PODCAST · science
Lifeworlds
by Alexa Firmenich
Lifeworlds is an intimate dialogue with our planet’s ecologies and with those who are translators and bridges between the human and beyond-human. Our guests are farmers, lawyers, scientists, investors, indigenous scholars, artists, and many more — with them, we explore the mindsets, skills and actions required to forge deep connections with nature and to enter into close relationship with the lifeworlds of other beings. We begin to change the world when we change our ways of seeing and being. Lifeworlds points us towards a deeper reformulation of core human identities, asking who it is we share the Earth with and what our human role may be at this pivotal moment in time. It is through the doorway of inhabiting and understanding multiple perspectives that we can begin to heal a culture and psyche that is steeped in duality. We have lost our place as humans amongst all life. This is our call for healing, engagement and wonder. <a href="https://www.li
Episodes
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38. Mother Trees And Forest Resilience - with Suzanne Simard
This episode is a live interview with Dr. Suzanne Simard at the MOTH Festival of Ideas in London. Suzanne is the forest ecologist whose researched popularised notions of the Wood Wide Web and the Mother Trees, and revealed the living networks that wire a forest together to share carbon, water and...
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Meditation | Deep Time
[Republished with better quality audio] This is a meditation I wrote and recorded to plunge us through epochs of cosmic time, through the tremendous evolutionary processes that preceded us, became us, and are us. It grants us invaluable context on the great tales of life whose memories are held…
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37. Whale Lexicons: A Language of the Deep — with David Gruber and César Rodríguez-Garavito
What does it actually mean to translate a language that has never been written down or spoken in air, whose holders are ancient ocean denizens, and may not even carry concepts we'd recognize as our own? That's the question sitting at the center of this episode, and those answering it have formed...
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36. Stingless Bees, Ancient Honey & the Amazon's Future – with Dr. Rosa Vasquez Espinosa
What if one of the most powerful tools for saving the Amazon rain-forest was a bee most people have never heard of? Enter the stingless bee – a 65 million year old resident of Earth that produces honeys teeming with medicinal molecules and has co-evolved with indigenous Amazonian communities…
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35. From Stardust To Sentience: Astrobiology & Life in the Cosmos – with Adam Frank
What is life, and are we alone in the universe? In this episode I sit down with Adam Frank, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester, prolific science communicator, and author of five books including The Blind Spot and The Little Book of Aliens. Adam is one of the most compelling...
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Soulfire Sessions III: Many Minds – with Kensy Cooperrider
Consciousness is one of the great running threads beneath every episode of this show: a loaded term, tangled up with questions of sentience and intelligence, and carrying the most direct ethical implications for how we live on Earth. This week I'm joined by Kensy Cooperrider, cognitive scientist...
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34. Black Mountains College: Rethinking Education for Our Times - with Ben Rawlence
Today’s episode explores a simple but urgent question: is our education system still fit for the world we’re entering? Climate disruption, AI, and uncertainty demand new forms of education fit for complexity and change. A rich lineage of alternative and experimental education has been evolving…
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Poetry | Fruitful Darkness with Rilke
This Lifeworlds episode is a devotional journey into the work of Rainer Maria Rilke, the lyrical German poet of thresholds and embracing transformations. Through readings of his most luminous poems and writings, we explore how Rilke guides us deliciously in reconciling suffering and turmoil with...
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33. Empatheatre: Social Sculpture & Feeling Across Worlds - with Dylan McGarry
In this episode, we explore the role of theatre and empathy in transforming worldviews. Dr. Dylan McGarry is one of the founders of Empatheatre, a South African theatre-making company and methodology that turns research and storytelling into living social sculpture. Their plays create what they...
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32. Depth Psychology and Soul Initiation – with Bill Plotkin from Animas Valley Institute
In this episode, I sit down with Bill Plotkin, founder of Animas Valley Institute. Over the past 40 years, Bill has developed intricate, nature-based models of human development and education that challenge dominant psychological frameworks and invite us into a maturation process rooted in...
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31. Holistic Landscape Restoration and Inspirational Returns – with Willem Ferwerda from Commonland
Almost 40% of Earth’s land is degraded, meaning that the natural cycles that sustain biodiversity, water, food, and livelihoods are breaking down. This degradation is an ecological crisis, and, it also lies at the root of massive social breakdown, displacement, and conflict. And it’s…
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From Orbit to Intimacy | Beyond the Overview Effect
What if the next shift in planetary consciousness didn’t come from looking back at Earth from space, but from listening deeply to the voices already here? In this thought piece I propose the “inworlding effect” as the overview effect of our time: one where developments in science, technology…
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30. Grief, Song and Ceremonies of Mourning - with Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey
Today we’re joined by artist, musician and communal grief ritual facilitator Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey to speak about the cultural forgetting of communal mourning, the sacred role of professional mourners, and the re-emergence of grief ceremonies as necessary spaces of remembrance, healing and...
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29. Carbon and the Grammar of Life - with Paul Hawken
In this episode we’re joined by the renowned environmentalist, activist and author Paul Hawken to explore the lifeworld of carbon and its role as a vital agent in the story of life. Paul speaks about the dysfunctions in Western language on how we speak about climate and nature, and why metaphors…
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28. Whale Dreaming & Ocean Songlines - with WHAIA
In this episode, we journey into the vibrational worlds of sound, ancestry, and deep listening with Whaia, a Ngāti Kahungunu woman of Māori descent and First Nations sonic weaver and multi-instrumentalist. Raised between the salt of the Pacific and the red dust of the Australian desert, Whaia’s...
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Poetry | The World Thinks in Poetry
In a remote cabin in Vancouver Island in 2019, far away, I sat by the shore. I listened. I re-read poetry. I swam with jellyfish. I ate bright salmon berries and raw samphire. I gazed around and listened to the songs of the land. This piece of writing is a result of my days there. Full poem on...
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27. The Ecology Of Health - with Dr. Mackenzie Hall
Where does your body end and the Earth begin? In this episode, we explore the real and poetic parallels between human health and planetary health, and how nature’s language moves in our bodies. Joining me is Dr. Mackenzie Hall, a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine, who...
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Soulfire Sessions II: with David McConville
David McConville is a transdisciplinary artist and researcher who explores how technology shapes our perspectives of Earth—from local places to our cosmic context. Our conversation examines how worldviews influence infrastructure, using Los Angeles as a case study. We explore the paradigm of...
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From Your Host: Season’s Reflections and Q&A
In this episode, I share some reflections on Season 2, before diving into our first listener-guided Q&A! You’ll be hearing from fellow listeners who enquired on topics like: Earth-centered governance De-extinction Alternative economies Language and stories about nature Which lifeworld I’d inhabit...
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26. Speculative Designs & Embodied Imaginations - with Superflux
What if you could inhabit the future? In this episode, we dive into the work of Superflux, the visionary design studio turning imagination into tangible worlds. From multispecies banquets and rewilded ecological sanctuaries to mythic friezes that re-enchant cityscapes, co-founder Anab Jain shares...
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Practice | Body Compass
This is my take on ancient and intuitive sensory experience that taps into the innate intelligence of the human body, a blend of body compass, Zen Beginner's Mind, a shamanic medicine walk and Goethean science. The practice asks you to find a place in the natural landscape where you could walk...
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25. The Connected Wild: Earth’s Internet of Animals - with Dr. Martin Wikelski
Throughout history, many cultures have observed and interpreted animal behavior to predict events and read the landscapes around them. The multispecies lives of our planet weave an astonishing network of information across the face of the globe, a web of knowledge compromised of thousands of...
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24. Guardians of the Earth: The Rise of Ecocide Law - with Pella Thiel
Could the destruction of nature become considered as serious a crime as that of genocide? How does the structure of law shape a civilisation’s norms, behaviors and overarching story? Today we’ll be discussing international Ecocide law, a massively growing movement that wants to embed the notion…
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23. Wild Avatars: Nature in Virtual Reality - with Marshmallow Laser Feast
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to breathe yourself into your own body? To flow with the out-breath of trees into your own fractaling lungs, to dance ribbonlike into an ancient ceiba’s vasculature, to stitch an ecosystem together as a mycelium highways sparkling with energy? In this...
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22. Zen Buddhism and the Soul of Lifeworlding - with Brother Spirit and Sister True Dedication / Plum Village
Today’s episode brings us into the heart and philosophy of Zen Buddhism, as practiced by the Plum Village monastic community that was founded in 1982 by the Vietnamese peace activist, monk, poet, and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Today it has grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery, with over…
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Poetry | A Sunset with Mary Oliver
Woven together loosely by my narrative, this special episode traces through a selection of five dazzling poems from the Pulitzer-prize winning poet Mary Oliver; bringing us into giddy relationship with the natural world -- with geese and grasshoppers and miracles and scars and existential queries...
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21. The Science of Plant Intelligence & Neurobiology - with Paco Calvo
Are plants conscious? Do they experience forms of cognition and intelligence that go beyond patterned and hard-wired evolutionary behaviors? Do intelligence and consciousness really require a brain and central nervous system? Or should we consider intelligence on Earth to be less brain-bound,...
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Soulfire Sessions I: with Daniel Schmachtenberger
Soulfire Sessions have come to Lifeworlds! These occasional special episodes will be our take on the good old concept of a fireside chat. Intimate, philosophical, challenging, sometimes zany, always insightful, these are discussions with visionaries who don’t often get the airtime to speak about...
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20. Seeds: The Life Keepers - with Milka Chepkorir Kuto
Seeds. Memory keepers. Speckled time travellers. Capsules of deep, earth wisdom. To control seeds is to control life. To be a seed is to hold the genetic code of turning starlight into matter, of morphing your body into soft green tips that tremble in the wind and drink fire. There is a deep...
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Sound Journey | Music of the Waters
This musical journey has been produced for Lifeworlds by the vocal artist Moncaya. It is a sonic ode to the waters of the Earth and the rivers that flow, and a deep and loving conversation between two dear friends. Moncaya is a singer-songwriter and composer whose namesake derives from the…
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19. Conservation Photography and Beauty Activism – with Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier
Audacious, spunky, courageous, defiant, sensitive, compassionate, fierce… These are just some of the words that I feel radiating from the formidable spirit and woman that is Cristina “Mitty” Mittermeier. Hailed as one of the most influential conservation photographers of our time, this Mexican...
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18. Satellites, Data and Earth Observation: Signal from Noise – with Dan Hammer
How can satellite data and computation fundamentally shift how we understand our place on a changing Earth, and amongst other species? Can we use all that newfound knowledge, transparency, and intelligent data architecture to become better stewards? Allowing the earth to behold itself and its own...
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Meditation | The Cosmos in Your Food
A guided meditation to bring you into a state of communion and intimacy with the Earth through the daily, sacred act of eating. Many ancient traditions have their ways of giving thanks to our connection with food and the planet’s bounteous harvest. Here, I have been inspired by the Zen Buddhist...
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17. Tales of the Arctic Deep – with Sylvia Earle, Johan Rockström and Taylor Griffith
A special three part episode recorded onboard a Climate and Oceans expedition in the Norwegian Arctic. We’ll hear about the dark mysteries of the deepest realms of the ocean from “Her Deepness” herself, Dr. Sylvia Earle (possibly the most admired and loved oceanographer of the last century)....
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16. Climate Grief, Eco-anxiety, and Loving a World in Turmoil – with Britt Wray
A necessary and beautiful episode on the emotional terrain of climate grief, loss, sadness, anxiety, and all the ways we can cope either maladaptively or adaptively to this challenging moment in time. This is an intimate conversation that makes the case for allowing ourselves to ‘feel it all’....
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Myth | Remembrance & Initiation of the Soul
An essential part of living into different lifeworlds resides in the mythic realm – the currents of poetry, mysticism and story that stream in the archetypal world below the world. Today I bring you a myth, from Darren Silver, rite of passage and vision quest guide; it is a myth that has laid...
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15. Re-Weaving Landscapes: Wildlife Crossings & Designing for Nature as the Client
The roads on which we drive are unlikely to strike us as an exciting source of design innovation or interspecies dialogue. And yet, some of the most fascinating experiments and living laboratories are taking place around the world in how humans can build structures of hope and creativity for…
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14. Musicians of the Planet: On Making Interspecies Songs – with David Rothenberg
A clarinet plugged into an underwater hydrophone, playing with liquid humpback whale songs below the surface. A huddled group of musicians under a night-time forest in Berlin, singing with nightingales. A 17-year swarm of cicadas alighting upon a sole jazz musician. These are the scenographies…
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13. The Sounds of Life: Bioacoustics, A.I. and Ethics – with Karen Bakker
The world around us is constantly vibrating with sounds we cannot hear. This magical soundscape evades our senses, tempts us by its elusive presence and beckons us to look deeper. Our ability to listen in is rapidly evolving. Over the last decades, scientists have begun installing digital…
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12. The Art of Tracking & Wild Bison - with Toni Romani
This episode weaves live narrative, interview and descriptions on Romanian bison, wild forest adventures, and the lost ancient art and science of tracking. Tracking is an ancient sensorial and survival strategy that our nomadic ancestors cultivated as state of profound observation. It led to the...
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11. The Inner Lives and Cultural Worlds of Animals – with Carl Safina
Carl Safina is an ecologist, author, conservationist, and animal translator whose body of work probes how free-living animals experience life. His books Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel and Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace have won...
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Season 1 | Your Host's Reflections & Resolutions!
My 2023 Reflections and Resolutions from Season One! I created this podcast to explore how people can learn to inhabit the world from multiple perspectives, with the ultimate goal of being able to feel the Earth’s body as our own body. In this episode, I start the year and tie the bow on the...
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Poem | Being Human
Ever since I watched Naima Penniman (from the duet Climbing Poetree) recount her poem in this bewitching video, I’ve returned time and time again to these words, to the simplicity, playfulness, and sheer beauty of her message. For me this poem is medicine. It reminds me of all the silly and...
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[Full Interview] Nature as Mentor - with Jon Young
Jon Young brings us into the ancient practice of nature connection mentoring. He describes how mentoring is a virtually extinct craft, and yet occupies critical importance in building the sensory awareness and neurology of young children. We delve into his rich tales of living among the San…
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[Full Interview] Nature as Mentor - with Darren Silver
You may not yet know what a “vision quest” or a rite of passage is. But these traditions are as ancient as our bones. No matter whom your ancestors were, I would wager that if you travel the family branchings back far enough, you would discover that they too engaged in these ritual processes that...
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10. Nature as Mentor: Wilderness Rites and Tracking
With Darren Silver & Jon Young. You’ve heard from many voices in previous episodes on how they’ve learned to listen deeply to the world around them. Today, as a fitting closure, we’re going to get into the HOW of all of this, so that you can embark on your own journey. Our two guests are wildlife...
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[Full Interview] Urban Ecologies - with John Thackara
John Thackara is a writer, curator and professor who develops design agendas for ecological restoration, urban-rural reconnection, and multi-species design. He curated the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years, first in Amsterdam and later across India; he was commissioner of the...
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[Full Interview] Urban Ecologies - with Gavin Van Horn
Where does the city begin? How do animals disrupt our associations of what cities are? What even is urban wilderness? Gavin Van Horn, Executive Editor of the Center for Humans and Nature, and author of the books The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds and Animal Encounters In The...
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9. Urban Ecologies: Where’s Nature in the City?
With Gavin Van Horn & John Thackara. How can people living in urban settings engage with a teeming animal world – right on their doorsteps? Can we design cities from the perspective and the lifeworlds of other species? And by the way, where does the city even begin? How can animals disrupt our...
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[Full Interview] Multi-species Entanglements - with Dr June Harrower
Specializing in multi-species entanglements under climate change, Dr Juniper Harrower works at the intersection of ecology, art, activism and policy. She uses science methods and a multimedia art practice to investigate human influence on ecological systems, while seeking solutions that protect...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Lifeworlds is an intimate dialogue with our planet’s ecologies and with those who are translators and bridges between the human and beyond-human.
Our guests are farmers, lawyers, scientists, investors, indigenous scholars, artists, and many more — with them, we explore the mindsets, skills and actions required to forge deep connections with nature and to enter into close relationship with the lifeworlds of other beings.
We begin to change the world when we change our ways of seeing and being. Lifeworlds points us towards a deeper reformulation of core human identities, asking who it is we share the Earth with and what our human role may be at this pivotal moment in time. It is through the doorway of inhabiting and understanding multiple perspectives that we can begin to heal a culture and psyche that is steeped in duality. We have lost our place as humans amongst all life. This is our call for healing, engagement and wonder.
<a href="https://www.li
HOSTED BY
Alexa Firmenich
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Lifeworlds have?
Lifeworlds currently has 79 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Lifeworlds about?
Lifeworlds is an intimate dialogue with our planet’s ecologies and with those who are translators and bridges between the human and beyond-human. Our guests are farmers, lawyers, scientists, investors, indigenous scholars, artists, and many more — with them, we explore the mindsets, skills and...
How often does Lifeworlds release new episodes?
Lifeworlds has 79 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Lifeworlds?
You can listen to Lifeworlds on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Lifeworlds?
Lifeworlds is created and hosted by Alexa Firmenich.
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