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PODCAST

Lifeworlds

Alexa Firmenich

Lifeworlds is an intimate dialogue with our planet’s ecologies and with those who are translators and bridges between the human and beyond-human.Our guests are farmers, lawyers, scientists, investors, indigenous scholars, artists, and many more — with them, we explore the mindsets, skills and actions required to forge deep connections with nature and to enter into close relationship with the lifeworlds of other beings.We begin to change the world when we change our ways of seeing and being

science nature

All Episodes

58:12

34. Black Mountains College: Rethinking Education for...

Lifeworlds ·

2026/02/02

Today’s episode explores a simple but urgent question: is our education system still fit for the world we’re entering? Climate disruption, AI, and uncertainty demand new forms of education fit for complexity and change.A rich lineage of alternative and experimental education has been evolving for decades, seeking to make learning more holistic, place-based, creative, and ecologically grounded. The focus of today’s conversation is one of those institutions: Black Mountains College in Wales. BMC is

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17:42

Poetry | Fruitful Darkness with Rilke

Lifeworlds ·

2025/10/26

This Lifeworlds episode is a devotional journey into the work of Rainer Maria Rilke, the lyrical German poet of thresholds and embracing transformations.Through readings of his most luminous poems and writings, we explore how Rilke guides us deliciously in reconciling suffering and turmoil with tremendous beauty. It’s an offering for anyone standing in the in-between, for those moving through sublimation, and longing for those secret, dazzling encounters with primal life forces. Rilke’s words are an

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1:17:20

33. Empatheatre: Social Sculpture & Feeling Across...

Lifeworlds ·

2025/10/16

In this episode, we explore the role of theatre and empathy in transforming worldviews. Dr. Dylan McGarry is one of the founders of Empatheatre, a South African theatre-making company and methodology that turns research and storytelling into living social sculpture. Their plays create what they call amphitheatres for empathy - spaces where art, ritual, and dialogue help people listen across difference, from mining conflicts to ocean governance to human-wildlife coexistence.Empatheatre’s productions

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1:14:45

32. Depth Psychology and Soul Initiation – with Bill...

Lifeworlds ·

2025/07/11

In this episode, I sit down with Bill Plotkin, founder of Animas Valley Institute. Over the past 40 years, Bill has developed intricate, nature-based models of human development and education that challenge dominant psychological frameworks and invite us into a maturation process rooted in wholeness, wildness, and the more-than-human world.We explore their three major maps of a person’s “soul-centric journey” and cover topics including:Why most modern humans remain developmentally stuck in early

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1:08:40

31. Holistic Landscape Restoration and Inspirational...

Lifeworlds ·

2025/07/02

Almost 40% of Earth’s land is degraded, meaning that the natural cycles that sustain biodiversity, water, food, and livelihoods are breaking down. This degradation is an ecological crisis, and, it also lies at the root of massive social breakdown, displacement, and conflict. And it’s accelerating.In this episode, I speak with Dutch ecologist and entrepreneur Willem Ferwerda, founder of Commonland, one of the leading global initiatives tackling land degradation via large-scale holistic landscape

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16:24

From Orbit to Intimacy | Beyond the Overview Effect

Lifeworlds ·

2025/06/10

What if the next shift in planetary consciousness didn’t come from looking back at Earth from space, but from listening deeply to the voices already here? In this thought piece I propose the “inworlding effect” as the overview effect of our time: one where developments in science, technology, law, and many other disciplines are revealing our entangled presence within a multispecies world.Medium Article LinkEpisode Website Link Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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1:05:29

30. Grief, Song and Ceremonies of Mourning

Lifeworlds ·

2025/05/20

Today we’re joined by artist, musician and communal grief ritual facilitator Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey to speak about the cultural forgetting of communal mourning, the sacred role of professional mourners, and the re-emergence of grief ceremonies as necessary spaces of remembrance, healing and repair. Ahlay brings her experience weaving song, body, and ritual into collective spaces where grief is given breath and movement, and we explore the history of grief practices across cultures, the political

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1:03:25

29. Carbon and the Grammar of Life

Lifeworlds ·

2025/04/22

In this episode we’re joined by the renowned environmentalist, activist and author Paul Hawken to explore the lifeworld of carbon and its role as a vital agent in the story of life. Paul speaks about the dysfunctions in Western language on how we speak about climate and nature, and why metaphors of war, control, and fixing actually perpetuate the very mindset that created the crises in the first place. We explore common traps we fall into, and how to recarbonize, to bring life back and restore

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1:19:08

28. Whale Dreaming & Ocean Songlines

Lifeworlds ·

2025/04/03

In this episode, we journey into the vibrational worlds of sound, ancestry, and deep listening with Whaia, a Ngāti Kahungunu woman of Māori descent and First Nations sonic weaver and multi-instrumentalist. Raised between the salt of the Pacific and the red dust of the Australian desert, Whaia’s voice carries ancient songlines, blending traditional Māori instruments, crystalline singing bowls, and her original mother tongue, the language of Te Rā, the Sun. We explore her work singing with whales,

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7:05

Poetry | The World Thinks in Poetry

Lifeworlds ·

2025/03/26

In a remote cabin in Vancouver Island in 2019, far away, I sat by the shore. I listened. I re-read poetry. I swam with jellyfish. I ate bright salmon berries and raw samphire. I gazed around and listened to the songs of the land. This piece of writing is a result of my days there. Full poem on Lifeworlds Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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1:12:33

The Ecology Of Health

Lifeworlds ·

2025/03/18

Where does your body end and the Earth begin? In this episode, we explore the real and poetic parallels between human health and planetary health, and how nature’s language moves in our bodies.Joining me is Dr. Mackenzie Hall, a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine, who helps us trace the Earth’s vital systems through the lens of humans as ecological systems.We ask:How could one imagine the Earth’s vital organs as reflected in human anatomy?How does the Earth balance and

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1:02:37

Soulfire Sessions II: with David McConville

Lifeworlds ·

2025/02/18

David McConville is a transdisciplinary artist and researcher who explores how technology shapes our perspectives of Earth—from local places to our cosmic context. Our conversation examines how worldviews influence infrastructure, using Los Angeles as a case study. We explore the paradigm of "living infrastructure," discussing how David's studio Spherical collaborates with communities and organizations to develop mapping and co-design tools. Even if you’re not in LA, this episode offers valuable

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1:10:19

From Your Host: Season’s Reflections and Q&A

Lifeworlds ·

2025/01/28

In this episode, I share some reflections on Season 2, before diving into our first listener-guided Q&A! You’ll be hearing from fellow listeners who enquired on topics like: Earth-centered governance De-extinction Alternative economies Language and stories about nature Which lifeworld I’d inhabit Green tech and individual agencyWhat is the purpose of humans?Thank you to everyone who sent in these thought-provoking questions.Episode WebsiteLifeworlds resource pageFaith in NatureEarth Law

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1:11:07

26. Speculative Designs & Embodied Imaginations

Lifeworlds ·

2024/12/17

What if you could inhabit the future? In this episode, we dive into the work of Superflux, the visionary design studio turning imagination into tangible worlds. From multispecies banquets and rewilded ecological sanctuaries to mythic friezes that re-enchant cityscapes, co-founder Anab Jain shares how embodied experiences can transform how we see — and shape — the world. Join us as we explore speculative design, active hope, and the power of imagination to move us beyond ecological breakdown and into

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14:28

Practice | Body Compass

Lifeworlds ·

2024/10/02

This is my take on ancient and intuitive sensory experience that taps into the innate intelligence of the human body, a blend of body compass, Zen Beginner's Mind, a shamanic medicine walk and Goethean science. The practice asks you to find a place in the natural landscape where you could walk undisturbed for some time, and have an encounter with an element of nature. A true act of lifeworld-ing! I guide you through a short introduction and the instructions. Attached on the website page is a link to

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2:22

Share Your Questions for Season 3

Lifeworlds ·

2024/10/01

Calling all Lifeworlds listeners! We're finally doing our first-ever Q&A episode, and we want you to be part of it. Over the past two years, we've been secretly hoarding all the brilliant questions and thoughts you've sent our way, and now it's time to get them out of the inbox and into the limelight. Got something you’re wanting to ask our host, Alexa Firmenich? Now’s your chance to share whatever’s on your mind. Whether it's a burning question, a cheeky comment, or a heartfelt story, we want

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1:03:45

25. The Connected Wild: Earth’s Internet of Animals

Lifeworlds ·

2024/09/24

Throughout history, many cultures have observed and interpreted animal behavior to predict events and read the landscapes around them. The multispecies lives of our planet weave an astonishing network of information across the face of the globe, a web of knowledge compromised of thousands of creatures communicating with each other, across species, and with their environments. How we listen in on this collective intelligence? Today’s guest Martin Wikelski is director of the Max Planck Institute of

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55:30

24. Guardians of the Earth: The Rise of Ecocide Law

Lifeworlds ·

2024/08/27

Could the destruction of nature become considered as serious a crime as that of genocide? How does the structure of law shape a civilisation’s norms, behaviors and overarching story?Today we’ll be discussing international Ecocide law, a massively growing movement that wants to embed the notion of ‘ecocide’ crime at the highest levels of law - at the International Criminal Court in The Hague - and create a powerful deterrent for the further damage to ecosystems and people globally. Our guest is Pella

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1:08:52

23. Wild Avatars: Nature in Virtual Reality

Lifeworlds ·

2024/08/07

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to breathe yourself into your own body? To flow with the out-breath of trees into your own fractaling lungs, to dance ribbonlike into an ancient ceiba’s vasculature, to stitch an ecosystem together as a mycelium highways sparkling with energy? In this episode we explore the transformational potential of virtual reality through the work of Marshmallow Laser Feast, an artist collective that has emerged as a leading VR creators in the last decade.They

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1:25:33

22. Zen Buddhism and the Soul of Lifeworlding

Lifeworlds ·

2024/06/04

Today’s episode brings us into the heart and philosophy of Zen Buddhism, as practiced by the Plum Village monastic community that was founded in 1982 by the Vietnamese peace activist, monk, poet, and teacher Thich Nhat Hahn. Today it has grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery, with over 200 resident monks and nuns, and known as one of the most actively engaged Buddhist communities offering insight on the modern world, and on the climate and ecological crises. We’ve spoken on the show about

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