Who gets to create the future? 

In this inspiring episode of Black Earth, Marion Atieno Osieyo sits down with Tracee Worley, founder of Radical Futures, to discover how communities, especially Black women, are using radical imagination and care to reimagine climate futures and environmental justice.

✨ In this episode, we explore:

🌍 Why futures thinking matters for Black-led climate and environmental action

🌍 Lessons from Tracee’s work with the survivors of the 1921 Black Wall Street massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma

🌍 What “technologies of care” mean for climate justice movements

🌍 How Octavia Butler’s visionary work teaches us to sense the future

🌍 The unique role Black women play in shaping the futures of the world

In connection to this episode, Marion and Tracee are hosting a game on Instagram live, ‘The Best Thing from A Radical Future’ on 3rd September @ 9:00am LA time/ 17:00 UK time. We’d love for you to join us!! Follow us on IG: @blackearthpodcast for more info!

📲 Join the conversation! Leave a comment below and connect with us: Instagram, TikTok & LinkedIn  @blackearthpodcast. We share more resources, stories, and community activities on our socials.

📲 Connect with Tracee and her design studio, Radical Futures: https://www.radicalfutures.studio/about-us 

🔔 Subscribe to Black Earth for more conversations at the intersection of nature, innovation and culture.

💌 Connect with Black Earth team for partnerships, speaking and media requests: https://www.blackearthpodcast.com/contactus

📌 Timestamps

 00:00 Intro to Black Earth and why we are talking about the future today

 02:50 Tracee’s relationship with nature

 06:46 Why Tracee set up her design studio, Radical Futures

 17:55 Tracee’s moving work with Black communities recovering from the 1921 Tulsa Massacre

 26:00 The importance of moving at the speed of trust

 27:36 Why futures practice matters for Black-led environmental action

 33:50 What it means to have ‘technologies of care’

 35:46 Community creating their futures is at the heart of climate justice

 38:46 What we can learn from Octavia Butler about sensing the future

 43:20 What Black women bring to futures practice

 46:20 How dying connects to the future

 51:38 How to support Tracee and Black Earth!

Welcome back to Black Earth with me, Marion Atieno Osieyo. In each episode, I speak with pioneering Black women from around the world who are re-imagining our relationship with Earth and each other.

This is the first episode of our new season, Season 4, and you can watch the video version on our new YouTube channel here!! 

Today, I meet Agnes Agyepong, founder of Global Child and Maternal Health, for a deep, urgent, and hopeful conversation about air pollution, pregnancy, and environmental justice in the UK. 

In this episode, we explore:

🌍 Groundbreaking research on how air pollution affects the health of Black pregnant women and unborn babies in London

🌍 How Black mothers are leading change for clean air

🌍 What you can do now to reduce air pollution in your home, on your street, and across the UK

💬 “Clean air isn’t a luxury. It’s a birthright. For everyone.”

🎧 If you liked this episode, you might also enjoy our previous one: "Breathing Air, Breathing Justice with Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah" → Listen on our website or wherever you are listening to this podcast.

📲 Join the conversation! Leave a comment below and connect with us: Instagram, TikTok & LinkedIn  @blackearthpodcast. We share more resources, stories, and community activities on our socials.

📲 Connect with Agnes and support her organisation, Global Child and Maternal Health: https://globalcmh.org/about-us/

💌 For partnerships, speaking requests, and media inquiries, contact us here: https://www.blackearthpodcast.com/contactus

xx B.E.

Thank you so much for tuning into Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast. In this season, we have been meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In this season finale, Black Earth team, Marion and Anesu, reflect on their changing relationships with nature as well their key take-aways from Season 3. We also discuss what is to come for Black Earth Podcast.

Although Season 3 has completed, we have some upcoming plans that you can get involved in that we will be announcing on our social media and website. So make sure you stay connected with us:

• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast.
• Visit our website with all episodes and transcripts: https://www.blackearthpodcast.com/

Thank you for joining us on this incredible journey of Earth care.

Love xx B.E.

Episode timestamps

00:00 - Intro to podcast episode

02:00 - Anesu’s relationship with nature

03:45 - Marion’s relationship with nature 

13:30 - Our key take-aways from Season 3, ‘Innovation Inspired By Nature’ 

23:55 - What we are learning about humanity’s relationship with other living beings

35:41 - What’s coming up for Black Earth Podcast

‘How do we practice this revolution in a way that embodies the best of what we have as humans and the best of what we can observe in other species?’ - Marion

In Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature. 

Today we meet Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs from North Carolina, United States. Alexis is a queer black feminist, love evangelist and an aspirational favourite cousin to all living beings. 

They are also the author of numerous works including the incredible book, ‘Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals.’

In this inspiring and deeply moving episode, Alexis and I explore ways to uncolonise our humanity, our creativity and our relationships with more-than-human beings.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introducing Alexis

02:15 - Alexis’ relationship with nature

09:00 - Alexis reads the preface from their book ‘Undrowned: Black feminist lessons from marine mammals’

27:00 -  Alexis shares an example of black feminist lesson they learned from witnessing the harbour seal

37:15 - What we can learn from apes about mothering and care

43:50 - Why it’s important for black people to reconcile with other living beings and how decoloniality helps us

56:55 - Alexis’ advice on how to give ourselves radical permission to create 

01:06:00 - Alexis’ upcoming book on Audre Lorde

01:18:00 - How to support Alexis

01:20:00 How to support Black Earth podcast

How to support Alexis Pauline Gumbs

• Visit and contact Alexis’ through their website - https://www.alexispauline.com/ 
• Buy Alexis’ book: Undrowned: Black feminist lessons from marine mammals - https://www.akpress.org/undrowned.html 
• Pre-order Alexis’ upcoming book: ‘Survival is a Promise: The eternal life of Audre Lorde’ - https://www.alexispauline.com/books 

How to support and connect with Black Earth Podcast 

• Subscribe to our podcast and leave a review wherever you listen to your favourite podcast
• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast.
• For partnerships, sponsorship and media features, email us at [email protected]

In Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In this episode, we meet Dr. Mfoniso Antia who is a scientist and Programme Manager at the Health of Mother Earth Foundation in Nigeria. Health of Mother Earth Foundation is a pioneering ecological think tank advocating for environmental justice and food sovereignty in Nigeria and Africa at large.

Dr. Mfoniso is from the Niger Delta in Nigeria, which is a culturally and resource rich region that has been tragically impacted by fossil fuel extraction for several generations. Fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas are burned to be used as sources of energy for human activity around the world.

In this episode, we discuss the environmental, human, and political impacts of fossil fuel extraction in Nigeria.

We also discuss what a socially just energy transition looks like that centers the dignity and well-being of most-affected communities.

Join us for this powerful and enlightening episode.

Timestamps

00:00 - Welcome

3:13 - Dr. Mfoniso’s relationship with nature 

6:28 -  Why we need to talk about energy in the context of climate and environmental justice

8:36 - The links between fossil fuel extraction and climate change in Nigeria

12:34 - How fossil fuel extraction drives power inequalities within countries and across the world

22:38 - How fossil fuel extraction impacts social relationships and cultures

28:45 - How to respond to people who still argue for fossil fuel extraction in Africa to help with development.

36:40 - Introducing the vision and work of Health of Mother Earth Foundation

44:30 -  What does it look like to innovate with communities most affected by energy injustice?

50:50 - What life-giving energy systems look like

58:40 - How to support Dr. Mfoniso and Health of Mother Earth Foundation

01:00:30 - How to connect with and support Black Earth Podcast

How to support Dr Mfoniso

• Follow and support Health of Mother Earth Foundation - https://homef.org/ 

How to support and connect with Black Earth Podcast 

• Subscribe to our podcast and leave a review wherever you listen to your favourite podcast

• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast.

• For partnerships, collaborations and media features, email us at [email protected]

In Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In this episode, we meet the amazing Etta Madete. Etta is an architect, advocate and real estate developer from Kenya. As the founder of Zima Homes, her passion and life’s work is building affordable, inclusive and sustainable housing for communities who need it the most. 

In our conversation, we unpack what affordable and sustainable housing means, why spatial justice is important and how we can design urban spaces for all living beings to thrive.

Timestamps

Welcome - 0:00

Etta’s relationship with nature - 02:10

Etta describes her four principles of well-living - Earth, Fire, Water, Air - 06:48

Etta’s vision for affordable and sustainable housing and why it matters - 16:30

Why affordable and sustainable includes the welfare of nature - 31:53

Spatial justice and what that looks like in Africa - 47:00

How to support Etta and her work - 58:30

How to support Black Earth Podcast - 01:00:30

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Etta’s Four Principles of Well-living - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyrtXQEOoR4 

How to support and connect with Etta 

• Etta’s website and writings: http://ettagold.weebly.com/ 
• Etta’s business, Zima Homes - https://zimahomes.co.ke/ 

How to support and connect with Black Earth Podcast 

• Subscribe to our podcast and leave a review wherever you listen to your favourite podcast
• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast.
• For partnership and media features, email us at [email protected]

Welcome to Black Earth Podcast! Today, we have a special treat for you!

In Season 3, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In last week's episode, we met Bryony Ella. Bryony is an inspiring artist-researcher who creates immersive and engaging public artworks that help us reimagine our relationship with nature.

This episode is taken from her project, The Colour of Transformation.  The Colour of Transformation is a documentary and artist film that celebrates the pioneering work of women of the global majority working in the UK nature sector.

The musical score you are listening to in this episode is created in response to those interviews, in which the women share their unique and personal journeys of transformation, as they each carve out their own space within the sector, learning how to nourish themselves and their communities for the benefit not only of the human world, but also the more-than-human world.

Enjoy!

Credit:
Bryony Ella
Orphy Robinson
Bunmi Thomas

How to support and connect with Bryony Ella

• Website: https://www.studiobryonyella.com/artist-statement
• Substack: Embodied ecology - https://embodiedecology.substack.com/
• Apply for a PhD opportunity to research with Bryony, ‘Heat, Health and Human Geographies’ - deadline 28 June 2024 - https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/studentships/heat-health-and-human-geographies/

How to support and connect with Black Earth Podcast 

• Subscribe to our podcast and leave a review wherever you listen to your favourite podcast
• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast.
• For partnership and media features, email us at [email protected]

In Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In today’s episode, we meet Bryony Ella. Bryony is an inspiring artist-researcher who creates immersive and engaging public artworks that help us reimagine our relationship with nature. 

In this episode, Bryony talks to us about her incredible artistic practice and how an emerging idea called embodied ecology can help us reconnect with nature and rediscover ourselves as nature.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction

02:03 - Bryony’s relationship with nature 

08:09 -  How Bryony’s relationship with nature shapes her practice as an artist

17:59 - Understanding embodied ecology 

26:10 - The importance of trusting your experiences as a guide for creating and learning

27:30 - How embodied ecology helps us think about the world differently

33:10 - Discussing Bryony’s art project honouring Wangari Maathai

44:05 - Discussing Bryony’s art project ‘The Colour of Transformation’

53:19 - Discussing Bryony’s latest project, Melting Metropolis, and an opportunity for you to get involved!

57:00 - More info on the PhD opportunity to work with Bryony Ella

01:00:00 - How to support Bryony

01:02:00 - How to support Black Earth Podcast

How to support and connect with Bryony Ella

• Website: https://www.studiobryonyella.com/artist-statement

• Substack: Embodied ecology - https://embodiedecology.substack.com/

• Read or listen to Bryony’s chapter about her wild drawing practice in the book: Wild Service: Why Nature Needs You by Nick Hayes - https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/wild-service-9781526673299/

• Apply for a PhD opportunity to research with Bryony, ‘Heat, Health and Human Geographies’ - deadline 28 June 2024 - https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/studentships/heat-health-and-human-geographies/

How to support and connect with Black Earth Podcast 

• Subscribe to our podcast and leave a review wherever you listen to your favourite podcast

• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast.

• For partnership and media features, email us at [email protected]

Today is World Biodiversity Day!!

It's a day for us to celebrate the incredible diversity of life on our beautiful planet. Biodiversity is all about the variety and interconnectedness of life on Earth, from the soil beneath our feet to the birds above and everything in between.

Instead of a regular Black Earth episode, we want you to spend one hour this week listening to nature.

Have a listen to the episode to find out why biodiversity is so important and also really, really good for your wellbeing. 

Share this challenge with your loved ones and if you share your experiences online, use the #ListenToNature and tag us! Let's celebrate and protect our beautiful living planet together.

Love,

B.E. 

In Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In this episode, we meet Dr Melissa Sikosana. She is a biomaterials scientist who is passionate about connecting art, science and design to solve society’s problems.

Dr Melissa speaks with us about an exciting discipline called biomimicry. Biomimicry is the art and science of learning how nature creates life in order to redesign a more regenerative and resilient world. 

Dr Melissa shares with us what biomimicry is and how we can apply it to change the world around us and our relationship with nature.

Get ready for an inspiring episode that will leave you in awe of nature.

Timestamps 

00:00 - Introductions

4:37 - Melissa’s relationship with nature 

13:08 - How Melissa came across biomimicry

16:52 - What is biomimicry?

21:35 - The three seeds (principles) of biomimicry

27:23 - An example of how to apply biomimicry to design something

34:50 - Biomimicry is practiced across cultures all around the world

44:58 - Decolonising knowledge   

51:40 - Using biomimicry to redesign our social and political institutions 

01:02:00 - Affordable or free resources for you to learn more about biomimicry 

01:02:43 - Marion’s experience with eco-grief and how biomimicry is helping her

01:06:30 - How to support Melissa and Melissa’s work

Resources mentioned in the episode 

• Website: Biomimicry Institute 
• Website: AskNature.org
• Book: Teeming by Tamsin Woolley-Barker

How you can support Black Earth Podcast:

• Subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to your favourite podcast and leave a review!
• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast
• For partnership opportunities email us at [email protected]

How you can support Melissa

• For collaboration opportunities contact Melissa via LinkedIn: Melissa Sikosana