THE SPACESHIP EARTH PODCAST

My guest in this episode is the wonderful Laura Storm. Laura is a visionary, a pioneering human in the field of regeneration. Laura first appeared on this podcast in EP 13 in 2019.Laura is a highly in-demand keynote speaker, advisor and teacher and launched the regenerative leadership learning platform - Regenerators dedicated to reimagine leadership systems and ways of living to align with the wisdom of living systems.I reached out to Laura recently, not to talk more about the possibilities of regenerative leadership, but really to have a chat about this moment, the moment of stuckness, as I tend to describe it.I wanted to explore some of what Laura has been tending to following her intentional withdrawal from the limelight in 2024 - to investigate the topics of death and endings and how that's showing up in the world of business and organisational leadership and what was pulling her towards that.I really appreciate these kinds of moves from leaders like Laura, this integrity, honesty and humility and being true to oneself right now. So this conversation asks - what if regeneration begins not with new ideas, but with learning how to let go?It's an open, vulnerable chat on why our current moment calls for more than new strategies or better leadership models.What does it mean to become life-affirming in a world shaped by extraction and why every genuine transformation seems to require paying real attention to some form of grief, surrender and ending.The conversation moves from corporate boardrooms to forests and rivers between inner and outer regeneration, exploring how resilience might be found not through hardening ourselves, but through deeper relationships, connection, belonging, listening, and our capacity to stay present with uncertainty and loss.This is a conversation about endings, but even more, it's a conversation about the kind of presence that allows something genuinely new to emerge.I hope you receive something through this conversation and please do let us know, comment, and share with someone else who might appreciate this if you do. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Sol-sticeSun stands still.The longest day.The shortest night.here’s an Earth Sessions mix from me inspired by dancing at sunrise and sunsets.or as Bucky Fuller put it…Sun-sight and sun-eclipseAs the sun isn’t movingBut we of course are on Spaceship Earth.Gratitude to all the artists and producers for creating these tracks.Full tracklist on https://www.thespaceship.earth/podcastListen on Apple Podcasts, substack and SouncloudEnjoy Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

This episode was a live panel recording from the We Are Avon community gathering in May. If you're a regular listener, you'll know about place-based initiative and bioregional project, We Are Avon, based in the Avon Valley in the West of England, where I live. A movement working to regenerate the landscapes, rivers, and communities of the Avon catchment.This conversation is an exploration around the power of pilgrimage, the ancient practice of walking land and rivers as a way to connect us back to self, each other, and the landscapes we're part of.I hosted special guest, Zofia Page, Executive director and Co-founder of Friends of the River Medway, an innovative non-profit restoring the river while reconnecting people to it as a living presence.Her work weaves together ecological action; the Rights of Nature movement; and a renewed, enchanted relationship with the more-than-human world.Over six years, she has brought the Medway from background to foreground through conservation, citizen science, advocacy, art, storytelling, and ceremony. Her vision found its fullest expression in the River Medway Pilgrimage, a pioneering source-to-sea journey that led to two councils acknowledging the Rights of the River Medway.Alongside Zofia was Hamish Evans, Regenerative Farmer of Middle Ground Growers, River Pilgrim, prefigurative activist, and co-director of We Are Avon.This was a beautiful conversation with two extraordinary young change-makers who carry incredible vision, wisdom, humility and dedication to our home planet.In a time where mainstream reality is falling apart rapidly, perhaps these ancient practices of walking the land, moving through landscapes together in community might offer us different perspectives, deeper connections, and other ways of seeing this moment and the future that we're being invited into co-creating.The We Are Avon pilgrimage is this solstice weekend 20-21st June.The Medway pilgrimage is 18th to the 27th of July.Everyone is welcome to walk as much or as little as you like, links below, there are river movements rising like springs all over the UK.Find one near you and find out what's yours to do.LINKSWe Are Avon pilgrimageRiver Medway Pilgrimage Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this solo offering nested with the Hazels on Ghostwood Down - I’m rambling on:* Relationality, mystery, place and local participation. * Spaces for sanctuary and falling apart.* Regeneration through transformation and the deeper shifts required in times of unraveling and overwhelm.This is not reflections about fixing the world through better ideas, but about changing the way we relate - to ourselves, to one another and to the living, more-than-human world around us.What if regeneration is not just about solutions but also about consciousness, presence, attention and participation?What if the future asks us not just to think differently, but to be differently?Becoming-with-life.This offering was created among ancient Hazel trees on Ghostwood Down.There’s Hazel wisdom in ere.Guest conversations returning soon.But until then I hope you enjoy my ramblings.LinksFamous for Five MilesCommunity Solo June 26th/28thWe Are AvonJoin the Avon Pilgrimage 20/21 June Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

A new Earth Sessions mix from me: SpringingTo mark the light returning, the sun rising, warmth, blossoms popping, life coming back, possibility… love.A mix of vinyl and digital spanning 30 years - deep, housey, organic, trippy, vibey, and lively.I hope it makes you move wherever you are.With gratitude to the wonderful artists, producers and labels for these creationsTracklist via the Spaceship EarthListen on Soundcloud, Apple Podcast and SubstackLet’s stay togetherLet’s dance.Peace and OutDan Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

We are kicking the podcast off this year with a warm springoffering from Dan and a few Willow trees up at Ghostwood Down.‘Ghostwood Down?’ You may be wondering - where is that… what is that?Well, we welcome you friendUp into the hills surrounding Bath.There rests a magical Ghostwood - a land which was once the place of a great forestA land riddled with scars, gold dust, earnest joy and deep sorrow.On this land we are slowly nurturing a return to woodland, while honouring the place as it is now.The ghost of a wood. Hence Ghostwood.And as it is downland , well… you guessed it... Ghostwood Down.Anyway enough of my attempts to ramble lets get into the real ramble.Today’s episode is a little unusual.Unusual you may ask? Thank god I hear you say - ‘that’s why I am bloody subscribed to this podcast.Because the world… Well, the world is a little more than unusual, it’s quite frankly insane.Insanity is kind of why Dan has chosen to make this episode.The rigidness and immediacy that feels expected of us to make sense of the world around us and in us is so ludicrous that often we feel like we don’t have the words to express them.And that’s where Rambling comes in.Rambling almost has a negative connection…To ramble is to be indecisive.To ramble is to not know what you’re talking about.To ramble is not know.But, what if that’s what we need in these times?To not know?So, if you’ve read this far, go give Dan a listen - you may be surprised by how infectious the ramble can be.Rambling on:Rambling as social technologyGhostwood Down  - place of intergenerational regenerationExhaustion of life within collapsing modernityPsychopathic war mongering leadersTuning into Hedge Media‘Unhoming’ - hat tip @Ece TemelkuranA politics of care and communityBelongingLiminal spaces for creativity and connectionWillow treesEnjoy Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

I originally recorded this episode with Chris Hines, EP 17, seven years ago in 2019.I’ve decided to repost it now. This week in the UK we had the launch of the Channel 4 real life drama series - Dirty BusinessA three part doc-drama based on a decade-long investigation into England’s water companies, it follows the story of two unlikely citizen detectives who notice that the fish in their local river are dying and are determined to find out why. Telling the real stories of whistleblowers and victims who believe their lives have been destroyed after encountering sewage polluted water, Dirty Business is a factual drama investigating one of the biggest corporate scandals in British history.And it is well worth a watch.It also features Chris Hines (through an actor) - surfer, environmentalist, sustainability innovator who over 35 years ago co-founded environmental surf charity Surfers Against Sewage in Cornwall UK.Their work has been pivotal over the years in connecting the s**t and pollution in the British seas and rivers to the gross negligence of the privatised water companies, extractive economics and short term politics.This conversation I hosted with Chris in Dublin back in 2019 explores that journey, what was happening at that time in the early 90’s and what drove Chris and fellow founders to build out this movement despite having no real idea what they were up against and with absolutely no resources.But this is a story to inspire all of us, that if you care enough about something then go and make stuff happen.It’s worth a listen in my view because it’s more relevant today for those who are feeling outrage and fury about all manner of things around them and want to do something about it.How with no resources and getting creative and working with your community extraordinary things can and do happen.Chris is wise, humble, a true elder.Let me know what you receive if you listen and do share with others that might appreciate itLINKSA Grain of SandSurfers Against Sewage Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In the last few years I’ve been recording DJ mixes at particular moments in the Earth cycle and putting them out on the podcast - Earth sessions - they are a way for me to mark the season, the moment in the year and how it makes me feel and how it makes me want to move through electronic and dance music.This is a new one. A live mix to honour this darker time of the year, and the darker times unfolding on Spaceship Earth.Recorded in my kitchen on a Friday night after a long walk in the woods.I wanted to start slow and ambient, to acknowledge the slower liminal space of winter and gradually pick up the pace.This was a mix of vinyl and digital - spanning 30 years of releases.From ambient electronica, early rave inspired house, breakbeat, melodic techno, tech house and some progressive bits.Respect to all the artists and producers for these sonic offerings.I hope the mix moves you in some wayMovement, dancing and connection is a way through these unravelling darker times.We must stay together. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Right then, this is our final episode of this year.But first up to say a big hearty thank you to all who have listened, shared and supported the podcast this year.To all the guests who’ve joined the rambling - respect for your time, wisdom and open-ness.And to my podcast crew who help make this a reality - Charlie Shread, Seemah Nahome-Burgess and Fin Burgess.And a massive shout out to those who subscribe with a monthly payment to this project.So to Episode 113…My guest, Sam Crosby, is an oral storyteller and myth-informed guide whose work braids together story, psyche, ancestry, eldership and the living Earth.This episode was recorded around the fire at Ghost Wood Down - two men sitting in the half-light, speaking honestly about what it is to search for meaning in a world that feels increasingly senseless.Across two hours we wandered, wondered, and returned again and again to the mythic ground beneath our feet - the place modernity keeps trying to concrete over.But there were core themes and patterns we were carrying throughout:1. Myth as orientation, not entertainmentMyth isn’t a story about long ago - it’s a technology for staying human in ambiguous, unraveling times. We kept returning to myth as a compass when the rational mind fails.2. Eldership vs.“Oldership”A core wound: we’ve lost the adults who know how to hold the whole. Modernity extends lifespans but not wisdom.Sam goes deep into the distinction between age and elderhood - and the hunger for guidance that can hold complexity without collapsing into certainty.3. The mythic roots of the AI momentWhat if the crisis with AI is not technological — it is mythic.Humanity is generating intelligence way faster than it is generating wisdom. Our conversation suggests AI as a kind of mirror, revealing our disconnection from story, meaning and long arcs of time.4. The crisis beneath the crisis: meaninglessnessWhat makes these times unbearable is not the data - it’s the absence of orientation. Sam repeatedly speaks to the human need for story, ritual and shared containers of meaning.5. Rites of Passage & thresholdsOne of our deepest shared passions: Cultures that lack thresholds create perpetual adolescence.This is why the absence of elders is so severe — there is no one to midwife beginnings or endings.6. Stories as living beingsSam treats stories as alive, with their own agency. This shifts storytelling from performance to participation - a relational act where story chooses the teller and carrier.7. The danger of speed & the loss of the underworldModernity has flattened the vertical dimensions of being -no descent, no soul work, no underworld, no mysteries. We point toward slowness, ambiguity, and unknowing as necessary conditions for true wisdom to spread.Sam is a wonderful human who speaks beautifully with great humility, courage, and imagination, and is doing really extraordinary work, especially the project on rekindling cultures of eldership, which we speak to at length here and I link to in the show notes below.LINKSam’s workEldership ManifestoInto the Dark from Becomin Crew- Register by 9th January Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

This is a short share about a winter learning journey we are hosting for the 4th year- Into the DarkIt begins on the evening of 20th January 2026, registration is open until 9th January.Into the dark invites us to enter a container over five weeks, to co-create our orientation and intentionality for the year ahead in community - human and more-than-human.It's a deep, gentle, experiential  journey.  Creating space for connection, contemplation and creative practice,  exploring parts of ourselves and the Earth, and ways of knowing that modernity doesn't allow us to attend to. Its an invitation to actively reject the urge to accelerate into productivity and growth as the year begins .To dwell instead with attention and intention in this darker, slower time.Unfolding over 3 consecutive weeks, peaking with a threshold walk, a self paced, powerful ancient ritual on land near you with a follow up incorporation session a week later.A time to plant vital seeds for the year ahead.As the light begins to return.Into the dark is guided by Dan Burgess, Ally Kingston and Mark Sears.Full details and how to register via link  Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

This Episode is a live panel recording.If you’re a regular listener you may know about a bio-regional regeneration project called We Are Avon - in the Avon River Valley in the West of England where I live.EP 98 and EP 102 have both featured the project.In the last few years I’ve been putting more intention, time and energy into projects rooted into the lands around me where I live.A big part of that is a deep knowing that the future is local.It’s how the operating system of life works on Spaceship Earth.I’ve come to learn that nature doesn’t commute.Nor does it scale exponentially.As our global civilisation with its extractive foundations rooted in a living Earth is rapidly find out.Life is inherently local.Local participation is fundamental to weaving a regenerative universe as Bucky Fuller once observed.We Are Avon is a grassroots movement for bio-regional regeneration rooted in the River Avon catchment.Our intention is to regenerate the valley ‘from the river out’, weaving a culture of care that empowers communities, farmers, creatives and wider stakeholders in becoming active stewards of land and water and participating in River Guardianship at a bio-regional scale.We have been convening community gatherings every three months to connect, share and hold space for co-creation - with our current focus on recruiting and establishing River Guardian groups along the river.For our last gathering in November I invited a panel of guests to help us zoom out and explore a wider theme of ‘listening to the river’:Intentionally making space to consider how we might collectively practice de-centering the human, tempering the urge to rush in and ‘fix’To make time for listening, observing and sensing the more than human as an integral part of regenerative and bio-regional practice.I hosted three amazing women:Scientist, author and Explorer Dr Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, Ph.D.Writer, campaigner and river wife Meg AvonSound Artist and Anthropologist Louise RomainAll three with very different stories and approaches to listening, noticing and sensing the more than human.This is a recording of that panel, where we gathered upstairs at our friends Finisterre Bath store.Anyway I hope you enjoy this one, and receive something, and if you do please let us know, and share with someone else who might appreciate it.If you’d like to get involved with We Are Avon follow the links belowLINKSWe Are AvonWe Are Avon InstagramWe Are Avon WhatsApp CommunityMrs Meg AvonDr Rosa Vasquez EspinozaLouise RomainInto the Dark - Becoming Crew Winter Learning AdventureMeander MagazineTjin Tjoelkler Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What if music isn’t just entertainment, but a remembering?A returning.A way back into the felt sense of being part of nature, not apart from nature.In this intuitive, playful, open and wide-ranging conversation, I sit down with Sophia Shnapp - an impact producer working with organisations like EarthPercent - the Music Industry’s Climate and Nature Foundation alongside the Wisdom Keepers Delegation and Futr Earth.Sophia works at the intersection of culture, music and systemic change but that doesn’t quite capture the essence of how she moves.She’s a pollinator.A bridge-being.A shape-shifter between worlds:From the dancefloor and the woodland, through policy rooms and prayer circles, within the music industry and the more-than-human world.Sophia is a proper Earthling,  culture lover and movement maker  She’s guided by deep purpose, and the power of music to awaken hearts, spark change, and remind us we all belong to this great big living Spaceship we call Earth.This was an insightful, honest, creative conversation that often led to us to riffing imaginatively on what could be and I really respect Sophia’s willingness to dance with complexity, nuance and contradiction.We spoke about music as something that wakes us up again, not just emotionally but somatically, in the body:How a bassline can regulate a room.How a melody can remind us we still have a heart.How a festival, a choir, or a dancefloor becomes a temporary village - teaching us something about belonging we didn’t know we were missing.Together, we explore:🌬️ Music as a gateway into feeling, intuition and interconnection.🌿 Nature as origin story - how childhoods shaped by land root the work we do today.🎧 Culture as systems change - what happens when artists, activists and elders collaborate.🔥 Fear, endings and uncertainty - and how feeling is not weakness but medicine.🌀 Rites of passage & the 4 Ds - dance, drums, deprivation, and the “drug” of altered states✨ Imagination as infrastructure - how new worlds begin inside conversations like thisSophia asked:What if music is one of the ways the Earth is trying to get our attention back?That question has stayed with me.Sometimes conversations I have on this podcast are like doorways and this one felt like that - a shared stepping-through into a wider field of possibility.It opened up space for imagining what could be and that in my opinion is vital exploration for these times.It’s an episode that wanders beautifully - honest, mischievous, open-hearted.I really enjoyed this one, I hope you do too if you give it a listen.And if you do please let us know what it brings up for you.And please give it a share to someone else who might appreciate it.This is how we grow together, through reciprocity and entanglement.Becoming Crew on Spaceship Earth.LINKSSophia Shnapp InstagramEarth PercentWisdom Keepers DelegationInto the Dark - 5 Week Winter Learning Journey from Becoming Crew Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What does it mean to be a man - alive, tender and creative - in these unravelling times?In this meandering, vulnerable and playful conversation, I sit down with Mark De’Lisser - poet, artist, youth mentor, and nature-based guide.Mark is a friend and collaborator, part of the Becoming Crew action learning collective, guiding people through deep connection experiences and rites of passage on the land.Together we explore:🌳 Masculinity reimagined - strength and vulnerability as inseparable forces.🌦️ Fear, loss, and love - how grief becomes medicine when we stay with it.🪶 Creativity as survival - poetry, play and performance as acts of healing.🔥 Guiding young men - the courage, chaos and beauty of holding space for the next generation.🌍 Reconnection and Renewal - finding belonging again in community and with the living Earth.The episode also celebrates the launch of Mark’s debut poetry collection, Ashes to the Breeze - a tender, elemental offering that speaks of renewal, grief and the power of blooming again after loss.And Marks shares some of those poems here.This is a conversation about men learning to feel in fearful times, about friendship as ceremony and about listening - really listening - to the living Earth that still holds us.I really hope you receive something through this and if you do, please consider sharing with someone else, posting on your socials, or leaving a reflection on the substack.It is through reciprocity that we grow together.Peace and OutDanLINKSBuy Ashes to the Breeze via WaterstonesBuy Ashes to the Breeze via BookshopMark De’Lisser siteInto the Dark - 5 week winter adventure -Becoming Crew registrationBecoming Fridays - Becoming Crew one day on the land Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

How can we learn to dance with complexity, contradiction, grief, beauty, uncertainty, horror and surprise without abandoning the dance-floor ?Dancing feels like an interesting invitational metaphor to me for these timesIt invites us into the body and out of our stuck heads.It invites us into presence and relationship with life in the moment,To be present with our bodies, with each other, with other life formsIt’s movement, spontaneity, flow, expression, vibe, response,Response-ability.Dancing is aliveness.And we need alive-ness.To break the numbness.So on that, I offer a new Earth Sessions mix: AutumnismFor this season of letting go.An hour of tunes, that have been moving me of late and that capture for me the feels of this season - the endings, the abundance, the darkness, the joy, the mystery.I hope they move you in some way.Tracklisting hereAnd if you struggle with dancing, it could well be our deep patriarchal programming - you know the voice - ‘I can’t dance’I offer some words I heard a wise man once say about letting yourself go on the dancefloor…‘No one’s looking at you and no one gives a f**k’So stay awake to what is happening, what is ending, what needs to end and tend to what needs to begin.Look around you, find the thing that speaks to you, find the others and get stuck in.Love and care at the centre.And try to stay curious with the trouble, the discomfort.Do not abandon the dance-floorREPEAT: Do not leave the dance-floor of life.As Nena and WestBam said…‘We are the future, that’s the pastWe are the moment built to lastWe are the up, that’s the downWe wear the newschool engine crown’ Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

🎧 Listening InvitationWhat does it mean to practice democracy not just with people, but with rivers, forests, mountains, and the more-than-human world?In this episode, I’m in conversation with Shrishtee Bajpai—researcher, activist, and writer working on earthy governance, interspecies justice, and radical alternatives to dominant systems.Shrishtee’s work emerges from her deep relationship with the river she grew up alongside in North India—one of the most polluted rivers in the world. That grief and love have shaped her life’s path: exploring how communities can co-create governance with rivers, mountains, and forests, and what it means to truly listen to the more-than-human world.We speak about:* 🌊 Collapse and continuity: why collapse is not just arriving but has long been lived in the Global South.* 🐝 Earthy governance: how communities take decisions in dialogue with forests, deities, bees, and rivers.* 🌳 Radical democracy: power rooted in place, not just parliaments.* 💔 Absurdities of modernity: the schizophrenia of cultures that worship rivers as goddesses while polluting them.* 👂 The invitation: how we might awaken our collective capacity to listen to the more-than-human world.Shrishtee reminds us: democracy is not only about human voices—it’s about rivers, mountains, winds, and creatures who have always spoken, if only we slow down to hear. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What does it mean to live—and act—when the dominant stories of our time are collapsing?This conversation with Jon Alexander was recorded in July on the land at Ghostwood Down, just before he set out on an overnight solo.It is raw, intimate, unplanned—full of the wild energy of two men wrestling with collapse and possibility in equal measure.Jon, author of Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything Is All of Us, co-founder of the New Citizenship Project, and long-time mischief-maker of beautiful change, has spent years helping communities and movements remember that all of us are smarter than any of us. But in this fire-side exchange, the themes stretch beyond politics or strategy.We talk of:🌑 The collapse of the “consumer story” and the dangerous rise of authoritarian certainty🌱 The emergent “citizen story” rooted in participation, connection, and response-ability⚡ Dancing with panic, grief, and rage without leaving the dance floor🌳 Ceremony, community, and even oaks as companions in uncertain times🔥 How to become fully available—to the work, to the world, to each otherIt’s an honest, vulnerable exploration of how to stay human, relational, and creative amid breakdown. And it feels even more urgent now, as violence, oppression and absurdity intensify around us.LinksJon AlexanderOvernight Community Solo Autumn Equinox Weekend Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What happens when we step away from the noise of modernity and sit quietly with the land, with our dreams, with each other?In this intimate conversation, Dan speaks with Betsy Perluss—esteemed elder, Wilderness Guide with the School of Lost Borders, Jungian analyst, and psychotherapist.Betsy has spent decades guiding people into the wild, into themselves, and into the shared spaces where land and psyche weave together.Supporting people into deep relationship with Earth and soul, through solo time on the land and the ancient practice of council.Together we explore how these deceptively simple practices—fasting alone under the sky, listening deeply in circle, paying attention to the more-than-human and tuning into our dreams—can shift our orientation to life in profound ways.This is a conversation about mystery, grief, presence, and the possibility that wisdom is always already available… if we learn how to listen.How do we learn to listen differently — to land, to mystery, to each other?We talk about the practice of solo time on the land—sitting out, fasting, letting Earth be both mirror and teacher. And we talk about council—an ancient, simple, radical practice of listening and being listened into deeper presence.These are quietly revolutionary practices.They offer ways of being that modernity can’t commodify or quantify—ways that remind us we belong.The conversation also opens into dreams, the unseen, and the deep mystery that enfolds every life.Betsy reminds us that paying attention to mystery may offer more than all the technologies and rational maps we’ve been taught to rely on.This episode is not about solutions. It’s about presence. It’s about remembering that the land is always speaking, that our dreams carry wisdom, and that listening together can be its own kind of healing.Themes We Move Through🌲 Solo time on the land as a mirror and guide🪶 Council as a way of listening each other into deeper being🌌 Dreams and the unseen as teachers🌀 What modernity blinds us to—and what becomes possible when we remember otherwise💙 Crew questions: what it means to belong, to serve, to stay awake together🌐 Guest: Betsy Perluss* Wilderness Guide, Jungian Analyst, and Psychotherapist* Long-time teacher with the School of Lost BordersIf you’re interested in experiencing these practices, Becoming Crew Collective are hosting a final Community Solo, a weekend on the land including fire circles, council and a fully guided overnight nature solo at Ghostwood Down, Nr Bath - 19-21st September - full info here Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What does it take to reforest a country that’s forgotten its forests?In this grounded and wide-ranging conversation, I sit down with surfer, grower, and land-restorer Matt Smith—co-founder and CEO of the Hometree charity in Ireland.A lifelong wave-rider turned regenerative farmer, and landscape rewilder, Matt has poured his vision and determination into one of the most ambitious rewilding efforts on the island.But this isn’t just a story of saplings and success.It’s a story of tension—between aliveness and economy, vision and system.Together we explore:🌊 The courage it takes to ride both waves and grief 🌱 How regeneration must be cultural as much as ecological 🪵 The challenge of convincing farmers to plant trees—even now, even here 💸 The heartbreak of realising that money still speaks louder than the land 🎭 The role of artists and storytellers in restoring relationship to placeThis episode asks: Can we grow forests from love rather than incentives? Can we compost the logics of modernity while still living inside them?It doesn’t offer easy answers. But it does offer soil, surf, and story.Listen for the entanglement, not the solution. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What if the maps we’ve been using to make sense of the world…are no longer capable of guiding us?What if the future no longer works ?In this immersive audio essay, I’m taking you on a spiralling journey through the unraveling terrain of modernity.Naming the deep violence coded into its dominant logics, and inviting us to compost the spoiled maps that have brought us to this moment of planetary crisis.From Gaza to the dance floor, from ocean devastation to AI-fuelled destruction, this is a raw, heartfelt, and unflinching exploration through grief, complicity, beauty, and the possibility of regeneration.It’s not tidy.It’s not performative.It’s not hopeful in the superficial sense.But it is deeply alive.A sonic rambling.More like a sonic compost heap.One for the headphones.🌿 Themes We Move Through:🗺️ Spoiled maps and violent logics of modernity💣 Silence, complicity, and the normalisation of harm🌊 Ocean destruction and the illusion of human separation🎧 Capitalism on the dance floor: from music to militarisation🔥 Response-ability and composting grief into action💙 A Rebellion of the Heart, and remembering the operating system of lifeI hope you receive something here, if you do please do share with a friend and consider subscribing to help support the costs of creating these offerings. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What does it mean to act — not out of certainty, but out of grief and relational sensing ?In this quietly powerful episode, Dan sits on the land with Gavin Fernie-Jones, co-founder of the Re-Action Collective, to explore how deep connection to place, the loss of his father, and the visible unraveling of mountain ecologies catalysed a life of collective action.From ski lifts to community sewing tables, this conversation moves across the terrain of:🌄 Mountains as memory and mirror 🔥 The palpable grief of witnessing climate collapse in beloved places 🧵 How one collective is patching, repairing, and repurposing not just outdoor gear—but the culture of disposability 🌀 Why experimental, humble, decentralised alternatives already exist—quietly flourishing beneath the capitalist noise ❤️‍🩹 Grief as a portal into purpose, and what becomes possible when we stop waiting for permissionGav and the Re-Action Collective (now 70+ organisations strong) aren’t waiting for top-down transformation. They’re making the future by hand, with care, and in kinship.This episode invites you not just to listen—but to feel.Feel the grief. Feel the land. Feel the possibility of living otherwise.🔗 More about Re-Action:https://re-action-collective.org/https://www.actionism.space/ Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Greetings to the Summer SolsticeHere in the Northern HemisphereThe sun is at peak powerThese next days are the longestUntil we begin the gentle swing back towards darker times.This morning my fellow guide Mark Sears sent me this poem from Persian Poet and Mystic - Hafiz which I shared on our call.The Sun Never SaysEven after all this timeThe sun never says to the earth,“You owe Me.”Look what happens withA love like that,It lights the Whole Sky.Hafiz______________________________These are words that speak to the generosity of the sunThis extraordinary mysterious being of light and energy.Because without the sun we do not exist.No life exists.And so we are all therefore - Children of the SunAnd that generosity runs deep in our embodied code.It’s within us.And so I am re-minded again and again.That perhaps it’s as simple as Re-membering what is already there.I’ve been contemplating the sun much of this weekEnjoying the warmth on my skin but also aware of the searing heat that I’m experiencing in these days and what that triggers…Noticing the abundance of plants and insects on the land around me and the vegetables and fruit in my garden which are thriving this year.Noticing how the wild waters on the lands that I walk are running slower and slower.I made a new Earth Sessions mix as an offering to honour the Solstice.I’ve included tracks spanning 35 years, a few that were mainstays in my record box back in the late 90's.In the company of some more recent beauties.Big love to the artists, producers and creators of these sonic gifts. Full tracklist on site.This is a 120/122 bpm groove.For honouring the Sun, love, life, grief and joy of being alive on Spaceship Earth right now.And the possibility of dancing our ways into more beautiful and peaceful futures.A big summer salute to the cuckoos of Dartmoor who also appear in the intro.How are you tuning into this moment in the Earth cycle?Solstice blessings to you, hope you are finding some peace Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

New episode 102 - this is an audio adventure featuring a live panel conversation from the launch of new bio-regional project We Are Avon and musings from a Pilgrimage along the River Avon herself in the last week.Across the UK more and more communities are engaging with the deteriorating health of their local rivers and wild waters.From cold water swimmers, fishermen to local food growers, conservationists, nature lovers, artists, storytellers, writers and community activists there is a growing understanding that the health of the rivers reflects the health of our societies.There is also a growing awareness that the rivers and wild waters of our lands are the arteries that lead to the ocean, the great blue heart of Spaceship Earth.In the last couple of years I’ve been participating in the birth of a Bio-Regional project called We Are Avon (WAA) here in my hometown of Bath.We Are Avon is an emergence of a place-based movement for regeneration in the UK.It aims to act upon the interwoven crises of river pollution, climate change and food insecurity. Led by the people, a diverse web of communities, regenerators, farmers and projects who collaborate to regenerate.A grassroots movement to provide food resilience for the region whilst also regenerating the communities, landscapes and watersheds of the catchment area beginning from the local level with river and land in this Avon valley.Centering food, river and land as powerful anchors for reconnecting people to place, this project aims to re-identify humans as 'regenerators’, as active participants in service to the climate and nature crisis we collectively face.After a year of visioning and development, We Are Avon has launched its first crowd-funder to formalise and activate a number of community engagement projectsThis episode conversation was recorded live at the start of April to mark the crowfunder, and a whole range of community engagement invitations over the coming months.The session was themed around sharing hope and vision for a regenerative future in the Avon bioregion, and this panel represented River, Land, Food and Community movements in the local area with guests - poet and activist Meg Avon from Save Our Avon, Charlotte Sawyer, Director of award winning feature river doc which is blowing up right now Rave on for the Avon, and Hamish Evans, regenerative farmer, prefigurative activist from Middleground Growers who has been the lead instigator for the WAA project and myself as host.This is a conversation for anyone interested in the health and futures of our land, river and local ecosystems.For those curious about river and environmental action, community led responses to the climate crisis and different and more creative ways to get involved in bringing life back to the places we call home.But really it’s a conversation about relationships between humans, communities and the more than human world around us with a focus here on rivers.The episode also contains ‘messages from the Avon’, daily musings from a River Avon pilgrimage of the last week to mark the crowdfunder launch , as well as some song from Elpha PerkinsIf we are to grow true regenerative movements, then engaging communities around rivers and weaving new regenerative cultures from the bottom up will be essential.LinksSupport the CrowdfunderWe Are Avon siteWe Are Avon instagramRave on for the Avon film Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

I posted this episode two years ago on this day.I’m thinking it might have more relevance and be more helpful today to more folks around here.Context is king and all that.Maybe as more folks begin to bear witness to this old world imploding, to this civilisational story ending, perhaps we are becoming ready to figure out what work we are being called to do ‘in the ruins’ as Dougald Hine might say.I would suggest that there is much wisdom to be found in listening to Dougald and he speaks with such honesty, care and humilityI highly recommend reading Dougald’s book - At Work in the RuinsAs I said when I read it in 2023..“ At Work in the Ruins is a book of wisdom for these times. Times which often feel to me to be full of cleverness that no longer make much sense”Dougald is co-founder of The Dark Mountain Project.Co-host of The Great Humbling podcast.Co-founder of a School called Home in Sweden And Author of book ‘At Work in the Ruins’ - the focus of this conversation.Dougald is opening up vital spaces for different types of questions, conversations and invitations to be considered and explored as we face into the unravelling mystery of these times - times of endings.‘At Work in the Ruins’ is a gift for this moment for those who know intuitively in their heart and gut that many things from 'modernity' need to end.Now is a time for humility and creative courage, for letting go of stories, ideas, behaviours and systems that no longer serve life and crossing a threshold into imagining what could be and becoming the change. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Introducing the Annual 2024 - and the official Episode 100 of the Spaceship Earth Podcast.A reflection of the year gone by with a nod to what it might be showing us about the future that is unfolding.A curation of the highlights of 2024 on the podcast, it features clips, reflections, insights and learnings from many of the episodes.It’s not exhaustive, not every guest is featured but I’ve included clips that felt to me to be fertile, wise and vital insights for these times we are travelling in.The Annual features dialogue and clips from:Dan Burgess, David Wendl-Berry, Natasha Lythgoe, Immy Kaur, Bayo Akomolafe, Vanessa Andreotti, Azul Carolina Duque, Dr Rosalind Watts, Dr Stephan Harding, Lily Cole, Adah Parris, Jasmine Qureshi, Hamish Evans, Alnoor Ladha, Lynn Murphy, Sam Lee, Clare Farrell, Paul Powlesland, Dr Wallace J Nichols & Buckminster Fuller ;-)If you’ve never jumped in this could be the one to check out.So if you are a regular listener I hope this captures some of the highlights for you and you might appreciate the reflections and insights we share.If you are new to the podcast I hope this gives you a flavour of what we’re doing here and inspires you to dig into these conversations and episodes more deeply and jump into the becoming crew communityWe’ve put a lot of time into creating this episode, I recommend putting the headphones on or turning up the speakers.It's a sonic adventure.WE have curated these through the following themes which were alive in 2024 and we are carrying into the podcast and the becoming crew offerings for the journey ahead:1. The importance and possibilities of non-ordinary experiences through nature based rites of passage and rituals2. Decolonising and growing post-capitalist realities3. Practice-driven change for ways through the divisiveness and violence of these times4. Honouring death, grief and composting our s**t as vital regenerative practices5. Shifting our relationality, seeing the natural world from transactional to sacred6. Imagining and Re-membering alternative futures7. The Future is Local - we can network for the rest8. Centering the young/Intergenerational by Design9. Now is the Time for CrewsFinally we'd love to hear your thoughts to help us shape the next year of the Spaceship Earth Podcast.We want to keep crafting the offering to stay useful and relevant in these challenging and emerging times.Your feedback helps us to understand where folks are at with the podcast in its current form.It will take about 10 mins of your time and we'd be so grateful for your feedback.LINKSOur listener Survey - We’d so value your inputs in helping us shape the next chapter for the PodcastInto the Dark - Our Winter Community Adventure - Join us Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Two winter offerings for you.Two invitations to step into the dark.I am not ready to get back to it - whatever it is.But just beginning to find some slowness and stillness in my body.After crawling through the portal of the Winter Solstice and into the festiveness of things.The last two days actually feel like winter here.The ground is frozen.The stars shine extraordinary at night.I can feel a gentle connection in my body with the land around me.A slow synching.I’m just starting to feel an interest in reflecting on what was and what might be.The year gone by and the one beginning.Just a stirring of curiosity.Over the last few years I’ve given up setting new year intentions and goals and in and out lists for the start of January.It just doesn’t feel true to me.I’m suspicious of the rush to get going.It smells colonial.I am always still full.Of the year that has beenAll the contradictions, confusion, joy, grief and possibility,They’re still thereQuieter and calmer but not yet examinedAnd given perspective.And so needing to create spaceFor reflecting and composting.What threads to trust, follow and hang onto this year?What to let go of ?Preparing the ground for new emergings.And that can’t happen fast.With integrityIt needs time.As winter does.I struggle with goals in the dark.And this is dark time.So I have two winter offerings for you.Two invitations to step into the darkThe first is this new Earth Sessions mix:Into the Dark - a deep, slow, wintery, sonic meander, through ambient electronic melancholy into deep house.Sounds and tracks that I’m finding connection and curiosity with in these darker, colder times of breakdown, reflection, exploration and dreaming towards the lightTracklist on websiteIf you walk with it, run with it, sit with it, drive with it, cook with it.Dance with it.I hope you enjoy itThe second offering is an invitation to join our next practice community learning adventure which begins 23rd JanuaryInto the Dark( notice the theme)This is the third year we’re hosting this journey and it really is a magical adventure.Personally this has now become the only way to prepare the ground and surface my intentions for the year ahead.Info and registerWherever you are I hope you find some peace in these darker times Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 99 is a shorter offering with the wise, wonderful and humble Azul Carolina Duque.Azul is a Colombian artist and educator. Her artistic practice is about relating to embodied sound as a tool for re-membering ourselves out of our collective denials.These explorations are informed by her training as a musician, a death doula and a clown.She is also on the path of relating to music as a living entity, as opposed to a product to be consumed.She is a member of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF) collective, which you may recall from Episode 96 with Vanessa Andreotti - author of Hospicing Modernity and co-founder of the collective.GTDF is a trans-disciplinary multi-generational art/research collective that develops technologies of inquiry through artistic, pedagogical, cartographic, and relational experiments that aim to identify and de-activate colonial habits of being.GTDF is also about hospicing worlds that are dying within and around us with care and integrity, as well as attention to the lessons these deaths offer, while also assisting with the birth of new and potentially wiser worlds.This was recorded in my garden in the summer, during a small gathering of West Country crew as Azul was visiting the UK.This is in my opinion a beautiful taster of the deep, powerful, complex work that Azul and the collective are focussed on with deep humility, honesty and often humour.Azul speaks to seeing the Earth as a living entity and recognising the entanglement between humans, land and all life.About the importance of acknowledging and embracing complexity, including the uncomfortable and painful aspects of our current reality and the relational and cognitive challenges we are facing.She speaks to modernity and colonialism as forces of separation, the dis-ease of separation, urging a shift towards relational approaches developed alongside indigenous knowledge.Azul emphasises the significance of composting work, both internally and externally, sitting with the s**t so that we process properly and don’t continue to pass it down to the next generation.She also speaks to the critical role of elders, rites of passage, and the transition between life stages in fostering a sense of service and responsibility to life on Earth.The conversation also includes some beautiful questions from crew who had gathered in the garden on what was a sweltering hot afternoon.So I hope you enjoy this, Azul is in my opinion a remarkable human, and a wonderful storyteller as you will hear, carrying vast wisdom beyond her years, and shows up with great humility and compassion and playfulness , dedicating her young life to this work We are very lucky to have her on board Spaceship Earth.LINKShttps://decolonialfutures.net/https://decolonialfutures.net/hospicingmodernity/Into the Dark - 5 week community winter adventure with Becoming Crew Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

This episode was from a live panel I hosted recently here in my home city of Bath, UK.A conversation with a brilliant crew embedded with the lands and rivers who are working to steward, guardian, protect, connect and regenerate life between human communities and more than human ecologies.This was part of a community engagement day for West Country Bio-Regional project We Are Avon.We Are Avon is a movement of landworkers, organisations and communities collaborating for regional transformation of our land, river and food systems.This is a self organising bottom up collective of folks around the Avon River who are collaborating and experimenting to envision a bio-regional future - this is proper roll up your sleeves become the change movement - very much in the spirit of becoming crew.The panel was focussed specifically on exploring rivers, our relationships to them, the state they are in and why they are such a key connection in a bio-regional project.My guests were a quite brilliant crew:Amelia Crews - ocean and river activist, community energy organiser and climate and nature action dynamo.Eva Perrin - Aquatic Ecologist, PhD graduate in freshwater biogeochemistry, community activator for citizen science and river protection, co-founder of Conham Bathing Group and Rave on for the Avon.Hamish Evans - permaculturist, regenerative farmer and prefigurative activist - co-founder MiddleGround GrowersPaul Powlesland - river guardian, rights for nature campaigner and activist lawyer.Four amazing humans serving life, becoming the change, doing difficult yet joyful work.This is a dynamic conversation, full of insight, provocation and invitation to get stuck into whatever hood/river/forest you find yourself close to.It’s very much a conversation about entanglements, relationships and interdependence, the future we’re being called to shape is one of new relationships, of learning to relate in new ways to ourselves, to each other and to this more than human world we call home.And the ways we relate to the wild waters of this Earth is such a fundamental indicator of the health of the human and more than human crew on Spaceship Earth.What does it look like to see ourselves, not at the centre of a landscape of place, but decentered, in kinship, in relationship with all life that is there ?What does it look like to step into a way of being that sees us in a place of kinship, as part of a sacred web of life, not above it trying to create power and control over it, but within - in relationship with.So I hope this conversation inspires you to get out there and find your own way back into this great mysterious entanglement of life, becoming crew on Spaceship Earth.If you’re in the Avon hood, come and get involved in We Are Avon - links belowLINKSJoin the We Are Avon info and broadcast channel ( no chat)We Are Avon InstagramAmelia CrewsPaul Powlesland on TwitterEva PerrinMiddleGround GrowersRiver Roding TrustLawyers for NatureConham Bathing GroupThriving Avon CharterInto the Dark - Winter learning Journey from Becoming Crew Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In deeply mysterious times I can think of no finer human to help us consider other ways of seeing, thinking and responding to the crises than Bayo Akomolafe who we welcome back for Episode 97.Bayo is a philosopher, writer, post-activist, professor of psychology and executive director of the Emergence Network.Bayo was guest in Episode 66 and this conversation was recorded live in a Becoming Crew online learning event in June this year .As we witness mythic scale events unfold almost weekly, this conversation feels more timely now than it did 5 months ago when it was recorded.Bayo’s words and thinking continue to ferment in such profound ways.Having sat on it for a few months, we’ve added some Spaceship Earth sonic love and I feel this is a really potent and helpful offering for this moment .Bayo is without doubt one of the most important thinkers, writers and speakers in these times of unravelling and one of the most humble, kind and funny humans with it.The rarest of combinations.He invites us to see and notice differently, to consider things which often feel invisible, beyond our individualised ways of seeing and yet perhaps, might be critical noticings for finding ways through our collective stuckness.But only if we’re prepared to venture into the cracks as Bayo might say.We invited Bayo to come to this conversation to help us explore and better understand the terrain of ‘whiteness’  - whiteness not as skin colour but perhaps as the invisible controlling logic of the systems, structures and deeply engrained ways we act out everyday enmeshed in the pervasiveness of capitalist modernity.We cover :- The terrain of whiteness- Desensitisation and grief- Moving towards cracks and openings- The limits of systems theory- Post-Activism- Cultivating different ways of responding to these times- How alternative solutions often continue to serve dominant systems and infrastructure- Learning to live well with loss and uncertaintyThis is a deep, rich, creative and vulnerable conversation about the trouble we are in as a species, brimming with provocation and insight to sit with in this moment.I’d suggest this is essential fertiliser for heading off the highway of modernity and making new moves.This was a live online session with our community and includes some beautiful questions towards the end which Bayo responds to.We play out with a new song from Natalie Fee called Winter. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Is it possible to create thriving, liveable futures without doing the work to acknowledge and process the destructive systems, stories and behaviours that are causing so much devastation to life on Earth today ?- To understand how these logics run deeply through us and our dominant ways of thinking, seeing and relating.- To create space to collectively compost these ways to ensure we do not continue to perpetuate the same destructive patterns as we co-create responses and pathways into the future.- To recognise the urgent need for intergenerational responsibility, to connect across generations for collective processing, learning and healing and cultivating moral responsibility for future life.Personally I don’t believe we can avoid this work for much longer if we are serious about meaningful change and my guest in this episode Vanessa Andreotti has dedicated her life work to exploring how the dominant knowledge systems of modernity and ways of relating to ourselves, to each other and to the Earth are deeply entangled with the growing violence, divisiveness and declining health of all life on this planet - human and more than human.Vanessa is Dean of Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria, Canada, Author, of the groundbreaking book - Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity's wrongs and the implications for social activism and Co-founder, Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Collective.Vanessa’s life work has been in education and learning, her practice is rooted in relationality, indigenous knowledge and centering our entanglement with the living Earth.She has worked extensively across sectors internationally and is a leading voice in global justice, global citizenship, Indigenous knowledge systems and the climate and nature emergencies.If you haven’t read Hospicing Modernity, you may find some of this conversation challenging.Hospicing Modernity is not a comfortable read, it proposes that colonialism, racism and other toxic divisions and cultural supremacies that inform the systems of Modernity that we all inhabit run deeply inside us  - perhaps neuro-biologically - it invites readers into an uncomfortable unlearning journey, of noticing, letting go, composting and unmaking ourselves from the violent ways of seeing and being that modernity and industrial consumerist society has created.We explore:The challenges we are facing on Spaceship EarthResponsibilities and challenges in education systemsHospicing Modernity: The context todayThe dis-ease of separationIntergenerational responsibilitiesComposting W.E.I.R.D s**t - Western, Entitled, Individualistic, Reductionist and Delusional.The role of education, humour and metaphor in addressing complexityThe gut as a site of learning and vulnerabilityEmbracing entanglementHealing our fractured relationship with EarthSupporting the youngThe role of elders and rites of passage, transitioning through grief Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Time for some tunes.Time for moving.As Autumn unfoldsI offer you another Earth Sessions mixFallingA gathering of tracks that have been looping heavily of late for me.A deep, cosmic, organic house vibe.I hope they move you in some way as things fall.If you enjoy this, check out the artists, producers and labels in this selection, they are all exceptional creators with stunning offerings to dig into.More conversations coming soon.Right I’m off to see Sasha and Digweed.Wishing you peace wherever you are.Track Listing on Site Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

What does one do when everything in our world feels so unhinged ?As the planet becomes swamped this week with flooding and hurricanes, climate protest as we know it, in the UK at least, carries an increasingly high chance of arrest and conviction.Politics even with a new administration feels as stuck, exhausted, divisive and non-participatory as ever.As the polycrisis intensifies, the systems of governance and ways of organising ourselves become more ossified and brittle, and we can see how woefully unfit for purpose they have become for a complex uncertain future.Now must be the time to accelerate constructive, people-powered participation, for more of us to begin to practice, rehearse, prototype and birth the new moves and the new systems that will put life at the centre.Because ask yourself - if we’re not doing it - is it going to happen from the top down - led by Govt, Media and Corporations ?Do you still trust that putting an X in a box during an election is going to do the job, to tackle all the things that keep you awake at night about the future and the rapidly unravelling and violent present ?My guest in this episode is active citizen - Clare Farrell.With a background in sustainability, fashion and more recently climate activism as one of the original Co-founders of Extinction Rebellion.As a designer her work has expanded beyond clothing and material products and into experience design and participation design, strategic communications and strategies for positive social change. Clare has been focussing her energies and creativity of late towards constructive forms of social and cultural transformation in the UK.Manifesting through work with The Humanity Project - a platform focussing on grassroots, participatory democracy via innovative local citizens assembliesandwith Hard Art Collective - with artist and activist Brian Eno - an artist led ‘feel tank’ exploring how we might weave new cultural contexts that put care and solidarity at the centre.We explore:* Grassroots Democracy and Intersectional Issues* The Power of Collective Imagination* The Role of Non Violent Protest and Civil Disobedience* Legal Systems and the Fight for Justice* The Importance of Disruption in Social Movements*  Imaginative Capacity and Hard Art* The Role of Artists in Cultural Change* Participatory Democracy and Cultural Networks* Designing Spaces for Interaction and Engagement in people led changeUltimately to build a connected, resilient society based on care, compassion, freedom and love is going to need big numbers of people actively participating in local assemblies and community organising in the places they live and through the networks and influence they hold.Citizens not consumers as my friend Jon Alexander puts it.Becoming Crew on Spaceship Earth as we like to say around here.Play Out SongSeeds - Olivia Fern feat Carrie Tree Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 93: Ode to the FuturesRecorded in the summer, this 6 minute immersive story is both a framing of the context we find ourselves inAnd…A sonic orientation towards the future - of this podcast, and the offerings and invitations of Becoming Crew.It’s an expression of the spirit of the ongoing inquiry of this work, the intentionality, manifested through the podcast and the action learning collective and practice community of Becoming Crew.I hope it speaks to you in some way, and that it might serve as a curious invitation to join us, to dive into the many podcast conversations past and future, to participate in one of our future gatherings and events online and onland.To collaborate or entangle with us in some way.If it brings something up for you, please comment, drop us a mail or DM we’d love to hear from you.May you find peace in these mysterious times.One for the headphones.______________________Words and voice Dan BurgessSound design Charlie Shread Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 92 is a conversation with three very smart, courageous and thoughtful humans from new regenerative venture with a massive ambition - Nature 2Gail Gallie, Jay Lipman and Patricia Zurita are co-founders who between them represent highly experienced operators and practitioners across worlds of campaigning and mobilisation, ethics driven finance and global conservation.Nature 2 is a collaboration that seeks to connect, build and scale systems to urgently drive finance into protecting and regenerating the natural world globally.At this moment in time there is a funding gap around nature, biodiversity and ecosystem protection and regeneration of approximately 830 billion dollars (gulp!)  - something they call the ‘nature financing gap.’Nature 2 are on a mission to close that gap. Seeking to catalyse the finance and investor communities to commit to directing 2% of managed assets towards nature based solutions.We explore:* Nature 2: A new mission - how this idea emerged, how it works and the roles within this collaborative venture* The role of finance in nature conservation* The importance and complexity of shifting destructive subsidies towards regenerative practices* Navigating capitalism and conservation* Balancing big company action with local farmers and land based communities* Mapping the most urgent places on Earth for nature conservation and regeneration* Philanthropy and capitalism and the entanglement of todays economic system design with climate and ecological breakdown* Stories and communication to engage funding and investor communitiesThis conversation was recorded in spring 2024. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

My guest on this episode David Johnstone is in my view a beautiful example of a human taking responsibility and using their gifts, experience and influence to cultivate the courage and creativity to face into the uncomfortable questions we are being confronted with* To speak up to the messy contradictions of this moment* To raise awareness of the massive changes coming down the line* To  experiment with weirder movesTo keep self examining not just the impacts of business as usual but to imagine and participate in business unusual, where we commit to the messy process of healing, reconnecting, reimagining and liberating. He is founder, CEO and Executive Creative Director of global design studio, Accept and Proceed , host of the brilliant podcast ~Endless Vital Activity, convener of strange solstice gatherings We don’t know what this is yet on Hackney Marshes.David is a humble, curious, insightful, creative human, a radical experimenter with a big heart and infections imagination.This was a wide ranging conversation exploring his work in brand design, his journey working with global corporations, awakening to the impacts of commercial creativity,  of taking responsibility for the impacts we are making through these creative human entities we call ‘brands.’This has led to the Design for the Future mission of Accept and Proceed which he unpacks alongside an exploration of brand power, the ‘dark ages of the future’, ‘Together World’ strategy and the emergence of new relational entanglements between humans, enterprise and this living mysterious Spaceship Earth we call home.We explore:The nervous energy of these timesPanpsychism and ConsciousnessDavid's journey into brandThe power and responsibility of brandDesigning for a ‘Together World’Navigating the Three Horizons FrameworkEmbracing complexity and uncertaintyUnderstanding business and systemic cycles - death and endingsThe significance of tuning into Earth’s patterns like sunrisesImagining brand futuresLINKSAccept and ProceedDavid Johnston InstagramAccept and Proceed InstagramEndless Vital Activity Podcast Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I’m in conversation with Jasmine Isa Qureshi - a multimedia journalist, marine biologist, queer ecologist, award winning spoken word / published poet and storyteller.She writes and studies across ecology, conservation, trans / queer / muslim identity, politics and sociology.Her work seeks to understand the systems by which we and nature have grown intertwined and apart, explore the intersections of identities, origins as queer, global majority folk, and provide alternative systems for our futures, by sparking discussions, thoughts and creating resources to make these as accessible as possible.She is currently working on her first book.We explore:* Personal identity and its connection to the natural world* Anthropocentrism and the Human vs nature binary* Queer Ecology and Queerness - perspectives and misconceptions* Colonialism and identity and the dismantling of colonial structures to envision inclusive and liberating systems.* Intersectionality and Global majority futurism* The necessity of community, interdependence, and the power of unlearning and renewal to craft liberating, inclusive futures free from systemic oppression.LinksJasmine Qureshi websiteJasmine Qureshi Instagram Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I’m in conversation with Lily Cole.Lily is a model, activist, social entrepreneur, writer, actor and mother who has campaigned and acted persistently on multiple social, environmental and climate justice issues throughout her working life.She is committed to exploring new possibilities and ways of being which put care and life at the centre.I connected with Lily last year when we were both invited to attend a climate activism retreat at Plum Village, the Zen Buddhist Monastery in France founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat HanhThe Plum Village force is strong in this episode.This conversation is grounded in this moment, it’s a dive into the deeper parts of change, the inner and outer dimensions of our values and actions and how they influence and shape the systems we seek to change.We explore:* Mindfulness, practicing deep listening and cultivating empathy for addressing the complex, contradicting and overwhelming issues of living in these times.* The interconnectedness of all beings, ancient wisdoms and other ways of knowing, and the potential of shifting perspectives to create more caring and sustainable cultures.* How we can integrate these practices and insights into our lives and communities as part of a collective journey towards regenerative and peaceful change.LinksLily ColeWho Cares Wins PodcastPlum VillagePlay out TrackWill Flisk with Sif Augustdottir - Satie and the Crow Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Recorded in 2021 I’m posting this Episode with Dr Wallace J Nichols today to honour his sudden passing this week.The most humble human who gave so much to widening our collective understanding of the human entanglement and interdependence with the waters of this Earth.His book Blue Mind is a must read and rightly influenced so many to see beyond water just as a resource to be protected but a sacred flow of life itself, so entangled with human life and health and our emotional regulation and wellbeing.I spent a little bit of time with ‘J’ in California in 2018 and hosted him on the podcast in 2021 as we were emerging from the pandemic and he was coming to terms with the loss of his family home from wild fires.He spoke a lot then about the need for water connection and blue mind in these times of increasing rage, stress, violence and divisiveness.We had planned to record another conversation exploring loss, trauma, losing what we love and healing with the Earth but we never managed it.He had those very rare qualities of deep intelligence and wisdom, empathy for all life, the capacity to invite curiosity and inquiry from people with humility and without the need to shout loudly or divide. He always spoke so beautifully of his family too - we send them love for these most challenging times of loss.He would always hand out blue marbles, and say -‘if we zoom out from our planet Earth a million miles - all you can see is a little blue marble floating in space - a planet made of water. Keep that marble in your pocket to remember this miracle’He would encourage you to go and find your water, a river, stream, lake, pond or the ocean if you’re lucky. Be near it, on it, in it - cultivate your blue mind.Water is medicine - he said.In these time more than ever._______________________________________Dr Wallace. J Nichols is a renowned marine-biologist, wild water advocate and author of the bestselling book - Blue Mind: How Water Makes You Happier, More Connected and Better at What You Do.His experiences as a field research scientist, government consultant, teacher, mentor, public speaker, parent, founder and director of businesses and nonprofit organisations, all support his quest to build a stronger and more diverse global blue movement. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this Episode I’m in conversation with the brilliant Immy Kaur and Kavita Purohit from Civic Square in Birmingham UK.Civic Square’s mission is demonstrating neighbourhood-scale civic infrastructure for social, ecological, economic, and climate transition.I’m a huge fan of their work, they are pioneers in the UK when it comes to demonstrating what communities can achieve when it comes to responding to some of the gnarliest, complex systemic issues we face as a species.They use practical, decentralised approaches, translating complex systems change thinking into participative inquiry and co-design projects working with  place based communities alongside diverse practitioners, knowledge and wisdom holders and regenerative innovators.When the times we are in can feel so overwhelming and mainstream political approaches exhausted, look to Civic Square and their ecology of collaborators for how we might create very different ways of imagining and realising better futures which put people and places at the centre around cultures of care, connection and solidarity.We explore* Systemic Issues and community approaches to finding solutions* The importance of neighbourhoods and Public Goods* Health Justice and ecological Health in neighbourhoods* Demonstrating radical imagination* The role of Doughnut Economics in neighbourhoods* Community engagement and co-ceation approaches* Different ways of knowing, re-pairing and re-imaginingLinksCivic SquareCivic Square MediumNeighbourhood DoughnutStories for Life Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Earth Sessions are DJ mixes that I put out from time to time.This unravelling world makes me despair today.So I went down to the Spaceship shed and recorded this mix.Ruff and ready.When there are no words, there is music.House MusicAnd Love.Respect to the artists and producers who have created these tracks that are alive for me right now.Full listing on site. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I’m in conversation with Sarah Corbett, award winning campaigner, activist and founder of the Craftivist Collective.Craftivism, where craft meets activism, offers a unique, intimate, transformative approach to addressing the gnarly issues of our time, emphasising the importance of gentle, emotionally intelligent, creative and persuasive protest in fostering meaningful dialogue, connection and change.From crafting hearts to connect across climate movements to sewing personalised handkerchiefs sent to corporate leaders and so much more - Sarah and the Craftivist Collective invite people to embrace activism rooted in gentleness, compassion, humility and self-care.We Explore* Navigating the digital activism world: challenges and personal reflections* Blending craft and activism for change* The potential of gentle protest: crafting a kinder activism* The power of hands in crafting, connecting and healing* The transformative impact of craft on mental health* Craftivism in action: from gentle protest to wider solidarity and systemic changeLinksCraftivist CollectiveCraftivist Instagram Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I’m in conversation with Adah Parris - keynote speaker, futurist,  visionary artist, and activist who inspires transformative change through her practice.Adah is working with many inquires - including ‘Cyborg Shamanism’ and the provocation ‘What kind of ancestor do you want to be ?’And we dig into this and much more in this conversation.This is also a conversation which explores the essence of diversity - of wider intelligences, of sensing the world differently and of co-creating different futures. A conversation between two late diagnosed neurodiverse people, we explore what happens when we challenge normativity, drawing on other forms of creative intelligence, what do we find along the path when we're walking on the edges of normal?We Explore* Personal and collective responsibility towards climate change and the actions necessary for a more regenerative future.* Emotional and mental health in the face of conflict and crisis.* Experiences of ADHD and Autism, challenging ‘normativity’ and the impact and potential of diversity in shaping our future* Creating change through remembering our rootedness to the Earth* Cyborg shamanism’ - blending technology, storytelling and spirituality for better understanding relationships, interconnectedness and planetary consciousness.LinksBecoming Crew Live GatheringsTickets for Live Gathering with Bayo AkomolafeAdah ParrisAdah Parris InstagramEarth Echoes Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Every so often I record a conversation that feels absolutely vital for the stuckness of these times.Full of insight, provocation, intelligence, trouble and beautiful fertiliser for what could be.This is one of those episodes.A conversation with Alnoor Ladha and Lynn Murphy - both long term activists, political strategists and in their words ‘accidental philanthropy advisors’.Alnoor and Lynn are two of the wisest souls I’ve hosted here.Their ability to articulate with clarity, nuance, honesty and humility to the mess we are in as a species and how we got here, while gesturing towards beautiful ways through is remarkable, and is a true gift in my opinion.They draw on this knowledge through wisdom, experiences and learnings from a vast diverse web of life, traditions, cultures, professions and expertise past and present, and the extraordinary book they created is a synthesis of all of that.Post Capitalist Philanthropy - Healing Wealth in the Time of Collapse _____________________________________This Episode is a longer one. - However, we do offer you an intentional reflective pause half way through, a place to breathe and check in on yourself or take a break.---------------------------------------This conversation is deep, it sets out a dynamic perspective on ’the waters we are swimming in’ today and the ‘Age of Consequence’ we are now experiencing.We explore:* Navigating the polycrisis/metacrisis - how did we get here - understanding the systems through ‘structural, historical, constellational world views.’* The inevitability of financial collapse and currency devaluation as the model of debt-based, growth-based logic self-terminates.* The incompatibility between the Earth’s System and Neo-liberal late stage- capitalist modernity* Ontological shifts and returning to life force - somatics, disembodiement, separation, identity, ancestry and death * What is Post-Capitalism - values and realities* Becoming ‘conscientious objectors’ of the dominant extractive culture* Shifting to solidarity with all life: the power of connection and dialogue with the living world and ancient wisdom in modern activism and regenerative change* Growing post-capitalist realities, cultures and infrastructure through community and practices * Living and practicing new and ancient ways of being, knowing and relating* Creating post capitalist infrastructure: a call to philanthropy and wealth redistribution* Reflections on wealth, identity and the journey of collective liberation and transformation.---------------------------------------Are we willing to walk away from cultures of domination, control and violence ?To recognise our smallness in the great mystery of life and begin to trust the life force within us and around us to guide us into practicing new ways of being and new cultures that put life at the centre again.I really hope you appreciate this Episode, please do comment, share and post far and wide if it brings things up for you, we’d love to hear from you.LinksBecoming Crew Live Event GatheringsPost Capitalist PhilanthropyTransition Resource CircleCulture Hack LabsSam Lee - Green Mossy Banks Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Originally released in June 2022, I’m rebroadcasting for Earth Day Episode 60 with Dr Stephan Harding - Holistic Scientist, Deep Ecologist, Author and Co-founder of Schumacher College who was mentored by the scientist James Lovelock - responsible for the Gaia Theory Hypothesis.Earth Day began in 1970 the year before I was born, and here we are 54 years later experiencing the accelerated unravelling of our Earth’s System, essentially from a perception problem, a relationship problem, a separation crisis.Capitalist Modernity has failed to understand or accept that the Earth is alive, an ongoing complex, mysterious entanglement of intelligent living relationships which have created the conditions for life to emerge, including human life.This is Gaia. A way of seeing the Earth that humans throughout the majority of our time as a species on this planet have always known.The Earth and all life on it is sentient, animate and sacred.Decades of destructive and extractive ways of being in relationship with the Earth means we’re facing into the consequences of that in profound ways now, how quickly can we wake up at scale and re-learn to see the Earth as alive ?What Stephan would call Gaian consciousness…“So lets call it a Gaian consciousness. It’s gradually taking root inside people, people are waking-up to it more and more. But it’s slow. Waking up is far slower than the rate of destruction. And what we need now is the rate of waking-up to overtake the rate of destruction. And the waking-up has got to happen on a massive scale. But I don’t know how that is going to happen.The positive side is that cultural revolutions can happen very quickly. Revolutions in consciousness can happen very quickly. This one has got to happen quicker than any other, and happen fast and on a global scale. And it has got to transcend national boundaries, political boundaries, all the sorts of boundaries that we humans have erected between ourselves, gender boundaries, all those boundaries they have got to fall down. And we all have to unify to protect our very own planet, for her own sake and our sake and the sake of all beings. Is that going to happen?”In this episode we explore- Who is Gaia and what’s her history? - James Lovelock independent scientist, mentor and Gaia Theory Hypothesis- From the scientific study of the Muntjac Deer to the deep connection of the wholeness of nature- We are not just thinkers. We’re equally, feelers, sensors and intuitors- We’re inherently animistic with a spiritual connection to nature. And we can still value science- A cultural revolution needs to happen quicker than any other time, for the sake of all life- Gaia Alchemy. Why put alchemy with science? - Healing a crisis of meaning and the Azoth of Philosophy- Valuing the psyche over the ego. Do we invent ideas or do we receive them?- Finding your Gaia placeI hope you enjoy this conversation. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Something a bit different this week from the deeper more than human dive we’ve been on in the last few episodes.I’m in conversation with Matthew Barr of Adventure Sport Podcast Looking SidewaysMatt has released nearly 250 episodes on his podcast with some of the biggest, humblest and most interesting names in Surfing, Snowboarding, Skateboarding and related pursuits.Many of the conversations Matt hosts explore the big challenges of our time through the lens of these sports, experiences and communities.Aside from being a fan of the pod I wanted to get Matt on for a few reasons:* I’m a life long trail runner and a keen surfer  - both of these pursuits have kept my awe for the living Earth alive and my humility in check - as a little human-being on a vast, powerful, complex, intelligent more than human planet .* I’m always curious about adventure sport and the obvious relationship with our living Earth that offers potential not just for connection, but protection, activism, regeneration and stewarding from within these communities, if they could be more widely mobilised.* I really appreciate how Matt digs into the multiple tensions and issues we are facing today from climate and ecological breakdown, to structural racism, to gender rights and much more - he explores them, through the stories of some amazing humans that he hosts.* Like this podcast tries to do, Matt creates space to explore the complexities, nuance and difficult things we must all learn to face into, the uncomfortable conversations we need to learn to welcome if we’re to find ways through these crazy times into more peaceful, co-operative ways of being, between humans and all life on this Earth.* Podcasting can be an extraordinary medium for learning and unlearning which is what keeps me going with this podcast and what I learn in this conversation drives Matt to continue with his.We explore:* The need for more spaces for true dialogue to help us move through the stuck binary, divisiveness of modern culture and media.* How so many tensions are often based on poor information and limited understanding, especially when it comes to our relationship with a complex living planet.* The elephant in the room when it comes to the meta crisis - ‘the spell of Capitalism’ - and our collective inability to imagine anything different.* The impacts of a deeply commoditised, extractive and often entitled culture on our personal sense of responsibility to look beyond ‘nature as transaction’, and act as stewards, protectors and active participants in change.* ‘The Announcement’ - a 3 part audio documentary that Matt is creating with Patagonia based on their recent decision to ‘convert all the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth - the Earth.’* This is also a conversation from two ‘Gen-X’ middle-aged white men about the pursuit of the podcasting medium, the role for longer form content, the challenges of pervasive technology and social media platforms on our attention, and how to be of service in these unravelling times.As Matt put it:“We were both born in the analogue era and we’ll die in the AI era”.I hope you enjoy, please share if you do and let us know how this lands for you in the commentsLinksLooking Sideways WebsiteLooking Sideways SubstackInstagramPatagonia Announcement Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I’m in conversation with Natasha Lythgoe, Vision Quest guide, retreat leader and mentor, who’s work and approach has been profoundly shaped by her life as an artist and through her buddhist practice.Natasha works with mind, body, psyche/soul and mystery, sharing the skills that have been shared with her over the last twenty five years of practice.I’ve been following Natasha’s work since we trained together as nature guides on Chris Salisbury’s inaugural Call of the Wild program 11 years ago and was excited to invite her onto the podcast this year.This is a conversation which explores the messy work of integration or incorporation as Natasha prefers.It’s about the work we must all do if we’re serious about paradigm shifts, letting go of destructive behaviours that no longer serve us,  and becoming the change we seek, especially following rites of passage, threshold work or peak experience.This is a conversation which invites us to explore different intelligences within us and around us.Especially our own body intelligence, learning its language and clock which defies the very paradigms of extractivism and capitalism.We explore* Natasha’s journey as an artist, her buddhist practice and her connection back to the land and a wilder intelligence.* How do we begin to trust the messy, wild , aliveness inside us and around us in contrast to the linear, rational, limited ways of ‘making sense’ in modernity.* How to learn to trust different ways of knowing to help us navigate these times. Ways which are not always comfortable and clear.* Somatics and the body - this episode is a bit different, in that it features a very spontaneous co-created somatic practice which Natasha offered me as we were in mid conversation.So I invite you to follow along when Natasha guides the body intelligence practice - see it as a playful sensory exploration. Christina Figures said recently:“Systemic transformation is deeply personal. “I think this episode is touching on that.It invites us into the uncomfortable, messy and I’d suggest most beautiful work, which doesn’t fit neatly into the commercialisation of  peak experience, spiritual transformation and purpose/leadership work.Learning to lean into your authentic purpose, with a process and journey which is often being guided by wilder, unpredictable, more feral, more than human life forces. Which I think is really the invitation of becoming crew.As Bayo Akomolafe once said to me:“May your road be rough “I hope you enjoy this conversation._________________________________________________We are planning an On-Land Wilderness Solo with Natasha and Becoming Crew guides with ongoing incorporation 20-22nd of September.If you’d like to register interest mail us: [email protected] Art of RewildingNatasha Lythgoe InstagramBecoming Crew - The RemixPlay Out TrackWill Flisk - Long Pig Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I’m in conversation with Vision Quest guide David Wendl-Berry.David trained as a wilderness guide in the 1980’s at the School of Lost Borders in California, under the guidance of Steven Foster and Meredith Little – pioneers who first brought the Vision Quest into Western culture. David brought this Vision Quest approach back to the UK and has been guiding people through this powerful process for 32 years on these lands. This approach to Vision Quest involves:Several months of preparation. 10 days out on a wild landscape. 4 days and 4 nights of those alone, fasting.2 days of returning and story sharing with a community of fellow questers and guides And one year of integration or ‘cooking’ as David calls it.In July 2023 David and his fellow guide Jen Gold guided me through my first Vision Quest.The experience for me was wild, profound, challenging, mysterious and is definitely still ‘cooking’ 9 months on.The Vision Quest is a rites of passage that was completely missing from my life. The tragic absence of rites of passage in our culture of modernity, along with the deeply troubled times we are facing into, compelled me to sit down and record a conversation with David. This episode is I think an intriguing sharing of David’s fascinating story of how he came to dedicate his entire life to guiding people through this extraordinary journey of Vision Quest. And full of insights and learnings from supporting hundreds and hundreds of people from all walks of life through this rites of passage.This is beautiful and vital work for these times for sure. And David has served and given so much to this practice on these Islands. “For over three decades David Wendl-Berry has been at the wildest edge of rites-of-passage work in the U.K. No one else working today has the breadth of experience and profound wisdom David holds in this area. His heart and canniness cut through all racial and social barriers; his humour and guts have helped facilitate hundreds of men and women through this delicate process of soul-awakening. This man is a national treasure and hugely gifted.”Martin Shaw- Mythologist, storyteller and author We explore:The context we find ourselves in today and how much of this mess was predicted 30 years ago by the Medicine Men David encountered.David’s journey into Vision Quest following a chance meeting in the 1980’s with Sun Bear, a Native American Medicine Man which ended up changing his life direction.His first Vision Quest experience.His journey from apprentice to guide.Surrendering yourself to the ‘Spirit of the Quest’, to trust that the ‘medicine’ you really need is not up to you.Rites of passage, becoming adult and finding our true place in serving the wider communities of life.I really hope you enjoy this episode.Let us know in the comments what it brings up for you.And please share it to someone else if it speaks to you.-------------------------------------------------------If you’re interested in a guided overnight Wilderness Solo with ongoing integration from Becoming Crew, we are now planning for September in the UK.Please mail us: hello@becomingcrew.com--------------------------------------------------------Links:David Wendl-Berry Website The Remix 6 month action learning course from Becoming CrewSchool of Lost Borders Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I’m in conversation with Sam Lee.Sam is a Mercury Music Award nominated folk singer, storyteller, song collector, climate and nature activist, conservationist, community builder and all round purveyor of life-centric vibes.Oh and he sings with Nightingales too.Sam is an inspiring and humble human, weaving so many beautiful threads through his work in service to life on this planet.His 4th album ‘Songdreaming’ is about to be released, which is the catalyst of this conversation.This is a vital, honest, open, expansive and playful conversation which I loved hosting.We explore:* Living, creating, working, participating and trying to stay well in decaying and collapsing systems.* Good mischief and (h)edge living as an antidote to a constructed world that makes less and less sense.* The interconnectedness of the collapse in nature, species decline and the separation and severing of our modern culture from place, story and land based communities.* The potential for music and song as connectors, portals and maps to a living world full of story and intelligence in these times.* Song collecting, keeping intergenerational stories alive and the power of folk song to connect us back and forwards to the places, landscapes and living world around us.* Living in the entanglement of grief, love, loss, despair, joy and possibility of these times.* The emergence of the album ‘Songdreaming’ and its rootedness in nature and a world that is alive.The episode features music from the new album.(details and links in show notes)I loved this conversation with Sam, I hope you will too.Support Sam's music and performances if you can, you are in for a treat.(via links in show notes)Let us know in the comments what it brings up for you.And please share it to someone else if it speaks to you. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to this first full episode kicking off 2024. After a ramble from me reflecting on our break and the podcast intentions for this year - I’m in conversation with Dr Rosalind Watts someone who I think personifies the story of becoming crew on Spaceship Earth in 2024. Ros is a clinical psychologist by trade, a mother and lover of our living world. Her work as the clinical lead for Imperial College London's Psilocybin trials has made her one of the most prominent voices and minds in the field of psychedelic research. She has been named as one of the 50 most influential people in psychedelics as well as one of the top women shaping the future of psychedelics. What sets Ros apart is her focus on integration, harm reduction and inclusion in the psychedelic space. And the tools and structures that she's been building to cultivate connectedness after psychedelic experiences in communities of practice - are finding inspiration for their design from the natural world. Her key learning has been that safe and effective use of psychedelics requires substantial integration support within communities of practice. Crews, basically.Ros co-founded the UK's first psychedelic integration community, ACER, which stands for Accept, Connect, Embody, Restore, where participants follow a year long process in community to connect more deeply to self, others and the natural world. This is not an episode about psychedelics. Ros has shared her journey into psychedelics in detail on other podcasts. Psychedelics are showing extraordinary benefits in guided therapies in supporting humans through a whole spectrum of traumas and suffering (as plant medicines have done for millenia) - but, when we come through therapy we are ejected back into what is if we’re honest, a profoundly unwell culture."It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."Jiddu KrishnamurtiSo maybe a question worth exploring is how do cultures heal themselves?And this is the work Ros is dedicating her time and life to.We spent time exploring this moment in time the beginning of 2024, the context we find ourselves in, how her learnings from years of research are shaping the direction of her work this year with particular attention on communities, place based psychedelic and healing infrastructure and trees, lots of talk about the wisdom of trees.This is a conversation about:The potential in human communities to care for each other, To create spaces for connection and healing,Acceptance of our individual diversity and suffering Deepening our relationships with the more that human world.Not as a nice to have but as an essential part of weaving life-centric cultures of place.Cultures with strong resilient roots, able to face into the troubles and challenges coming down the line as the structures, systems and stories of modernity unravel.I loved this conversation with Ros, I hope you will too. Let us know in the comments what it brings up for you. And please share it to someone else if it speaks to you.LinksAcer Integration Website @DrRosalindWatts@acerintegration Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In this very short episode, I set out some news on the future of The Spaceship Earth Podcast which I’ve been hosting since 2018.The podcast and the writing here has always been offered in the spirit of the gift, self-funded.However in 2024 we need to find ways to support the time and costs involved in recording and releasing these offerings, as we up our schedule to two episodes a month and publish more writing and community offerings here on Substack.We are living in extraordinary times and mainstream media is becoming more and more limiting as we look for sense and meaning in these unravelling times.We need spaces for conversations which go deeper, which ask different questions of these times, which explore other possibilities, which don’t claim to have answers for everything, and encourage and cultivate imagination, humility, connection, participation and community.We will be bringing you brilliant guests, conversations and ideas from the leading edges of regenerative change, folks growing life-centric cultures, humans upholding the spirit of ‘becoming crew’ through their actions, work, humanity and creativity.These stories and conversations can help inspire us to explore new ways of thinking, being, relating and organising on Spaceship Earth, to live more beautifully and peacefully with ourselves, each other and with nature - our more than human family.We are moving the podcast hosting over to Substack to help support this and also to encourage more community, dialogue and connection around episodes and ideas.But in the spirit of becoming crew - WE NEED YOU.To help support the ongoing costs.For the monthly price of about one pint of beer in a British pub or two takeaway coffees you can help make this happen.And to share your thoughts here on episodes and topics if we inspire them.To spread the word on what we’re doing if you’re getting something from it.It’s the spirit of reciprocity.And its’s how life actually works on Spaceship Earth.With much appreciation and gratitudePeace and OutDanSupport and subscribe:https://becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe#thespaceshipearthpodcast #becomingcrew Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe