The Wisdom & Action Podcast

This week's chat is led by our good friend Helena Norberg-Hodge, champion of all things localising. She is joined by none other than Johann Hari, the Swiss-British journalist behind the smash hit book Lost Connections, which uncovers the real causes behind depression and the unexpected solutions, some of which land right in Helena’s work – connecting with community. This episode is brought to you...

Much-loved Dumbo Feather friend Hugh Mackay joins us on the podcast this week, sharing the insights, research and thinking behind his latest book "The Kindness Revolution." Hugh spoke with us as part of an interactive Small Giants Academy conversation event in July, hosted by our head of programming, Eleanor Gammell. Thanks to Australian Ethical for partnering with us on this episode. Hosted on Ac...

In May 2021, we ran our first four-week Storytelling for Change Course at Small Giants Academy. Each Wednesday, 15 participants would gather in the Zoom room to talk about how story shapes our individual lives and the cultures we are part of. We learned skills for finessing our stories and were joined by some of our much-loved Dumbo Feather storytellers, including Padraig O Tuama, Lydia Fairhall a...

Welcome to episode 2 of our music mini-series on the Dumbo Feather podcast, where we’re sharing readings, conversations and most importantly music to celebrate our latest issue of Dumbo Feather magazine. In this episode, we’re bringing you a reading by Melbourne-based recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey. Genevieve creates poetic, sensual worlds in a variety of contexts – from the stage to the garden...

Meet Jade Miles from Black Barn Farm! Black Barn is a regenerative, intentional orchard and nursery that operates on permaculture principles. They run farm tours and workshops, and promote homesteading within the rhythms of the seasons. Jade recently released a beautiful book called Futuresteading: Live Like Tomorrow Matter which is full of practical skills, recipes and rituals for connecting with...

Lydia Fairhall reads her essay from Issue 64 of Dumbo Feather magazine titled "On Healing." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greetings friends! This is the first of three music episodes of the Dumbo Feather podcast, a mini-series we’ve put together to celebrate our music issue of the magazine, which you can get over at our website dumbofeather.com or at speciality newsagents and retailers. For the next three months, we’re going to spotlight some of the musicians featured in the pages of the issue and bring their stories...

Today we're sharing the recording from the launch event of our truth issue of Dumo Feather - it’s a conversation between two familiar voices on the podcast – author and activist, Sarah Wilson, and publisher of Dumbo Feather Berry Liberman. We are very sorry about the poor audio quality. The event was recorded live in Sydney and streamed over Zoom, hence the sound didn't come out so great. But, the...

Hello! Today we are sharing a conversation between two extraordinary women who have both featured in the pages of our magazine, Claire Dunn and Ella Noah Bancroft. Both are passionate rewilding facilitators, leading their communities into deeper relationship with the natural world, them selves and others. Claire has just released her second book, Rewilding the Urban Soul, which we’ll be hearing mo...

In anticipation of our music issue of Dumbo Feather, we're sharing an oldie but a goodie with you all. It’s our chat with Aussie music legend Xavier Rudd, which took place a few year’s back. Xavier is a folk, blues artist and multi-instrumentalist, whose songs speak to the heart of many environmental and social issues. He’s speaking here with another familiar voice, songwriter and Dumbo Feather fr...

In this episode we hear from Fiona Armstrong, Executive Director of the Climate and Health Alliance. These legends exist to highlight the health impacts of climate change, believing that if the health sector leads on climate advocacy, then decision-makers and the public will act, because we the community care about health and trusts health voices. Earlier this year, The Climate and Health Alliance...

One of the things we love at Dumbo Feather is learning about new models of success which we can implement in our communities and nations to ensure more prosperity across the board - for people and planet, not just the top one percent. A trailblazer in this work is Kate Raworth, an economist for the University of Oxford who devised the doughnut economic model, which defines the social and environme...

In this conversation, we hear from one of the seminal writers in tree communication, Peter Wohlleben, who’s book “The Hidden Life of Trees” revolutionised our understanding of how trees nurture and talk to each other. The international bestseller draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to reveal the ways in which trees are like human families and communities, supporting the young ones as th...

Two years ago, our publisher Berry Liberman sat down with Worimi singer-songwriter Lydia Fairhall for one of the richest and most joyful inquiries of our inner and outer landscapes. Since then, Lydia has become a mentor and friend, whose wise counsel has expanded so much of our thinking and work. The conversation featured in our commemorative 60th edition of Dumbo Feather, titled "Belonging." Host...

Our current issue of Dumbo Feather magazine is all about truth and critical thinking. Our editor-in-chief Berry Liberman sat down with the wonderful Lisa Marchiano, a social worker and Jungian analyst based in Philadelphia (who you might know from her podcast This Jungian Life), to discuss discernment, the challenges posed by mass movements, and why we need to make friends with doubt. If these ide...

International dharma teacher and Dumbo Feather friend Catherine Ingram attended a recent Small Giants team huddle and shared this potent reflection on uncertainty with us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we bring you a reading of one of our essays from the Rest issue of Dumbo Feather magazine. It's by our much-loved contributor Lauren L. Hill, who you can also hear over at the Water People podcast, and it's called "Minding My Mothers." Thanks to the guys at Cheshire Audio and Yaga for editing this episode and weaving together music, sound and voice so beautifully. Hosted on Acast. See...

We are catching waves on the podcast this month with longboarding champion Belinda Baggs, who hails from Torquay, Australia. Belinda is a surfing ambassador for Patagonia Australia and the co-founder of Surfers for Climate, a sea-roots movement dedicated to positive climate action. She chats with Dumbo Feather favourite and fellow champion surfer, Lauren Hill. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

This month's chat is with the delightful & insightful Lucy Peach, author of the book Period Queen. Hailing from Fremantle WA, Lucy is a folk singer, performer & a long time champion of the power of the menstrual cycle. We love the way Lucy talks about the period and the invitation that is present in each stage of that cycle. This conversation was had in October last year for our current issue of D...

In this episode, we chat with Nipun Mehta from issue 60 of Dumbo Feather. Nipun is founder of Service Space, an incubator of labor-of-love projects that are powered by inner transformation. His role is to bring an abundance mindset back into out communities, where giving might well be the ultimate reward, and where there are many kinds of capital to trade: from love and kindness to labour and time...

Sarah Wilson is ALL IN. Her new book, "This One Wild and Precious Life," articulates “a hopeful path forward in a fractured world.” As someone very familiar with suffering, she says we have “cocooned ourselves in a state of overwhelm, in this suspended state of adolescence.” Distracted and numb, we are in collective moral and psychological retreat from dealing with the multiple crises we face. The...

Biomimicry is a practice that learns from and mimics the strategies found in nature to solve human design challenges. We hear from the co-founder of this extraordinary work, Dayna Baumeister about what it is and how it might help us to understand the role rest has played in the evolution of our species. Dayna chats with Dumbo Feather contributor and permaculture legend, Dan Palmer. Hosted on Acast...

It's the musical episode of the Dumbo Feather podcast, featuring songs and reflections from this year's Small Giants Artists in Residence, including Lydia Fairhall, Bobby Alu, Neda Rahmani and Mama Kin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pico Iyer is regarded as one of the best travel writers of our time, but he's not just an explorer of the outer worlds, he writes beautifully on the inner journeys available to us, too. Having written 14 books, travelled frequently by the side of the Dalai Lama, done four TED Talks with over 10 million views and written for Time Magazine, New York Times and many more, he is a wise voice for our ti...

As part of our localising campaign at Dumbo Feather, we have a ripper conversation for you with the former mayor of Frome and legend of local politics, Peter Macfadyen. Peter is one of the architects behind Flatpack Democracy, a do-it-yourself guide to creating independent politics. In this conversation with Berry Liberman, he tells the story of how he and a small group of independents successfull...