The Passing Through Podcast

This week John Seed is Passing Through. A pioneering environmentalist, musician, activist and writer, John has played a formative role in shaping Deep Ecology globally. Beginning back in 1979 he began putting his life on the line to defend rainforests and would later found and direct The Rainforest Information Center to continue this important work.  Since then he’s initiated projects protecting r...

There's a heatwave passing through, and we're passing through it. At least here in Europe. I was delighted to ramble through part of it with the lovely Dan Burgess . Earthling, father, partner, and brother, Dan is a regenerative practitioner, creative strategist, action researcher, co-designer, un/learning guide, facilitator, activist, writer, speaker, podcaster and DJ working at the inter...

My guest this week is pioneering psychedelic researcher, Dr. Louise Hecker. Under her guidance, a team of scientists made shocking clinical discoveries for the first time in history. Studying a group of elderly mice, the scientists observed that administering heroic doses of psychedelic mushrooms conferred geroprotective benefits to their cells and appear to slow down aging. Her research is paving...

This week I'm passing through the space between your ears! Join me for a liminal stream-of-consciousness ramble into the unknown, as I hunger for your wax and comb the murky depths of what's bubbling up through my mind.

This week I had the chance to speak with Tristan Gooley — a man who’s been called The Sherlock Holmes of nature by the BBC. Tristan is the author of a series of books exploring the topic of natural navigation. Now, you may not have heard this term before. What is natural navigation? Well, to answer that question we'd have to ask, what did people do before maps and compasses were invented? Curi...

This week Francis Weller is Passing Through!  How do we work with grief? Why is it important to metabolize our sorrow in a group setting? How does grief work and grief ritual differ from group therapy or support groups? What is grief asking of us? To help us answer these questions, I’m honored to have passed through this space with someone who’s been a teacher and inspiration to me, Francis Weller...

This week I’m passing through southern Poland with a little preamble about grief (stay tuned for a more thorough investigation to come).   This episode is a short, stream-of-consciousness exploration of the difficult emotions that we cast aside into liminal space in modern culture: inadequacy, anger, resentment, fear, uncertainty, humiliation, loss, sadness, grief. Inside any living thing there’s...

Did you ever get the feelin’ you was bein’ watched?  This week I’m passing through a network of Flock Safety cameras that are all watching my every move and making me wonder what my Fourth Amendment rights are for. This is the surveillance episode. This episode is all about how the most powerful surveillance apparatus in human history was built — not by a government, or a dictator, but in plain si...

This week I’m passing through remembering the past couple of weeks. Join me for a chat about time spent with my father in Portugal, reflections on child-parent relations, Community Building, and Asia and I's first time on our own as facilitators.

Jeremy Lent, visionary thinker, founder of The Deep Transformation Network, and author of books like The Patterning Instinct , The Web of Meaning , and most recently, Ecocivilizaiton: Making A World That Works For All , joins us this week on The Passing Through Podcast. He takes a systems-thinking approach to assess our collective unraveling, which is, by definition a systemic crisis, and he empha...

This week I'm passing through with some news! We've got a website! Now you can stream episodes, search content, watch animated transcripts, comment, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts without having to use Spotify or pay for any apps. Check it out: https://thepassingthroughpodcast.com I'm also on Substack now. If you want to check out supplemental writing-based content, you...

Filmmaker, writer, and philosopher Werner Herzog is Passing Through (he's always passing through) for a conversation about the state of the world — oil, artificial intelligence, borders, and what lies underneath all of it. He discusses H.P. Lovecraft, the moth that drinks from the tears of sleeping birds, a jar of crude oil he has kept sealed for many years, and a specific frog who he may or may n...

What does it mean to build a new world when you haven't figured out how to leave the old one behind? Grace Rachmany returns to The Passing Through Podcast for the second time, this time calling in from Malaysia, where she had been living inside a crypto-bro utopia not entirely dissimilar to the eco-villages where we first met. Different tribe, same restless hunger for something better. We talk...

In this solo episode of  The Passing Through Podcast , we dive deep into the ancient meditation practice of  Vipassana . After completing my third 10-day silent retreat, join me for a talk where I unpack what really happens inside a Vipassana course: the intense physical pain, the psychological unraveling, and my confrontation with an unfocused mind. Before we start I'll lay out some core Budd...

This week I’m joined by biologist, author, educator and deep listener David George Haskell. David is a contributor to publications such as the New York Times, Scientific American and The Guardian, he has produced sound projects with Emergence Magazine, and he has a brand new book coming out later this month, titled How Flowers Made Our World . David’s work is perched in the wonderful place between...

Join me for a different kind of episode this week, and it's a long one. Lots of people are talking about Epstein—not enough, in my opinion, considering it’s quite possibly the biggest, most disturbing scandal in modern history—so I’d like to share some thoughts. I’m going to explore this with a "straight from the horses mouth" approach, using sometimes graphic multimedia throughout t...

In this episode of The Passing Through Podcast, entomologist, ecologist, educator and author Doug Tallamy reveals why insects are the foundation of life on Earth, and what happens if they disappear. From caterpillars and chickadees to invasive species, deer, and global insect decline, we explore how biodiversity underpins our food systems, ecosystems, and even social stability. Doug explains why n...

Right now the world feels like it’s unraveling—politically, ecologically, spiritually. We’re at a time when love can feel naive, beauty can feel fragile, and the word empire is painfully alive and present. In this episode, I’m honored to be joined by Indigenous scholar, scientist, musician, and activist Dr. Lyla June Johnston . We explore love as resistance, beauty as a moral force, and what Indig...

This week I'm down with the sickness (Oh, ah-ah-ah-ah). I'm ill! Part man, part exotic virus. Join me for a very quick and delirious update from the non-ordinary state of consciousness we collectively call sickness.

In this solo episode, I reflect on  stillness, resistance and the use of force, as well as what it means to live through times of ecological and social crisis . I talk about the pressure of weekly creation, the value of slowing down, and the tension between offering something out of obligation versus presence. I speak about what’s unfolding in the United States — state-sponsored violence, authorit...

What if learning to love a forest could change how you see responsibility, courage, and your place in the living world?  From trees that sweat clouds to foxes guided by invisible forces, today’s conversation invites us back into a world alive with wonder. Joining us today on The Passing Through Podcast is Ethan Tapper, author of the award-winning book How to Love a Forest . Ethan is an internation...

This week I'm passing through the snowy mountains of southwestern Poland. Join me for a meandering ramble that begins with dissolution and letting go. What does it mean to let go of everything and dissolve? In this episode I ask questions like: ​What is this podcast about? ​Who is it for? ​What's the point? ​Should you pull the mouse from the maw of a feral beast? This is an episode for new listen...

Hello and welcome to 2026! Join me for a quick current events update at the start, followed by a deep dive into some of the environmental, socio-cultural and cognitive impacts of artificial intelligence and social media and how these things have been passing through my existence recently. Here's a quote from Vanessa Andreotti that I share near the end of the episode: "Algorithmic modernit...

This week we're passing through the winter solstice; perhaps our most ancient human holiday. What is the winter solstice? What is nature doing in the winter time? What is it asking of us? What can it tell us? What does letting go of your leaves look like? Step into the darkest day of the year with me for a festive ramble where I ruminate on questions like these, tell stories about feral pigs a...

My dance partner today is the lovely and soulful Sara McFarland. Sara is a storyteller, ritual performance artist, an improvisational singer, a soul initiation guide, a wild mind mentor, and a death doula for The Great Dying. Sara’s views are rooted in an animist understanding of the world where story and myth and music and poetry are held dear and near to the heart. Sara helps people initiate int...