Dineen. The episode-inspired artwork is by Lucy Haslam.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

“One of the introductions to Counseling Psychology teaches the Freudian concept of neutrality—when the patient’s social identity, when politics leave the door and you start treatment. But if we leave out identity, if we leave out the very sources as to why my client is sick in the first place, then I don’t see why this is not a cycle.” In this episode, we welcome Gabes Torres, a therapist, organizer, and artist who was born and raised in the Philippines. Her work focuses on imperialism and its vast impact our collective mental health. She has an MA in Theology & Culture, and Counseling Psychology; both graduate degrees were accomplished in Seattle, the city where she organized with abolitionist and anti-imperialist groups at a local, grassroots level. In her clinical practice, Gabes works primarily with women, femmes, and/or trans patients of the global majority, and she is a mentor to therapists, organizers, artists, and culture workers around the world. Some of the topics we explore include the lasting impacts of intergenerational trauma, the troubles of over-pathologizing and arbitrary pathologizing, dreams of a world where therapy is no longer needed, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is The Witness by Rowan Rain. The episode-inspired artwork is by Fernanda Peralta.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

“Where our power comes from actually is in that space between the 'I' and the 'you'—that shared space. If we could tap into that, if we can find ways of working together, to form what I called 'shared agency,' then we can actually gain a lot of power to affect change.” In this episode, we welcome Min Hyoung Song, a Professor of English and the Director of the Asian American Studies Program at Boston College, as well as a steering committee member of Environmental Studies and an affiliated faculty member of African and African Diaspora Studies. He is the author of three books: Climate Lyricism (Duke, 2022), The Children of 1965: On Writing, and Not Writing, as an Asian American (Duke, 2013) and Strange Future: Pessimism and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots (Duke, 2005). (The musical offering featured in this episode Power by India Blue. The episode-inspired artwork is by Mi Young.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

“All of these imaginings visually, as if we were in a spaceship and looking down on the Earth—whoever that we is, which is super problematic with the notion of the Anthropocene—safely above, looking at the mess we’ve created... And no. With Trans-corporeality, our bodies are already the Anthropocene.” In this episode, we welcome Professor Stacy Alaimo, Professor of English and Core Faculty Member in Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon. She is the author of Undomesticated Ground: Recasting Nature as Feminist Space (2000); Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material Self (2010); and Exposed: Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times (2016). Alaimo is currently writing a book entitled Deep Blue Ecologies: Science, Aesthetics, and the Creatures of the Abyss. Her work explores the intersections between literary, artistic, political, and philosophical approaches to environmentalism along with the practices and experiences of everyday life. She loves diving and snorkeling, hiking, paddling, and creating habitat gardens with native plants. (The musical offering featured in this episode Eye of The Storm by Ali Dineen. The episode-inspired artwork is by Lucy Haslam.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

“For every $1 of aid Africa gets, $24 is taken out. We have to address something deeper, something more systemic, but we don’t want to talk about that. We want to talk about food waste, composting. Those are treating the symptoms of the disease, not the root. ” In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Loren Cardeli, the co-founder and Executive Director of A Growing Culture, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, advancing a culture of farmer autonomy and agroecological innovation. A Growing Culture is a farmer-centric organization that believes the key to sustainability lies in returning small-scale farmers back to the forefront of agriculture. As part of this growing movement, Loren and his colleagues promote farmer-led research, extension, and outreach, helping to create sustainable, self-driving futures. (The musical offering featured in this episode Only the Truth by Johanna Warren.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

“When it comes to refrigeration, so many of us have just come to accept that that’s how things are done. But I think in the food sovereignty conversation, those dependencies can sometimes be overlooked when we’re talking about what it means to become sovereign.” In this episode, we welcome Hiʻilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart (Kanaka Maoli), who is Assistant Professor of Native and Indigenous Studies at Yale University. An interdisciplinary scholar, she researches and teaches on issues of settler colonialism, environment, and Indigenous sovereignty. Her first book, Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment is a recipient of the press’s Scholars of Color First Book Award. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include the symbolism of ice and shaved ice in Hawai’i, the establishment of the cold chain as an integral part of the global food system, provocations about the anthropocentric desire to control ambient temperatures, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode Tear Down The Wall by Forest Veil. The episode-inspired artwork is by Haruka Aoki.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

“Our economies globally have forced the Global South to be commodity-driven, export countries, with powerful multinationals. [The] profits that come from the exploitation of countries in the Global South flow to the Global North. As I say, imperialism is as alive today as it was then.” In this episode, we welcome Asad Rehman, the Executive Director of the radical anti-poverty and social justice organisation War on Want. Asad is a leading climate justice activist whose work has helped to reframe the climate crisis as a crisis of neoliberal capitalism, inequality, and racism. Asad has led climate justice groups inside the UNFCCC process, and was co-founder of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, is currently coordinator of the Global Green New Deal Project and was also one of the founders of the COP26 Coalition. Over the last 35 years, he has worked with many social movements both globally and nationally including the anti-racist movement, the alter-globalisation movement, and the anti-war movement. (The musical offering featured in this episode Tear Down The Wall by Forest Veil. The episode-inspired artwork is by Carolina Altavilla.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

“What [the plastiglomerate] really highlights is the fact that plastic is now so incredibly ubiquitous that it can’t be taken out or removed. It is, in fact, a part of geology at this point in time.” In this episode, we welcome Heather Davis, an assistant professor of Culture and Media at The New School in New York whose work draws on feminist and queer theory to examine ecology, materiality, and contemporary art in the context of settler colonialism. Her most recent book, Plastic Matter (Duke University Press, 2022), explores the transformation of geology, media, and bodies in light of plastic’s saturation. (The musical offering featured in this episode The Witness by Rowan Rain. The episode-inspired artwork is by Sophie Le Grelle.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today! GreenDreamer.com/support

"Poetry has always been a powerful space for healing, dealing with trauma, cultivating resilience in times of crisis or even depression..." In this episode, we welcome Dr. Craig Santos Perez, an indigenous CHamoru from the Pacific Island of Guam. He is the co-editor of six anthologies and the author of five books of poetry and the monograph Navigating CHamoru Poetry: Indigeneity, Aesthetics, and Decolonization. He is a professor in the English department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Some topics we explore in this conversation include a glimpse into the recent history of Guam and its Pacific Islander communities, the challenges of demilitarization and de-nuclearization amidst the global empires’ endless pursuit of domination, using poetry as political speech and literary therapy, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode Eye of the storm by Ali Dineen. The episode-inspired artwork is by Sneha.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

“Mythology is a language that places knowledge of relation into relation with people—[in a] way that appeals to our emotions and imaginations. It is a language that reaches deep into our instinctual system and our whole human constitution in order to make relational knowledge workable for us.” In this episode, we welcome Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen, a Ph.D in History of Religions, researching Brazilian orisha religion. He has lived in a number of countries in Europe, Africa North- and South America. His present work focuses on the rejected animist landconnectedness ecological knowledge and kinship with the greater community of beings in North European Traditional knowledge. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include how the construction of Nordic modernity and nationalism led to a rejection of animism in Northern Europe, reclaiming Euro- ‘traditionalism’ from right-wing extremism, understanding myths as stories that produce relations, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Tear Down The Wall by Forest Veil. The episode-inspired artwork is by Isadora Machado.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

“Story helps us weave ourselves into the land and feel a sense of wonder and awe when we step outside. This re-mythologizing, restorying to me is a really important way that we can find belonging to places from which we would otherwise perhaps feel quite alienated.”In this episode, we welcome Dr. Sharon Blackie, an award-winning writer, psychologist and mythologist. Her highly acclaimed books, courses, lectures and workshops are focused on the development of the mythic imagination, and on the relevance of myth, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems we face today.Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include how the eco-heroine's journey offers more life-enhancing and community-centered visions for our paths forward, embracing menopause and elderhood as liberating and alchemical, what it means to re-enchant our lives with mythology to find belonging in place, and more.(The musical offering featured in this episode is Power by India Blue. The episode-inspired artwork is by Sabrina Gevaerd.)Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

"In many cases, corporations are using [the museum's cultural capital] to reaffirm their status in a local community... Artists are increasingly concerned about the context in which their work is displayed and also the values of the museum and the sponsor." In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Mark Rectanus, a University Professor of German Studies (Emeritus) in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Iowa State University. His publications include research on the German publishing industry, the book and electronic media, contemporary German literature, corporate sponsorships, cultural politics, museum studies, and contemporary art. His most recent book is Museums Inside Out: Artist Collaborations and New Exhibition Ecologies. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include the influence of corporate funding on art and culture, what it might mean to decolonize museums in spite of many of their troubled pasts, how artist-activists have been shifting the politics of art from within, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Black Moss by Johanna Warren.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

“So-called ‘development’, envisioned outside of the community, more often than not brings challenges to the community because it doesn't take into consideration the aspirations, the culture, and the way of life of the people. It disregards the right of the people to self-determination. More than anything, it destroys the ecosystem of goods and services that people are reliant on.” In this episode, we welcome Sinegugu Zukulu, who describes himself as a champion of rural development, having worked all his life to promote development that directly benefits rural people. He works in community development in the Wild Coast, focusing on ecotourism development, agriculture and youth empowerment. It is Sinegugu’s work and life purpose to advocate for rural people living on communal land getting assistance to secure land tenure that supports their way of life without being pressured by imposed development. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include resisting top-down, imposed visions of development, the integrative role of heavy metals within living landscapes, the Amadiba community's land defense against industrial mining and oil drilling, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Hummingbird by Lea Thomas. The episode-inspired artwork is by Luise Hesse.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

"If you're looking at the broad trajectory of corporate capitalism, it's towards institutional intermediation in everything... This 'unbanked' concept is always presented as if somehow it obviously represents a step up in the world. But [really], you're getting captured within an institutional framework or a type of conglomeration of institutions." In this Green Dreamer episode, we welcome Brett Scott, a journalist, campaigner, monetary anthropologist and former financial broker. He is the author of Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets (2022), and The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance (2013). He publishes the Altered States of Monetary Consciousness newsletter and tweets as @suitpossum. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include how the banking sector functions to extract and centralize financial wealth, the questionable presumptions behind "financial inclusion," how the cash system might ironically serve as a constraint to corporate capitalism, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is The Witness by Rowan Rain. The episode-inspired artwork is by Carolina Altavilla.) Green Dreamer would not be possible without the direct support from our listeners. Help us keep the show alive by reciprocating a gift of any amount today: GreenDreamer.com/support

"To try and resolve the environmental problems that we're facing from within the same ontological and epistemological frameworks that have created the problem just can't work. The Western world needs to be rethinking the way it approaches what it is to be a human being on this planet, and what relationships are important." In this episode, we welcome Dr. Christine Winter (Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Ngati Pākeha), who is a senior lecturer in environmental, climate change, multispecies and indigenous politics. Her research focuses on the ways in which academic political theory, and particularly theories of justice, continue to perpetuate injustice for some people (and more specifically for Māori) and the environment. Her most recent research centers on ensuring the emerging field of a political theory of multispecies justice should have decolonial (and anticolonial) foundations. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include questioning the philosophies that underlie settler politics, reorienting towards multispecies and intergenerational justice to become good ancestors, moving beyond rights-based frameworks for protecting the more-than-human world, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Eye of the storm by Ali Dineen. The episode-inspired artwork is by Sophie Le Grelle.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“An animistic worldview is one I think that is deeply embedded in relationality, exactly the kind we need at this moment of crisis. So far from it being a ‘primitive thing,’ I think actually it can show us ways forward about how to be in the world, and how to be in the world with gratitude, knowledge, reciprocity.” In this episode, we welcome Andy Letcher, a Senior Lecturer at Schumacher College, Devon UK, where he runs the MA Engaged Ecology. He is the author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom and numerous papers and chapters about the nature of contemporary psychedelic experience. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include different interpretations of ecology and how they influence our approaches to caring for the planet, how the animistic worldview offers guidance for our paths towards collective healing, what it means to root personal engagements with psychedelic medicines within deeper cultural changes, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Power by India Blue. The episode-inspired artwork is by ) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"The idea of the catastrophic convergence essentially looks at how climate change interacts with the pre-existing crises of the legacy of US imperialism and Cold War militarism and neoliberal economic restructuring." In this episode, we welcome Christian Parenti, a Professor of Economics at John Jay College, City University of New York. His undergraduate and graduate teaching, and research, focus on: American economic history, environmental history, and the history of capitalism; climate change and sustainable energy; as well as war, policing, and political violence. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include what Parenti means by “big storms require big government”, viewing capital in part as social relations, various regional conflicts resulting from the "catastrophic convergence" of climate change, militarism and imperialism, and neoliberal economic restructuring, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Come The Rain by Maggie Clifford. The episode-inspired artwork is by Luise Hesse.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“Freedom and friendship have the same etymological root, which means beloved... [Historically, freedom] was about your people and that collectively, you were able to get the things that you needed for everyone to survive — food, shelter, water — and that children, disabled people, babies, and elders were cared for. This was how you were free — in the collective.” In this episode, we welcome Mia Birdsong, a pathfinder, author, and facilitator who steadily engages the leadership and wisdom of people experiencing injustice to chart new visions of American life. She has a gift for making visible and leveraging the brilliance of everyday people so that our collective gifts reach larger spheres of influence, cultural and political change, and create wellbeing for all of us. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include remembering a wiser and more radical meaning of “freedom”, re-envisioning what it means to feel safe and secure in a community, the generosity of receiving in relationships, and more. (The musical offering in this episode is Power to Change by Luna Bec.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“English embeds certain things just by virtue of its structure. It’s a very thing-ifying language; it’s very noun-heavy. Most of the Indigenous languages that I know of are very relational and verb-heavy. It’s a fundamentally different way of relating to the world and to community. If [the] Indigenous literature [you see] is all in English, then you’re missing a significant reality in terms of Indigenous forms of expression.” In this episode, we welcome Daniel Heath Justice, a Colorado-born citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He works on Musqueam territory at the University of British Columbia, where he is Professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English and holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture. A literary scholar, fantasy novelist, and cultural historian, his critical and creative work considers Indigenous kinship, sexuality, speculative fiction, and other-than-human relations. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include the role of storytelling in shaping culture, the politics of what gets validated as literature, the power of speculative fiction in seeding imaginations for other ways of being, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Tear Down The Wall by Forest Veil. The episode-inspired artwork is by Subin Yang.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"The transition from oral cultures into written cultures, for me, really signals a conceptual change that then uproots us from an embedded, environmental, relational existence, in such a way that a certain analytical, linear, and reductionist thinking becomes possible." In this episode, we welcome Sophie Strand, a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Her first book of essays The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine will be published by Inner Traditions in Fall 2022 and is available for pre-order. Her eco-feminist historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret will also be published by Inner Traditions in Spring 2023. Subscribe to her newsletter, and follow her work on Instagram. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include how the historical transition from oral to chirographic cultures might have reshaped how people perceive of and relate to the world, what it means to reroot myths and storytelling, the relationship between myth and science, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Everyday Magic by Luna Bec. The episode-inspired artwork is by Xiao Mei.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“There’s a lot of awareness about the direct lobbying of big money in politics. But that doesn’t take into account the much more dangerous way that big money is shaping the narrative through the media, even through funding in science and academia. That has led to this narrow fixation on carbon and an embrace of robots and satellites as the way to deal with climate change.” In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Helena Norberg-Hodge, a pioneer of the new economy movement and a leading proponent of “localization” (or decentralization). As the author of Ancient Futures and Local is Our Future, she also founded The International Alliance for Localization and Local Futures, which works to renew ecological, social and spiritual wellbeing by guiding communities towards a sustainable future of interconnected, localized economies. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include the limitations of using economic wealth as the indicator of a community’s quality of life, the false promises of “progress” and “development”, how economic globalization has been driving an erosion of relationships, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Tear Down the Wall by Forest Veil.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“Under a capitalist system of production or any system of production based on the extraction of value via wages, it’s always going to be the case that mechanization leads to more work and lower wages...” In this episode, we welcome Annie McClanahan, an Assistant Professor of English at UC Irvine, where she is also a faculty advisor for UCI-LIFTED, a prison education program. Her first book, Dead Pledges: Debt, Crisis, and 21st Century Culture, was published in 2016, and she is currently finishing a second book, Tipwork, Gigwork, Microwork: Culture and the Wages of Service. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include the history of today's service and tip work economies, the trend of automation driving deskilled labor and microwork, the possibility of a world disentangled from wages, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Come The Rain by Maggie Clifford. The episode-inspired artwork is by Ellie Yanagisawa.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"We sometimes forget that the knowledge systems we use to conceptualize the world are not necessarily exactly the same thing as the world that we're conceptualizing. We mistake the model of the model for the thing that is being modeled. We mistake the map for the territory. We mistake the word for the thing." In this episode, we welcome Catriona Sandilands, a professor of environmental arts and justice at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University. Having written, edited, or co-edited four books and close to 100 essays and articles, her research areas include queer and feminist posthumanities, critical plant studies, biocultural histories, ecocriticism, and public environmental engagement through literature and storytelling. Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include cultivating plurality within the stories we tell, remembering histories of reciprocity coming from Western traditions, the connection between how we relate to the more-than-human world and our views of and experiences with sexuality, and more. (The musical offering featured in this episode is Everyday Magic by Luna Bec. The episode-inspired artwork is by Ellie Yanagisawa.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“We are all pretty familiar with the concept of the ‘biosphere’, which is the ‘living layer’ of the earth. The ‘noosphere’ is the ‘thinking layer’ of the earth that grows in and from that biosphere. It includes human thought and activity but is also much more than that.” In this episode, we welcome Dr. Micha Rahder, the author of An Ecology of Knowledges and an independent scholar, freelance editor, indexer, and writing coach living in North Carolina. Her research and writing address environmental themes ranging from forest conservation in northern Guatemala to extraterrestrial futures. (The musical offering in this episode is Everyday Magic by Luna Bec. The episode artwork is by Xiao Mei.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“Lies, deceit, and dupery are also very much part of the story. Often, these promises are made in the early stages of oil palm development, but they do not end up materializing in practice.” In this episode, we welcome Dr. Sophie Chao, a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellow and Lecturer at the Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney. Her research investigates the intersections of Indigeneity, ecology, capitalism, health, and justice in the Pacific. Chao is the author of In the Shadow of the Palms: More-Than-Human Becomings in West Papua (Duke University Press, 2022) and co-editor of The Promise of Multispecies Justice (Duke University Press, 2022). (The musical offering in this episode is Come The Rain by Maggie Clifford.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"Instead of being head over heels, be heels over head—privilege your sense of touch. I think that shifts the weight of an overactive mind back into the body, [towards] our full body-mind experiences." In this episode, we welcome Gavin Van Horn, Ph.D, Executive Editor at the Center for Humans and Nature and leads the Book Series for the Center for Humans and Nature Press. He is the co-editor, with Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Hausdoerffer, of the five-volume series, Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations; and the author of The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds. (The musical offering in this episode is Power to Change by Luna Bec.) Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"We are not a lacking people. We are more than capable to provide for ourselves. The issue is those who continue to pretend that they are here to help are here for other intentions.” In this episode, we welcome Dimah Mahmoud, who facilitates order by manipulating chaos and stops at nothing for Truth, Justice and Love. She co-creates grassroots solutions by growing her knowledge, skills and community to build alliances for inclusive collective growth. As a self-proclaimed Warrior of Truth, Dimah vowed to beat the drums of Truth till the world knows Unity. Support our in(ter)dependent show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Deja Vu by M!tch.)

“The sooner we are able to get rid of these two commodities, oil and coal, the better it will be... But 'green' technologies such as electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines, don’t come out of thin air.” –Guillaume Pitron In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Guillaume Pitron, an award-winning journalist and documentary-maker for some of France’s leading TV channels. From Chinese rare earth metals, oil extraction in Alaska, to Sudanese gum arabic and khat trading in Djibouti, he focuses his work on commodities and on the economic, political, and environmental issues associated with their use. His first book, The Rare Metals War: The Dark Side of the Energy Transition and Digitalization, explores our new dependence on rare metals. Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Power to Change by Luna Bec.)

“For Palestinians, agriculture seems to be the only option. This is why we see the vicious, atrocious, and systematic attacks against Palestinian farmers.” In this episode, we welcome Rami Barhoush, an activist and president of the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature, known as APN, based in Amman, Jordan. The independent non-profit organization seeks to enhance the capacity of Arab peoples, including those living under occupation and armed conflicts, to protect, sustain, and establish sovereignty over their natural resources and food, while strengthening the advocacy efforts of civil society organizations on regional and global environmental issues. Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Power to Change by Luna Bec.)

“If you’re actually targeting migrants as the source of the problem, if we’re thinking about climate migration as one of the amplified 'threats' from the Department of Defense’s point of view, then you’re never actually going to solve the problem because you’re only addressing the symptom and not the root cause.” In this episode, we welcome A. Naomi Paik, an interdisciplinary scholar whose work examines the relationship between law and cultural politics, centering racism, state violence, and the limits of citizenship to secure rights and social equity. Paik is the author of three books, most recently, Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary. She is an associate professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on topics including im/migration, U.S. imperialism, comparative ethnic studies, women of color feminisms, carceral spaces, and racial violence. Support our podcast: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Deja Vu by M!tch. The episode artwork shared in the show notes is by art twink.)

"“There’s a lot of evidence that the world, and our experience of life, has massively sped up... We’re all speed-reading life now, and we’re living at a pace that makes deep thought impossible.” In this episode, we welcome Johann Hari, a writer and journalist who has written for the New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian and other newspapers. His TED talks and NowThis viral video have been viewed almost 100 million times, and his work has been praised by a broad range of people. Johann is the author of Stolen Focus, which was published in January of this year. Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.)

In this episode, we welcome Jason W. Moore, an environmental historian and historical geographer at Binghamton University, where he is professor of sociology. He is author or editor of several books: most recently, of Capitalism in the Web of Life; and, with Raj Patel, A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things. His books and essays on environmental history, capitalism, and social theory have been widely recognized, and he coordinates the World-Ecology Research Network. Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.)

“In a way, Western science compartmentalizes a lot of the information through those boxes or as I say, through those puzzle pieces. Indigenous science looks at the entire picture to formulate our information and our questions.” In this episode, we welcome Dr. Jessica Hernandez, a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. Her work is grounded in her Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing. She advocates for climate, energy, and environmental justice through her scientific and community work and strongly believes that Indigenous sciences can heal our Indigenous lands. Jessica is the author of the newly published Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science. (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.) Support our community-powered show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“One of the most powerful untapped resources is spirituality. Spirituality—particularly spirituality from Black and Indigenous communities all over the world—has been so denigrated and so viciously attacked that many people are unaware of its transformative potential.” This is a replay of our past interview with Chelsea Mikael Frazier, Ph.D., a Black Feminist eco-critic who writes, researches and teaches at the intersection of Black feminist theory and environmental thought. (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.) Green Dreamer is an in(ter)dependent, community-powered podcast. If our work has inspired you, please consider reciprocating a gift of support to help sustain the show: GreenDreamer.com/support

“We’ve collapsed the idea of community with 'connectivity'. But being 'connected' doesn’t mean you have any sense of community. To have a community, you need something very visceral, you need to be in close proximity with people, to communicate on a day-to-day basis, to understand the flaws of people. It’s not about curated existences.” In this episode, we welcome Brad Evans, a political philosopher, critical theorist, and writer, who specializes in the problem of violence. His work is particularly concerned with addressing the multiple forms violence takes in the world, while developing a more poetic critique that highlights the importance of the arts and the imaginary. The author of nineteen books and edited volumes, along with over a hundred academic and media articles, he currently holds a Chair in Political Violence & Aesthetics at the University of Bath, United Kingdom. (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.) Green Dreamer is an in(ter)dependent, community-powered podcast. If our work has inspired you, please consider reciprocating a gift of support to help sustain the show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"Why is it important to focus on regular people, people in the in-between, people who bear some cost but also reap some profit? Because it gives us an insight into most people’s lives. As long as we don’t understand how we become acquiescent, not much will change." In this episode, we welcome Amalia Leguizamón, Associate Professor of Sociology and core faculty at the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University. Her research examines the political economy of the environment in Latin America, particularly Argentina’s swift agrarian transformation based on the early adoption and intensive implementation of genetically modified soybeans. She is also the author of Seeds of Power: Environmental Injustice and Genetically Modified Soybeans in Argentina (Duke University Press, 2020). The song featured in this episode is Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution by Father John Misty. Support the podcast: GreenDreamer.com/support Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com.

“This is what I call the agrobiopolitical paradox at the center of the modern agricultural state: Paraguay trying to push hard to get more soybeans out there and on the other hand trying to create institutions to protect people from all the soybeans that the left hand is putting in place.” In this episode, we welcome Kregg Hetherington, Ph.D., who is a political anthropologist specializing in the environment, infrastructure, and the bureaucratic state. He is the author of The Government of Beans. Kregg's long-term ethnographic work in Paraguay chronicles how small farmers caught in a sweeping agrarian transition have experienced the country's halting transition to democracy, showing how activists create new ways of thinking and practicing government. Subscribe and listen to Green Dreamer in any podcast app or read on for the episode transcript. (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec. The episode artwork is by Sara Mengual.) Green Dreamer is an in(ter)dependent, community-powered podcast. If our work has inspired you, please consider reciprocating a gift of support to help sustain the show: GreenDreamer.com/support

"That neoliberal, technocratic environmentalism is also what we would call depoliticizing... it avoids the more transformative types of policies or solutions that extend outside of the policy realm and are necessary for confronting the climate crisis as we recognize it today." In this episode, we welcome Kai Bosworth, a geographer, political ecologist, and Assistant Professor at the School of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century, which examines pipeline opposition movements in the central United States and the ways in which they have transformed the politics of climate justice. Kai researches affect and emotion, radical politics, and materialism, as well as the ways in which space, ecology, and nature are enrolled in social projects of oppression or liberation. (The song featured in this episode is Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution by Father John Misty.) Green Dreamer is an in(ter)dependent, community-powered podcast. If our work has inspired you, please consider reciprocating a gift of support to help sustain the show: GreenDreamer.com/support

Emma Dowling IS a sociologist at the University of Vienna in Austria. She has previously held academic positions in Britain and Germany, and her most recent work asks what our economy looks like when viewed from the perspective of care, charting the material conditions that shape its configurations. Emma is the author of The Care Crisis - What Caused It and How Can We End It? published with Verso Books. Support our community-powered show to continue: GreenDreamer.com/support (The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec. The episode artwork is by fuchsia.) Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com.

Bram Ebus has worked on resource conflicts, drug policies, and state-corporate crimes in Latin America since 2010. He holds a master's degree from the University of Utrecht in Global Criminology with a focus on environmental and state-corporate crimes. In recent years, Bram has been active as an NGO consultant and investigative journalist, publishing for a variety of international media, and worked as the lead journalist for an award-winning interactive media production on mining conflicts in Venezuela. (The musical offering in this episode is Magic Hits by Adrian Sutherland. The episode artwork is by Aude Nasr.) Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com.

Scott Timcke, Ph.D., is a comparative historical sociologist who studies race, class, and technology in modernity. He is a research associate with the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Social Change and a fellow at the University of Leeds’ Centre for African Studies where he studies the overlap between algorithmic capitalism, FinTech, and neocolonialism. He is also the author of Algorithms and The End of Politics. The song featured in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes and transcripts at GreenDreamer.com. Help us reach our Patreon goal: GreenDreamer.com/support.

Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) has her core interests in the study of psychoactive substances, drug policies, shamanism, ritual, and religion. She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of seventeen books, one journal special edition, and several peer-reviewed articles. She is also the Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines. The song featured in this episode is Magic Hits by Adrian Sutherland. The episode artwork is by Danii Pollehn. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes and transcripts at GreenDreamer.com. Help us reach our Patreon goal: GreenDreamer.com/support.

In this episode, we revisit our past conversation with Harriet Washington, an award-winning medical writer and editor and the author of the best-selling book Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present. She's also the author of A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and its Assault on the American Mind. In her work, Harriet focuses mainly on bioethics, the history of medicine, African-American health issues, and the intersection of medicine, ethics, and culture. The song featured in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec. Green Dreamer is a community-supported podcast and multimedia journal exploring our paths to collective healing, ecological regeneration, and true abundance and wellness for all. Find our show notes, transcripts, and newsletter at GreenDreamer.com.