In this episode Jason speaks with Alex Corren (@arcorren ) about his organization ReCommon (@ReCommon_Land) which aims to address the logistics and financing around land access and tenure for regenerative stewardship, in particular catalyzing the creation of a network of bioregionally embedded regenerative land trusts. They also touch on the shared vision of ‘networked bioregionalism’ as the most viable and hopeful path for the future

Bio: Alex is an impact entrepreneur, regenerative systems architect, and permaculture designer living in the mountains of Colorado. He has experience in various fields of ecology, science, and technology with a focus on systemic solutions to the converging crises of our time. Alex is the Executive Director and co-founder of ReCommon, a nonprofit building tool for regenerative community land tenure. In particular, ReCommon is building a platform to support a globally distributed network of resilient bioregional communities and landscape regeneration.

Website: https://www.recommon.land/

Personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/arcorren

ReCommon Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReCommon_Land  (just changed from our old handle @‌RegenCLT … might have mentioned the old one in the podcast recording),

John Klar is an attorney, regenerative farmer, and author living in Vermont. He has just published the book “Small Farm Republic” (Chelsea Green). This book gallops through major themes describing the economic, environmental, political, and social unsustainability of industrial ag, and issues a passion-inflected call for a return to the land and small-to-mid-scale regenerative farming practices. Along the way John acknowledges his influences and sources of inspiration through well-chosen quotes from luminaries including Wendell Berry, Joel Salatin, Chris Smaje, Aldo Leopold, and EF Schumacher.

Klar’s writing penetrates complex issues of climate change, soil erosion, biodiversity loss, water overuse and pollution, reliance on fossil fuels and toxic agrichemicals, animal welfare, and human health. While many of these topics are stock-in-trade for those identified as progressives or on the political left, Klar makes a compelling case why self-identified conservatives must care about these challenges and take action. Ultimately his arguments transcend superficial left/right, liberal/conservative distinctions and point the way towards a common ground that humans can come together on to heal our communities, our economy, and the ecosphere.

In this jaunting conversation, Klar and Kearns talk about Klar’s Vermont farming experiences where he and his wife Jackie have currently or previously raised sheep cows, goats, and draft horses; developed a goat milk and cheese small business; fought for on-farm slaughter rights with VT state regulators; and raised children in an empowering and healthy environment.

John’s writings on farming, politics, and culture can be found at or accessed through his Substack site: johnklar.substack.com

In this episode, Jason speaks with D. Mason (@dkpmason) about his life

Matthew Loftus and Medical Nemesis join occasional first-time host Donald to talk about medicine and Ivan Illich.

Medical Nemesis wonders why Ivan Illich’s book Medical Nemesis has not taken hold in any part of our culture and how to make practical use of this knowledge.

@‌Medical_Nemesis

/ https://medicalnemesis.substack.com

Matthew Loftus @‌matthew_loftus lives in Kenya with his family, where he teaches and practices Family Medicine. You can learn more about his work and writing at https://matthewandmaggie.org/write

Ashley and Jason interview Jim Rutt, co-founder of Game B, a

A rollicking conversation with Chris Mott of "Woke Imperium" fame. We checked in on geopolitics and ideology and how these have influenced current events and crazy trends in journalism, academia, gov't, NGOs, and the PMC in general.

One fulcrum of the conversation was how the DC pride celebration has evolved over recent years to be dominated by the military-industrial-complex (Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, the CIA, McKinsey, the Pentagon, etc. all doing big floats and extravagant productions attesting to their woke cred), and how all this reflects the consummation of the marriage of progressive culture war social justice politics with neconservatism, and the seamless interplay between supposedly humanitarian intervention and militarism in the Establishments monomaniacal neoliberal messianism.

Break-It-Down Austin – Food waste hauling, composting & creative resource recovery

Jeff Paine and Josh Kearns

Jeff Paine is co-founder and co-owner with his wife Mel MacFarlane of the Austin, TX based Break-It-Down.

http://breakitdownaustin.com

Formed in 2009 out of the couples’ rented duplex to provide a yoga studio, a coffee shop, and a juice bar with a way to steer their compostable waste away from the landfill and into something ecologically friendly, Break-It-Down has grown into business serving around 800 clients in the greater Austin area, and as far south as San Antonio and as far north as Waco.

In this conversation, Jeff and Josh sketch the history of Break-It-Down, the challenges they have faced, the successes they’ve attained, the quirks, the headaches, the lessons learned, and the creativity that goes into their innovative R&D processes for figuring out better things to do with food waste than entombing it in a landfill. In their schema, composting is the lowest rung on the resource recovery ladder. Their current food waste upcycling repertoire includes high-end dog food and treats [theconsciouspet.life], and nutrient rich bonemeal fertilizer for gardeners and landscapers.

In this wide-ranging convo Jeff and Josh (@hillbillynarnia) talk about the advantages and disadvantages of an academic path in life compared with on-the-job-training earned from developing a small business. And they talk about how this affects Jeff and Mel’s philosophy as parents, in particular how it informs their non-traditional approach to schooling for their two sons.

Jason speaks with Seneca Scott (@SenecaSpeaks21 ) about his life and work leading up to and including the founding of Neighbors Together Oakland, which focuses on community safety, localized agricultural systems, thriving local businesses, and accessible housing. They also discuss building ‘parallel systems that will remain resilient as our current one’s collapse’, and how this relates to local political engagement

About Seneca Scott:

Seneca moved to Oakland in 2012 to work as the East Bay Director for SEIU Local 1021, representing and negotiating improvements to wages and working conditions for thousands of workers in East Bay cities, most notably Oakland. It didn’t take long for Seneca to fall in love with the town for its independent spirit and love of nature.

Moving to the Lower Bottoms, he immediately went to work in the community, co-founding Bottoms Up Community Gardens and Oakhella. Seneca likes to say that all of his endeavors serve the same purpose, helping to bring Oakland Neighbors closer together.

In 2020, Seneca ran for City Council to bring a voice to his neighbors that he felt was being ignored. His Neighbors Together movement has since exploded across the city, demanding accountability from its Mayor and City Council.

Seneca has worked as a Labor leader and community organizer for over 20 years. He earned his B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

He has served as a Director for various unions, as well as a consultant, negotiating contracts for Bay Area public sector employees. In addition to organizing, Seneca is a cook, farmer and chess enthusiast. Seneca ran for Mayor in 2022, attracting widespread national media attention for the campaign’s independently minded, pragmatic approach to Oakland’s daunting and intersecting crises of homelessness, drug tourism, poverty, theft and violent crime.

On the heels of the campaign, NTO is currently working to expand our urban farming efforts. We hope to engender holistic spaces that nurture the minds and bodies of Oakland Neighbors, building safe resilient communities organized around the issues that matter most.

Ashley and Nate discuss the concept of Left Conservatism in a wide ranging conversation about what is sacred, the market, the state, and the process of developing politics and relationships.

Donald and Keturah discuss Orthodoxy and noise with Alana Nickels.

Alana "Nickels" Solomon is a former train kid and future Matushka, writer of "Hobo Nickels", painter of icons, and wife of Deacon Mark Solomon, who currently attends St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Buy and subscribe to her zine: http://alananickels.bigcartel.com Learn more: http://alananickels.com