Forest of Thought – Details, episodes & analysis

Many cultures maintain that we are not born human but that we may become fully human through cultivation and care. Could it be that our destructive tendencies are not because of our human-ness, but rather due to a lack of it? If so: where and how can we cultivate our humanity? All species play their part in the living web – what role might we humans have to play in this unfolding drama?

Mikael Kurkiala is a cultural anthropologist and author. He spent many years living and working with the Oglala Lakota people of South Dakota, and is currently a researcher at the Swedish Church Office. His most recent books are "When the Soul Goes into Exile: Modernity, Technology & the Sacred“ and “Where the Pendulum has its Base: On the Eternal in Humans”.

This conversation was recorded with a lovely audience at the Uppsala Public Library in Sweden, December 2024. 

It's one of three public conversations we hosted 2023-2024 as part of a series of events exploring the concept of ‘life-force’. You’ll find all three episodes (26, 27 & 28) at forestofthought.com or on your podcast listening platform. 

Support us on Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/forestofthought⁠⁠

Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms ⁠here⁠.

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠⁠stoneproduction.no⁠⁠. 

Caroline Ross has spent decades being immersed in Daoism, art, crafting and foraging (and spent 10 years touring with her rock band). Today, her practice weaves these diverse threads together into a philosophy of life centred on embodied living, exploring the Way (in the Daoist sense of the word) and making art as if the Earth mattered. 

Caroline Ross is an artist, craftswoman, writer and T’ai Chi teacher. You’ll find her sharing her passion for foraging and crafting via @foundandground on IG, and she writes weekly on themes of embodied life, art and the Way as Uncivil Savant on Substack. 

This is one of three public conversations that were recorded 2023-2024 as part of a series of events exploring the concept of ‘life-force’. The final and last episode will arrive in a few weeks’ time! 

This episode was recorded at and produced in collaboration with CEMUS at Uppsala University, and supported by the Viriditas foundation. 

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:

• Caroline’s books
• Caroline’s substack, The Uncivil Savant
• Link to Caroline’s text about the Spruce Tree Crone
• Dougald Hine's Substack
• The Dark Mountain Project

Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/forestofthought⁠

Share and subscribe. Find all available platforms here.

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at ⁠stoneproduction.no⁠. 

Felix Marquardt used to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle, advising CEOs and heads of state, and mingling at elite gatherings like the World Economic Forum in Davos. Now he is on a slow journey of recovery from substance abuse, and has recently published The New Nomads – a unique perspective on migration in our time. In this episode we talked about how patterns of addiction are playing out in all parts of our society, what sobering up might mean, and the unrecognised power of prayer.

Felix is Austrian-American born but raised in Paris. He counts a dozen nationalities in his family, has lived in as many countries and held as many jobs. He’s run communications for large publications and companies, advised CEOs and heads of state, and founded a bunch of projects, the latest of which is called Black Elephant, an outgrowth of his The New Nomads book (Simon & Schuster, 2021).

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT:

• The New Nomads by Felix Marquardt: https://thenewnomads.org


• Black Elephant, Felix’ latest project including podcast: https://www.blcklphnt.com


• ‘Davos is dead and coronavirus killed it’, article in FT by Felix (June 2021): https://www.ft.com/content/3177eb28-6fb1-459a-83a1-837124b43e0e


• “The culture wars require a peace process and GenXers must initiate it”, op-ed by Felix and others in South Africa Sunday Times: https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2021-12-02-the-culture-wars-require-a-peace-process-and-genxers-must-initiate-it/


• Kevin Anderson is a climate change researcher: http://kevinanderson.info/blog/home-2/


• Hospicing Modernity by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira (previously Andreotti): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675703/hospicing-modernity-by-vanessa-machado-de-oliveira/


• Des empires sous la terre (Empires under earth – English translation forthcoming) by Mohamad Amer Meziane (Felix’ friend who writes about racial and ecological history of secularisation) https://religion.columbia.edu/content/mohamed-amer-meziane


• Also by Mohamad Amer Médiane: https://politicaltheology.com/is-there-a-secularocene/

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought .

Share and subscribe. We’re available on most podcast apps, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.

Might harmful norms around masculinity be at the root of both men’s violence against women and the degradation of nature? In this episode we look more closely at men’s relationships their – to themselves, to other humans (especially women), to nature, and we ask the question: what becomes possible when men connect to what they most deeply long for?

Vidar Vetterfalk is psychologist and expert in masculinites and the climate crisis at MÄN (Men for Gender Equality), Sweden. He has been active in the feminist organisation MÄN since its inception in 1993, working with engaging boys and men for gender equality and ending men’s violence. Vidar grew up on a biodynamic farm and he is passionate about the interlinkages between gender equality, the environment, the climate crisis, and how to engage more men to care together with others.

LINKS TO THINGS WE TALKED ABOUT

• MÄN (Men for Gender Equality) website: www.mfj.se/en


• Resource materials for working on men’s violence against women, and men’s relations to climate and the environment: https://mfj.se/en/resources


• Global online seminar series on “Climate Crisis, Men, Masculinities and Climate Justice”: https://mfj.se/articles/2021/08/ny-arbetsgrupp-foer-klimatraettvisa


• Publications related to Vidar’s work: https://mfj.se/articles/2021/08/maen-om-fn-s-klimatrapport


• Joana Macy’s “Work that reconnects”: https://workthatreconnects.org

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/forestofthought

Find all episodes on our website: www.forestofthought.com

Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1 . Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729. Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought. 

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no. 

Does it still make sense to talk about climate change? This seems a strange question to ask, for someone who has spent much of his adult life talking to people about climate change, but it is the question writer Dougald Hine has found himself wondering about lately.

When we talk about climate change, we are entering into a conversation that is framed by science, yet climate change also asks us questions that lead beyond that frame. In recent years, however, the language of science has become supercharged: from the placards that read ‘Unite Behind the Science’ to the political leaders who insist that they are ‘following the science’ in their response to the pandemic, there’s a new emphasis on the total authority of science that makes it harder to ask these frame-breaking questions. This is converging with a particular approach to climate change, one that points to a dystopian future in which the world has been remade as an object of total management. What does this mean for how we have meaningful conversations about what Dougald Hine refers to as ‘the trouble we’re in’?

Dougald Hine is a writer and culture maker. Ten years ago, Dougald co-founded The Dark Mountain Project, which has grown into world-wide community of artists and writers. He and his partner Anna Björkman now run A School Called Home, a learning community for those drawn to the work of regrowing a living culture. He also podcasts together with futurist Ed Gillespie at The Great Humbling.

This episode was recorded at a live event co-organized by the Forest of Thought Podcast and CEMUS (Centre for environment and development studies) at Uppsala University, on November 22nd, 2021 at the Uppsala Public Library, Sweden.

For full show notes please go to: www.forestofthought.com/e16-live-dougald-hine

What is trauma? When we experience suffering or hardship we often feel this as a physical sensation in our bodies – we are “heartbroken” or have experienced something “gut-wrenching” or “bone-chilling”. The latest research is confirming that trauma and stress always have a bodily dimension – which is why therapies based on talking are not always enough. In this episode I’m joined by trauma consultant Gunilla Hamne, who helps us understand the nature of trauma and how body-based techniques can lead the way to healing.

Gunilla is an international trauma consultant and co-founder of the Peaceful Heart Network. She has spent the past 15 years working to spread knowledge about simple body-based techniques that can heal trauma and relieve stress, especially the Trauma Tapping Technique that she helped to develop. She has worked all over the world with survivors of war and genocide, with victims of abuse and bullying, with refugees, care workers and first responders.

Watch a video of how to do tapping at http://www.selfhelpfortrauma.org.

LINKS:

• Gunilla’s homepage: https://peacefulheart.se


• Their book: https://peacefulheart.se/resolving-yesterday-book-pdf/


• Their app that helps you do exercises to relieve stress: http://www.selfhelpfortrauma.org


• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk: https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score


• Interview on how trauma lodges in the body with Van der Kolk: https://onbeing.org/programs/bessel-van-der-kolk-how-trauma-lodges-in-the-body/#transcript


• Waking the Tiger by Peter Levin: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/100541/waking-the-tiger-healing-trauma-by-peter-a-levine-phd-contribution-by-ann-frederick/

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought

Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1


• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729


• Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.

What can the covid pandemic teach us about handling the climate crisis? We’ve seen that governments have not hesitated to take bold action when faced with this virus, by going into lockdowns and declaring states of emergency. Should we respond in a similar way to climate change? Or does emergency politics risk narrowing our field of view and undermine our democracies? Joining us in the Forest of Thought is Professor of Human Geography Mike Hulme.

Mike Hulme is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Pembroke College. His work explores the idea of climate change using historical, cultural and scientific analyses, investigating the numerous ways in which climate change is deployed in public and political discourse. He has just released his latest book ‘Climate Change’, which is part of the Routledge Key Ideas in Geography book series.

LINKS:

• Mike Hulme’s blog on re-socialisation after the pandemic: https://mikehulme.org/re-socialising-a-vaccinated-world-requires-political-struggle/


• Mike’s latest book : https://www.routledge.com/Climate-Change/Hulme/p/book/9780367422035


• Niels Gilman’s article on avocado politics: https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/no-12-winter-2020/avocado-politics


• ‘Emergency politics is dangerous’ article by Mike Hulme: https://issues.org/climate-emergency-politics-is-dangerous/


• Forthcoming book by Taylor Dotson: ‘The Divide: How Fanatical Certitude is Destroying Democracy’.

What is the true task of the architect? In this episode we talk to Peter Lynch about what the role of architecture really is. Can we create spaces that are more hospitable to both humans and other living beings? How can we truly get to know places – and the mysteries hidden beneath them? What is architecture's hidden spiritual dimension, and what does it take to create spaces more beautiful than we could have imagined?

Peter Lynch is an architect, and recently a guest professor at KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm. He has founded and directed architecture offices in New York, Detroit, Shenzhen, and Beijing, and has decades of experience of teaching architecture students in the United States and Sweden. Find him at https://buildingculture.se

READING LIST & LINKS:

• Peter Lynch’s website, with three lectures that touch on many of the topics of the episode: https://buildingculture.se/three-lectures-on-landscape/


• A further description of Peter's Timescape Gardens project in Norrköping: https://buildingculture.se/timescape-garden/


• Dancer Anna Asplind’s website: annaasplind.se


• Giorgio Agamben, The Coming Community (1990)


• Gilles Clément (gardener/landscape designer), essays on his website http://www.gillesclement.com/index.php


• Christophe Girot, "Four Trace Concepts in Landscape Architecture" in James Corner ed., Recovering Landscape (1999)


• Francois Jullien, Living Off Landscape (2014)


• Stanislaus Fung, "Movement and Stillness in Ming Writings on Gardens" in Michel Conan, ed., Landscape Design and the Experience of Motion (2003)


• Martin Buber, Between Man and Man (1947)

Find more information and all episodes at: forestofthought.com

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought

Share and subscribe. We're available on most podcast apps, including:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1


• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729


• Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no.

Keywords: philosophy, ideas, Peter Lynch, architecture, Giorgio Agamben, landscapes, singularity, landscape architecture, Japanese gardens

Words like culture and aesthetics make us think of grand museums and concert halls. But what if there is a deeper meaning to these words that we’ve forgotten? Meanings that are more grounded, more sensual and somehow related to the song of earthworms at work in our soil? And how do you learn to speak the secret language of microbes? We explore all of this and more in this episode with artist and cultural activist Eva Bakkeslett.

Eva Bakkeslett is an artist, filmmaker, curator and cultural activist exploring the potential for social change through gentle actions. Her practice often combines film, participatory events and workshops where she creates spaces and experiences that challenge our thinking and unravel newnarratives. Fermentation as a process and metaphor is central to her work and is often communicated in the form of socially engaged and inclusive projects.  She mediates relationships between humans, nature and culture as a living organism and explores ways ofreconnecting to our senses, to non-human life and ancient, deeply rooted knowledge. Eva believes that the abstract, elusive, poetic, aesthetic and imaginary power of art is vital to this reconnection.

Eva shows, lectures and performs her work worldwide and her films have been screened in numerous film festivals and art events. As a curator, she has focused on the connection between art and ecology through Gentle Actions at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, in 2010, the Repair program at gallery ROM, Oslo in 2016-17 and in her most recent project The Conference of the Birds 2018-23. Eva has an MA in Art & Ecology from Dartington College of Art in England, and lives on Engeløya in North Norway. There she has created an Artist Residency program and a guest studio as a platform for aesthetic collaborations and enquiry, founded in ecological and interconnected thinking and working.

LINKS!

• Eva’s website: http://www.evabakkeslett.com


• Worm works exhibition: https://www.evabakkeslett.com/projects/biodiversity-bacterial-cultures-extraterrestial-wormworks/


• Eva’s home and residency on Engelöya: https://agencyofimagination.org


• Conference of the Birds: https://theconferenceofthebirds.net

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought

Share and subscribe. We’re available on most podcast apps, including:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1


• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729


• Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought

Our theme music is by Christian Holtsteen at stoneproduction.no

When our societies are faced with challenges we often call on science to provide us with the best course of action; we strive to make evidence-based decisions. But what assumptions are hiding behind this recipe for decision-making? And how can taking control of a situation reduce our capacity for responding with care? We delve back into the Forest of Thought today with Andy Stirling, Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the STEPS Centre, UK.

Andy Stirling is Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the University of Sussex. He co-directs the STEPS Centre, which looks at social, technological and environmental pathways to sustainability. Andy’s research focusses on understanding science and technology in relation to issues of power, uncertainty and diversity.

LINKS:

• A video talk and blog post by Andy on modernity, the pandemic and the futilities of control: https://steps-centre.org/news/andy-stirling-on-covid-19-modernity-and-control-video/


• Andy’s 4-part blog series on responding to climate disruption with caring struggle rather than technocratic control: https://steps-centre.org/blog/is-the-naming-of-climate-change-a-dangerous-self-defeat/


• A lecture by Andy on uncertainty and power in science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDfQ3fIKygQ

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/forestofthought .

Share and subscribe. We’re available on most podcast apps, including:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ue3XA6IQQLC05FQMINuy1


• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/podcast/forest-of…/id1508610729


• Links to all platforms: https://anchor.fm/forestofthought 

Our theme music is by Christian Steen at stoneproduction.no.