“The attempt to see through eyes that are not your own. To understand that your way of looking at the world is not the only one. To think what it might mean to love those that are not like you. To rejoice in the complexity of things.”
—Excerpt from Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald
Welcome to October’s Flourishing Monthly – an enlivening celebration of the power of music, the essentialness of community and the potency of inter-species relationships.
The podcast, articles, video and events you’ll find below illuminate how each of us can make a profound and unique contribution to the ecosystems we find ourselves within. They demonstrate how there’s no single solution to the multiple crises of our time, but rather many rich and diverse approaches. Each story is underpinned by love, care and attentiveness for fellow beings. We hope you enjoy them!
Re-enchanting ourselves with the natural world, with Sam Lee
Folksinger Sam Lee has journeyed throughout the British Isles collecting the Indigenous songs of the lands and absorbing the ancient wisdom and knowledge embedded within them.
In this episode of the We As Nature podcast, Sam shares his personal story of nature connection, and how he became a leader of pilgrimages to the Sussex countryside, where people gather in communion with the Nightingales for a collaboration of birdsong and music.
Sam’s poetic and nourishing spirit shines forth in his story, inspiring us with deep reverence for the natural world.
Hip-hop, urban gardening & permaculture are intertwining to create a force for change in Ian Solomon-Kawall’s London garden – the home of the May Project Gardens – where for the past 15 years he’s brought urban communities together to address poverty and disempowerment.
On Friday 14th October from 1 – 2pm BST, Ian will bring his infectious energy to our We As Nature online gathering, highlighting the moments that inspired his dedication to the health and vitality of all beings.
From caring for his Mother and reconnecting with Indigenous ancestry, to the strengths that dyslexia has brought him, Ian’s relentless passion and commitment to regenerating the environment and cultivating positive social change offer a source of inspiration for us all.
“We have to love and respect our mountains, rivers and forests. We must never forget that they are not ours to plunder. Only when we give them love and respect, will we get love and respect in return.”
—Naba Sipa Melo, Idu Mishmi Shaman
The Idu Mishmi are an Indigenous community inhabiting the Digang Valley—a biodiversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalayas, where, as traditional animists, the Idus’ sophisticated practices recognise and honour that while humans and animals may look different, they share a common culture.
The Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh in India supports an outstanding diversity of flora and fauna. Home to more than 550 species of birds, recent research has also registered a scientifically-new population of tigers that have survived largely due to the deep physical and cosmological relationship the Idus have with their environment.
You can listen and learn from the Idu Mishmi in the Listening Session highlights from the 2019 Flourishing Diversity Series, and discover more in this short case study.
This heartwarming article from the Guardian tells the story of 80-yr old retired salesman John Stimpson, from Cambridgeshire in the UK, who’s single-handedly built 30,000 boxes for migrating Swifts to nest in!
It’s estimated that in the summer of 2022 15,000 pairs of this endangered species were nested in boxes made by John.
If this has inspired you, here’s an article from the RSPB about how you can attach a swift box to your property, and instructions for making your own!
Photo © Alain Georgy courtesy of Swift Conservation
The essential link between the health of people and the health of environments and ecosystems is often treated as tangential to medical and public health research or treated as its own separate research field. How humans and human cultures shape and are shaped by our wider environment deserves focus within health research.
This free webinar will begin to explore why this integration is important, and what it could look like in practice.
Thursday 20th October from 15:00 – 16:30 BST
Jointly organised by Flourishing Diversity, the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health at the University of Exeter, and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities at the University of Oxford.
This webinar is part one of a four-part series entitled: ‘Physical, Mental, & Planetary Health: exploring the links between the environment and health’. More details coming soon!
Receive the Flourishing Monthly direct to your inbox every month, sign up here.