Explore every episode of the podcast Landscapes
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Alibi for Ecocide | 28 Jun 2024 | 01:13:43 | |
An apparent "success story" of Amazonian forest conservation motivates a 6-years investigation of the land sparing hypothesis. Dr. Gregory Thaler's new book, Saving a Rainforest and Losing the World, reveals a tragic belief that agricultural intensification will solve our problems of enduring extraction of the world's biodiversity. Episode Links
Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus. Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com or https://bsky.app/profile/adamcalo.bsky.social Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue). | |||
| Building new land relations from within the core - (Dido van Oosten) | 21 Mar 2024 | 00:54:17 | |
The Netherlands is a world leader in the industrial model of agriculture with speculation-driven land prices to match. Dido van Oosten of Stitchting Kapitaloceen presents a strategy for unravelling entrenched land relations from within a place where property is sacred. Episode Links
Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com or https://bsky.app/profile/adamcalo.bsky.social Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue). | |||
| An Agroecological Vision for the United Kingdom - (Jyoti Fernandes) | 10 May 2021 | 01:03:16 | |
Jyoti Fernandes, farmer of Five Penny Farms and Policy Coordinator with the UK based Landworkers’ Alliance, discusses what agroecology means to her and the efforts to shape food policy in the United Kingdom. We also discuss the risk of agroecology being co-opted and the current boycott of the UN Food Systems Summit. Episode Links
Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus. Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com. Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue). | |||
| The Role of the Arts on Landscape Science - (Ewan Allinson) | 14 Apr 2021 | 01:11:56 | |
Too much expert-led decision making has long been shown to deliver perverse outcomes for the environment and society. What if a more earnest collaboration with artists and the arts is the secret ingredient to unlocking a more egalitarian science and society relationship? Independent sculptor, dry stone waller, and landscape partnership innovator Ewan Allinson, discusses the role of the arts in landscape decision making. Episode Links
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| The Dasgupta Review - (Janet Fisher) | 23 Mar 2021 | 01:17:11 | |
The past decades have seen the rise to dominance of the ecosystem services framework, a worldview and scientific practice that sees the processes of the biosphere through a lens of how they prop up human activities. Within academic circles, the concept is hotly contested. Some see valuing nature with the language of neoclassical economics as the only way to motivate governments and corporate actors into doing responsible environmental action. Others see concepts of ecosystem services and natural capital as the inevitable deepening of predatory capitalist relations extending into new environmental domains. Dr Janet Fisher, an environmental social scientist at the University of Edinburgh, joins the podcast to discuss the newly published Dasgupta Report, an independent review of the relationship between the economy and biodiversity commissioned by the UK Treasury. The report made headlines when it asserted that we should treat nature like an asset and manage it like any other financial portfolio. We discuss how the report is evidence of a rise to dominance of applying economic thinking into the domain of ecology and environmental conservation and what that means for scholars working on landscape science. Links to items mentioned in the episode
Additional research provided by Scott Herrett for this episode. | |||
| A Human Rights Approach to Land - (Kirsteen Shields) | 17 Feb 2021 | 00:22:50 | |
The second episode of Landscapes features an interview with Dr Kirsteen Shields, Lecturer in International Law and Food Security at the Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security at the University of Edinburgh. Kirsteen was the first person to introduce me to the Land Reform debate happening in Scotland and has played a role in informing high level thinking on the Acts themselves. Particularly, we talk about the fundamental balancing act between rights to property and rights to pretty much everything else. Episode Links
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| The Parable of Portobello - (Malcolm Combe) | 09 Feb 2021 | 01:05:29 | |
Notions of Land Reform, especially when looking historically, bring forth images of mass upheaval and unrest associated with nationalization and redistribution of resources—as it should. Yet, as the favored option to shift land use, where property entitlements are left unchallenged, continues to deliver watered down results, it seems to me it’s worth willing to experiment with reshaping the concept of property, while still respecting deeply entrenched social and legal norms of property. There may be no better case to critically think this through than by looking at what’s happening in Scotland, where a set of fairly recent Land Reform Acts have come into force. And I can’t think of a better person to discuss this with in detail than Malcolm Combe, a senior lecturer in Scots private law at the University of Strathclyde. Malcolm has long been writing on Scottish Land reform, including a new book, "Land Reform in Scotland" edited with Jayne Glass and Annie Tindley. In this episode, we`ll talk about the Scottish Land Reform Acts, but also why they may have been started, and how they operate in the law. We end up focusing on a really interesting case of these new legal entitlements in action—when a local church was put up for sale in a place called Portobello, just outside Edinburgh, the local community attempted to use the new powers available to try and bring the asset into their control. Episode LinksLovett, J. A., & Combe, M. M. (2019). The Parable of Portobello: Lessons and Questions from the First Urban Acquisition Under the Scottish Community Right-to-Buy Regime. Mont. L. Rev., 80, 211. BBC Documentary Series on the potential for a community buy out at the Bays of Harris Land Reform in Scotland: History, Law and Policy *Since recording of interview, Andy Wightman no longer serves as MSP for the Scottish Green Party This episode of Landscapes is supported by the UKRI Landscapes Decisions Programme Get in touch at https://adamcalo.substack.com/about | |||
| Landscapes Podcast Trailer | 09 Feb 2021 | 00:02:19 | |
As part of the work I’m doing with the Landscape Decisions Programme (https://landscapedecisions.org/), I’m producing a series of interview style podcasts about land. The motivation of the Landscapes podcast is a trend I have been observing where scientific explorations of root causes of social and environmental problems end up focusing on land, landscapes, and land governance. This occurs in a variety of domains … those concerned with affordable housing end up looking at land taxation policy, food system scholars point out the crucial role of farmland tenure, and climate scientists target property rights as a key “lock-in” that prevents deep mitigation or adaptation. This type of thinking, the scaling up of research questions to landscape level, is what the Landscapes podcast will explore. The first “season” of episodes will focus on learning from researchers from the humanities, law, social and biophysical sciences about how their thinking on how to study and intervene on landscapes. This might be considered the “theory” season, where I’ll try to tease out key logics underpinning land use and land use change. The second season will concern the stories from differing forms of contested landscapes in flux, in threat, and in reform. Landscapes aims to share stories about how re-imagining land is a precursor to delivering the types of social and ecological change required to address the most pressing problems of our time. Full show notes, relevant links and transcripts can be found on the podcast website or at https://adamcalo.substack.com I hope you enjoy listening to the podcast, I’d love to hear your feedback. | |||
| The People's Land Policy - (Bonnie VandeSteeg) | 27 Dec 2023 | 00:55:12 | |
Recognizing how systems of private property control new visions of land use is one thing. Working on a political process of land reform is another. Bonnie VandeSteeg of the People's Land Policy discusses the recent program outlined in: Towards a Manifesto for Land Justice. Episode Links
Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com or https://bsky.app/profile/adamcalo.bsky.social
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| Holistic grazing, holistic thinking - (Nikki Yoxall) | 11 Dec 2023 | 01:13:05 | |
A recent wave of sustainability claims confidently dictate how, for what, and where we ought to use land for climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Nikki Yoxall, a self proclaimed regenerative landscape manager walks through her thinking on land use decision making and responds to these critiques. Episode Links
Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus.
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| The Visible Hand - Roz Corbett | 08 Sep 2023 | 00:36:12 | |
Normally, land owners get a powerful say in the direction of land use. But what if we could design policies such that public values of land use directed who gets to own the land? PhD student and farmer Roz Corbett travels to France to find out. Episode Links
Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode and extended shownotes can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus. Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com. This podcast was a team effort of Tanguy Martin from Terre de Liens, Amelia Veitch from the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Politique (LAP-EHESS) and the University of Lausanne, Hélène Bechet and Alice Martin-Prevel from Terre de Liens, and Claire Lamine from INRAE for her involvement and support through the ATTER project. Georgie Styles provided production and audio mastering support. With thanks to the ATTER project for funding this podcast. Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).
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| The Where of Law - Nicholas Blomley | 03 Aug 2023 | 00:52:05 | |
Reforming property for sustainability requires both innovation in the law as well as in how we relate to land. Legal geography is a conceptual project that describes how law and space interact. Frankie McCarthy (lawyer) and Nicholas Blomley (geographer) discuss property through the legal geography lens. Episode Links Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus. Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com. Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue). | |||
| Farm Subsidies and the Green Transition - Kai Heron | 24 Jul 2023 | 01:12:09 | |
Brexit produced a once a generation chance to create a wholesale reform of agricultural subsidies. Kai Heron works through what the England's new farm subsidy plan reveals about the politics of food system transformation. Episode Links
Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue). | |||
| Nature's Vote | 28 Apr 2023 | 01:08:58 | |
Episode Description Rescinding the practice of human-exceptionalism may be required to treat animals and other non-human species with more grace. But it might also be required to re-orient how we understand how the non-human world operates and thus the decisions we make that may disrupt the order of the multi-species communities we are all part of. Dr. Emma Gardner proposes an "ecological permission structure", or a parallel planning process that takes into account the needs and desires of multi-species communities.
Episode Notes Raymond Williams, Problems in Materialism and Culture: Selected Essays Safina, C. (2015). Beyond words: What animals think and feel. Andrew Balmford's summary of land sparing Gardner, E., Sheppard, A., & Bullock, J. (2022). Why biodiversity net gain requires an ecological permission system. Town and Country Planning Association Journal, 391-402. Freedom of Movement: how do animals get around in our modern world? [Online Event] Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus. Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com. Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue). | |||
| Landscapes and Interdisciplinarity (Beth Cole) | 23 Sep 2022 | 00:50:05 | |
A question of how to advance upon the ecosystem services concept leads to lessons learned about how to work collaboratively across disciplines.
Episode Links
Music: Kilkerrin by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue), Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) | |||
| Contested GM Worldviews - (Andrew Flachs) | 04 May 2022 | 01:20:34 | |
An article in Scientific American bringing a science and technology studies lens to Genetically Modified Organisms, provoked louder than normal responses from the pro biotech crowd. What can we learn from the exchange? Dr Andrew Flachs, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Purdue University, studied the role of seeds on farmer livelihoods in rural India as part of his book, Cultivating Knowledge. We discuss the arguments of the article and its malcontents to try and reach a broader understanding of what this debate is really about. Episode Links
Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus. Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com. Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue). | |||
| The Afterlives of Coal | 15 Aug 2025 | 01:00:36 | |
Even as efforts to transition Appalachia out of coal receive broad policy support, the fate of the landscape is ultimately driven by incumbent actors used to getting what they want. Dr Lindsay Shade and Dr Karen Rignall discuss their research about how legacies of land ownership frustrate equitable and effective transition strategies. While an "Abundance" argument suggests that "the Democratic fetish for legalistic procedure has in so many places, made it impossible to get stuff done," the afterlives of coal provides a stark reminder of the deeper powers that control what happens on the land. Confronting the legacies of landownership may be the only path to meaningful landscape transformation.
Landscapes is produced by Adam Calo. A complete written transcript of the episode can be found on Adam’s newsletter: Land Food Nexus. Send feedback or questions to adamcalo@substack.com or Bluesky Music by Blue Dot Sessions: “Kilkerrin” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue). Podcast Guest Correction: "At minute 26.41 - 27.55 it is implied that The Nature Conservancy (TNC) acquired all 253,000 acres as a single parcel and that it all passed through Pocahontas Land Company and Heartwood Forestland Fund, and also that The Forestland Group "sold" land to the former. Heartwood Forestland Fund is managed by The Forestland Group and holds land under various subsidiaries. In the three states where TNC brokered land deals for the Cumberland Forest Project, the land is held by various LLC's that TNC controls, all of which purchased land from subsidiaries of either The Forestland Group or Molpus-Woodlands, two different timber investment management organizations (TIMO's). These TIMO's previously bought land and/or timber rights from various coal and natural resource landholding companies in the region, including Pocahontas. As we describe in our paper on p. 8, the trajectory of the land in our case study in East TN is as follows: the land was first consolidated by the 19th century British coal company and land speculation firm "The American Association Ltd," later sold to JM Huber Coal, and then to Molpus-Woodlands, before being acquired by Cumberland Forest LLC, which The Nature Conservancy has a controlling share and manages." | |||