conscient podcast

Note: to read this posting on a calm presence see a conscient rethink

a conscient rethink

What needs to be said? Who needs to say it? Who wants to hear it? How does it help? 

February 16th, 2025, on the unceded lands of the Algonquin-Anishinaabe people.

I started publishing the conscient podcast and balado conscient in May of 2020. 

My goal was to ‘explore art and the ecological crisis as a learning and unlearning journey’. 

At that time I believed that ‘the arts and culture could play a critical role in raising awareness about sustainability issues and moving people towards action.’

Maybe. Maybe not. 

At any rate, some 300 episodes later, I felt that this first leg of my conscient journey is complete and that I owe deep gratitude to my collaborators and to you, for listening. 

It’s now time to rethink conscient. 

Some of you might recall in my listen and co-create posting on a calm presence and this quote from the Intercultural Communication Handbook : 

• Sensing, attending and being patient requires slowing down, pausing, and taking time to listen, look, feel and learn. Seeking to activate and use all our senses to relate as part of the world. This involves learning through relationships, through actions and through careful attention, not just through asking questions and talking a lot. Being patient and humble enables recognition of the myriad of messages that humans and non-human beings are always sending out.

These wise words encouraged me to slow me down and inspired me to take a pause from the production of conscient during the winter of 2025 and I tried to follow this good advice.

Others are also advocating for a slow down and a rethink. 

For example Kai writes in Dense Discovery – Issue 326 / When enough outrage is enough :

• We have enough information. We know where we stand. The challenge now isn’t to understand more, but to act on what we already know, redirecting our energy from pointless online reaction to tangible local action. As I’ve said here before, we don’t need more clever dunks. We need more people showing up – in our communities, in our work, in the unglamorous spaces where real change takes root.

What did I do?

I listened to everyday life. 

I stopped judging.

I meditated on presence.

I conversed with colleagues in the 10 week Surviving the Future : The Deeper Dive 2025 course.

I shared some of my experiences in prepare, bend, sustain. 

I read and listened to Shaun Chamberlin’s Dark Optimism, Nate Hagens’ The Great Simplification and Kamea Chayne’s Green Dreamer. 

I also shovelled snow, learned to play tennis and played shinny. 

Lots of shinny. 

I also pondered listener feedback from previous seasons of conscient. Here are a few : 

• your guests are inspiring and the conversations are nourishing : it fills a gap
• why don’t you present more diversity of voices, in particular from young people and the global south 
• your conversations often go on too long. We’re more likely to listen if you edit them down
• you narrate too slowly : I. sometimes. fall. asleep. listening. to. you. drone. on.
• your podcast is not enough fun : why don't you try to be more uplifting and positive
• integrating soundscape compositions actually works well: it makes your podcast unique and compelling
• Why not give us more practical tools to engage with the issues not just philosophical musings and doomist projections
• try to be a bit more humble
• breathe more quietly and smoothly

With this feedback in mind, I came up with a set of questions to guide my work future forward: 

• What needs to be said?
• Who needs to say it?
• Who wants to hear it?
• How does it help?

In other words, what is the point of all this chatter? 

I thought back to why I listen to podcasts in the first place and what keeps me listening?  

I listen to podcasts because they help me:

• break me out of isolation
• accept collapse
• feel solidarity and connection
• unlearn
• generate spiritual and physical energy
• empathise through tone of voice
• nurture presence through hesitation
• laugh and cry
• slow down and listen
• keep going in spite of the odds

conscient podcast studio production space

So, with all of this in mind, I’ve decided to go ahead and produce a 6th season of conscient.

You’ll be able to hear three episode types:

1. fifteens

15 minute ‘composed’ conversations with leading artists and cultural workers exploring the theme of ‘arts and culture in times of crisis, collapse, renewal’ with a focus on actions. A fifteen is a coffee break of insight. 

2. roundtables

Long duration, informal banter with friends and colleagues about their passions, fears and dreams, inspired by the innovative ways of the 1980’s era CBC Radio’s overnight talk show Brave New Waves. Participants are invited to tell a good story and to expect to be interrupted and maybe teased once in a while. A roundtable is an engaging kitchen party. 

3. a calm presence

These bonus episodes are me narrating each a calm presence Substack posting including additional commentary and soundscape compositions. It’s intended for those who, like me, prefer listening over reading. 

I will launch season 6 at spring equinox on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 5.01am (EDT).

access

• subscribe to conscient podcast or balado conscient (free) on your favorite podcast player : Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Podchaser, Tune in, YouTube
• subscribe to a calm presence (free) on Substack
• follow and comment on conscient social media : Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads and BlueSky 
• visit conscient.ca to search and listen to any individual Episodes or read episode notes and transcripts

As always, if you like something you hear or read, please share. 

Feel free to reach me with questions and comments at [email protected]

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on September 28, 2025

Note: I wrote this facebook posting this morning (February 11, 2025) that I’m repurposing as a calm presence essay and as a bonus episode of conscient. 

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Hi,

We need social media spaces that are non profit, with decent values and ethics, community spirit and maturity. 

This will come. 

In the meantime we have extractive behemoths like Meta, that are nonetheless the product of human ingenuity and that are useful to help connect (even though I think having coffee with a friend or chatting by a fire is better.)

This morning I was reading a column in The Maple called ‘Your comments on the American Menace’ by Alex Cosh. 

This comment resonated :

• Canadian politicians understand that this national formation is in an inherently frail state [...] I would propose that Canada has fundamental weaknesses in its institutional memory and cultural identity that Canadians feel on a subconscious level. In my opinion the basis for this is the obvious compatibility of our society with American monoculture via settler-colonialism [...] The retreat to mythologies and consumerist nationalism cannot serve as a long-term alternative to actual nation-building projects such as reconciliation and constitutional reform [...] The things we grasp onto in moments of anxiety are merely symbolic; what is required is a real and tangible national project that serves to mend the foundational fracture at the base of Canadian society stemming from the relationship between Indigenous peoples, settlers and the land. Window dressing is not going to cut it.

Gratitude to the author of this comment, whose name I don’t know. 

I would add that in the context of the climate emergency, massive change is in the air anyway. 

I’m excited by this window of opportunity to ‘mend the foundational fracture’ of life on Turtle Island.

Many organizations and artists have been working on this kind of revisioning. 

Now is their time. 

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Photo: Adawe Bridge on Rideau River, February 11, 2025

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on September 28, 2025

• What triggered my climate denial bubble to burst? I feel compelled to share this personal experience, in the hope that it might help others who are also struggling with the current sustainability crisis and searching for a path forward…

This is an ENCORE episode of the conscient podcast from season 1, episode 1, first published on April 30, 2020.

Kaboom !

You’ll understand what this Kaboom is about in a few minutes. 

This episode…

• explores my reaction, or at least my experience, when I became much more aware of the climate emergency and what it meant to me and to my family in particular, my daughter

Our daughter Clara was 17 when I recorded this episode. Clara’s now 23. In 2024 I recorded e208 clara schryer - science as story where Clara talks about her memory of a conversation we had on May 14th 2019 that proved to pivotal in both our lives:

• At the time, I think I knew that I was interested in earth science, but I thought maybe I should do engineering because maybe that's actually more useful. And I didn't end up doing that. I ended up doing what I wanted to do, which I think was probably an okay choice. But anyways, that was kind of the context. But I remember that conversation as being one of the first times that you really expressed to me that you were interested in participating in this kind of climate and environment work and that you were kind of, you know, I guess to me that part of that conversation was like, well, you have to make changes in whatever world you are in and you were in the art world, so that's what you kind of focused on. 

I did end up focusing on art and ecology in a number of ways and that conversation was the triggering point. I remember it  very clearly. We were driving on Mann Street here in Ottawa. You’ll hear the story in a few minutes. This conversation triggered me to retire from my job at Canada Council in September 2020 and to devote myself full time on the climate emergency. 

I thought it would be interesting to go back to this very first episode of conscient and listen to how talk about my anxiety and terror about the climate crisis that was unfolding. 

• On the morning of May 13th I came upon an article in the Guardian, We’re Doomed: Mayer Hillman on the climate reality no one else will dare mention, where Hillman predicted that ‘the outcome is death, and it’s the end of most life on the planet because we’re so dependent on the burning of fossil fuels. There are no means of reversing the process which is melting the polar ice caps.’ 

The episode is quite disheartening, eg. facing reality directly, but there are moments of hope, for example, at the end of the episode I read this quote from indigenous writer Richard Wagamese’s For Joshua :

• We may not relight the fires that used to burn in our villages, but we carry the embers from those fires in our hearts and learn to light new fires in a new world. We can recreate the spirit of community we had, of kinship, or relationship to all things, of union with the land, harmony with the universe, balance in living, humility, honesty, truth, and wisdom in all of our dealings with each other.’ 

And this to me is the power of stories, to help rekindle the embers in our hearts, to recreate the spirit of community we once had… stories have the potential to both terrify us into action but also help us slow down inspire to carry on, to process our grief, deepening our relations and imagine new worlds.

Note : Il existe également une version en français de cet épisode sur le balado conscient é02 éveil - éclater ma bulle de dénie.

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Note : I'm currently 'pressing pause' and am not producing new content until further notice. 

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.

This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.

• I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
• I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
• Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
• I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.  

Your feedback is always welcome at claude [at] conscient [dot] ca and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Thanks for listening. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on March 21, 2026

prepare, bend, sustain

what I learned in the first 3 weeks of surviving the future 2025

Note: the original posting on my a calm presence Substack is here. 

Sarah Heynen, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Food & Ecology, suggested I take Surviving the Future : The Deeper Dive (StF), a 10 week course offered by Sterling College, in Vermont. The course is informed by the work of English economist, cultural historian and writer David Flemingand is led by British author and activist Shaun Chamberlin.

Sarah was right about taking the course.

So far it has been very intense, quite a bit of fun, with moments of, I would call it… terror.  

I'm going to share some of my findings with you. 

I noted what I learned (and unlearned) during StF 2025 from amazing presentations, engaged conversations, creative exercises, bold documentaries, vigorous debates and mutual support sessions : all kinds of interesting and enriching learning. 

However, it all boiled down to this slide that our first guest presenter Nate Hagens (host of The Great Simplificationpodcast) shared with us in the first week.

My reading of this slide is that we need to : 

1. prepare for systems failure and societal collapse
2. bend like bamboo without breaking during the turmoil and devastation
3. sustain ecological balance during recovery and regeneration

Nothing else really matters. 

It might seem simplistic to bring it down to 3 words but it really helped me focus. 

As the course unfolded, I made note of some of my favorite sayings and moments.

• be grateful and in love with life
• beauty and depravity
• citizen science
• collective humanity
• community engaged arts
• community resilience
• courage and nobility
• cracks in, but not of
• decommissioning nuclear 
• desk killers
• empathetic enquiry
• exit ramp alternatives
• fatalistic dopamine 
• follow your tears
• good collapse
• guerilla dissenters
• civilisation’s final burst
• inhospitable rabbit holes
• interstitial insurrection
• lover (not mother) earth
• moral compartmentalization
• mycelial models
• new worlds unfolding
• nurturing presence
• permaculture
• pocket of survivors
• power with, not over 
• reality blindness
• resilience through decentralisation
• save versus savour
• stories of the world
• transitional towns
• trusting that which we cannot yet feel

And much more.

My hope (see when spirit becomes one for more on hope) is that once combined and coordinated, these efforts will become unstoppable forces of change and renewal. 

That’s a bit utopic but I’ve always believed that once combined these things are very powerful. 

During the course one of our assignments was to respond to Nate Hagens’ presentation. I wrote this poem: 

• Friends who do not judge       
• Colleagues who are present     
• Kindred spirits who make me feel      
• More-than-humans who help me heal

• Friends who guide me through the unknown      
• Colleagues who comfort me when I’m gone       
• Kindred spirits who help me respond   
• More-than-humans’ gift of mycelia

• Friends who help me sit        
• Colleagues who help me prepare
• Kindred spirits who bend not break    
• More-than-human sustainability

So this gives you an idea of the kind of fun we are having with complex issues… but will all of this be enough?

Qui sait?

What I’ve learned in these first 3 weeks is incredible. So much useful information and helpful discourse with like-minded people. But in terms of what I retain in day-to-day life there are 3 words that guide me: 

• meditate (daily)
• collaborate (on relevant projects)
• trust (the things we cannot yet feel)

More soon on the rest of the course. I’ll do another posting including links to my favorite articles and videos. 

With deepest gratitude and respect to Nate Hagens for his presentation and use of his slide (also see Power vs Life: Towards Wide Boundary Sovereignty), to the wonderful stf 2025  team (Shuan, Nakasi and others) for their leadership and to my stf 2025 colleagues for our rich exchanges, generosity and - oh so precious -  solidarity. 

Photo: Beach at Hornby Island, British Columbia by Claude Schryer

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on September 28, 2025

• What's starting to interest me is stories of resilience for a post-carbon world. What are we going to need for our emotional well-being? It's going to be a different world, not long from now. If we do this, and we must do this, this transition has to happen and there's going to be a sense of loss and sacrifice and challenge, not just with what's happening externally from a climate point of view, but in how we're going to have to make changes to our lives and reorient our energies in terms of our advocacy. I feel like there's an opportunity for artists - I'm more connected to the film and television sector and the documentary community - but throughout the system, to be able to provide realistic and yet reassuring narratives about what the upside of all this might be.

This bonus episode is dedicated to the memory of media producer, art and climate champion and cultural impact leader Tracey Friesen, who passed away on Monday, January 6, 2025 in Vancouver. 

I offer my deepest condolences to Tracey’s family and her countless friends and colleagues. 

I’m still on break from producing new episodes of conscient. I’m mostly meditating these days but also taking courses such as Surviving the Future.

I’m to think through how podcasts such as this one, can be most useful future forward. More on this later. 

For now, while I’m on break, I thought it would be interesting to publishing a series of ENCORE or replay episodes drawn from previous seasons of conscient.

I actually got the idea my fellow podcaster Alice Irene Whittaker whose created a REPLAY series drawn from her Reseed podcast and it’s a good listen. I recommend any episode but in particular Episode 8 - Reflecting Climate Grief Through Music with Tamara Lindeman.  

And I’m going to start on a sad note, but also one celebrating the life of Tracey Friesen. You’ll hear, once again, e85 tracey friesen – narratives of resilience for a post carbon world which I recorded in 2021.

For those of you who don’t know Tracey, let me provide context this way. I’ll read you an excerpt from a newsletterissued by the Story Money Impact organization in Vancouver that Tracey founded in 2019 and which is now run by Sue Biely. This excerpt will give you an idea of their appreciation of Tracey: 

• Tracey was a gifted community-builder and mentor – equal parts fearless, wise, and energetic – with an insatiable curiosity. Her forthrightness left no doubt about where she stood when it came to fighting for social and environmental justice. She was a visionary tactician who recognized a gap in Canada’s documentary sector, so she rolled up her sleeves and researched and published her 2016 book about impact producing,Story, Money, Impact: Funding Media for Social Change. Tracey’s book became the catalyst that set this organization into motion.

Thank you Sue and the team at Story, Money, Impact for that. 

I first met Tracey on September 21, 2021 at a event called Processing the federal election during a climate emergencyorganized by the Climate Emergency Unit. Stacey was impressive. Shortly after we collaborated on the mission circle of SCALE, the Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency network. We later became friends and often went for long walks in Ottawa or Vancouver to strategize about art and climate action but also the challenges of day-to-day life: supporting elders, being a parent, figuring out what to do… 

Tracey was a compassionate listener and a very wise advisor.  

I loved the way she understood and advocated for the power of storytelling, and I think her words will be important to us in the future. 

I hope we can continue her good work amplifying the voices of artists. Here’s another excerpt:

• We do need the scientists, and we do need all of the work being done across all of the important social issues that are happening right now. And we really do need the storytellers and to validate that their story driven, narrative driven, emotionally driven pieces of work will help to touch people now to change their behavior or will help to soothe or reassure or be with them in the world post transition.

Let’s go back in time: 2021 with the COVID pandemic in full swing. Tracey and I are sitting, meditation style, in her living room in Vancouver. 

Heads up that in this episode you’ll also hear excerpts from conscient podcast e26 klein – rallying through art and e54 garrett – empowering artists in between our conversation.

Finally, for your convenience, I’ve also added a complete transcript of the episode on the episode web site including links to the events and organizations that Tracey mentions during our exchange. 

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Note : I'm currently 'pressing pause' and am not producing new content until further notice. 

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020. It’s my way to give back.

This Indigenous Land Acknowledgement statement was developed by members of the Algonquin community for my former employer the Canada Council for the Arts. I have adapted slightly to make it my own.

• I acknowledge that my studio, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.
• I recognize the Algonquins as the customary keepers and defenders of the Ottawa River Watershed and its tributaries. I honour their long history of welcoming many Nations to this beautiful territory and uphold and uplift the voice and values of our Host Nation.
• Further, I offer my respect and affirm the inherent and Treaty Rights of all Indigenous Peoples across this land and honour commitments to self-determination and sovereignty that have been made to Indigenous Nations and Peoples.
• I acknowledge the historical oppression of lands, cultures and the original Peoples in what we now know as Canada and fervently believe the Arts contribute to the healing and decolonizing journey we all share together

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish a free ‘a calm presence' monthly Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.  

Your feedback is always welcome at claude [at] conscient [dot] ca and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Thanks for listening. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on March 21, 2026

A bonus episode in between seasons 5 and 6, featuring my new year’s 'a calm presence' reflection on hope with writings and stories by Peter Schneider, John Crier (as told to Vanessa Andreotti), Richard Heinberg, Zia Gallina, Naomi Klein, Azul Carolina Duque, Jem Bendell, Robert R. Janes and Hildegard Westerkamp. 

To read the original posting on Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com/p/when-spirit-becomes-one-5f5

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on September 28, 2025

Note: this is the audio version of my 'listen and co-create' posting on 'a calm presence'. 

On September 23, 2024, while driving in Victoria BC to record a conversation with educator and musician Azul Carolina Duque for conscient season 6 (to be released in 2025), I was listening to Nate Hagens' The Great Simplification episode 139 : Bioregional Futures: Reconnecting to Place for Planetary Health with regenerative living activist Daniel Christian Wahl. 

As I listened to the 36th minute of this engaging podcast, I felt a wave of relief ripple through my body, as if a burden had been lifted…

I stopped the car to listen to that 36th minute again : 

• It makes a difference how we go out and, bizarrely, if enough of us - all of humanity - reaches the point of maturity of caring more about life and less about individual lifespan or our species survival and we find our peace with maybe living the end day of a relatively young species, then I think exactly in that point, we will find the maturity to develop the patterns that will take us into not dying an early death as a species.

‘That’s it’, I said out loud. 

‘This is the horizon I have been looking for: ‘patterns that will take us into not dying an early death as a species’.

Which patterns?

I was also touched by the notion of dying with dignity (how we go out), which is on my mind and in my spirit lately. 

Azul and I in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC, September 23, 2024

Wahl’s notion of ‘finding peace as a relatively young species’ came up during my conversation with Azul who kindly shared the 3rd type of hope in an upcoming publication by the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Collective of which she is a member: 

• The hope in composting harm represents the idea of acknowledging that we are past several critical tipping points, and that substantial consensus is unlikely to happen and that we will inevitably have to confront the consequences of our harmful actions and the harmful actions of those who came before us, too. So this hope says that new possibilities will emerge only after we have been taught by the partial or general collapse of our current systems, which is what this person, Daniel was saying in the interview. So it's about visualizing a process in which we are left with no other choice but to transform our relationships with the planet, with other species and with each other, to metabolize and repair the harm we have caused, and collectively learn to coexist differently through the awareness that we are part of a wider metabolism that is bio intelligent.

Later that day I mentioned this insightful 36th minute in the Wahl interview during my conscient podcast conversation with composer Kenneth Newby (e207 kenneth newby - living with grace) who said: 

• The planet's not dying. Our place and our version of it may be dying. So how do we deal with that? How do we accept and live with the knowledge that our version of it is dying. It's not something to panic about in the sense that the whole thing's going away, hopefully. We don't know, but I think that notion of living with grace, living without fear, trying to live without anxiety, because those are just places where we flounder, shut off and develop toxic escapes. People will drink themselves and take whatever drugs they want to take to escape. 

My conversation with Kenneth reminded me of this quote from Adam Urban’s ‘10 Reasons Our Civilization Will Soon Collapse’ that I used in my first a calm presence posting, called why? : my rationale for creating 'a calm presence' newsletter. I go back to it often:

• People have asked me, "If we're all doomed anyway, then what's the point of scaring people? Why not just let them live their lives?" It's a fair question. My answer is that the more people know about our predicament and start preparing for what's coming, the greater chance humanity has of surviving this century and creating sustainable societies in the distant future. I don't know if that's even possible. Perhaps we will pass so many climate tipping points that temperatures will rise high enough to snuff out life across the entire planet. Or perhaps after the population declines and the planet warms, new societies will spring up in places like Greenland and Antarctica. They won't be societies that use fossil fuels, so they will likely be much simpler and more connected to the Earth. Maybe these societies will learn from our mistakes and take better care of nature—and each other. If there's any chance that a future like that is possible, then we should do everything we can to make it happen. The first step is to inform people about what's happening, and the second step is to help them prepare.

Why does any of this matter? 

Reality.

why? https://acalmpresence.substack.com/p/why

My experiences on September 23rd reminded of advice dharma teacher Catherine Ingram offered me in July 2023 that inspired the creation of a calm presence:

• Yes, there’s a point in going on. It is to be here for others who are not as strong or clear as you and who will be frightened and in need of a calm presence.

But how does one achieve and maintain ‘a calm presence’?

I found some answers in this except from Yin Paradies’ September 25, 2024 Facebook posting drawn from the Intercultural Communication Handbook.

• Sensing, attending and being patient requires slowing down, pausing, and taking time to listen, look, feel and learn. Seeking to activate and use all our senses to relate as part of the world. This involves learning through relationships, through actions and through careful attention, not just through asking questions and talking a lot. Being patient and humble enables recognition of the myriad of messages that humans and non-human beings are always sending out.

Note: for more on Yin’s work see 

e193 yin paradies - interweaving everything with everything else or on Yin’s YouTube channel.

I was struck by this sentence in particular : 

• Learning through relationships, through actions and through careful attention, not just through asking questions and talking a lot.

There's a lot to consider in his words for a podcaster who spends a lot of time and effort talking and asking questions!

The timing of this  is good because I'm taking a break now from both conscient podcast and a calm presence for a few months as I prepare season 6 - which I think is necessary - exploring arts and culture in times of crisis and collapse. 

I’ll be doing that collaboratively and co-creatively with those who are interested in joining me. 

To summarize, I feel privileged to have received a generous offering through the above quotes that I have presented to you today. 

For me, all of this comes down to: listening and co-creating. 

To listen and co-create. 

I would like to thank those I have quoted and their kin.

*

END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on September 28, 2025

flowing through

opening ever-new vistas through listening and conversation 

I received an email from composer Hildegard Westerkamp, about ego, and set Hildi’s words to  sound. 

• The time seems right for you to let everyone’s words flow through you - as if through a medium or force - back to all of us in ever new shapes. 
• This creates shifts in everyone’s perception, ideas, attitudes, feelings and approaches towards the world the way it is now.  
• I have always felt that this was precisely what I was doing with environmental sounds. 
• I recorded them (like voices that speak). 
• I listened to them and then let them flow through me (speak through my compositions, like your and everyone’s words speak through your conscient podcast) back to everyone. 
• Our own inner shift simply enables for more shifting to happen. It’s not us (our ego) that is effective here in allowing the flow of transformation to happen. 
• The ego is more like a blood clot blocking true shifting in the larger scheme/flow of things - i.e. it wants to be exclusive, can’t include the perceptions and shifting of others. 
• It’s a deeper engagement - love, passion or whatever one might call it - that not only allows, but desires for energies to flow through - reach - the nooks and crannies of human perception. Like a river. 
• We are like the water particles that collaborate for the river to find its way through the landscapes as they present themselves. 
• Opening ever-new vistas.

*

END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on September 28, 2025

Below is my reading of an executive summary of my ‘letter to the arts community about the ecological crisis - let’s put the climate emergency back onto our agendas’. I invite you to read the complete letter, when you get a chance, in English or in French, however this summary will give you the basics. I also invite you to submit comments on my Substack, on any of my social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked in) or directly to [email protected]. 

*

Dear Canadian arts and cultural sector,

I hope these words find you well.

I’ve recently completed season 5 of my conscient podcast - balado conscient at La Montagnarde, an arts residency organized by l’ATSA : quand l’art passe à l'action, situated on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe-Algonquin people (also known as St-Adolphe-d’Howard, Québec).

Let me get to the point. 

Based on recent conscient podcast conversations, I have observed that the climate emergency (as well as the larger ecological crisis) have fallen off the collective agendas of the Canadian arts and culture sector. 

The uncertainties we face are grim (see Disruptions on the Horizon).

I am advocating that these issues take their rightful place amongst our most urgent priorities and risk assessments. 

In my complete letter, I invite you to read and listen to your arts and cultural peers who make a strong case for increased dialogue and rapid change, including: 

• Owais Lightwala and SGS’s (e194) Manifesto for Now
• Robin Sokoloski (e201) and the Living Climate-Impact Framework for the Arts (also e195)
• SCALE-LESAUT (e176) and Mapping the path to net zero for c\a\n\a\d\a’s Arts and Culture Sector” – what we found out – and what we need to do now!
• Canada Council for the Arts & Mass Culture’s Climate Mitigation Strategies for the Arts and the Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for the Arts report
• Ian Garrett (e182) and Sarah Fioravanti (é158) on CG Tools Canada
• Alex Sarian’s The Audacity of Relevance

And much more (in the letter)…

We need to connect these critical initiatives by developing a ‘national arts and climate strategy’ as recommended by SCALE-LeSAUT so that the arts and cultural sector can play a much larger role in creative climate actions and solutions (both short and long term).  

I think we can get there if we work together. My complete letter includes some practical suggestions and links.

In the meantime, the next season of conscient podcast - balado conscient will focus on ‘art and culture in times of crisis and collapse’ including an ‘artists survival kit’ (working title) : a set of practical tools and resources for artists to adapt and respond to the risks of ecological and societal collapse. This project will be informed by advisory circles. If you would like to participate, please contact me at [email protected].

Thanks for your consideration. 

And if you agree with what I propose in this letter, I invite you to share it and talk about it with your peers. 

I submit this letter with respect and in solidarity.

Claude Schryer

*

END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on September 28, 2025

Welcome to the conscient podcast season 6 trailer

I’m Claude Schryer, the host and producer of both conscient podcast and its french equivalent balado conscient. 

I’m speaking to you from unceded Algonquin-Anishinaabe land also known as Ottawa. 

This trailer will give you an idea of what’s to come with this learning and unlearning journey of mine that I started in May 2020 still exploring art and the ecological crisis however a lot has changed since then. I wrote about in my a calm presence Substack : a conscient rethink

Here's an excerpt from that posting that will give you an idea of what season 6 is about. Thanks for listening. 

 I came up with a set of questions to guide my work future forward: 

• What needs to be said?
• Who needs to say it? 
• Who wants to hear it?
• How does it help? 

In other words, what is the point of all this chatter? 

I thought back to why I listen to podcasts in the first place and what keeps me listening?  

I listen to podcasts because they help me:

• break me out of isolation
• accept collapse
• feel solidarity and connection 
• unlearn
• generate spiritual and physical energy 
• empathise through tone of voice 
• nurture presence through hesitation
• laugh and cry
• slow down and listen 
• keep going in spite of the odds

So, with all of this in mind, I’ve decided to go ahead and produce a 6th season of conscient.

• fifteens

15 minute ‘composed’ conversations with leading artists and cultural workers exploring the theme of ‘arts and culture in times of crisis, collapse, renewal’ with a focus on actions. A fifteen is a coffee break of insight. 

• roundtables

Long duration, informal banter with friends and colleagues about their passions, fears and dreams, inspired by the innovative ways of the 1980’s era CBC Radio’s overnight talk show Brave New Waves. Participants are invited to tell a good story and to expect to be interrupted and maybe teased once in a while. A roundtable is an engaging kitchen party. 

• a calm presence

These bonus episodes are me narrating each a calm presence Substack posting including additional commentary and soundscape compositions. It’s intended for those who, like me, prefer listening over reading. 

I will launch season 6 at spring equinox on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 5.01am (EDT).

access

• subscribe to conscient podcast or balado conscient (free) on your favorite podcast player : Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Podchaser, Tune in, YouTube
• subscribe to a calm presence (free) on Substack
• follow and comment on conscient social media : Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads and BlueSky 
• visit conscient.ca to search and listen to any individual Episodes or read episode notes and transcripts

As always, if you like something you hear or read, please share. 

Feel free to reach me with questions and comments at [email protected]

*

END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

Your feedback is always welcome at [email protected] and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, Tik Tok, YouTube and Substack.

Share what you like, etc

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on September 28, 2025