Forest of Thought

In this episode I speak to writer and filmmaker Sarah Thomas. Her memoir, The Raven’s Nest, is a meditation on her time spent in Iceland, and explores how identity and language are interwoven with landscape and ecology. What does it mean to fall in love with a place, with its human and non-human inhabitants?  And how may we each do our little part in mending the world?  Sarah Thomas is a writer, documentary filmmaker, and traveller with a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies. She is committed to work that explores, evokes and honours our entanglements with the living world. She has lived and journeyed from the Equator to the Arctic Circle finding stories in the everyday. Her films have been screened internationally. In 2020 she was nominated for the Arts Foundation Environmental Writing Award. She was longlisted for the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize for nature writing and shortlisted for the 2021 Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize. Her ecological memoir, The Raven’s Nest (Atlantic Books 2022), is her debut.  ICELANDIC WORDS FROM THE EPISODE:  Óvissuferð – a journey where you don’t know what will happen Kvöldvaka – an evening gathering, traditionally to mend or do crafts while listening to someone reading aloud. Bergmál – echo (literally: language of the mountains) Tölva – computer (literally: number oracle) LINKS:  Sarah’s website: ⁠https://sarahthomas.net⁠ The Raven’s Nest: ⁠https://sarahthomas.net/the-ravens-nest/⁠ Book by David Abram on language and ecology: Spell of the sensuous: ⁠https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/319/the-spell-of-the-sensuous-by-david-abram/⁠ Ursula LeGuin’s The carrier bag theory of fiction: ⁠https://otherfutures.nl/uploads/documents/le-guin-the-carrier-bag-theory-of-fiction.pdf⁠ MORE INFO: All episodes and more at ⁠⁠forestofthought.com⁠⁠ Support us on Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/forestofthought⁠⁠ Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here: ⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/forestofthought⁠ Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠⁠stoneproduction.no⁠⁠. 

How are our modern ways of thinking and being different from those of ancient peoples? When did logic and rational thinking become ‘common sense’, instead of just one of the many ways we may contemplate life’s important questions? And how is our consciousness and presence in the world altered as we become evermore enmeshed in advanced technologies? Ingrid speaks to philosopher-gardener Jeremy Naydler. Jeremy has written several books on the experience of the sacred in ancient cultures. In his newer work he focuses on the fraught relationship between humans and technology as it has developed from ancient times until today, and explores how the acceleration of modern technologies forces us to examine how we cultivate the human in an era of machines.  Jeremy Naydler, Ph.D., is a philosopher who specializes in the religious life of ancient cultures. He is a Fellow of the Temenos Academy and author of Temple of the Cosmos, Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts, The Future of the Ancient World, and Goethe on Science. He lives in Oxford, England. LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: Jeremy’s books on the sacred in ancient traditions (e.g. The Future of the Ancient World, The and Temple of the Cosmos): https://www.innertraditions.com/author/jeremy-naydler Jeremy’s books on technology in relation to the human (In the Shadow of the Machine and The Struggle for a Human Future): https://www.templelodge.com/viewauthor.php?auth_id=109 Egyptian Book of the Dead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Dead Heidegger on “The question concerning technology”: https://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Heidegger_Martin_The_Question_Concerning_Technology_and_Other_Essays.pdf The Philokalia: https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Philokalia.pdf All episodes and more at ⁠forestofthought.com⁠ Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/forestofthought⁠ Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here: ⁠https://anchor.fm/forestofthought⁠ Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠stoneproduction.no⁠. 

It’s been said that it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism and our modern way of life. Why is it so hard for us to cultivate our imagination and to imagine that things might be different? What becomes possible if communities harness the power of imagination in building a more beautiful world? In this episode I speak to Rob Hopkins, writer and co-founder of the Transition movement. I visit him in the Buttercup Field and we discuss what might be possible if we moved from ‘What is’ to ‘What if?’ Rob Hopkins is the co-founder of Transition Network and of Transition Town Totnes, and author of several books including ‘The Transition Handbook‘ and most recently, ‘From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want’. He is a Director of Totnes Community Development Society and of New Lion Brewery, and hosts the podcast ‘From What If to What Next‘. LINKS:  Rob’s website: https://www.robhopkins.net Rob’s podcast: https://www.robhopkins.net/podcast/ Transition Towns: https://transitionnetwork.org Joanna Macy & ‘The work that reconnects’ : https://www.joannamacy.net Jane McGonigal on the things that can change in 10 years: https://janemcgonigal.com Civic imagination office in Bologna: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-03-07/bologna-the-city-with-a-civic-imagination-office/ Antanas Mockus, ex-mayor of Bogota: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/opinion/the-art-of-changing-a-city.html New Lion Brewery in Totnes: https://www.newlionbrewery.co.uk All episodes and more at forestofthought.com Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no. 

How might the use of voice and song be an unexpectedly powerful way to access our deeper selves? In this episode I speak to Briony Greenhill, an incredible musician who uses collaborative improvisation as a way to connect and heal. Briony also generously shares her personal experiences and the philosophy of life that she has come to through her work. Briony Greenhill is an artist, teacher and changemaker, with a special focus on improvisation, described as "one of the world's leading proponents of Collaborative Vocal Improvisation (CVI)" by the Guardian, and as "Marvin Gaye crossed with a funky earth mother" by Mojo.  She finds her music and lyrics through improvising, often together with others. Her lyrics focus on themes of human depth, paradigm shift, the intimacy and bigger picture of our times. As a teacher she helps people bring out their full voices, develop their musicianship, express themselves, connect and heal. LINKS Briony’s website – find all info and music there: https://www.brionygreenhill.com/ Call off the Thought and Sing – conversations hosted by Briony (past convos available on Youtube): https://www.facebook.com/CallofftheThoughtandSing Pat MacCabe : https://www.patmccabe.net Kimberley Hare – The Edge https://www.heartofthriving.com/conversations/ Happy Thank you More Please: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls_SKFeJxEg Robert MacFarlane’s book Mountains of the Mind: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/nov/13/guardianfirstbookaward2003.gurardianfirstbookaward Did you enjoy? Please consider supporting the podcast at patreon.com/forestofthought. Thank you for sharing and subscribing! Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no. 

In what ways might the roots of the internet actually stretch back much further than we think? Does the internet enhance or distort our humanness? How is our deepening entanglement with algorithms shaping how we think and what we pay attention to? Justin E. H. Smith is a professor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the Université Paris Cité, and is a writer of both non-fiction, fiction and poetry. His latest book is The Internet is Not What You Think It Is: A History, a Philosophy, a Warning, in which he traces the deep history of the internet and asks where these technologies may be taking us next. His previous books include Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason and Divine Machines: Leibniz and the Sciences of Life. He posts regularly on Substack at Justin E. H. Smith’s Hinternet. LINKS: Justin’s book The Internet is Not What You Think It Is: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691212326/the-internet-is-not-what-you-think-it-is Justin’s Substack: https://justinehsmith.substack.com Justin’s book on Gottfried Leibniz: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691141787/divine-machines David Abram on technology and animism: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/magic-and-the-machine/ James William’s Stand out of our light (Ted Talk based on book of same name: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaIO2UIvJ4g Yves Citton on the Ecology of attention: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Ecology+of+Attention-p-9781509503735 Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/forestofthought Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.

How do we manifest the world we would like to see? How are art and activism connected to things like magic and ritual? How does being rooted in a place help us defend it? In this episode I visit Isa Fremeaux at the ZAD (zone à defendre) in Brittany, France, where an unlikely alliance of local residents and activists succeeded in stopping the building of a planned airport. Isa shares her experiences of working at the intersection of art and activism, and we explore what it means to create the worlds we want to inhabit. Isa Fremeaux is a writer, activist and educator, formerly senior lecturer in Media and Cultural studies at Birckbeck College, London. Together with her partner Jay Jordan she has, among other things, created Pathways to Utopia, a film/book project exploring utopian communities in Europe, and the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, a place for experiments at the intersection of art and activism. Their book “We Are ‘Nature’ Defending Itself – Entangling Art, Activism and Autonomous Zones” explores these ideas further and takes us along on part of the journey of the ZAD. LINKS: Isa and Jay’s book: We are ‘Nature’ Defending Itself  – Entangling Art, Activism and Autonomous Zones: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745345871/we-are-nature-defending-itself/ Pathways to Utopia: https://lessentiersdelutopie.wordpress.com/trailer/ Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination: https://labo.zone/ Links to the six points: https://zad.nadir.org/IMG/pdf/6pointszad-a3-2.pdf The invisible committee: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/comite-invisible Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/forestofthought Find all episodes on our website: www.forestofthought.com Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 . Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729. Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought. Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.

"Crisis" was a topic that came up many times in this season of the podcast, in discussions on everything from pandemics, to climate change, to spiritual transformation, and healing. In this episode, wandering host Ingrid Rieser offers a personal reflection on the true meaning of crisis. Find a transcript of this episode at www.forestofthought.com  LINKS: Quotes on Egyptian mythology from Temple of the Cosmos by Jeremy Naydler: https://www.innertraditions.com/books/temple-of-the-cosmos Quote on crises from To Our Friends by The Invisible Committee: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/the-invisible-committe-to-our-friends.a4.pdf Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.

Felix Marquardt used to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle, advising CEOs and heads of state, and mingling at elite gatherings like the World Economic Forum in Davos. Now he is on a slow journey of recovery from substance abuse, and has recently published The New Nomads – a unique perspective on migration in our time. In this episode we talked about how patterns of addiction are playing out in all parts of our society, what sobering up might mean, and the unrecognised power of prayer. Felix is Austrian-American born but raised in Paris. He counts a dozen nationalities in his family, has lived in as many countries and held as many jobs. He’s run communications for large publications and companies, advised CEOs and heads of state, and founded a bunch of projects, the latest of which is called Black Elephant, an outgrowth of his The New Nomads book (Simon & Schuster, 2021). LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT: The New Nomads by Felix Marquardt: https://thenewnomads.org Black Elephant, Felix’ latest project including podcast: https://www.blcklphnt.com ‘Davos is dead and coronavirus killed it’, article in FT by Felix (June 2021): https://www.ft.com/content/3177eb28-6fb1-459a-83a1-837124b43e0e “The culture wars require a peace process and GenXers must initiate it”, op-ed by Felix and others in South Africa Sunday Times: https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2021-12-02-the-culture-wars-require-a-peace-process-and-genxers-must-initiate-it/ Kevin Anderson is a climate change researcher: http://kevinanderson.info/blog/home-2/ Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira (previously Andreotti): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675703/hospicing-modernity-by-vanessa-machado-de-oliveira/ Des empires sous la terre (Empires under earth – English translation forthcoming) by Mohamad Amer Meziane (Felix’ friend who writes about racial and ecological history of secularisation) https://religion.columbia.edu/content/mohamed-amer-meziane Also by Mohamad Amer Médiane: https://politicaltheology.com/is-there-a-secularocene/ Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought . Share and subscribe. We’re available on most podcast apps, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.

Might harmful norms around masculinity be at the root of both men’s violence against women and the degradation of nature? In this episode we look more closely at men’s relationships their – to themselves, to other humans (especially women), to nature, and we ask the question: what becomes possible when men connect to what they most deeply long for? Vidar Vetterfalk is psychologist and expert in masculinites and the climate crisis at MÄN (Men for Gender Equality), Sweden. He has been active in the feminist organisation MÄN since its inception in 1993, working with engaging boys and men for gender equality and ending men’s violence. Vidar grew up on a biodynamic farm and he is passionate about the interlinkages between gender equality, the environment, the climate crisis, and how to engage more men to care together with others. LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT MÄN (Men for Gender Equality) website: www.mfj.se/en Resource materials for working on men’s violence against women, and men’s relations to climate and the environment: https://mfj.se/en/resources Global online seminar series on “Climate Crisis, Men, Masculinities and Climate Justice”: https://mfj.se/articles/2021/08/ny-arbetsgrupp-foer-klimatraettvisa Publications related to Vidar’s work: https://mfj.se/articles/2021/08/maen-om-fn-s-klimatrapport Joana Macy’s “Work that reconnects”: https://workthatreconnects.org Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/forestofthought Find all episodes on our website: www.forestofthought.com Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 . Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729. Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought.  Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no. 

Does it still make sense to talk about climate change? This seems a strange question to ask, for someone who has spent much of his adult life talking to people about climate change, but it is the question writer Dougald Hine has found himself wondering about lately. When we talk about climate change, we are entering into a conversation that is framed by science, yet climate change also asks us questions that lead beyond that frame. In recent years, however, the language of science has become supercharged: from the placards that read ‘Unite Behind the Science’ to the political leaders who insist that they are ‘following the science’ in their response to the pandemic, there’s a new emphasis on the total authority of science that makes it harder to ask these frame-breaking questions. This is converging with a particular approach to climate change, one that points to a dystopian future in which the world has been remade as an object of total management. What does this mean for how we have meaningful conversations about what Dougald Hine refers to as ‘the trouble we’re in’? Dougald Hine is a writer and culture maker. Ten years ago, Dougald co-founded The Dark Mountain Project, which has grown into world-wide community of artists and writers. He and his partner Anna Björkman now run A School Called Home, a learning community for those drawn to the work of regrowing a living culture. He also podcasts together with futurist Ed Gillespie at The Great Humbling. This episode was recorded at a live event co-organized by the Forest of Thought Podcast and CEMUS (Centre for environment and development studies) at Uppsala University, on November 22nd, 2021 at the Uppsala Public Library, Sweden. For full show notes please go to: www.forestofthought.com/e16-live-dougald-hine

What is trauma? When we experience suffering or hardship we often feel this as a physical sensation in our bodies – we are “heartbroken” or have experienced something “gut-wrenching” or “bone-chilling”. The latest research is confirming that trauma and stress always have a bodily dimension – which is why therapies based on talking are not always enough. In this episode I’m joined by trauma consultant Gunilla Hamne, who helps us understand the nature of trauma and how body-based techniques can lead the way to healing. Gunilla is an international trauma consultant and co-founder of the Peaceful Heart Network. She has spent the past 15 years working to spread knowledge about simple body-based techniques that can heal trauma and relieve stress, especially the Trauma Tapping Technique that she helped to develop. She has worked all over the world with survivors of war and genocide, with victims of abuse and bullying, with refugees, care workers and first responders. Watch a video of how to do tapping at http://www.selfhelpfortrauma.org. LINKS: Gunilla’s homepage: https://peacefulheart.se Their book: https://peacefulheart.se/resolving-yesterday-book-pdf/ Their app that helps you do exercises to relieve stress: http://www.selfhelpfortrauma.org The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk: https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score Interview on how trauma lodges in the body with Van der Kolk: https://onbeing.org/programs/bessel-van-der-kolk-how-trauma-lodges-in-the-body/#transcript Waking the Tiger by Peter Levin: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/100541/waking-the-tiger-healing-trauma-by-peter-a-levine-phd-contribution-by-ann-frederick/ Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.

What can the covid pandemic teach us about handling the climate crisis? We’ve seen that governments have not hesitated to take bold action when faced with this virus, by going into lockdowns and declaring states of emergency. Should we respond in a similar way to climate change? Or does emergency politics risk narrowing our field of view and undermine our democracies? Joining us in the Forest of Thought is Professor of Human Geography Mike Hulme. Mike Hulme is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Pembroke College. His work explores the idea of climate change using historical, cultural and scientific analyses, investigating the numerous ways in which climate change is deployed in public and political discourse. He has just released his latest book ‘Climate Change’, which is part of the Routledge Key Ideas in Geography book series. LINKS: Mike Hulme’s blog on re-socialisation after the pandemic: https://mikehulme.org/re-socialising-a-vaccinated-world-requires-political-struggle/ Mike’s latest book : https://www.routledge.com/Climate-Change/Hulme/p/book/9780367422035 Niels Gilman’s article on avocado politics: https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/no-12-winter-2020/avocado-politics ‘Emergency politics is dangerous’ article by Mike Hulme: https://issues.org/climate-emergency-politics-is-dangerous/ Forthcoming book by Taylor Dotson: ‘The Divide: How Fanatical Certitude is Destroying Democracy’.

What is the true task of the architect? In this episode we talk to Peter Lynch about what the role of architecture really is. Can we create spaces that are more hospitable to both humans and other living beings? How can we truly get to know places – and the mysteries hidden beneath them? What is architecture's hidden spiritual dimension, and what does it take to create spaces more beautiful than we could have imagined? Peter Lynch is an architect, and recently a guest professor at KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm. He has founded and directed architecture offices in New York, Detroit, Shenzhen, and Beijing, and has decades of experience of teaching architecture students in the United States and Sweden. Find him at https://buildingculture.se READING LIST & LINKS: Peter Lynch’s website, with three lectures that touch on many of the topics of the episode: https://buildingculture.se/three-lectures-on-landscape/ A further description of Peter's Timescape Gardens project in Norrköping: https://buildingculture.se/timescape-garden/ Dancer Anna Asplind’s website: annaasplind.se Giorgio Agamben, The Coming Community (1990) Gilles Clément (gardener/landscape designer), essays on his website http://www.gillesclement.com/index.php Christophe Girot, "Four Trace Concepts in Landscape Architecture" in James Corner ed., Recovering Landscape (1999) Francois Jullien, Living Off Landscape (2014) Stanislaus Fung, "Movement and Stillness in Ming Writings on Gardens" in Michel Conan, ed., Landscape Design and the Experience of Motion (2003) Martin Buber, Between Man and Man (1947) Find more information and all episodes at: forestofthought.com Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no. Keywords: philosophy, ideas, Peter Lynch, architecture, Giorgio Agamben, landscapes, singularity, landscape architecture, Japanese gardens

Words like culture and aesthetics make us think of grand museums and concert halls. But what if there is a deeper meaning to these words that we’ve forgotten? Meanings that are more grounded, more sensual and somehow related to the song of earthworms at work in our soil? And how do you learn to speak the secret language of microbes? We explore all of this and more in this episode with artist and cultural activist Eva Bakkeslett. Eva Bakkeslett is an artist, filmmaker, curator and cultural activist exploring the potential for social change through gentle actions. Her practice often combines film, participatory events and workshops where she creates spaces and experiences that challenge our thinking and unravel newnarratives. Fermentation as a process and metaphor is central to her work and is often communicated in the form of socially engaged and inclusive projects.  She mediates relationships between humans, nature and culture as a living organism and explores ways ofreconnecting to our senses, to non-human life and ancient, deeply rooted knowledge. Eva believes that the abstract, elusive, poetic, aesthetic and imaginary power of art is vital to this reconnection. Eva shows, lectures and performs her work worldwide and her films have been screened in numerous film festivals and art events. As a curator, she has focused on the connection between art and ecology through Gentle Actions at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, in 2010, the Repair program at gallery ROM, Oslo in 2016-17 and in her most recent project The Conference of the Birds 2018-23. Eva has an MA in Art & Ecology from Dartington College of Art in England, and lives on Engeløya in North Norway. There she has created an Artist Residency program and a guest studio as a platform for aesthetic collaborations and enquiry, founded in ecological and interconnected thinking and working. LINKS! Eva’s website: http://www.evabakkeslett.com Worm works exhibition: https://www.evabakkeslett.com/projects/biodiversity-bacterial-cultures-extraterrestial-wormworks/ Eva’s home and residency on Engelöya: https://agencyofimagination.org Conference of the Birds: https://theconferenceofthebirds.net Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought Share and subscribe. We’re available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no

When our societies are faced with challenges we often call on science to provide us with the best course of action; we strive to make evidence-based decisions. But what assumptions are hiding behind this recipe for decision-making? And how can taking control of a situation reduce our capacity for responding with care? We delve back into the Forest of Thought today with Andy Stirling, Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the STEPS Centre, UK. Andy Stirling is Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the University of Sussex. He co-directs the STEPS Centre, which looks at social, technological and environmental pathways to sustainability. Andy’s research focusses on understanding science and technology in relation to issues of power, uncertainty and diversity. LINKS: A video talk and blog post by Andy on modernity, the pandemic and the futilities of control: https://steps-centre.org/news/andy-stirling-on-covid-19-modernity-and-control-video/ Andy’s 4-part blog series on responding to climate disruption with caring struggle rather than technocratic control: https://steps-centre.org/blog/is-the-naming-of-climate-change-a-dangerous-self-defeat/ A lecture by Andy on uncertainty and power in science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDfQ3fIKygQ Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought . Share and subscribe. We’re available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought  Our theme music is by Christian Steen at stoneproduction.no.

Goodbye 2020, hello 2021. How do we start to make sense of one of the most turbulent, transformative and chaotic years in recent history? We’re always telling – and listening to – stories in order to make sense of the world around us. In this episode we explore how those narratives take shape and evolve over time, with the help of a journey to Ukraine. We also ask how we become better navigators in our ever-changing and messy world of ideas. This is a reflective session with wandering host Ingrid Rieser, providing retrospective end to the first of season of the Forest of Thought. LINKS: Hollywood-version of Gareth Jones’ story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06ahxhdTV8Y .  Full interview with Per Johansson: https://forestofthought.com/e05-an-ecology-of-ideas-per-johansson/ . Full interview with Keri Facer: https://forestofthought.com/e03-playing-with-time-keri-facer/ . Rainer Maria Rilke’s Book of Hours: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297355/rilkes-book-of-hours-by-anita-barrows/ . Solar radiation management, geoengineering in Kiruna, Sweden: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pandemic-leads-geoengineering-experiment-to-move-from-u-s-to-sweden/ . Support us on Patreon!: patreon.com/forestofthought . Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Steen at stoneproduction.no.

The US has been through several extremely turbulent months, and we’ve been yearning for deeper and more genuine conversations on these developments. What does this time of upheaval and polarization mean for the USA? How do questions of race and class connect? What are we learning about power and corruption – and what does it really mean to be free? In this special edition of the Forest of Thought we speak to historian and community organizer Crystal Vance Guerra, and policy analyst and activist Victor Menotti. Crystal Vance Guerra is a Mexican-American/Chicano historian, journalist, educator and community organiser from Chicago. She has lived and worked in Latin-America for several years, most recently on conservation in Honduras. Victor Menotti is Senior Fellow at the Oakland Institute and works with governments, businesses and civil society on a range of economic and environmental issues. He lives in Bratislava, Slovakia. Links from Crystal Vance Guerra: On Abolition: level.medium.com/so-youre-thinking-about-becoming-an-abolitionist-a436f8e31894 . Essential reading on mass incarceration: www.usprisonculture.com/blog/essential-pic-reading-list/ . Movement work and mutual aid in the US: https://truthout.org/series/movement-memos/ . Links from Victor Menotti: Four Ds Of Oil’s Just Transition: stanleycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CCAI-FourDsOfOilsJustTransition92820.pdf . Links to some of Victor’s papers: www.oaklandinstitute.org/about/people/victor-menotti . Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought .  Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Our theme music is by Christian Steen at stoneproduction.no.

What are really good conversations made of? And how is a dialogue similar to a work of art? In this episode I speak to facilitator, theatre director and writer Pernilla Glaser to explore the transformative power conversations, and discuss why we’re both obsessed with them. Pernilla Glaser runs the company Boiler and works at RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), developing methods and leading processes within the areas of art, learning and complexity. She is also a writer, and began her career as award-winning theatre director. Now she brings the creativity and playfulness of artistic practice into all kinds of learning processes. That can mean facilitating workshops that help people collaborate across disciplines, or coaching change processes within organisations, or working with other facilitators on how to develop their skills. Central to all her work is how we can have transformative conversations, with and without words. LINKS AND FURTHER READING Pernilla’s company: www.boiler.one . Conversations hosted by Boiler: https://vimeo.com/user111347854 . Translating Difference: Making community through play (2020) by Pernilla Glaser. Navigating Complexity (2020). Report for RISE by Pernilla Glaser and Lisa Carlgren: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1459999/FULLTEXT01.pdf . Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought Keywords: Pernilla Glaser, conversations, dialogue collaboration, facilitation, coaching change, process facilitation, complexity, emergence, changing organisations

It’s always hard to talk about our connection to "nature" because the wording already implies that nature is something other than ourselves. In this episode we talk to eco-philosopher Per Ingvar Haukeland about what a deeper engagement with the world would mean, and how we bring the aliveness of life itself into everything we do. We also delve into the power of trees, the deep ecology movement, and Per Ingvar’s work with the legendary climber and philosopher Arne Næss. Per Ingvar Haukeland is an ecophilosopher and community activist, and a professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway. He studies how tradition and innovation can be brought together to revitalize the relationship between culture and the living land, and uses storytelling, eco-entrepreneurship, handicrafts and outdoor education as methods in his work. LINKS AND FURTHER READING: Life’s philosophy: reason and feeling in a deeper world (2002) written with Arne Næss. Deep Joy: Into deep ecology (2008) written with Arne Næss (English translation to be published this year). Alliance for Wild Ethics: https://wildethics.org/the-alliance/ . Per Ingvar’s research: www.usn.no/english/about/contact-us/employees/per-ingvar-haukeland . OpenAirPhilsophy – a collection of philosophers Arne Naess, Sigmund Kvaløy Setreng, and Peter Wessel Zapffe's works:  https://openairphilosophy.org The Spell of the Sensuous (1996) by David Abram. Animate Earth (2006) by Stephan Harding. What we think about when we try to not think about climate change (2015) by Per Espen Stoknes. In Norwegian: Himmeljorden: Om det av Gud i Naturen (2010) by Per Ingvar Haukeland. Keywords: Per Ingvar Haukeland, Arne Næss, deep ecology, ecosophy, ecophilosophy, wild ethics, reconnection, outdoor life, eco-pedagogy.

A wide-ranging conversation with astrophysicist Prof. Ulf Danielsson on how we understand this universe and why we keep confusing our maps with the territory. We also hear about a life-changing comet, a secret promise and why conscious machines are highly unlikely. Ulf Danielsson is professor of theoretical physics at Uppsala University, with a special research interest in dark energy and string theory. He has participated in countless radio and TV shows and written several popular science books on topics ranging from the history and philosophy of science to climate change. LINKS: Ulf’s website: ulfdanielsson.com/research/ . Ted Talk ‘Why the World is for Real’: https://youtu.be/9ciSyQ6Lzgk . SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: M. Johnson G. Lakoff Philosophy in the flesh (1991) A. Damasio Descartes Error (1994) T. Nagel The View from Nowhere (1986) (Ulf refers to Nagel’s paper, “What is it like to be a bat?”) Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought. Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729 Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought