Future Ecologies

“ We need geopoetics because geopolitics necessitate other ways of being… Proposing alternate narratives to the hegemonic ones we are caught in is the work and play of geopoetics. ” – Erin Robinsong, Geopoetics in the Mess/Mesh Enclosed is the last episode of our 4th season: a sympoietic stream of consciousness; on language, art making, and more-than-human interconnection. Find a transcript, full...

From a distance, mountain landscapes may appear timeless and immutable. Take a closer look, however, and montane ecologies reveal themselves to be laboratories of radical transformation: rocks weather and fall; ecosystems burst into life for brief intervals; tree-lines shift; and wildfires rage. Even the very peaks themselves inch inexorably upwards or downwards with the flow of time. Amidst all t...

In this episode, Anja and Matthias go on an underground safari through the hidden jungle of the soil. We hear from Diana Wall about a tiny worm that is so tough it survives in Antarctica. Richard Bardgett introduces us to collembola, also known as springtails. Stefan Scheu and Maddy Thakur reveal which animals are considered the “wolves of the soil”, and Kate Scow delves into bacterial communities...

Our latest episode — on soil carbon and regenerative agriculture — could never have fit everything that needs to be said on the topic. So, we're leaning on a couple of other podcasts that we think you'll love. First up, we're running an episode from Hot Farm, from our friends at the Food and Environment Reporting Network. It's all about what farmers are doing (or could be doing) to take on the cli...

Can we sequester our carbon and eat it too? For the first time in 4 seasons, we're discussing natural climate solutions, and in particular, regenerative agriculture. Joining us is agrologist and fellow podcaster, Scott Gillespie (of Plants Dig Soil ) to get into the nitty gritty of farming for soil carbon — its promise, possibility and feasibility. ——— Support Future Ecologies (pay what you can &g...

We Walk the Earth is a podcast that explores creativity, curiosity, and cultural evolution through personal conversations, and the occasional sonic journey. In this episode, Mendel and Sergio discuss podcasting, art, music, hope, and lots more besides. We hope you enjoy this peek behind the curtain into the making of Future Ecologies, and Mendel's unfiltered inner monologue. — — — Subscribe to We...

A story of memory, ghosting, and fire: how we can change the place we call home, and how it too can change around us. Another version of this story, along with many other works of art, can be found in the pages of Fire Season II – – – 💖 Support Future Ecologies: join our community on Patreon at futureecologies.net/patrons You'll get exclusive bonus content, access to one of the best discord serve...

What does it mean to live on an island? Is it to be independent from, or inexorably dependent on the rest of the world? And when the ecosystem's physical limitations are so clearly circumscribed, do people behave more "environmentally"? In this episode, we visit Adam's home island of Galiano, and find out just how big its ecological footprint really is. – – – Explore the full One Island,...

Listening to The Disintegration Loops during wildfire season — a review of William Basinski’s seminal album as a meditation on looping thoughts, physical disintegration, and fire. – – – Subscribe to The Wind wherever you get your podcasts, and visit thewind.org You can find a transcript of this episode at https://the-wind.simplecast.com/episodes/the-disintegration-loops/transcript

The North American Model is just one story of how wildlife conservation can be practiced. In part 2 of this mini-series we tell another: of restorative human–predator relationships and local self-determination. We're bringing you a success story from the Great Bear Rainforest, and another articulation of how we can relate to wildlife — complete with its own set of guiding principles, naturally. Fo...

North America abounds in wildlife — but why? At the turn of the last century, many observers believed that species that we take for granted today would disappear forever. In this episode, we share a story about the way that wildlife conservation came to be practiced, the lives that it privileged, and the lives that it left out. But despite any controversy, one aspect of the North American Model of...

What can a brand new patch of nature tell us about Europe's ancient history? In this episode, we touch down in the Netherlands, where an unconventional experiment (the Oostvaardersplassen) has shaken up both the field of ecology and Dutch society. What started as a bird watcher’s obsession with thousands of trekking geese, led to a criticism of one of the central tenets in ecology: ecosystem succe...

At the heart of the Salish Sea lies the Fraser River Estuary: home to over half of the population of the Province of British Columbia, thousands of endemic species, and one world-famous pod of orcas. But as the human population of the region has grown, wildlife populations — including salmonids, orcas, and over 100 species at risk — have been plummeting. As economic imperatives press up against ec...

Are agriculture and biodiversity always at odds? In the late 1970s, a radical environmental movement rejected this dichotomy — rebuking conventional farming in favour of holistic & mutualistic principles, with the dual promise of plentiful food and a vibrant ecosystem. When Permaculture was first articulated, it emerged from a simple question: why don’t our food systems look more like forests?...

We're featuring another guest episode. This time, from Canada's National Observer: a new podcast called Race Against Climate Change Episode 1 – How We Eat SUMMARY: Everybody’s gotta eat, but who’s feeding us, and what else are we eating up along the way? In this episode we chew on the ways our food affects our climate, and what can be done about it. Professor and author Lenore Newman discusses foo...

We're featuring another podcast we think should be in your feed (if it isn't already): MEDIA INDIGENA. This episode, originally released on May 27 2021, features a conversation with Dr. Max Liboiron – Director of the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research, and author of the new book Pollution is Colonialism. Don't miss Part Two of this important discussion. Find episode 259 of MEDIA IN...

We’ve got an amazing 4th Season headed your way! While we’ve got our heads down for the rest of the year, we’re going to feature some episodes from other podcasts we think you’ll love. First up is an episode from the kind folks at How to Save a Planet . Dedicated Future Ecologies listeners might notice that this episode connects nicely with some of the work we covered in our first season, specific...

A few quick announcements! Get in touch with us: https://www.futureecologies.net/#contact-section Meet the musicians we've featured: https://www.futureecologies.net/music Download the Official Soundtrack of Season 3: https://www.futureecologies.net/season-3-ost 💖Support the show and join our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/futureecologies

What is a border? Is it simply an edge: a sharp transition between one state and another? Or does it stretch beyond a single dimension, warping land and people through a self-perpetuating 'otherness'? In this final chapter of Goatwalker, we uncover the ties that bind ecosystems, identities, and communities of all sorts – migrant or otherwise. We'll walk a path to restorative justice: a way to fost...

Having finished his work in the Sanctuary Movement, Jim Corbett allowed his focus to broaden, bringing his system of ethics to the land itself. Jim had gathered many people around him throughout the Sanctuary days: a group that shared a deep, abiding love for the more-than-human world. Together they would establish a herding community – a herd in which they would all be members – grounded in a pra...

In the early 1980s, the outbreak of civil war across Central America forced unprecedented numbers of refugees to seek asylum in the United States, putting the recently passed 'Refugee Act' of 1980 to the test. There was just one catch: the Reagan Administration was providing funding to right-wing governments that most of these refugees were fleeing. As a result, Central American refugees making th...

Jim Corbett was not your typical rancher. Over the course of decades roaming the borderlands of the desert southwest, he developed a practice that he referred to as 'goatwalking' - a form of prophetic wandering and desert survival based on goat-human symbiosis. For Jim, 'goatwalking' provided both physical and spiritual sustenance, and allowed him to become at home, for a time, in wildla...

Mushrooms that smell? Fungi can be pungent, provocative, and at times irresistible. While we might not always recognize it, we're in constant chemical communication with the world around us through olfaction. For those with the senses to discern them, aromas, perfumes, stinks, and stenches can all convey useful information. Some scents are warnings, and others are deterrents, but the most alluring...

In collaboration with the Serpentine Galleries, Future Ecologies presents a choral, poetic collage featuring the voices of The Understory of the Understory: a virtual symposium bringing together practitioners from many disciplines to consider the ground beneath our feet across ecologies, politics and spiritualities. With vignettes ranging from co-evolution to condensation, from medicine to mycomor...

Guest producers Sadie Couture and Russell Gendron explore the concept of invasive species through a look at a small island community, a species doing some serious damage to the ecosystem, and the complex issues at play when a plant or animal moves into a new territory. Sadie and Russell talk to current and former residents of Mayne Island, Indigenous elders, and conservation professionals to think...