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Lifeworlds

Lifeworlds

By: Alexa Firmenich
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About this listen

A podcast series that explores how to orient your life around nature. We discover the mindsets, skills and actions that are required to partner wisely with other forms of life and engage in acts of brilliant restoration.

Join me on this intimate journey into the eyes and minds of other species; learn how our guests are living in deep relationship with ecologies; be electrified by expanding your field of reality, and let these stories spark your reconnection to nature’s multiverse.

By restoring our relationship with nature, and learning what it is to be nature, we begin to restore ourselves.

www.lifeworld.earth

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Alexa Firmenich
Biological Sciences Philosophy Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 31. Holistic Landscape Restoration and Inspirational Returns – with Willem Ferwerda from Commonland
    Jul 2 2025

    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 restoration. Their work spans over 20 countries, with projects restoring millions of hectares from South Africa to Spain, Australia to the Netherlands. We get into their unique 4 Returns Framework - a powerful, intuitive model that integrates ecological, social, financial, and inspirational/spiritual returns.


    We talk about:

    • Communities building long-term visions together across sectors
    • The importance of meeting different audiences where they are
    • The role of storytelling, spirituality, and local leadership
    • How restoring land helps restore meaning and purpose
    • And how, ultimately, all this work is about regenerating life


    Episode Website Link


    Show links:

    • The 4 Returns Framework in Practice
    • 4 Returns Framework Publication
    • 4 Returns Framework for Landscape Restoration
    • 4 Returns Diagnostic Tool
    • The Meaning of Laudato Si for a Landscape Ethic
    • Towards financing large-scale holistic landscape restoration in Europe
    • The Trillion-Dollar Promise Of A Landscape Restoration Industry, Forbes
    • We must tackle global risks in an integrated way – here’s how
    • How the Ecosystem Approach supports “Cooperation in a Fragmented World"
    • Albania landscape project

    Look out for meditations, poems and readings in between episodes.

    Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie Kidd

    Photo Credit: Commonland

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • From Orbit to Intimacy | Beyond the Overview Effect
    Jun 10 2025

    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 Link

    Episode Website Link

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    16 mins
  • 30. Grief, Song and Ceremonies of Mourning - with Alexandra “ahlay” Blakey
    May 20 2025
    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 power of public mourning, and how grief can soften the heart and stitch community back together. We explore what to expect in a communal grief ceremony, and ahlay shares the story behind her 200-voice album WAILS: Songs for Grief, inspired by whales, ancestral sorrow, and Francis Weller’s work. Within the episode are woven tracks of her haunting songs, so tune up your headphones, and sink in.Episode Website LinkShow Links:Healing at the Roots: ahlay’s websiteSong: Carry this AllThe Sacred Role of Eastern European Professional MournersSobonfu SomeWAILS: Songs For GriefOne Body Song Circle LiveFrancis WellerBook: Dangerous VoicesBook: Caliban and the WitchMartin PrechtelMyth of Lindworm: Martin ShawBandcampYoutube ChannelSpotifySoundcloudInstagramLook out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock & Ellie KiddPhoto Credit: Cover image (Earth Altering) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 5 mins
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