A show about relationships with the land

There are many ways to listen to the show: Listen live on CFRU 93.3 fm broadcasting from the University of Guelph Mondays at 6pm EST or listen to the podcast via Spotify, Apple, or just follow the rss feed.

Ep. 151 : Nokom’s House

Ep. 151 : Nokom’s House

Dr. Kim Anderson, Dr. Sheri Longboat and Dr. Brittany Luby are the driving force behind Nokom’s House, a new lab in development at the University of Guelph. Together with a community of elders they are establishing an indigenous learning, sharing, teaching space which will be using relational pedagogies, community research, and land-based learning to make home for cultural recovery, inter-generational training, and the creation of indigenous futurities.
On the show we hear why there is a need for Nokom’s House within the academic setting, what the cultural architecture of safety can look like for marginalized students, the roles of women, especially older women, have within indigineous communities, and also why there needs to be spaces specifically for indigineous people on the University of Guelph campus, within the city of Guelph, and further afield.

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Ep. 150 : Wellington Water Watchers
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Ep. 150 : Wellington Water Watchers

Wellington Water Watchers (WWW) is a grassroots organization working towards protecting their local water. Through centering indigenous and marginalized struggles as a lighthouse to current and future Water Watchers campaigns, and through developing partnerships with other seemingly disparate local organizations, they have been working to challenge the destructive machinations of bottled water corporations (Nestle specifically), developers, and provincial and federal governments who have been neglecting or outright attacking safe clean drinking water and the natural habitats where that water comes from.
Arlene Slowcombe, executive director of Wellington Water Watchers, talks on the show about how they and their allies are working to protect water and oppose those who would endanger not only the most precious and vital of “resources”, but the key to all life on earth.

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Ep. 149 : No Nuclear Waste Dump in South Bruce!

Ep. 149 : No Nuclear Waste Dump in South Bruce!

About 30 km from Lake Huron, there is a proposal to dig a 500m mine (“deep geological repository” or DGR) on 1500 acres along the Teeswater River. Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) wants to fill the mine with radioactive waste with a half-life of up to 1,000,000 years.
Thankfully there are folks resisting the proposed nuclear waste dump. Today’s show I talk to Michelle Stein and Bill Noll from “Protect Our Waterways - No Nuclear Waste” to find out what the proposed project is all about, and how they are working with their neighbours, both near and far, indigenous and settlers, from both sides of Lake Huron, to challenge the NMWO and the proposed DGR.

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Ep. 148 : Hazel Wheeler from the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program

Ep. 148 : Hazel Wheeler from the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program

Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes are an endangered species. Recent population analysis indicates that there may be only 50 breeding pairs remaining in Ontario. But there is work being done to help populations recover. Hazel Wheeler, lead biologist on the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program with Wildlife Preservation Canada has been helping to coordinate captive breeding programs to support the rearing, and release of thousands of Loggerhead Shrikes since 2003.
Hazel joins the show to talk about some of the natural history of the Eastern Loggerhead, along with detailing the recovery project and how they are working hard understand what impacts are affecting the populations, and what they are doing in the breeding programs to assist these amazing and endangered birds.

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Ep. 147 : Fox and Rabbit predator-prey interactions with wildlife behavioral ecologists Jeremy Pustilnik and Paul Curtis
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Ep. 147 : Fox and Rabbit predator-prey interactions with wildlife behavioral ecologists Jeremy Pustilnik and Paul Curtis

For this interview I get to talk with Jeremy Pustilnik and Paul Curtis about a recently published paper from the journal “Urban Ecosystems” on the interactions of Eastern Cottontail Rabbits (Syvilagus floridanus) and Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) around the use of Groundhog (Marmota monax) burrows and if the scent of Red Fox urine would dissuade the Cottontails from using the burrows.
It was a lot of fun to get to dig in with these two biologists on their research, their experience and their passion for the work.

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Ep. 146 : Sophie Mazowita of Tracking Connections
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Ep. 146 : Sophie Mazowita of Tracking Connections

The first show of 2021 is a great one. My guest is Sophie Mazowita, naturalist, educator, wildlife guide, tracker, storyteller and much more. We talk about her journey as a naturalist and a tracker, how she gets off the trail and gets into the wilder world around her.
When I talk to folks about creating cultures of connection with the land, putting in the time, effort and passion into the work of learning ourselves and teaching others, Sophie is right on that. She has been working hard, as evidenced all over the internet with her videos, her career as a naturalist and educator, and her ongoing work getting folks on board with paying attention to the wilder world around them.

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SpaceRogue and CyberSquirrel1 (from the archives)

SpaceRogue and CyberSquirrel1 (from the archives)

This is an older interview with cybersquirrel1.com creator SpaceRogue on why we need not worry about the threats of nationalistic warlike cyber attacks on the power grid on the continent, but instead we must be more concerned about THE SQUIRRELS!!! (sort of..)
Squirrels, Birds, Snakes, Raccoons have caused 2,123 power outages around the world since 1987, and possibly more. SpaceRogue has been collecting, documenting, and sharing details of these mischievous animal attacks against the power grids. Tune in to hear about how the power infrastructure works in North America and how the wilderfauna are fighting back against “the grid”!

Originally aired April 17, 2017.

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Ep. 145 : Winter Solstice

Ep. 145 : Winter Solstice

Cycles of the year are very important to me. Spring Equinox is always quickening as you smell the winter dripping away. Summer solstice for dancing with friends throughout the shortest nights. Autumn Equinox is a celebration of the bounty the summer has brought, and a reminder of the coming winter.
But none really carry the weight for me as much as the Winter Solstice. The returning of the Sun fills me with hope and relieves the anxious dark which settles deeper into my bones. It used to be a time of depression and despair, when I only saw death and bad, but as I have learned more about the land, the Winter Solstice has become a quiet promise that this dark, too, will pass.

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Ep. 144 : Heather Wilson of Child and Nature Alliance of Canada
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Ep. 144 : Heather Wilson of Child and Nature Alliance of Canada

The work of Forest schools is becoming a bustling landscape of small organizations and business' trying their best to teach and share alongside the land in the best ways they can. But how do we transplant a European sourced model onto colonized indigenous lands without repeating the same racist patterns of harm? How do we not only stop harm, but work towards healing, reparations, and good relationships with all the communities we serve through the context of learning and teaching on the land?
Heather Wilson is the new (as of Nov. 18, 2020) Executive Director of Child and Nature Alliance of Canada and with humility and grace, Heather shares some of the work she and the CNAC are doing to push Forest Schools towards a more inclusive, safe, meaningful, and culturally relevant option for all stakeholders.

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Ep. 143 : Lesley Sampson and Lauren Van Patter on Co-existing With Urban Coyotes
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Ep. 143 : Lesley Sampson and Lauren Van Patter on Co-existing With Urban Coyotes

Highly adaptive, intelligent, “wily”, and resilient, Coyote is not going to stop just because our human made landscapes get in the way. In fact, Coyotes make the way for themselves within our constructed spaces, finding edges and cracks and turning them into home.
But how do we co-exist with an animal that so many have feared, hunted and sought to destroy for so long? How can we share the urban environment with a predator? When animals re-occupy the urban in novel ways, or ways that humans didn’t intend, how do we make space for that?
Lesley Sampson of Coyote Watch Canada, and animal geographer Lauren Van Patter share some of their experiences with Coyotes in urban environments, and how they are looking to help communities learn how to coexist with these wonderful animals.

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Interview with Tom Wessels, Terrestrial Ecologist (from the archives)
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Interview with Tom Wessels, Terrestrial Ecologist (from the archives)

Interview with author, educator, terrestrial ecologist and inspiration, Tom Wessels.
Tom has written extensively on “forest forensics” and what I call “landscape tracking”, learning to read the signs of the forest to identify the ecological history and disturbance events which have affected that landscape. We talk about his books, ways we can imagine the future based on models of organization seen in nature, his ecological knowledge. Well worth the listen.

This interview was originally broadcast November 18, 2019.

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Ep. 142 : Raptor Prey Remains with Ed Drewitt
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Ep. 142 : Raptor Prey Remains with Ed Drewitt

For Episode 142 I get to talk to Ed Drewitt, naturalist, Peregrine Falcon researcher, and author of Raptor Prey Remains : A guide to identifying what’s been eaten by a bird of prey. We talk about raptor ecology on the broad sense and also get focus on Peregrines.
It was a nice and relaxed interview, with Ed sharing so much of what he has learned through his years of observation and study, and how his book can help those who are getting started in the world of tracking birds of prey by learning to correctly identify that which they prey upon.

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Ep. 141 : Talking to Jam Doughty, non-binary nature educator, and creature drawer

Ep. 141 : Talking to Jam Doughty, non-binary nature educator, and creature drawer

How do we talk to the young people in our lives about our the complexities in the world around us? What about the subtleties and possibilities within our own experiences of ourselves? How do you challenge those we work with and for to push beyond lip service to racial equity and create real solidarity in our daily jobs? How does one do this amidst a culture of white supremacy, heterocentrism, and a pandemic, seemingly getting more and more out of hand?

All this and more in conversation with Jam Doughty, non-binary nature educator, and creature drawer

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Ep. 139 : Hawk Cliff
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Ep. 139 : Hawk Cliff

Going to Hawk Cliff to go watch migrating Raptors with some dear friends, is becoming a bit of a pilgrimage for me. It’s only the second time I’ve gone there, but the quality of the experience is profound. To get to see these Birds whom, when you see individually during your everyday, it is always a highlight of the day. But to go see hundreds of these amazing predatory birds is just astounding. What a gift.

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Queer Nature (from the archives)

Queer Nature (from the archives)

Danielle and I speak with Pinar and So of Queer Nature about how it might look feel and be to queer and decolonize our understandings of who we are in connection with the places we live. How can we interrupt the dominant narrative of ecologies viewed through the lenses of heterocentric, capitalist, white supremacis colonial narratives? Does the land make space for divergent identities, life ways and lifeforms? How do we as queer folks who seek to learn more about ancestral skills and the land bases we live on practice on lands we may not be ancestrally connected to?

Originally aired April 9th, 2018.

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Ep. 138 : Walking through the tall grass with Matt Iles, Bird Biologist
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Ep. 138 : Walking through the tall grass with Matt Iles, Bird Biologist

Matt Iles has been studying birds for about 12 years. He is humble, thoughtful and a wonderful teacher. He has taught me a lot and is a treasured friend and colleague. For this show we walk through the old fields of tall grass, Goldenrods, and assorted shrubs asking questions about his career as a bird biologist, about bird migrations, and his upcoming workshop.

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