Every once and a while I am happy and stunned to find an educational organization that makes me feel envious at the clear impact they are making on kids' lives, and the fun they are having along the way. For me, finding inspiration in other organizations that are keeping ancestral skills alive is an important part of running your own organization. Particularly, those that serve the next generation. In this episode I chat with Neal Ritter, a co-founder of the Laughing Coyote Project, a non-profit teaching earthskills in Colorado since 2007. Neal is happily a generalist, aiming to be above average in as many skills as possible. He is known for playing capture the flag with exuberance, and laughing loudly. Most importantly, he lives with his wife and two kids (who homeschool) on a twenty acre homestead they have the privilege of caretaking.

Notes:

Laughing Coyote Project

Boulder Outdoor Survival School

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Rewilding reconnects people to a regenerative relationship with the lands where we dwell. Many people live lives that are dramatically linked to technological modernity. A return to a less technologically dependent life is not possible (for them). Solar Punk offers a potential “transition” type of living that could help soften the blow of a collapsing industrial technological system–or may even represent a kind of sustainable futurism. To talk with me today about this is Andrew Sage.

Andrew is a passionate writer, artist, and YouTuber hailing from the vibrant island nation of Trinidad & Tobago. As an ardent anarchist and firm believer in power to the people, Andrew has dedicated his efforts to invigorating imaginations and encouraging people to create a better world in the shell of the old.

Notes:

Andrew’s YouTube

Andrew’s Website

The Problem with Civilisation

We Need To Be More Tech Critical

Annual North American Rewilding Conference

Beyond Civilization by Daniel Quinn

Martin Prechtel Interview

Peter Gelderloos; We have all the solutions

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Am I Rewilder Enough? w/ Sheila Henson

Do you feel like a poseur when it comes to rewilding? Do you have guilty pleasures you can’t give up? Are you too overwhelmed to start rewilding? You’re not alone. In this episode I chat with my friend and Rewild Portland board member Sheila Henson about the judgments we face from others and (more often) ourselves that we perennially face in rewilding. From how we dress to our day to day choices, shame, guilt, and confusion can paralyze us or drive us away from going deeper into rewilding. But rewilding isn’t just the way you look, or what you do; it’s the stories we tell ourselves about the world and our place in it. How can we break the spell of purity and fundamentalism as we try to create more regenerative ways to live? Listen in to hear what Sheila and I think about this important topic.

Sheila Bio:

Sheila received her BA in History and an MA in Education, spent twelve years as a behavioral respite worker for children with special needs, working for many of those years at the Serendipity Center in Portland. Today she is an ADHD Coach, and is a well known and respected educator on tiktok. The drive to understand how to be kind, collaborative, and restorative within our social and ecological communities led her to Rewild Portland, where she now serves on the board of directors, heading up our transformative justice committee. Sheila and I also co-teach a Rewilding Your Health class through Rewild Portland.

Show Notes:

Sheila’s Website

Sheila’s TikTok

Sheila’s Instagram

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Camilla Power’s Book The Evolution of Culture

Guerrillas in the Industrial Jungle: Radicalism's Primitive and Industrial Rhetoric by Ursula McTaggart

Depression & Rewilding w/ Sheila Henson

In 'Dopamine Nation,' Overabundance Keeps Us Craving More

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