David James Duncan is an American novelist and essayist, known for his two cult bestselling novels, The River Why and The Brothers K. On this episode of Nature Revisited, farmer and author Scott Chaskey (Soil and Spirit) interviews David about his latest acclaimed work Sun House, an "epic comedy about the quest for transcendence in an anything-but-transcendent America, set amid the gorgeous landscapes of the American west". Guided by Chaskey's deft observations, Duncan describes how a lifetime of experiences - many drawn from nature itself - served as inspiration for Sun House's sweeping, lyrical vision of a more open-hearted world.
Episode 143: Dorn Cox - The Great Regeneration
Dorn Cox is a farmer-technologist, the research director for the Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in Freeport, Maine, and farms with his family on 250 acres in Lee, New Hampshire. He is a founder of the farmOS software platform and Farm Hack, and is active in the soil health movement. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Dorn breaks down his radical vision of hope for the future of healthy regenerative agriculture. By employing the same data-sharing and networking tools used to visualize and identify the global instability in our climate and our communities, there is potential to revolutionize how we manage food production around the world, decentralizing and deindustrializing the structures and governance that have long dominated the agricultural landscape.
Episode 142: Jon Waterman - Into the Thaw
Jon Waterman is a former park ranger, wilderness guide, and a prolific author of books on adventure, exploration, and the environment. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Jon recounts his decades-long history of explorations of the Alaskan Arctic. Having returned to the Noatak headwaters after 30 years in 2021, Waterman was shocked by the environmental and cultural changes wrought by the climate crisis. As in his book Into the Thaw, Waterman paints for our listeners an intimate portrait of both the villages and the little-visited landscape, suggesting actions we can all take to slow the thaw and preserve what is left of the remarkable, vast Arctic frontier.
Episode 141: Ellen Zachos - Mythic Plants
Ellen Zachos is a Harvard graduate, former Broadway actor, professional gardener and the author of eleven books including, most recently, Mythic Plants: Potions and Poisons from the Gardens of the Gods. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Ellen shares her varied personal background and takes us back to revisit the Greek myths anew by focusing on the fascinating roles plants play in the stories. Many of the mythic plants were real and still exist today, and Ellen colorfully describes how the ancient Greeks used these plants in their lives and loves and conquests.
Giant Fennel
Episode 140: Dr. Vandana Shiva - The Nature of Nature
The author of more than 20 books, Dr. Vandana Shiva is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalization writer. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Dr. Shiva lays out the emergency we all face: extinction, climate havoc and the global food crisis. Our future, Shiva argues, lies in following the ecological laws of the earth by de-colonising, decreasing food miles, de-industrialising and de-globalizing food systems. A future sustained by biodiversity, local foods, and end to deforestation and an ethical and organic farming system in which degenerative cycles are transformed into regenerative cycles.
Episode 139: Eiren Caffall - The Mourner's Bestiary
Eiren Caffall is an award-winning writer and musician whose writing on loss and nature, oceans and extinction has appeared in numerous publications. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Caffall talks about her recent first novel The Mourner’s Bestiary, a literary memoir on loss and chronic illness, as well as a meditation on grief and survival told through the stories of animals in collapsing marine ecosystems. Caffall carries a family legacy of two hundred years of genetic kidney disease, raising a child who may also. As she describes, the process of writing the book was a way for her to weave environmental research with a memoir of generational healing, and the work it takes to get there for the human and animal lives caught in tides of loss.
Episode 138: Amy Tan - The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Amy Tan is an American author best known for her novel The Joy Luck Club (1989) as well as other novels, short story collections, children's books, and a memoir. Tan is the recipient of the National Humanities Medal, among other awards, and her writing has been praised for its bravery in exploring both the personal struggles and triumphs of immigrant families. In this episode of Nature Revisited, Tan discusses her latest work The Backyard Bird Chronicles. What initially began as a way to find respite from the country's increasing social division, hostility and misinformation, the act of observing and drawing the birds in her backyard became something greater - a meaningful way to connect with nature, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.
