Coming Home to Life – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, we discuss language, perception and sensuous engagement with the more-than-human world with cultural ecologist, Dr David Abram.

David Abram is a cultural ecologist, geophilosopher, and the founder and creative director of the Alliance for Wild Ethics (AWE). His books include Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology and The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. David is the recipient of various fellowships and awards, including the international Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction, David recently held the international Arne Naess Chair in Global Justice and Ecology at the University of Oslo in Norway.

In this episode, Daniel and Philipa welcome Dr Tyson Yunkaporta back for an extended yarn on relatedness and making embassy through community.

Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, educator, maker, researcher, and poet. He is the founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and the author of two books, the bestselling “Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World” and the recently published “Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking”. Tyson’s work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises.

In this episode, Philipa and Daniel are joined by peace pilgrim, activist and former monk, Satish Kumar, who shares his insights on the importance of building community as a way of living locally and connecting globally.

When faced with global social and environmental challenges, we can assume that we should be entirely focused on solving the problems ‘out there’. But without paying attention to our inner world and inter-being - the ways in which we relate to one another - can we really reimagine our world and enable flourishing futures for all?

Peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for over 50 years. Aged 9, Satish renounced the world and became a wandering Jain monk. Inspired by Gandhi, he decided at 18 that he could achieve more ‘back in the world’, campaigning to turn Gandhi's vision of a peaceful future into reality. Satish founded The Resurgence Trust, an educational charity that seeks to inform and inspire a just future for all. He was the Editor of the charity's change-making magazine, Resurgence & Ecologist, for over 40 years. He co-founded Schumacher College, which he continues to serve as a Visiting Fellow.

In this first episode of the second series, co-hosts Philipa Duthie and Daniel Christian Wahl talk to Biomimicry pioneers Janine Benyus and Dr Dayna Baumeister about the practice of learning from life’s enduring patterns and wisdom.

Over 3.8 billion years life has evolved to create the conditions conducive to life. In comparison, the history of human innovation is vanishingly brief. What might we learn if we looked to nature as our teacher, not only for inspiration in physical design but in ways of learning, relating and collaborating?

Janine Benyus is a biologist, author, innovation consultant, and self proclaimed “nature nerd.” She may not have coined the term biomimicry, but she certainly popularized it in her 1997 book ‘Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature’. She is Co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8 and the Biomimicry Institute. Janine has introduced millions to the meme of biomimicry through two TED talks, hundreds of conference keynotes, and a dozen documentaries. In 2022, Janine was awarded the annual RSA Bicentenary Medal for her remarkable contribution to regenerative design.

Dr Dayna Baumeister’s foundational work has been critical to the biomimicry movement, establishing it as a fresh and innovative practice, as well as a philosophy to meet the world’s sustainability challenges. As an educator, researcher, and design consultant, Dayna has helped more than 100 companies consult the natural world for elegant and sustainable design solutions. She is Co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8.

In this series we’ve heard from key thinkers on what they are doing to nurture regenerative systems – locally, regionally and globally – and to create thriving futures for all life on this planet. In this final episode of the series, Josie and Daniel are joined by Paul Hawken, one of the environmental movement’s leading voices, to hear his perspectives on why now is the time for collaborative action and how we can all be part of the re-generation.

Paul Hawken is a pioneering architect of corporate reform with respect to ecological practices. He is a well-respected author, economist, and activist, and the Founder of Project Drawdown, a non-profit dedicated to researching when and how global warming can be reversed. He has written eight best-selling books, including the hugely influential The Ecology of Commerce. His most recent book is Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation.

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In this episode, Josie and Daniel discuss the importance of place with two leading voices in regenerative development -- Pamela Mang and Jenny Andersson.

We are living through a period of seemingly insurmountable challenges – from the climate crisis to global disparities of health and wealth. How can we grapple with such complex and wicked problems – collectively or as individuals? Regenerative development practitioners Pamela Mang and Jenny Andersson argue that to do so we must start in our own homes – with the places and spaces around us.

Pamela Mang is the founder of Regenesis Group with 30 years’ consulting experience with businesses, governmental agencies and community groups specializing in living systems thinking and educational and human development processes. She is a faculty member for The Regenerative Practitioner – a programme which has supported hundreds of people around the world to build their experience of regenerative development.

Jenny Andersson is the founder of The Really Regenerative Centre. She works as a strategist, facilitator and educator, supporting organisations and communities to create visions for the future they want – together – and to find the energy, will and approaches to sustain long-term change.

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In this episode, Josie and Daniel discuss the role companies can play in shaping our future with John Elkington and Louise Kjellerup Roper from Volans Ventures.

The last decade has seen a shift in the discussion around corporate social responsibility and the role businesses can play in tackling the world’s challenges. In this episode, we ask our guests, John Elkington and Louise Kjellerup Roper whether the businesses of today are doing enough to build a better tomorrow and what a regenerative approach to business could look like.

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable capitalism. His book Cannibals with Forks in 1997 popularised his ‘Triple Bottom Line’ concept, and laid the foundations for sustainable business strategy. His 20th book was published in 2020 - Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism.

Louise Kjellerup Roper is the CEO of Volans. She started her career with ‘cutting-edge’ software companies, before focusing on the role of business for good. Today, as well as being responsible for the work of Volans, she is a guest lecturer at both Cranfield University and the University of Exeter and part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s CE100 network.

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In this episode, Josie and Daniel explore new models for structuring our economies with radical economists Kate Raworth and John Fullerton.

The words economy and ecology have the same root in Ancient Greek – oikos, meaning home. In an era marked by climate breakdown and profound social challenges, what is our economy telling us about our home? And what is our home, planet Earth, telling us about our economy?

In this episode, we discuss the rise of regenerative economics with guests Kate Raworth and John Fullerton.

Kate Raworth is a renegade economist focused on making economics fit for 21st century realities. Her internationally acclaimed framework of Doughnut Economics has been widely influential amongst sustainable development thinkers, progressive businesses and political activists. Her Doughnut Economics Action Lab is now working with communities around the world to put it into practice in our neighbourhoods and cities.

John Fullerton is an impact investor, writer, and unconventional economist and is the Founder of the Capital Institute. He is the author of Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Patterns and Principles Will Shape the New Economy and is supporting business leaders explore what regenerative economics could look through his new course which brings together leading thinkers across economy, business and finance.

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Josie and Daniel discuss regenerative cities with urban designers, Michael Pawlyn and Sarah Ichioka, authors of the book Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency.

From our cities, to our homes, to our public buildings, the spaces we inhabit determine how we live our lives and interact with the world around us. But what if our built environment is actually fueling our destructive lifestyles and furthering our disconnection with the living world? How can regenerative principles help us design buildings and communities that put life – all life – at the centre, and respond to our needs in the 21st century.

It’s precisely these challenges that urban designers, Michael Pawlyn and Sarah Ichioka address in their new book, Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency.

Sarah Ichioka is an urbanist, curator and writer based in Singapore. She currently leads Desire Lines, a strategic consultancy for environmental, cultural, and social-impact organizations and initiatives. In previous roles, she has explored the intersections of cities, society and ecology within leading international institutions of culture, policy and research.

Michael Pawlyn is an architect and biomimicry expert, he established architecture practice Exploration in 2007 and is co-initiator of Architects Declare - a network of architecture studios that have pledged to help- tackle the global climate and biodiversity emergencies.

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In this episode, Josie and Daniel are joined by Professor Anne Poelina, Co-Chair of Indigenous Studies at the University of Notre Dame and a Nyikina Warrwa Indigenous woman from the Kimberley Region of Western Australia.

Regeneration is often positioned as a recent development in sustainable practice, but the principles that underpin this approach – connecting with place and living in harmony with natural systems – have been woven through cultures and wisdom traditions since the dawn of human history. In this episode, Josie and Daniel yarn with Dr Anne Poelina, a Nyikina Warrwa Traditional Owner and guardian of the Mardoowarra, Lower Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Professor Anne Poelina is Co-Chair of Indigenous Studies and Senior Research Fellow at the Nulungu Institute, University of Notre Dame Australia, and a Nyikina Warrwa Traditional Owner from the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Anne is an active Indigenous community leader, human and earth rights advocate, filmmaker and a respected academic researcher. She is also on the steering committee for Regenerative Songlines, an Indigenous-led network working to develop a continent-wide framework for regeneration in Australia.

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