Alight

In this episode, Helen Claire Harmon discusses:

• Who nature spirits are.
• Why discussing them is an edgy or even forbidden topic due to the Scientific Revolution’s split of spirituality and science.
• How it's possible to acknowledge the reality of things both 'proven' and 'unproven' by science.
• What the nature spirits want us to know about their role on Earth and what we have in common with them.
• Why we are meant to be in communication with them as our neighbors, friends, and co-creators. 
• 3 ways you can acknowledge, experience, and communicate with nature spirits.
• What’s coming in the human-nature spirit relationship.

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Doniga Markegard is a mother, rancher, author, and naturalist. She has a background in nature and permaculture. In her youth she was mentored by leading wildlife trackers, naturalists and Native spiritual elders. She spent years alone and with a small group of passionate youth in the Western Washington Wilderness learning the ways of the ancestors, immersing in nature, bird language, survival skills and wildlife tracking. Along with her husband and four children, Doniga owns and operates Markegard Family Grass-Fed, raising grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork, chicken and dairy and supplying the Bay Area with local, nutrient dense foods. She is dedicated to finding ways to regenerate lands and community through ranching practices that build soil, sequester carbon, capture and purify water, and enhance habitat. Doniga is featured at the Exploratorium Museum in San Francicso and in the film, Kiss the Ground. Find her at https://www.markegardfamily.com and https://www.donigamarkegard.com/

In this interview, Doniga and I discuss how:

• She raises nutrient-dense foods by mimicking the way nature does things. “The root of all of our solutions is that connection and that relationship with nature.”
• Agriculture can provide ecosystem services rather than damage, and can draw down carbon rather than releasing it. Agriculture has the potential to reverse climate change.
• Grasslands are meant to be supported by ruminant animals, whether wild bison or elk, or domesticated cattle. “There is no ecologically intact ecosystem devoid of animals” and their beneficial impact on soil. “There is even more life when we bring in the cattle than when the cattle aren’t there…you have more species diversity when cattle are managed well.”
• She addresses the topic of whether our diets should include animal products.
• Her books, Dawn Again and Wolf Girl, outline her journey of finding herself through connecting with nature.
• She felt helpless at one point, seeing so much environmental destruction and not knowing what to do. “I wanted to run into the woods because I couldn’t face what was happening, the destruction of my relatives” in the natural world. “That’s when I found that we can have an agriculture system that is aligned with nature.”
• She was mentored throughout her youth by Lakota elders, including Gilbert Walking Bull, who adopted her.
• She is inspired now by the number of people, organizations, and corporations realizing that regenerative agriculture is the #1 solution for healing the planet. “If you are always thinking about what could go wrong in the world, then you create that,” so it’s crucial to focus on solutions.
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To learn more about regenerative agriculture, explore: https://rodaleinstitute.org/education/resources/, the book Fertile Ground by Steve Brescia, and https://www.groundswellinternational.org/ 

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Ray Anthony James, Ph.D. is an Organic Chemist, Nutritional Supplement Product Developer, researcher, educator, author, and speaker, with over 28 years in the pharmaceutical industry and at the FDA. He has over 30 patents and peer-reviewed scientific publications combined. As a Lead Investigator at Pharmacopeia and Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Principal Scientist at Intrexon Corporation from 1998 until 2015, he was involved in designing drugs for cancer and inflammation. He quit all the farce in 2016 to pursue his lifelong dream of BEING on EARTH and serving the soil and humanity. Today, Ray is a partner / founder of The Moringa Group, Gleeful Monkey, TMG Omega Limited, Soil Biotica, and Kissing Tadpoles Publishing Company, and a backyard Organic Farmer. He is the author of the children’s nutrition book, Veggie Rhapsody: I want you in my Lunch!.

Our conversation covers:

• His childhood in rural Jamaica with no plumbing on his home farm, frugal use of food, free roaming in nature, and not knowing he was ‘poor.’ As a teen he dreamed of a university education in the U.S. as he became fascinated with studying science and understanding why his ‘impoverished’ lifestyle with simple foods and herbs led to such good health. 
• How he became enmeshed in the ‘expected’ path of a pharmaceutical career and the stresses of conventional life but saw his interests shifting as he and his wife studied nutrition and herbs. His time at the FDA led to a personal crisis and serious consideration of more holistic alternatives to pharmaceuticals. He recalled the role of Moringa in health in his childhood in Jamaica, began finding research studies on Moringa and helped a friend reverse diabetes with Moringa, and his company was born. 
• Now in his holistic life and business, “my problems are light… my spirit has changed, my breathing has changed, my life has changed, I feel like I’m getting younger, I’m becoming this new wholesome person that is giving and accepting love.”
• Moringa is native to India and is a ‘miracle tree’ that requires no pesticides and can turn deserts into forests. It prevents malnutrition and has been scientifically evaluated for its ability to improve immunity, GI health, skin, hair, stress response, blood sugar, liver and kidney diseases, diabetes, and high cholesterol. It is very high in antioxidants and nutrients for cellular regeneration. 
• He is setting up a regenerative Moringa farm in Jamaica on the model of multi-story forest agriculture, letting native plants flourish via intercropping of the Moringa trees for soil health and native species flourishing. The farm will provide local employment and a sustainable agriculture learning center for flourishing of people, plants, animals, insects, and soil.
• Ray and I both tear up talking about how human existence is dependent on soil microbes, and how plants and soil microbes cooperate in a way that is humbling for humans.  As Ray says, “the plants themselves, they know what they want, and I just have to be the steward… the plant determines what nutrients it wants and tells the microbes and attracts them to its root system…it’s a whole conversation going on below the soil.” 
• With all the sustainable and regenerative options now available, it’s clear that we get to choose whether we want to live in ‘chemical soup’ or in life-enhancing ways.

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Have you had the experience of expressing compassion and being told you are being unrealistic or irrational? Have you expressed care for a plant or animal and been called a ‘tree hugger’ or ‘bleeding heart’? Our culture over-values intellectual judgement and under-values the compassion of our hearts, but we can shift this together. Letting our compassion be valid is crucial for healing ourselves and our planet.

In this episode, Helen Claire Harmon discusses how:

• You may need to practice re-opening your compassion if it’s often been shut down by you or others.
• The global movement honoring compassion and reverence for life is strengthening.
• Compassion honors life, interdependence, and the right of each being to thrive in a sovereign way without being harmed by others.
• You can practice 3 Steps for discovering the validity of your compassion: Discerning what ignites your compassion; Acting with Compassionate Conviction; and Cultivating Reverent Relationship with yourself and other beings so you remain in compassion.
• We can change the global conversation around what counts as ‘realistic,’ ‘intelligent’ responses to the world. Your compassion is valid.

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The most exciting thing occurring in our world right now is that we are learning how to change from being harmful to harmless beings. We are choosing to repair the world’s ills by creating new structures of reality. We are a creative species who can make life on planet Earth more joyful, inclusive, just and flourishing for all people and all species. You get to participate, and that is literally the privilege of many lifetimes. What is the concept of ‘New Earth,’ and how do you want to contribute?

In this episode, Helen Claire Harmon discusses how:

·       We now understand how our lifestyles are damaging Earth’s systems and our own health. We have ample evidence that what we do to the air, soil, water, animals, and plants, we do to our own bodies and minds. We also have many tools for repairing this damage.

·       We now understand that all humans and all species deserve equality, justice, peace, and the means to survive and thrive. 

·       People all over the planet--millions of us, and probably billions--are endeavoring to create healing and regeneration in all areas.

·       We have ample evidence that we’re moving in this regenerative direction that we can call “New Earth.” Helen shares numerous examples.

·       Three things to do if you want to be a New Earth Co-Creator.

·       An upcoming free webinar, Collaboration with Earth: How to Nurture Regeneration for the Planet and Yourself.  The webinar will offer guidance on how to transform your desire to help heal people & planet into regenerative contributions that nourish both you and the natural world. Sign up at www.humansandearth.com/webinars 

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Kalani Souza is founding director of the Olohana Foundation. Olohana focuses on building community capacity, cohesiveness, resilience, and emergency preparedness around food, energy, water, and knowledge systems.  Kalani is a storyteller, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, philosopher, priest, political satirist, and peacemaker. A Hawaiian practitioner and cross-cultural facilitator, he has experience in promoting social justice through conflict resolution.  Kalani’s native roots allow him a unique perspective of the collision of two worlds: one steeped in traditional culture and the other a juggernaut of new morality and changing economic and political persuasion. He is a messenger of integration and collaboration in a world normally rife with exclusion, oppression, and hopelessness. His work in behavior modification research, leadership, team-building, and political strategy gives him generous insights into group dynamics and systems of governance. He is a Coastal Community Resilience Trainer, a cultural competency consultant to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Services Center, a consultant to the Presidents Ocean Policy Task Force, and has taught Conflict Resolution at the University of Hawaii. Find him at www.http://olohana.org 

In this conversation focused on relationships and re-localization, Kalani speaks about how:

• In a multi-faceted life, his center is “the community, the home, the children—the relationships…I work right here, within arm’s reach.” You have an impact by doing what you do in your local place.
• The simplest way to ensure a community’s well-being is to: “make sure the children are fed, the old people are comfortable, and the women unafraid”—these achievements require solid infrastructure, healthy relationships, access to resources, healthy sources of energy, and a healthy environment.
• “Since we’re going to have adjustments [with climate change], we should strengthen our communities with food, fresh water, energy, shelter…gather our people in place and create real regional place-based capacity that is micro-sized and focuses on women and children’s well-being in their place.” “We do this thing as family, deeply in relationship with each other.” We talk about how permaculture and Transition are crafting re-localization. 
• We are now able to contrast the colonialist “Doctrine of Discovery” focused on ownership with the “doctrine of relationships” among people and between people and nature. Kalani speaks to economic injustice and our priorities as nations, questioning why we are not acting more forcefully. 
• A prayer he recently composed acknowledges our relationships with nature. He speaks it in Hawaiian and then English, explaining its focus on “the relational aspect” of our existence with the natural world, who is The Family You’re Never Without.
• “We are spirits having a physical awakening, so to me, the coffee is sacred, the red wine, these very physical things” 
• “I believe conflict is the opportunity for positive change. We need the conflict to change; it doesn’t have to lead to war or violence; it can lead to a sharing of needs and desires for the future…The answer must work for everyone!”

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Kate Solisti, President of Kinship Enterprises, has been dedicated to nurturing animal-human understanding and wellness since 1992. Her  purpose is to give “voice to all members of the animal kingdom so they can participate with human beings in improving their own health and well-being as well as that of all species and the planet.” As a facilitator of interspecies communication, Kate works with both wild animals and companion animals. She is a recognized expert in dog and cat care, behavioral counseling, nutrition, Flower Essence therapy, and energy healing. She is the author of six books and has been featured nationally and internationally on stage, radio, and television. Find her at Katesolisti.com 

Have you ever lost a beloved animal and found that the loss changed your life? In this interview, animal communicator Kate Solisti shares how:

• Her early childhood relationship with her cat, Dusty, taught her how to communicate with animals, though the pain of losing him then caused her to shut down her ability. 
• The “double-edged sword” of being very sensitive gave her many listening abilities as a child but led to her being told her abilities were not real. 
• She re-integrated her intuitive abilities in young adulthood. As she began to make her intuition feel safe again, she started to hear plants’ and animals’ messages. “It felt like I was becoming whole again.”
• We can all learn to communicate with animals: “it’s not magic, it’s just practice….The ability to connect with other species is a birthright….[it is] about learning to trust yourself.”
• Trauma, people telling you it’s your imagination, or the loss of a beloved animal can get in the way. But “we need people to remember. The animals need people to remember. The Earth needs us to remember.” 
• The animals in your local area are often the best ones to connect to since you share the same home. Kate sees humanity going forward in making heart connections to our local animals, plants, and natural systems and thus realizing we desire to protect their well-being. 
• A message from a surprising wild animal in the forest outside Kate’s home offers a view on how to balance interdependence and independence, and the good of the whole community with the good of the individual.

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Is it possible that your thoughts about regenerating our planet and human well-being matter more than your actions?

Tune in to this episode to hear how:

• Neuroscience, psychology, and spirituality are showing that we create what we focus on. Discouragement and despair do not foster creative solutions. Guided by the science of neuroplasticity, we can choose where we focus and how our focus leads us to feel and act.
• If we want to repair and regenerate the natural world, we need to begin with how we are thinking and what we are focusing on. I call this Wise Focus.
• We’re learning to counter-act our tendency to see the negative by choosing Wise Focus instead: seeing the parts of reality that inspire hope and creative action more than we see the parts that promote discouragement. 
• Spiritual teachers and mindset mentors across time have taught what modern neuroscience is now confirming: where we place our focus is crucially important, especially if we desire to create something impactful, beautiful, healing, or regenerative. 
• What this means for your life: I offer examples of how to practice Wise Focus when looking at the environmental and human problems we’re facing. It’s a matter of choosing to see and co-create solutions rather than mourn devastation. Out story on the planet right now is either one of decline or rebirth, depending on what you choose to focus on.
• 4 steps you can take to explore Wise Focus and the ways it leads to Regenerative Vision and Regenerative Outcomes.
• An upcoming course from The School for Humans and Earth will support you if you want to explore Wise Focus and regenerative action: Collaboration with Earth: Support & Strategies for Your Reverent, Regenerative Service

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**Due to an audio track flaw, the full episode is available on video at www.humansandearth.com/podcast 

Leonie Dawson is an internationally best-selling author of the Goal Getter workbooks & planners which have been used by over 400,000 people worldwide. A multi-passionate entrepreneur, Leonie has generated over $10 million in revenue while only working 10 hours a week. Leonie has been recognized for her business acumen by winning Ausmumpreneur’s People’s Choice Business Coach, Global Brand & Businesses Making A Difference Awards. She is also a philanthropist, blogger, and podcast host, describes herself as a ‘highly-sensitive oddball,’ and is proudly neuro-diverse. Leonie has spent the last 10 years living in some of the most beautiful places around Australia. She currently lives with her two daughters and husband on the Sunshine Coast. Find her at www.leoniedawson.com

In our interview, Leonie reflects on how:

• Growing up on a cattle farm created her rich relationship with nature and animals. "There's something quite ecstatic about the natural world."
• People who are true to themselves and their inner wisdom are much less likely to harm Earth. Leonie points out that "Being yourself is about the most fun you can have!" and describes how her authenticity promotes creativity. "My brain is a festival ground, a happy place; it just thinks about what I want to create next."
• Zebras don’t wish their stripes were differently shaped in order to feel more worthy and lovable. Animals model self-acceptance and authentic being. It doesn’t make sense for other animals to be happy within themselves but not humans. We can choose to be present, joyful in  self-loving acceptance, and true to ourselves. 
• Her philanthropy supports the Australian Wildlife Conservancy due to their focus on purchase and protection of wild lands, and Australia's Wilderness Society, which takes legal action to protect wild land.
• Her home-based life of quarantine “like our ancestors experienced,” with quiet, children playing at home, gardening, the magic of composting, and thoughtful management of local food brought her gladness, bliss, and presence. “It was a sweet and a kind time, living more in partnership with the seasons and your local community and the Earth around you.”
• Sustainability is “not about restricting ourselves to less, but it’s about embracing more depth, more value, more connection to the land around us.”
• Ultimately, “your relationship with yourself is the one that will sustain you.” When we feel lacking we turn outward and do things like buying. But having a relationship with yourself and your creativity is the real blessing. 

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How do you become a whole and wild human being? Listen to this episode of Humans and Earth to find out.

Bill Plotkin, Ph.D., is a depth psychologist, wilderness guide, and agent of cultural evolution. As founder of western Colorado’s Animas Valley Institute in 1981, he has guided thousands of seekers through nature-based initiatory passages, including a contemporary, Western adaptation of the pan-cultural vision quest. He has been a research psychologist, professor of psychology, psychotherapist, rock musician, and whitewater river guide. Bill is the author of Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche (an experiential guidebook); Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World (a nature-based stage model of human development through the entire lifespan); Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche (an ecocentric map of the psyche — for healing, growing whole, and cultural transformation) and The Journey of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide for Visionaries, Evolutionaries, and Revolutionaries just published in January of 2021. Find him at www.animas.org 

The premise of Bill’s new book, The Journey of Soul Initiation, is that the root cause of our human and ecological problems is failure of individual development. Our aim, he believes, is to develop so that we may be life-enhancing for Earth and ourselves. 

Hear Bill discuss:

• Soul initiation: a life passage most people long for but do not reach because our cultures don’t support this much maturation. It is an initiatory process into true adulthood, where one lives one’s real purpose of contribution to the life community. It is the adventure of wholeness and authenticity we all yearn for.
• Soul: he defines it as an ecological concept—"the soul of a thing is its unique ecological niche.” 
• Foundational steps to soul initiation include recognizing which life stage you are in: early adolescence, late adolescence, adult, or elder. 
• How a society that encourages soul initiation and contribution to the life community will support people on this journey. Bill defines how childrearing, education, and religious and business institutions can shift as a society learns to promote the whole human development process into the soul initiation, true adult, and true elder phases.
• The role of true elders is to ensure that the relationship between the human community and the larger Earth community is a good one, and to support the soul initiations of people emerging from early adolescence to give their gifts to the world.
• “A healthy ego is one that is life-serving—this is who we are” until it’s suppressed. Healthy cultures raise people who want to contribute to the community. The ego is good at planning and is meant to be in service to the soul, which provides the vision. Soul initiation involves the right relationship between ego and soul.

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