Ep. 230 : In Conversation with Lisa Donahue

How do we aim to teach about a land which has been occupied through theft, displacement, war, and genocide? How can we say we work towards loving relationships with ourselves, with each other and the land when this is the past and present reality of the place we inhabit and the position of the states we are governed by?
I got to talk with a mentor, friend, and elder in my community, Lisa Donahue, about how we can struggle to do the work of bringing folks outside and teaching them alongside the land when the context is rife with harm. As always, Lisa shared from the heart with precision, passion and a poignant reckoning of the ongoing need to work towards justice, peace and good relations. I am so grateful for her wisdom, her humility and her care.

byron murray 2023-03-06 byron murray 2023-03-06

Ep. 209 : Tracker Certification North America

Tracker Certification North America is an evaluating body in the field of wildlife tracking and trailing, and so much more. They host evaluations which double as in depth community tracking and trailing training sessions, going deep on the explanations and pointing out how the evaluator can see what they can see. This process encourages dialogue, feedback and reflection, community discussion and a deeper understanding of the trails the animals are leaving behind.

byron murray 2022-10-10 byron murray 2022-10-10

Ep. 197 : Sit Spots

It’s easy, pretty accessible and turns out to be a lot of fun and often full of learning. A sit spot, or magic spot, or secret spot or whatever else you might call it is simple. Just go find your sit spot, close to home, accessible and easy and then sit there, quietly.
Nature is everywhere, and we can notice it in all sorts of ways. Be it our balcony, backyard or a bench at the park. Find a spot you can go to reliably and find a nice place to sit.
Doesn’t really matter where you are even. Friends have done sit spots from their kitchen windows, from their prison cells, from balconies 9 stories up. It is an extremely valuable practice that I would wholly endorse to anyone seeking to learn more about the land.

byron murray 2022-07-04 byron murray 2022-07-04

Ep. 192 : Daniella Roze on the harm in our work

Daniella Roze lives this stuff. Seriously. She has spent years living off grid in a small community of folks learning how to live in closer connection with their land base out West. She has done month long adventures with a crew of women living with only the hides on their backs and whatever they could harvest from the land. She is also the founder, and was the former director and lead instructor at the Thriving Roots Wilderness School. Land based learner, educator, ecopsychologist, and PhD candidate, Daniella is well acquainted with the healing and possibility in the work of helping folks connect with the land, but she is also aware of the harms.
Together we discuss how can our nature based organizations work towards “justice” when we have blinders imposed by the dominant culture? When we replicate racist hiring practices, when we speak of the land in ways that erase the indigenous histories of the places where we work? How can we do the work to be more equitable, inclusive and welcoming to black, indigenous and other folks of colour?

byron murray 2022-06-13 byron murray 2022-06-13

Ep. 190 : Jenna Rudolph on the harm in our work

Jenna Rudolph has been running an nature school on unceded territories on the West coat of the continent. What does it mean to support students in developing connections to a land base that is stolen from indigenous people? It would be easy to shy away from the question, as many have for so long, but Jenna and her colleagues at Soaring Eagle Nature School are trying to explore this question directly, with humility, patience and deep care.