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Lyla June Johnston is a Diné writer, singer, spoken word artist, and activist. In this episode she and Eric talk about indigenous food ways, the deeper meaning of the word "food", power structures inherent in industrial food systems, and learning lessons from the rise and collapse of civilization, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 03:34 — Episode introduction03:34 - 10:18 — What inspires Lyla to pursue indigenous food ways as a course of study10:18 - 11:51 — Fragilities in modern industrial food systems11:51 - 21:00 — Exploring the deeper indigenous meaning of the word "food"21:00 - 26:42 — Indigenous food ways and the local food movement26:42 - 32:24 — Power structures inherent in industrial food systems32:24 - 39:08 — Learning big lessons from the rise and collapse of civilization39:08 - 41:53 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyTelling Tales of ChangeAuthoritarian and Democratic Technics, by Lewis Mumford (Technology and Culture)An Interview of Lyla June Johnston (As Temperatures Rise, on YouTube)Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future, edited by Melissa NelsonWe're Not Done With DAPL: How Investors Can Still Support Indigenous Rights, by Morgan Simon (Forbes, the article Lyla alludes to at the end of the episode)Support the show

In this episode Eric reflects on how a lesson from an old martial arts mentor has influenced his thinking about today's converging crises, and how getting back to basics can help us feel safe in a changing world. Outline 00:00 - 03:09 — Episode introduction03:09 - 08:15 — A lesson on staying safe from a martial arts master08:15 - 13:20 — Five needs we must meet to feel safe13:20 - 14:45 — Invitation to reflect on how to avoid violence14:45 - 16:52 — Invitation to reflect on how to stay warm or cool16:52 - 18:33 — Invitation to reflect on how to maintain access to water and food18:33 - 20:13 — Invitation to reflect on how to find community and social engagement20:13 - 21:33 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupBujinkan Indianapolis DojoSupport the show

In this episode Eric reflects on different ways of framing and talking about collapse, using metamorphosis as a metaphor to help us make sense of collapse, choosing our metaphors for collapse wisely, and the various physical, ecological, and social forces that are driving today's changing world. Outline 00:00 - 02:25 — Episode introduction02:25 - 05:56 — Different ways of framing and talking about collapse05:56 - 09:44 — Metamorphosis as a metaphor to help us make sense of collapse09:44 - 16:17 — Adaptive cycle as a model to put collapse in a broader context16:17 - 21:41 — Reckoning with our blindness to the ubiquity of change21:41 - 24:23 — Choosing our metaphors for collapse wisely24:23 - 29:48 — The role of energy, materials, and money in forcing social change29:48 - 34:26 — The role of ecological and social turbulence in forcing social change34:26 - 37:58 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupThe Great Simplification (Nate Hagens' podcast)The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age, by John Michael GreerThe Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, by James Howard KunstlerHow Does A Caterpillar Turn Into A Butterfly, by Ferris Jabr (Scientific American)Adaptive Cycles (Resilience Alliance website)The adaptive cycle: more than a metaphor, by Shana M. Sundstrom and Craig R. Allen (Ecological Complexity)How Civilizations Fall: A Theory of Catabolic Collapse, by John Michael GreerAnalysis: World has already passed 'peak oil', BP figures reveal (Carbon Brief)Simon Michaux: "Minerals Blindness" (The Great Simplification podcast)Joe Rogan Experience #1245 - Andrew Yang (YouTube)The Social Dilemma (trailer on YouTube)Support the show

Lyla June Johnston is a Diné writer, singer, spoken word artist, and activist. In this episode she talks to Eric about making peace with European heritage, colonial histories, place-based identities, reconnecting with our indigenous heritage, the sophistication of traditional ecological knowledge, and the fragility of American society, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 02:03 — Episode introduction02:03 - 07:47 — Making peace with European heritage07:47 - 18:50 — Colonial histories, trauma, and place-based identities18:50 - 22:41 — Processing a fear of remembering22:41 - 29:06 — Reconnecting with our indigenous heritage intuitively29:06 - 33:42 — Showing courage as we reclaim an indigenous identity33:42 - 36:55 — Creating parallel systems rather than repairing broken systems36:55 - 42:53 — The sophistication of traditional ecological knowledge42:53 - 46:57 — American society as a fragile, precarious system46:57 - 48:54 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupThe Story of How Humanity Fell in Love with Itself Once Again, by Lyla June JohnstonMamwlad, a song by Lyla June JohnstonSupport the show

Dr. Kate Booth and Tristan Sykes co-founded the platform Just Collapse. In this wide-ranging episode they talk to Eric about justice and collapse as place-based phenomenon, overshoot and the Seneca effect, collapse risks in Hobart, Tasmania and Vermont, USA, collapse awareness and collapse acceptance, structural violence as collapse avoidance, and seeing overshoot ecology and justice as issues of accountability, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 02:04 — Episode introduction02:04 - 04:03 — Dr. Kate Booth and Tristan Sykes introduce themselves04:03 - 07:47 — Justice and collapse as place-based phenomenon07:47 - 13:08 — What a just collapse might look like in Hobart, Tasmania13:08 - 18:30 — Overshoot and the Seneca effect18:30 - 26:34 — Collapse risks in Vermont, USA, and how some places matter more than others26:34 - 29:57 — Regions buying their way out of collapse29:57 - 34:23 — Collapse awareness, collapse acceptance, and talking collapse34:23 - 39:46 — Structural violence as collapse avoidance39:46 - 43:40 — Hope, hopelessness, and motivation43:40 - 50:20 — Managing our nervous system responses while engaging with collapse50:20 - 56:20 — Seeing overshoot ecology and justice as issues of accountability56:20 - 64:05 — How hard it is to find a path to redemption64:05 - 68:08 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupJust Collapse websiteJust Collapse on FacebookBrave Little State, on Vermont Public RadioGesturing Towards Decolonial Futures CollectiveStaying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, by Donna HarawayPost Doom, Michael Dowd's websiteGlobal Footprint CalculatorSlavery Footprint CalculatorSupport the show

Host Eric Garza invites listeners on a deep time walk that explores the energetics of human evolution and human development. He begins this journey as our lineage parts ways with ancestors of today's chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), taking us through the development of stone tools, the harnessing of fire for warmth and cooking, the crafting of spears, clothing, and bows and arrows, and lastly more modern technologies designed to harness exosomatic energy sources often derived from fossil fuels. Outline 00:00 - 02:59 — Episode introduction02:59 - 06:18 — Pedagogical benefits of deep time06:18 - 09:07 — Looking at human evolution and development through an energy lens09:07 - 16:52 — Early human development, stone tools, harnessing fire16:52 - 19:08 — The Great Escalation: spears, clothes, and the bow and arrow19:08 - 22:56 — Agriculture and the expansion of ecological debt22:56 - 31:05 — Modern energy innovations, and exosomatic energy31:05 - 32:03 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyOvershoot Reading GroupOvershoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, by William Catton Jr.Deep Time WalkWork that ReconnectsFat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains, by Richard Kemeny (Scientific American)Every human culture includes cooking—this is how it began, by Graham Lawton (New Scientist)The First Spears, by Zach Zorich (Archeology)The History of Clothing and Textiles (Wikipedia)Bow and Arrow Hunting, by K. Kris Hirst (Thought Co.)History of agriculture (Wikipedia)Marion King Hubbert Support the show

Cliff Berrien is a drummer, percussionist, DJ, and music educator who uses music to develop creativity, catalyze connections, promote cultural dexterity, help to heal trauma, and deepen contemplative somatic awareness. In this episode he and Eric talk about the deep time perspective, contemplative practice and dissociation, and generative catastrophe, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 06:12 — Episode introduction06:12 - 17:13 — The deep time perspective17:13 - 23:33 — The influence of Race and the Cosmos23:33 - 39:54 — Contemplative practice and dissociation39:54 - 55:34 — Exploding stars and generative catastrophe55:34 - 56:25 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources The Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley RobinsonQuillwood AcademyRace and the Cosmos, by Dr. Barbara HolmesBayo AkomolafeWalter Earl FlukerRasmaa MenakemAlexis Pauline GumbsHis Holiness the Dalai LamaThe Radiance Sutras, by Lorin RocheVanessa Andreotti and the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures CollectiveThe Four DenialsThe Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, by David Graeber and David WengrowThomas BerryBrian SwimmeLimits to Growth, by Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William BehrensStudy pinpoints timing of oxygen's appearance in Earth's atmosphere, by Jennifer ChuSupport the show

Bayo Akomolafe is an author, speaker, a trans-public intellectual, post-activist, and a father, among many other things. In this episode he and Eric talk about resilience, the generative qualities of failure, finding safety amidst uncertainty, trauma as a capitalist project, cancel culture, individualism, and belonging as an artifact, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 02:18 — Episode introduction02:18 - 07:40 — Going into the cracks07:40 - 15:58 — Resilience, giving up, experimentalism15:58 - 21:11 — Nervous systems and feeling safe in uncertainty21:11 - 30:50 — Staying balanced, embracing failure30:50 - 57:21 — Trauma, cancel culture, and belonging57:21 - 58:15 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyBayo Akomolafe's websiteThe Unbusinesslike Nature of BusinessRailway spine as a post-traumatic disorderLauren Berlant, authorAchille Mbembe, philosopherSupport the show

Nathan Hagens founded the Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future, and hosts The Great Simplification podcast. In this episode he and Eric talk about the genesis of his phrase The Great Simplification, the link between debt and growth, energy blindness, the three grand challenges facing us today, finding our people, and attending to our mental health and resilience, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 02:33 — Episode introduction02:36 - 14:24 — The genesis of The Great Simplification14:24 - 19:22 — Avoiding binary outcomes19:22 - 26:24 — The link between debt and growth26:24 - 33:44 — Energy blindness33:44 - 36:19 — Energy and power density of fossil carbon36:19 - 40:04 — Three grand challenges40:04 - 44:22 — Finding our people, talking this through44:22 - 48:09 — Attending to our mental health and resilience48:09 - 54:27 — Walking the talk and staying grateful54:27 - 55:24 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyThe Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley RobinsonThe Oil Drum: Discussions About Energy and Our FutureInstitute for the Study of Energy and Our FutureThe Great Simplification, with Nate HagensOlympic Cyclist Vs. Toaster: Can He Power It? (YouTube video)Human-powered Tesla Model X Charger (YouTube)Energy Blind, Part 1 of 5 / The Great Simplification Series (YouTube)Support the show

Sophie Strand is a writer, poet, and compost heap based in New York's Hudson Valley. Her writing focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. In this episode she and Eric talk about rewilding the sacred masculine, apocalypses past and present, healing and trauma in this age of turmoil, making kin, and embracing incompletion, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 03:36 — Episode introduction03:36 - 07:58 — Lunations of masculinity07:58 - 10:37 — Apocalypses past, present, and future10:37 - 23:31 — Healing and trauma in this age of turmoil23:31 - 30:07 — Making kin with life and land30:07 - 37:16 — Looking critically at trauma37:16 - 46:30 — Embracing compost and incompletion46:30 - 49:38 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademySophie Strand's Instagram (@cosmogyny)Sophie Strand on FacebookSophieStrand.comSophie Strand's SubstackThe Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine, by Sophie StrandStaying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, by Donna HarawayThe Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel van der KolksHospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism, by Vanessa Machado de OlivieraSupport the show

Grace Aldrich and Emma Redden founded the Full Story School and produce the Freedom Means Podcast. In this episode they talk with Eric about talking to children about challenging topics, the relationships between practice, perfection and performance in our communication, and building agency and honesty into our conversational praxis, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 02:36 — Episode introduction02:36 - 06:43 — Grace and Emma introduce themselves06:43 - 11:41 — Emma and Grace introduce the Full Story School and Freedom Means Podcast11:41 - 22:51 — Talking to children about challenging topics, and building trust by not lying22:51 - 29:14 — Practice, perfection, and performance in our communication29:14 - 37:18 — Language and dissociation37:18 - 40:44 — Building agency and honesty into our conversational praxis40:44 - 53:15 — Resisting the language of separation53:15 - 55:20 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyThe Full Story SchoolFreedom Means PodcastResmaa Menakem and Somatic AbolitionismJill McFarlane and The Sharing PlaceBayo AkomolafePolyvagal TheoryGabor MatéSy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an OctopusHaudenosaunee Thanksgiving AddressSupport the show

In this episode of the Quillwood Podcast, host Eric Garza talks with Harlan Morehouse. Harlan teaches at the University of Vermont and has a keen interest in how people negotiate their futures with regard to 21st century social and environmental uncertainties. He talks with Eric about how catastrophism and apocalypticism show up in modern film and literature, how they tend to favor individualism over collectivism, and how he stays balanced while immersed in these narratives, among other things. Outline 00:00 - 01:47 — Introduction01:47 - 14:19 — What intrigues Harlan and Eric about apocalypticism and catastrophism14:19 - 20:07 — Catastrophic roots of the modern environmental movement20:07 - 27:20 — Catastrophism as an opportunity for the accumulation of capital27:20 - 33:49 — Catastrophism as an object of desire for individualistic people33:49 - 39:14 — Individual versus collective survival39:14 - 52:03 — How Harlan remains well balanced in the face of his research52:03 - 63:54 — Reflecting critically on James Howard Kunstler’s writing63:54 - 64:13 — Episode wrap-upLinks and Resources Quillwood AcademyHarlan Morehouse’s faculty website at the University of VermontThe Population Bomb (Paul Ehrlich, Sierra Club/Ballantice Books)Silent Spring (Rachel Carson, Houghton Mifflin Company)The Great Insect Dying: Vanishing Act in Europe and North America (Jeremy Hance, Mongabay)Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (Rob Nixon, Harvard University Press)The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Naomi Klein, Random House)Chicago, New Orleans, and rebirth (the op-ed in which Kristen McQueary longs for Chicago’s version of Hurricane Katrina, which Harlan incorrectly attributed to Mayor Rahm Emanuel)The Road (Cormac McCarthy, Alfred A. Knopf)Learning to Die in the Anthropocene (Roy Scranton, The New York Times)Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (Donna Haraway, Duke University Press)A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things (Raj Patel & Jason Moore, University of California PressErik Swyngedouw’s website with a list of his research and writingBraiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Press)Zoe Todd’s website, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton CollegeSupport the show