Ecosystem Member

This is our last episode of season one and I don’t think we could end on a better episode.

Our guest is Jeff Perry, founder of ⁠Angel City Lumber⁠, a really unique place-based lumberyard in Los Angeles that sources only from fallen trees, trees removed in construction and trees removed due to things like disease in Los Angeles County. And the thoughtfulness in Jeff’s approach to lumber is only part of Jeff’s thoughtfulness as a person.

In this episode, we discuss what it means to not think about our role as humans as stewards or saviors but just one of the gang. We also talk about how industrialized lumber has created separation between us and the trees that for so many of us are fixtures in our lives. And in this way, Angel City Lumber’s approach is helping maintain those connections using technology like QR codes to reconnect a piece of flooring or a board with the tree it came from, and where that tree itself is from.

But this conversation stretches far beyond lumber. Jeff shares his perspective about how - as one of the gang - we need to do more listening and less pontificating, adjusting for our human impulse to fix. His connection with trees goes deeper than lumber, taking time to listen and connect with trees often.

This one is a little bit longer but well worth your time.

Angel City Lumber - https://www.angelcitylumber.com

Would Works - https://www.wouldworks.com

Our guest for this episode is glaciologist Dr. Heïdi Sevestre.

You might recognize that name if you tuned in to the National Geographic series 'Arctic Ascent' featuring climber Alex Honnold. Heïdi was the scientist on that expedition and worked with the team to conduct 18 difference experiments, many of which were featured in the show.

And that appearance is key part of her approach to science. In addition to being fellow of The Explorers Club and worked at AMAP, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Heidi is a passionate science communicator. In addition to appearing on podcasts like this one, she has featured in documentaries for the BBC, CBC, ITV, France 2 and several other platforms.

In this episode, we talk about what a glaciologist actually does other that expeditions with world-famous climbers, we explore the connection between melting glaciers and ice sheets and climate change and sea level rise and her Climate Sentinels project, which was an all-female, carbon neutral expedition to Svalbard to conduct crucial research.

2025 is the International Year for Glacier Preservation and I think you'll walk away from this episode with a better understanding of the importance of glaciers and ice in our ecosystems around the globe.

Huge thanks to Heidi for joining us and make sure to check out the links in the show notes to follow her latest expeditions and communication efforts.

Links

"Leopold's land ethic is not a fact but a task." - Wallace Stegner, "Living On Our Principal", Wilderness/Spring 1985

I’m not a gambling man, but I’d be willing to place a pretty large bet that the overlap in the Venn diagram of Ecosystem Member listeners and Aldo Leopold readers is sizable. However, Meta is still insisting on making AI chatbots of modern celebrities instead of legends of environmental philosophy, so I am still unable to have Aldo himself as a guest on the podcast. 

So, I got the next best thing. 

Our guest for this episode of the podcast is Buddy Huffaker, executive director of the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Using Aldo’s writing and specifically his idea of a land ethic, the Foundation helps promote responsible land stewardship and make sure that Leopold’s work is still as relevant today as when ‘A Sand County Almanac’ was published 75 years ago. 

In this episode, we start at the foundations with Buddy. We talk about what the land ethic is and why it is still so relevant today, Aldo’s journey to the stories in ‘A Sand County Almanac’ and the transformational moment in one of Aldo’s other seminal essays ‘Thinking Like a Mountain’. We also talk about how the Foundation partners with people like Robin Wall Kimmerer to extend the conversation beyond just Aldo’s ideas to share a larger land ethic story in the context of today’s world. 

Make sure to visit the Foundation’s website at aldoleopold.org and follow its social media accounts. Many of the events the Foundation holds are streamed online, so even if you can’t make it to The Shack in Wisconsin, you can gather with others all over the world to examine Aldo’s ideas. 

Buy 'A Sand County Almanac' on the Ecosystem Member shop at Bookshop.org.

This week’s guest is Jose Gonzalez, who is the founder of Latino Outdoors, co-founder of The Outdoorist Oath and the inaugural Equity Officer for the East Bay Regional Park District in California. 

Jose is an accomplished professional educator focused on Equity and Inclusion whose work brings together frameworks and practices in the environmental, outdoor and conservation fields. He uses a range of sources and mediums including illustration and memes to share his ideas and the science with others. 

If there is one theme for this episode, it’s about how we can challenge our existing mental models to rethink our relationship with nature. 

For some of us that might mean exploring other cultural worldviews where nature might exist as a familial relationship, rather than one of just resource and recreation. 

For others it might be simply considering the privilege of access and participation in spaces where our cultural makeup is the dominant one. 

And for all of us, it is a chance to embrace the example of biodiversity in nature and the more-than-human world as an example of the diversity in the outdoor community we want to create. 

Thanks so much to Jose for taking time to chat. His wisdom and humor is really appreciated in what can often be a tough and thorny subject area. Make sure to follow Jose on Instagram - link in our show notes - to get all of your new favorite nature-inspired puns and memes. Be on the look out for mentions of thriving meadows and a Thursday favorite - Olmos Friday. 

Links

Hey folks, we are back with another new episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast.

Our guest for this episode has a new book coming out October 22 published by Patagonia titled “Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis.”

The author is Jon Waterman, who in 1983 started working as a ranger in the Arctic and visited the region dozens of times over a 39 year period. After a 2021 trip with his son that Waterman wrote about for The New York Times, he decided to take a final extended 500 mile expedition by foot and packraft to the region to document the environmental and cultural changes of the climate crisis.

In addition to his latest book, Waterman has written several books and for publications such as Outside and Men’s Journaland has received frequent grants from National Geographic. His writing has earned him several awards including a Literary Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, three Best Adventure Book nods from the Banff Book Festival, a National Park Services Special Achievement Award and the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award.

This episode focuses in on ‘Into the Thaw’ and what Jon witnessed over the course of his nearly four decades worth of travel in the Arctic. We talk about how he came to be interested in the Arctic, the changes he saw in the Arctic due to climate change from his first trip in 1983 to his final trip in 2022, and his relationship with the Inupiat people.

There aren’t too many writers and adventurers out there like Jon these days, so it was a real treat to get to speak with him about ‘Into the Thaw’. Make sure to grab your copy on October 22 or you can pre-order it through the link in our show notes, which leads to a little virtual bookshop we set up of some of our favorite reads on Bookshop.org. If you prefer to go straight there, the URL is bookshop.org/shop/ecosystemmember.

Without further delay, here is the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast with Jon Waterman, author of the new book “Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis.”

Links

Preorder “Into the Thaw” 

Jon Waterman’s Website

Jon Waterman’s Instagram

Jon Waterman’s piece in The New York Times from his 2021 Arctic Trip with His Son

Hey folks, I am excited to share the latest episode of Ecosystem Member podcast. 

I am sure some of you have been listening since episode one with the legendary Patagonia director of philosophy Vincent Stanley. This week’s guest is an equally epic member of the Patagonia ecosystem - Beth Thoren, director of environmental action for EMEA. 

Beth has a track record of epic environmental roles, including as the chairperson of Sea Ranger Service - a social enterprise that trains unemployed youth to patrol marine protected areas and conduct research - the Deputy Chief Executive of ClientEarth, which uses the power of the law to protect life on Earth, and as Director of Fundraising and Communications at a non-profit near to my hear - the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 

I was really excited to get this opportunity to chat with Beth about her unique role inside the business, especially since Yvon Chouinard - Patagonia’s founder - declared two years ago now that ‘Earth is now our only shareholder.’ Practically that means that 100% of Patagonia’s profits go to nature, but what does that mean inside the business, especially in the realm of environmental action and activism? 

I know I say in the intro that each new episode is my favorite and I don’t think that’s a total lie. I really do appreciate the time of each and every guest and most importantly I think I learn something from each and every guest. I hope you do to. 

Here is the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast with Beth Thoren, Director of Environmental Action at Patagonia. 

Links

Patagonia's 'Blue Heart' Documentary

Fortune: "Don’t believe the podium talk at Davos–but capitalism is really starting to change" by Beth Thoren

Patagonia's 'Vjosa Forever' Film

Business Green: 'How Patagonia helped save Europe's last wild river - and navigated a path for others to follow'

Hello folks, welcome to the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast, which might also be my new favorite episode. 

Our guest is Obi Kaufmann, a writer, a poet, an artist, a backpacker, ecological philosopher and student of all things California ecology. Many of you listening are probably familiar with Obi through his incredible Field Atlas series of California, combining his beautiful watercolors of the more than human world of California alongside equally beautiful data-driven words. In addition to the Field Atlases, Obi has written two thinner works - The State of Water and the newly released The State of Fire, which you should definitely check out if you haven’t yet. 

In this conversation we explore what is natural and what is nature, the influence of E.O. Wilson’s book ‘Consilience’ on Obi’s work in bridging different disciplines and of course, his Field Atlas series and new book The State of Fire. 

Many guests I’ve had on are guests that I have learned something from and I want to share that with you the listener. And we learn a lot from Obi in this episode for sure. What I think is unique about this episode and selfishly why I asked Obi to be a guest is that we explored new ground, in the moment. 

My take away from that exploration is a new understanding of how we think about nature. We’ve discussed before how we are as much a part of nature as white crowned sparrows and Point Reyes National Seashore. However, we still often get hung up on identities like environmentalist and we misuse words like preservation and conservation because we still haven’t fully adopted this idea that we are nature. We donate and volunteer to protect these beautiful places and beautiful species for us, but when we truly bring on board an idea of conservation that includes us rather than being for us, we can shift our orientation because as Obi puts it - there is no daylight between the health of your ecosystem and your own health. It’s not just physical or aesthetic, it is spiritual, it is mental. And I think once we figure this out, we can truly inhabit our membership in the ecosystems. 

Links

Check Out Obi's Website

Follow Obi on Instagram

Buy 'The State of Fire'

Buy 'The State of Water'

Buy 'The California Field Atlas'

Buy 'The Forests of California'

Buy 'The Deserts of California'

Buy 'The Coasts of California'

The latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast is marine scientist turned environmental artist Ethan Estess.

I am sure many of you have seen Ethan’s art before at the Outerknown store in Marin, at the U.S. Open of Surfing, the Instagram of musician Jack Johnson or maybe it was the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Wherever you saw it, I am sure it stuck with you.

Ethan uses reclaimed materials like fishing nets and golf balls collected from coastal areas to make amazing art with a meaningful story to tell. His often immersive installations and super clean wave-inspired wall pieces are created to tell a story, in addition to beeing aesthetically pleasing.

In this episode, we talk about the responsibility Ethan feels being part of planet Earth and how art can be a disarming element to an often tense conversation. As is clear in the episode, Ethan is a really genuine dude who loves our oceans and wants to share that love with the world. I think you’ll really enjoy our chat.

A little bit of a bummer is that this episode - despite its epicness - is audio only. I actually recorded it before our previous video episode with Bodhi Patil and I made some mistakes in the setup to get optimal video, but we should be back with another full video episode shortly.

Links

Ethan’s Website

Ethan’s Instagram

Ethan and his piece ‘Fore the Waves’ on CNBC

Ethan chatting with Fellow Surfer and Scientist Cliff Kapono

To check out more Ecosystem Member podcast episodes or our newsletter, please visit ecosystemmember.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a five star review of your favorite podcast platform, it really helps boost the visibility of our podcast.

After an international move, the Ecosystem Member podcast is back and I am stoked to bring you a better than ever version.

For as many episodes as possible from now on, we’re going to bring you both an audio and video version of the podcast. And the podcast is now coming to you via Substack, where I’ll also be writing the occasional newsletter. So make sure to not only subscribe via your favorite podcast platform, but email as well at ecosystemember.com or through the Substack app.

Our guest for our inaugural video episode is ocean climate solutionist, Bodhi Patil.

The vast majority of you probably already know who Bodhi is, but for those of you who don’t, Bodhi is a a UN-recognized and award-winning Gen Z ocean climate solutionist dedicated to enhancing the interconnection between Ocean Health and Human Health, which makes him a perfect guest for Ecosystem Member, where we explore the relationship between humans and nature or the more-than-human world.

Bodhi works to increase ocean justice, policy, investment, and action with a global community of young ocean leaders as part of Ocean Uprise, which he founded. This work has earned him an audience with global leaders as a speaker at more than a dozen conferences. His ocean advocacy and consulting work has also helped to shape global marine policy, influence large planet-positive investment portfolios, and educate millions to protect the environment.

In this episode, we cover a lot of amazing work Bodhi has done around ocean justice, combating climate anxiety and as he says, making money moves for the ocean. It was a total privilege to have Bodhi on the podcast and we thank him for his time. Make sure to look him up and follow him across social media, we have URLs for all of his profiles below.

Links

Bodhi Patil on Instagram

Bodhi Patil on LinkedIn

Bodhi Patil on YouTube

Bodhi Patil’s Website

Bodhi Patil TEDx Talk

Ocean Uprise on Instagram