Letters to Earthlings

In the last few weeks several people have reached out to tell me that listening to Hark is causing them to pay more attention to the sounds of the more-than-human voices around us. To me, this feedback is true nourishment. Downloads, donations, press and prizes and all that sort of thing: necessary, valuable, appreciated. But knowing the work is actually impacting how people relate to the living w...

Next week, Threshold will be releasing The Corridor, a new series about a stretch of land between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that is often referred to as Cancer Alley. Over seven episodes, The Corridor examines how this part of Louisiana became a center of industry and an epicenter of disease, with some communities facing cancer risks among the highest in the nation. Hosted by Jaha Nailah Avery a...

I’ve been recording the voices of a lot of big, dramatic, eye-and-ear-catching creatures lately — cranes, geese, swans. But on one recent night, when I wandered down to the water’s edge in the darkness, someone a bit more mysterious and shy was making itself heard. Tentatively. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit let...

Whoop! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe

Related links: * Threshold Conversations: Feminism in the Wild, with Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer. Listen here . * One of Michelle Hall’s most important papers: Female song is widespread and ancestral in songbirds , Odom, K., Hall, M., Riebel, K. Nature Communications (2014). * A more recent paper Michelle was involved in: Global incidence of female birdsong is predicted by territoriality and b...

The sounds, images, and stories from Minnesota are crushing. Enraging. Disorienting, heartbreaking, and all of the other descriptors you don’t need me to name because you’re feeling them too. I don’t know what to do, what to say, how to respond, how to be of use, how to even take in that this is reality. I still don’t. This is not a post in which I walk myself or anyone else from despair and confu...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com For every minute that makes it into a Threshold episode, there are so many minutes that end up getting cut. Some of them, like this clip I’m sharing today, make it all the way to nearly-final draft. Some get half-developed and then cast aside. And many, many never get past the sketching stage.

I’m going to let the audio speak for itself on this one, except to say this: poetry is everywhere, if I remember to listen for it. Thank you to these two poets, and to Leonard Cohen. Hallelujah. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com A man walked 53 miles across the English countryside dressed as a giant curlew. Do you need to know more? I didn’t. I heard that much I knew I wanted to talk to him. The result is this conversation with Matthew Trevelyan, a man who combined his passion for curlews with his puppet-making skills to help ra...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com Elephants. I still can’t quite believe I got to see them. Listen to them. Touch their map-like skin, as creased and dry as the land they walk on.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com One of my favorite parts of making Threshold, and just being a person alive on this planet, is sitting somewhere and listening to a place. Whatever happens to be there, doing its thing. Creatures and weather, plants and Earthly processes, all joining in to make little rhythms and melodies. Harmonies and...

What follows here is an op-ed I wrote too late in the game to pitch around very well. TLDR version: the Trump administration is seeking to change the Endangered Species Act in a way that would essentially gut it. The deadline to submit public comments on the proposed change is today Monday, May 19, at midnight eastern time. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscri...