Episodes

  • A River Reborn: Eco-Cultural Revitalization on the Klamath – Ben Goldfarb

    A River Reborn: Eco-Cultural Revitalization on the Klamath – Ben Goldfarb
    Jan 6 2026
    Journalist Ben Goldfarb follows the winding course of the Klamath River, from Oregon’s high desert plateaus to the Pacific Ocean in Northern California, as its four most obstructive dams are dismantled under a restoration plan reopening hundreds of miles of salmon spawning habitat. Ben chronicles how the prolonged absence of salmon has reshaped this waterway, its surrounding redwood forests and canyons, and the Yurok, Karuk, Hoopa, and Shasta tribes for whom this creature is not only sustenance, but sacred kin. Tracing the monumental effort to restore the vital presence of salmon, Ben witnesses how the restitching of relationships between land, fish, and humans is nourishing this ecosystem anew. Read the essay, featuring a postscript from Ben as he returns to the Klamath Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Photo by Kiliii Yüyan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
  • Be Earth Now – Rainer Maria Rilke recited by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows

    Be Earth Now – Rainer Maria Rilke recited by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows
    Dec 16 2025
    Earlier this year, the remarkable eco-philosopher Joanna Macy passed away at age ninety-six. Among her many gifts, she was a seminal translator of the great twentieth-century poet Rainer Maria Rilke. In our final episode of the year, we return to a selection of translations of Rilke from The Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, by Joanna and award-winning poet Anita Barrows, that speak to the beauty and mystery present in worlds both seen and unseen, the unknowability of the Divine, and the union of nature and the transcendent. We share them this holiday period in the hope they nourish heart and spirit, inviting reflection on all that is given and all that fades away. Cover artwork by Claire Collette. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
  • Alive in the Skin of a River’s Flow – Susan Murphy Roshi

    Alive in the Skin of a River’s Flow – Susan Murphy Roshi
    Dec 9 2025
    In this week’s story, Australian writer and Zen roshi Susan Murphy explores how haiku’s reflections of the seasons are being disrupted by the climate crisis. How will this poetic form bear witness to the ferocity of change reshaping the seasons? Woven with verses from Bashō, Buson, Issa, and fellow Volume 6 contributor Ron C. Moss, this story contemplates whether haiku may, in fact, be a vessel for holding the paradox of the seasons in this moment: allowing us to both mourn and love a rapidly evolving Earth. Read the essay. Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Image: Asako Narahashi, Kawaguchiko #5, 2003 © Asako Narahashi / Courtesy of Ibasho Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • The Substrate of Mystery: Mycelial Networks, Mutualism, and Symbiosis – A Conversation with Merlin Sheldrake

    The Substrate of Mystery: Mycelial Networks, Mutualism, and Symbiosis – A Conversation with Merlin Sheldrake
    Dec 2 2025
    Fungi are veteran survivors of ecological disruption, and they demonstrate a radically different approach to crisis and decision-making than we do. While we tend to work with binaries and control when navigating uncertainty, mycelium works from a place of relationality. In this conversation, acclaimed mycologist and author Merlin Sheldrake explores what we can learn from mycelial networks about building flexible ecological, social, or structural systems that are rooted in mutuality and exchange. Tracing the ways we can embrace a mycelial way of thinking, he invites us to dwell within the “substrate of mystery” embodied by fungi: a liminal space where new ways of being can emerge. Read the transcript. Photo by Tomas Munita. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
  • Practical Reverence – A Conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer

    Practical Reverence – A Conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer
    Nov 25 2025
    This Thanksgiving holiday, we return to a conversation with Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, where she talks about her new book The Serviceberry, which emerged from an essay she wrote for us about the potential of a gift economy to recognize the sacred nature of the Earth. Robin introduces a set of ethical and pragmatic principles, known as “the Honorable Harvest,” that orients us to take only what we need, share abundance, and offer gratitude for what is selflessly given to us; and leads us towards embodying a simple “practical reverence” for the Earth. Read the transcript. Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Photo courtesy of MacArthur Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr
  • Seasons: A Conversation at the Tate Modern – with Melanie Challenger, Sam Lee, Dara McAnulty, Kerri ní Dochartaigh and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

    Seasons: A Conversation at the Tate Modern – with Melanie Challenger, Sam Lee, Dara McAnulty, Kerri ní Dochartaigh and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
    Nov 18 2025
    In November, we celebrated the launch of our latest print edition, Seasons, at the Tate Modern in London. Recorded live at the event, this conversation featuring four Volume 6 contributors, delves into each of their stories and the themes of requiem, invitation, and celebration at the heart of their seasonal experiences. From honoring the fragility of spring birdsong, to finding an expanded sense of self through seasonal “noticelings,” this wide-ranging and lively exchange explores the myriad ways of remembering our relationship with the seasons. Read the transcript. Discover our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 16 mins
  • Earth as Koan, Earth as Self – A Conversation with Susan Murphy Roshi

    Earth as Koan, Earth as Self – A Conversation with Susan Murphy Roshi
    Nov 11 2025
    In this conversation from our archive, Australian writer and Zen roshi Susan Murphy immerses us in the ancient tradition of koan and the power of the “not-knowing mind” to open a treasury of resources for meeting the climate crisis. Sharing several koans from Zen masters that push at the boundaries of our consciousness, she speaks to the way they can draw us deeper into kinship and reminds us that the Earth Herself is a koan waiting to be known. Read the transcript. Photo by Warren Summers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 6 mins
  • On Time, Mystery, and Kinship – A Conversation with Jane Hirshfield

    On Time, Mystery, and Kinship – A Conversation with Jane Hirshfield
    Nov 4 2025
    We return to one of our most in-depth interviews this week: a conversation with poet Jane Hirshfield, who has contributed a new poem to our latest print edition, Volume 6: Seasons. Reciting several poems from her prolific body of work, including Time Thinks of Time, she speaks about how her Zen practice has led her to embrace the largeness of time’s mystery. She shares how this inner “spaciousness,” present in many of her poems, can uncover intimacy with both the ordinary and the divine. Read the transcript. Read Jane’s poem “Time Thinks of Time.” Photo by Curt Richter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 42 mins