Ecosystem Member

Hey folks, welcome to the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast. We’re now into our second episode of season two exploring our relationship with nature and the more-than-human world through the medium of the arts. Our guests for this episode is the Norweigan-Finnish duo behind the project ‘Eyes as Big as Plates’. If you haven’t seen their work before, Karoline and Riitta collaborate with...

Lucia Pietroiusti is the Head of Ecologies at the Serpentine in London and the first guest of Season Two of the Ecosystem Member podcast. If you aren’t familiar with the Serpentine, it is a contemporary art gallery in Kensington Gardens. And better yet, admission to the galleries is free for all visitors making it incredibly accessible. Lucia is one of the driving forces behind the Serpentine’s wo...

Asking Big Questions About Our Relationship with Nature through Art Just like in nature, everything has a season. We're getting ready for Season Two of Ecosystem Member and we're hoping to figure out how to tell a better story as we explore the relationship between humans and the more than human world through the lens of artistic work.

This is our last episode of season one and I don’t think we could end on a better episode. Our guest is Jeff Perry, founder of ⁠ Angel City Lumber ⁠, a really unique place-based lumberyard in Los Angeles that sources only from fallen trees, trees removed in construction and trees removed due to things like disease in Los Angeles County. And the thoughtfulness in Jeff’s approach to lumber is only p...

Our guest for this episode is glaciologist Dr. Heïdi Sevestre. You might recognize that name if you tuned in to the National Geographic series 'Arctic Ascent' featuring climber Alex Honnold. Heïdi was the scientist on that expedition and worked with the team to conduct 18 difference experiments, many of which were featured in the show. And that appearance is key part of her approach to science. In...

"Leopold's land ethic is not a fact but a task." - Wallace Stegner, "Living On Our Principal", Wilderness /Spring 1985 I’m not a gambling man, but I’d be willing to place a pretty large bet that the overlap in the Venn diagram of Ecosystem Member listeners and Aldo Leopold readers is sizable. However, Meta is still insisting on making AI chatbots of modern celebrities instead of legends of environ...

This week’s guest is Jose Gonzalez, who is the founder of Latino Outdoors, co-founder of The Outdoorist Oath and the inaugural Equity Officer for the East Bay Regional Park District in California.  Jose is an accomplished professional educator focused on Equity and Inclusion whose work brings together frameworks and practices in the environmental, outdoor and conservation fields. He uses a range o...

Hey folks, we are back with another new episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast. Our guest for this episode has a new book coming out October 22 published by Patagonia titled “ Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis .” The author is Jon Waterman, who in 1983 started working as a ranger in the Arctic and visited the region dozens of times over a 39 year period. After a 2021...

Hey folks, I am excited to share the latest episode of Ecosystem Member podcast.  I am sure some of you have been listening since episode one with the legendary Patagonia director of philosophy Vincent Stanley. This week’s guest is an equally epic member of the Patagonia ecosystem - Beth Thoren, director of environmental action for EMEA.  Beth has a track record of epic environmental roles, includ...

Hello folks, welcome to the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast, which might also be my new favorite episode.  Our guest is Obi Kaufmann, a writer, a poet, an artist, a backpacker, ecological philosopher and student of all things California ecology. Many of you listening are probably familiar with Obi through his incredible Field Atlas series of California, combining his beautiful water...

The latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast is marine scientist turned environmental artist Ethan Estess. I am sure many of you have seen Ethan’s art before at the Outerknown store in Marin, at the U.S. Open of Surfing, the Instagram of musician Jack Johnson or maybe it was the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Wherever you saw it, I am sure it stuck with you. Ethan uses reclaimed materials like...

After an international move, the Ecosystem Member podcast is back and I am stoked to bring you a better than ever version. For as many episodes as possible from now on, we’re going to bring you both an audio and video version of the podcast. And the podcast is now coming to you via Substack, where I’ll also be writing the occasional newsletter. So make sure to not only subscribe via your favorite...

Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast. I’ve been really fortunate to have a lot of amazing conversations over these initial 16 episodes, episode 17 might be my new favorite.  Ersin Han Ersin is an artist and co-creative director of the art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast.  I first came across the collective’s work through Caroline Till of Franklin...

We’re back with a new episode with a really fascinating guest - Professor Marc Berman, who runs the Environmental Neuroscience Lab at the University of Chicago, which studies how the physical environment affects the brain and behavior.  You’ve probably heard Marc’s name before as he has been one of the go-to experts over the last few years when it comes to understanding how time in nature can impr...

Today’s guest is a special one. For Earth Day, we couldn’t think of a better guest than Hila the Earth, an eco-rapper who embodies Mother Earth when she performs. On this episode, we talk about why she dons Mother Earth for performances, her transition from Hila the Killa to Hila the Earth, the process of creating one of her songs, and creating a new vision for how we support community and care fo...

Today's guest is David Stover, the co-founder of a company called Bureo that I've been tracking for quite a while now. I first came across Bureo through Patagonia, which was an early backer and customer for its products. Now Bureo has brand partners across the apparel and outdoor space from YETI and REI to Rivian and Outerknown. And if you've listened to our episode with Outerknown co-founder John...

Our guest for this episode is Anthony Owosekun, founder of EMPOCA , the only organization in Europe that connects Black kids and teens with nature.  On the episode we talk about how Anthony’s experience in the Boy Scouts in Northern Germany influenced his connection with nature and drove him to start EMPOCA, how creating safe spaces to help children connect with nature can help cultivate key life...

Our guest is Mikkel-Lau Mikkelsen, head of the foraging program at MAD, a non-profit founded by Chef Rene Redzepi of Restaurant Noma to inspire and empower the global hospitality industry to create sustainable change and transform food systems for the future. Foraging is something I am super interested in, but have always been a little hesitant to engage in directly. This conversation answered all...

This episode takes us to the Cornish coast, hence the change of intro sounds for this episode and the inclusion of some wails from a hungry grey seal pup. Grey seals are globally rare and the UK is lucky to have a third of the global population. They are particularly near and dear to my heart after I did a project with the fantastic Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust a few years ago and our effort...

Today's guest is Renee Patrick, a thru hiker, long distance trail consultant, and an environmentalist. Renee is awesome for two specific reasons. One, she's hiked some incredible long distance treks including the Triple Crown in the US, that's the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. And two, she actually designs trails. Yes, Renee designs trails and how people...

This episode’s guest is the incredible Keme Nzerem, a journalist, presenter and all around awesome guy here in the UK who I came across when he emceed a Patagonia Oceans event in 2023. His energy is infectious and his wisdom plentiful, so I was really excited when he agreed to record an episode. Not only is Keme an award-winning journalist, he also is the co-founder of a really important organizat...

Hello folks, thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast. You may have noticed that the run time is a little longer than normal, and that's because I simply couldn't cut a minute of the amazing chat with today's guest, Melanie Challenger. I found Melanie through her book "How to Be Animal" and then read her other incredible book, "On Extinction". In addition to being...

Today on the Ecosystem Member podcast, we have Guy Singh Watson, the founder of Riverford Organic Farmers. For our non-UK listeners who maybe haven't heard of Guy, he's a bit of a business and farming legend in the UK. After growing up on his family's dairy farm and then becoming a management consultant, Guy returned to the farm and created Riverford Organic Farmers, which in two stages, he actual...

Our guest for this episode is Majell Backhausen, an Australian ultra runner and all around super interesting human. As you'll hear in the episode, I came across Majell through Patagonia's four part film series of his run across the proposed Great Forest National Park outside of Melbourne, Australia. That nearly 300 kilometer run took just under 50 hours to complete and was the story that helped il...

I came across this episode's guest through her inclusion in the Grist 50 list of 50 climate leaders driving fresh solutions to our planet’s biggest problems for 2023. Lylianna Allala is the first ever Climate Justice Director for the City of Seattle, Washington's Office of Sustainability and Environment. As you'll hear, her role is varied but founded on engaging a wide variety of communities inclu...