Muse Ecology Podcast

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Welcome to Muse Ecology, where we hear some of the voices and grooves of people and place as we make our way back to harmony. In a time of rising dissonance it is important that we share the stories of the reharmonization process that is also happening, so that we can live more into that narrative together. We hear from scientists, musicians, ecologists, thinkers and doers, often all in the same person. Through their voices, and sometimes their music, we explore some of the key complexities of this time on Earth as we all ask together how we might reintegrate with the song of life.

It’s been a while since our last episode release, but we will soon begin releasing the fire series, exploring our evolving relationship with that keystone element.

Any financial support is much appreciated. You can find the donate button on the sidebar to the right or click here to give a one time or recurring donation. You can subscribe to the email notification list that’s also over there on the right of the screen or subscribe through your podcast service to hear about new episodes when they are released.

And most importantly, thanks for listening, and sharing if you are inspired to.

Cheers!

-Timothy Sexauer, creator of the Muse Ecology Podcast

#27 Vicki Hird: Rebugging the Planet

Bugs are foundational to life on Earth, and their numbers are plummeting due to human activity. In this conversation with Vicki Hird, author of Rebugging the Planet, we explore the wonders of bugs and how we can restore our relationship with them.

You can find more information about rebugging, and purchase the book, at rebuggingtheplanet.org.

Here’s the two papers referenced in Vicki’s book that came up in our discussion, on the potential effects of new higher frequency radiation on invertebrates:

Arno Thielens et al., Exposure of Insects to Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields from 2 to 120 GHz, Science Reports 8, no. 3924 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22271-3

Arno Thielens et al., Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure of Western Honey Bees, Science Reports 10, no. 461 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56948-0 Continue reading “#27 Vicki Hird: Rebugging the Planet”

#26 Addressing the Other Leg of Climate Change, 2nd Panel

“Water begets water, soil is the womb, and vegetation is the midwife.” -Prof. Millan M. Millan

This last episode, for now, in the Water, Life, Climate, and Civilization series, was a great panel conversation with 6 people from 3 different organizations, each working from distinct approaches to restore weather and climate through restoring natural processes. It was a lovely example of the diversity of backgrounds that are beginning to come together around this idea.

Juliette Kool and Ties van der Hoeven, The Weather Makers

-and here is a link to their Regreening the Sinai project page

Maya Dutta and Jim Laurie, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate

-and here is a link to their compendium

Marcel de Berg and Pieter-Paul de Kluvier, Green Water Cools

-here is a 5 minute video on their work

Here is the UNEP Foresight Brief I mentioned, that calls for a climate change paradigm shift.

Here is the water cycle changes chapter of the IPCC report.

And here again is the link to Professor Millan’s 2014 Journal of hydrology paper.

And as always, many thanks to Peia for the use of her song The Old Ways Restored in the introduction.

#25 Addressing the Other Leg of Climate Change, 1st Panel

The understanding that we can restore weather and climate systems by protecting and restoring the living surface of the Earth is an idea whose time has come. In these final two episodes in this Water, Life, Climate, and Civilization series, we’ll hear discussions of how this understanding is beginning to guide our response to climate change, from grassroots to international levels.

In this first of the two panels, I met with three friends from previous episodes who have had a big influence on how I think about our relation to water, life, and climate:

Professor Millan Millan, mesometeorologist

Li An Phoa, founder of Drinkable Rivers

John D. Liu, filmmaker and ecologist

Here are the linked references for the three of Millan’s papers that I said in the discussion I’d include here in the show notes.

Millán, M. M. et al (2005). Climatic Feedbacks and Desertification: The Mediterranean Model, Journal of Climate, 18(5), 684-701.

Millán, Millán. (2014). Extreme hydrometeorological events and climate change predictions in Europe. Journal of Hydrology 518 (2014) 206-224. Journal of Hydrology. 518. 206-224.

Pausas, J.G., & Millán, M.M. (2019). Greening and Browning in a Climate Change Hotspot: The Mediterranean Basin. BioScience.

#24 Renewables and Accountability: A Panel Discussion

This episode is a diverse panel discussion on the implications of renewable energy supply chains on life, water, and local communities, and how we might address them.

Saad Youssefi has a background in finance and economics and works in the renewable energy sector, consulting governments and international corporations on energy production projects. He’s also coauthored a book on Energy Storage for practitioners.

Mary Gibson is Western Shoshone, and has experienced devastation of life, land, and culture by the mining industry and the colonizing process in general. She is on the board of Great Basin Resource Watch.

Derrick Jensen is a long time activist and advocate for the living Earth, and has written dozens of books on the subject. Most recently he coauthored a book called Bright, Green, Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost it’s Way and What We Can Do About It, about the negative effects of the renewables industry on the biosphere. Continue reading “#24 Renewables and Accountability: A Panel Discussion”

#22 Judith Schwartz and Walter Jehne: Climate Change Narrative Shift

In this conversation with author Judith Schwartz and scientist Walter Jehne, we discuss the importance of the shift from seeing the Earth as a resource base to seeing ourselves as enmeshed in a web of life that both manages and depends on natural processes. In particular, we focus on how this perspective shift affects how we understand and are empowered to address anthropogenic climate change.

#21 Paul Cereghino Part 2: Bioregional Restoration and Social Complexity

In this conversation with Paul Cereghino, we discuss some of the challenges of collaborating in groups and groups of groups to protect and restore the Earth, including such topics as the role of online interactions, the importance of place-based reality, benefits and pitfalls of systems like sociocracy, Covid complications, and much more. Continue reading “#21 Paul Cereghino Part 2: Bioregional Restoration and Social Complexity”

#19 The Mangrove Action Project

In this episode we continue the Water, Life, Climate, and Civilization series with Alfredo Quarto, co-founder and international program director of the Mangrove Action Project. In our conversation with Alfredo, we discuss the importance of mangrove ecologies, their devastation by the shrimp farming industry, and how the mangrove action project uses an approach called Community Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration to facilitate their natural regeneration. Continue reading “#19 The Mangrove Action Project”

#18 Neal Spackman; The Business of Restoring the Earth

In this episode, we continue the Water, Life, Climate, and Civilization series with Neal Spackman, ecological restoration designer, regenerative entrepreneur, and bold visionary. In previous episodes in this series, we’ve heard how agriculture and development having long been destroying ecology and hydrology, directly causing desertification and disruptions of weather and climate systems, and leading to the fall of empires. As cofounder and former director of the Al Baydha project in Saudi Arabia and as Founder and CEO of Regenerative Resources Corporation, Neal Spackman is working to change that ancient dynamic. His projects restore ecological function to desertified and degraded landscapes in a way that also integrates the restoration of the area’s economy, hydrology, and atmospheric interactions. Continue reading “#18 Neal Spackman; The Business of Restoring the Earth”