Into the Woods with Leila Conners

My friend, Joe Costello, came out with a book, The Politics of Ape and Machine: Power as Organization (2025), so I did an interview with him November of 2025 about his thesis.  I am just posting this now, and given world events, this conversation is more urgent.  We, as a people, need to meet together and find common ground about how to move our country forward, together.  Joe's book can be found here:  https://www.strandbooks.com/the-politics-of-ape-and-machine-power-as-organization-9798998579639.htmlFor a deep dive on how people are restoring We the People, check out We the People 2.0:  https://treemedia.vhx.tv/products/we-the-people-2-0

Raymond Apy of Northeastern Biochar Solutions is taking biosolids, pyrolizing them and applying the biochar to fields. He tried his first project in a community north of Albany, NY in Monroe County to be denied due to several factors, one, not least of which being a misunderstanding of what pyrolysis and biochar is. Given that New York State is shutting down landfills and is about to ban biosolids application on land, what Northeastern Biochar Solutions wants to do is now more urgent.  I speak with him about what happened and what he is doing now, which is essentially the same idea, with more efficiencies and better public education up front.   For more on CDR:  https://treemedia.vhx.tv/products/legion-44-to-buyFor more on Northeastern Biochar Solutions: https://northeasternbiochar.com/For more on Tree+: https://treemedia.vhx.tv/browseFor more on Tree Media:  http://www.treemedia.com

Leila Conners speaks with Zion Lights about nuclear energy, nuclear waste and why nuclear energy might be the right choice for future energy generation.  We cover the fears and the promise of this energy.  

Leila Conners, Director of Legion 44 and Founder of Tree+ / Tree Media catches up with Claire Nelson from Cella, a mineral storage company that will be at the center of the future of carbon management. 

Planetary received a major boost from the Frontier Foundation and can now scale to the next step.  Leila Conners catches up with Planetary CEO Mike Kelland on their big new deal and also updates everyone who is new to ocean alkalinity enhancement, or OAE.  We touch on working with the fossil fuel industry, why Planetary's OAE is not geoengineering and how they can make fly ash circular.  

I catch up with Hannes Junginger, CEO and CoFounder of Carbonfuture.  Carbonfuture is a digital quality layer that provides transparency along the whole value chain of carbon sequestration.  In this episode we discuss the state of the CDR industry that has had some recent big wins and a few emergent challenges. A discussion at the beginning of an new industry that will not just remove carbon but also make important materials.

Leila Conners in discussion with Kasper Moth-Poulsen of the Kasper Moth-Poulsen Research Group on Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage ... basically a molecular battery that can store energy for up to 20 years.  Given that we need to understand how better to power civilization, I am doing conversations with breakthrough ideas around energy and storage.  For more info: https://www.moth-poulsen.com/http://www.treemedia.com

Leila Conners continues the Into the Woods Series with a discussion with Auke Hoekstra, Founder & Director, of the NEON Research at Eindhoven University of Technology.  There are currently not enough permitted and working mines to support the renewable energy transition even though the earth does have ample reserves.  The question is, what forms of destruction make sense to support the energy needs of civilization? For example is a mine in a rainforest worth starting to prevent the displacement of other refugees?  Will the tug and pull of protecting local lands prevent access to these minerals and is there another way that makes sense?  Is CDU (fuels from captured carbon from the sky) preferable? Watch as we explore all the options, their impacts and the tradeoffs. 

Gregory Stangl and Loni Austin of Phoenix Energy speak with Leila Conners about the value of biochar.  They’ve been producing it for over 15 years with their BECCS machines.  The bioenergy carbon capture and storage machines produce biochar as a byproduct.  Rather than seeing biochar as a byproduct, Phoenix knows it has core value for farmers when regulating water content in soils, as a powerful method of water filtration as well as a way to mitigate and lock in the carbon from California’s forest.  Why can’t everyone obviously get that biochar is the most amazing substance out there, Greg wonders.  To help us finish The Biochar Effect, a feature-length film about biochar so that everyone gets on board: https://www.treemedia.com/thebiochareffect

Let's get realistic about what is needed to sustain the renewable energy transition...right now in the next 5 years we need about 293 NEW mines.  Adam Webb of Benchmark Minerals Breaks this down for us while also discussing new mining practices, the kinds of minerals needed and where these mines are located.  Into the Woods is a new series of discussions conducted by Leila Conners of Tree Media.  For more information: http://www.treemedia.comhttps://www.benchmarkminerals.com/Tree Media's newest film out now on CDR entitled "Legion 44" to be found at: http://www.legion44.world