Black Earth Podcast

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

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

In this episode we meet Tinuke Chineme. Tinuke is an inspiring scientist and innovator based in Calgary, Canada. 

She is working with black soldier flies and African Indigenous Female Entrepreneurs to develop a new economic model that transforms organic waste into wealth.

Join us for this enriching conversation as we learn how to create economies that promote dignity, wellbeing and sustainability for people and our living planet.

Connect with Black Earth Podcast

• Subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to your favourite podcast
• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast

Connect with Tinuke via LinkedIn - Tinuke Chineme 

 
Episode time stamps

00:00 Introduction

01:18 - Where is home? Unravelling ties between territories and identity 

05:19 - Tinuke’s relationship with nature 

08:57 - What led Tinuke to her work as a scientist and innovator on waste

13:07- Tinuke explains her biowaste innovation 

22:39 - Connecting waste and environmental justice in black communities 

28:54 - How waste is defined in Yoruba culture and Indigenous cultures

32:59 - Zero waste is a part of African cultures

33:57- How nature sees waste 

40:00  Why our dominant economic system is unnatural 

41:53 -  Introducing an economic model fit for the future  

47:55 - The difference between the dominant economic model and a social circular economy 

51:00 - Why it’s important to talk about the purpose of an economy

56:08 - The power of African Indigenous Female Entrepreneurs 

01:06:00 - What animal welfare looks like in life-giving economies 

01:11:43 - How to support Tinuke 

Hello Black Earth fam!

We are so excited to be back for Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast!!

The theme for this season is 'Innovation Inspired by Nature'. Join us for this juicy and world changing season as we meet incredible black women inventors, scientists and artists who are building new worlds with the genius of mama nature. Check out the trailer to find out more.

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your favourite podcast and connect with us on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn @blackearthpodcast.

Love xx

B.E