Voices for Nature & Peace

Ep. 4: "Green Energy" vs. the Mojave Desert Kevin Emmerich is co-founder of Basin & Range Watch, a non-profit environmental organization based in southern Nevada that educates people about threats to public land from industrial development and energy extraction in the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin. These regions have been ground zero for "green energy" due to their plen...

Are the Plants "Invasive"? or the Land Ethics? In this cross-posted guest episode, host Kollibri terre Sonnenblume takes the guest seat and is interviewed by Amy Walsh of The Nettle Witch, MD. Amy describes herself as someone who is "not so gracefully walking the line between medical doctor and wild woman" and who is "exploring the science and magic of healing through essa...

Ep. 3: Bringing Land Use into the Climate Conversation Nikos Giannakis is a biologist with the University of Leeds, currently working in Greece. His graduate work was in environmental pollution control and agricultural chemistry, and his PhD was on soil microbiology. His national service requirement in Greece led to environmental consulting including impact assessment. Currently he is living with...

Ep. 2: Eugenics & Conservation: Too Close for Comfort In this episode, Kollibri is joined by co-host Nikki Hill for a conversation with Calyx Liddick, founder of the Northern Appalachia School. Calyx has taken a deep dive into the common origins of the eugenics and conservation movements in the US in the early 20th Century, and what she has found is alarming. The boosters of race science, whit...

Ep. 1: "Plant Advocacy" An interview with with Paul Moss, Executive Director of the Plant Initiative, a plant advocacy organization. In this far-ranging and intriguing conversation,we talk about plant intelligence, agriculture, "invasive" plants, anthropocentrism, and more. Support Voices for Nature & Peace by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/voi...

Introducing "Speaking for the Trees, No Matter Where They’re From"--the podcast. The "Voices for Nature & Peace" is still retired. But episodes of the new podcast will be uploaded to this feed. "Speaking for the Trees, No Matter Where They're From" will feature interviews with nature lovers on plants & ecology, with a special focus on “invasive plant” mytholog...

Announcement of new podcast "Speaking for the Trees, No Matter Where They're From" Special announcement! This podcast, "Voices for Nature and Peace," is officially retired. However, I have a new podcast called, "Speaking For the Trees, No Matter Where They're From," featuring interviews with nature lovers about plants & ecology, with a special focus on “invasive p...

"No Such a Thing as an 'Invasive Species'?" feat. Prof. Matt Chew Dubbed a ‘gadfly of invasion biology’ by Scientific American, Matt Chew is known for critiquing ecology’s overreliance on societal metaphors and conservationists’ misapplication of notions like ‘nativeness’. Dr. Chew has a B.S. Environmental Interpretation and an M.S. Range Science (Ecology) from Colorado State University, and a Ph....

"Trans 101" feat. Terra Terra is a freelance artist, writer, and podcaster residing in Portland, OR. I have known them since 2007, when I was an urban farmer living in their backyard. They are on Twitter as @cybersatyr: https://twitter.com/CyberSatyr We discussed how the new ideas fit in with the old ones; the phrase, "trans women are women;" the concept of misgendering; how quickly the discussion...

"Animal Liberation / Human Liberation" feat. Robert Porzel Prof. Robert Porzel is a national representative for “Physicians against Animal Testing” and founder of the animal rights group “T-Zelle,” which aims to establish intersectional collaboration between social movements. The current network connects about 20 individual groups and organizations in the state of Bremen, Germany. In January of 20...

"People & Plants on the Move, Together" feat. Zach Elfers Zach Elfers was raised in the piedmont of the mid-Atlantic but has travelled widely around the lower 48. He is a student of the plants who has learned from mentors, elders, and most importantly, from living outside spending as much time as possible with the more-than-human world. His areas of interest include ancestral ways of subsistin...

Rebel with a Cause: Remembering Finisia Medrano (part 3 of 3) Disclaimer: This episode is full of obscenities and is probably not safe for work. Additionally, it contains words relating to sexual identity that may be offensive to some. All this vocabulary is not included gratuitously, but reflects the usage of the podcast’s subject, Finisia Medrano, a trans woman with a mouth like a sailor. You’ve...

Rebel with a Cause: Remembering Finisia Medrano (part 2 of 3) Disclaimer: This episode is full of obscenities and is probably not safe for work. Additionally, it contains words relating to sexual identity that may be offensive to some. All this vocabulary is not included gratuitously, but reflects the usage of the podcast’s subject, Finisia Medrano, a trans woman with a mouth like a sailor. You’ve...

Rebel with a Cause: Remembering Finisia Medrano (part 1 of 3) Disclaimer: This episode is full of obscenities and is probably not safe for work. Additionally, it contains words relating to sexual identity that may be offensive to some. All this vocabulary is not included gratuitously, but reflects the usage of the podcast’s subject, Finisia Medrano, a trans woman with a mouth like a sailor. You’ve...

"A Lifetime Seeking Peace" feat. Kathy Kelly Kathy Kelly is a lifelong pacifist and peace activist. In her efforts to stop the US military machine, she has traveled to war zones around the world, engaged in countless acts of non-violent civil disobedience, and been arrested dozens of times. With her own eyes, she has witnessed the brutal costs of US aggression. Her reality has focused on things th...

"Rethinking Food & Agriculture" feat. Laila Kassam Laila Kassam has been involved in social change for most of her career. She has worked in the international development sector since 2003, conducting research on poverty and food security for rural development projects in the Global South. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and by international organisations including th...

"The Bonobo Way" with Dr. Susan Block Susan Marilyn Block, Ph. D. is founder and director of the Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences. A world-renowned sexologist and best-selling author, her book, "The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace through Pleasure," has garnered critical acclaim from a variety of media outlets and celebrities, from politicians to porn stars. A magna...

"The Vital Need to Decolonize" feat. Ajamu Baraka A human rights defender whose experience spans four decades of domestic and international education and activism, Ajamu Baraka is a veteran grassroots organizer whose roots are in the Black Liberation Movement and anti-apartheid and Central American solidarity struggles. He is an internationally recognized leader of the emerging human rights moveme...

"We Shouldn't Be at War with Plants" feat. Prof. Juliet Stromberg Julie Stromberg is a retired professor from Arizona State University, where she received her PhD in Plant Ecology in 1988. While at ASU, she specialized in riparian ecosystems. Much of her research focused on relationships between stream and ground water hydrology and riparian ecosystems, and on effects of ecosystem disturbance (flo...

"We're All Preppers Now" feat. Margaret Killjoy Margaret Killjoy is a transfeminine author and editor currently living in a self-built cabin in the Appalachian mountains. She is the author of the Danielle Cain series of novellas, published by Tor.com . She hosts the podcast, "Live Like the World is Dying," in which she interviews people who think about how to prepare for and survive crises. Politi...

Ep. 58: I'm Interviewed on the Green Root Podcast In January I was interviewed by Josh Schlossberg for his Green Root podcast. Josh is an investigative journalist and recovering activist and with his podcast he is pursuing a quest to uncover the roots of the modern ecological crisis. I interviewed Josh in 2018 about how biomass energy isn't green, and you can read an abridged version online at my...

Lithium Mining Ain't Green" feat. Kevin Emmerich The ugly truth behind the in-demand element Lithium mining is back in the news these days, with activists occupying the site of a proposed mine in northern Nevada. (See episode 53 for my interview with Will Falk, one of the occupiers.) So I contacted Kevin Emmerich of Basin & Range Watch, to get more details about how lithium mining works, and w...

"Conservation in a Post-'Wilderness' World" feat. Leia Barnett The idea of ecological "conservation" has always been in evolution, and today it is responding to the challenges of climate change, as well as being enriched by the addition of indigenous practices and knowledge. Legislation still lags behind, as it tends to, but the field is undeniably growing, which offers some encouragement for an u...

"No Going Back to Normal" feat. Kenn Orphan Kenn Orphan is an artist, writer, radical nature lover, antiwar and anti-capitalist activist, sociologist, spiritualist and hospice social worker. He writes about art and culture, socio-economic injustice, geopolitical issues, philosophy, and the existential threats we collectively face from corporate capitalism, the war industry, climate change and an e...

"Wolves Under Fire" feat. Samantha Bruegger Wolves are one of those animals who inhabit not only the material world, but mythological and cultural ones as well. Metaphorically, settler-colonial society warns of "the big bad wolf," "the wolves at the door," "wolves in sheep's clothing" and "lone wolves." In popular art, Duran Duran scored it big with "Hungry Like the Wolf," Leonardo DiCaprio starre...