Campfire Podcast

Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Maria Westerberg | The Involuntary Activist Maria Westerberg never set out to become an activist. She became one because she saw forests disappearing — places she loved, places that were part of her home and her sense of belonging. Their destruction felt like a physical loss. Maria is an artist, a twig poet, and a forest activist. In this conversation, we begin with her childhood and her search for a way of living that felt true to her. We talk about forests as places of refuge and freedom, the curious figures she creates from twigs, and the difficulty of finding our own way in a world full of expectations about who we should be. We also talk about what happened when the forest around Maria and her husband Johannes was devastated by drought and bark beetles. Rather than simply clearing the damaged land and starting over, they began an experiment in ecological restoration — moving thousands of trees from places where they would otherwise be removed, restoring wetlands, and allowing a more diverse forest to emerge. Along the way, we explore industrial forestry, biodiversity, the value of working slowly, and what it means to act from love rather than opposition. Maria reflects on how working with the land has given her something that years of campaigning against destructive forestry never quite could: a tangible sense of possibility. Perhaps our relationship with the living world can be about more than protecting what remains. Perhaps we can also learn to repair what has been damaged, and discover a different role for ourselves among the other creatures with whom we share this Earth. This is the first episode in a new series of the Campfire Podcast — conversations with people finding their own ways towards a more alive, regenerative and meaningful world. IN THIS EPISODE • Maria’s relationship with the forest, from childhood to the present • Becoming an involuntary activist • Twig art, poetry, freedom and the value of doing things slowly • Industrial forestry, clear-cutting and the loss of biodiversity • What bark beetles can teach us about forests and ecological resilience • Restoring a damaged forest by moving thousands of trees • Wetlands, rewilding and working with the land • Vandana Shiva’s ideas about acting from what we love • Finding hope through practical acts of regeneration • Rethinking human work and our place in the living world LINKS Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Discover Maria and Johannes’s work at Romantics Reserve: https://www.romanticsreserve.com/ Watch Kinfolk , featuring Maria Westerberg and Vandana Shiva: https://www.campfire-stories.org/kinfolk Watch A Tale from the Woods , my first film with Maria: https://www.campfire-stories.org/a-tale-from-the-woods-film Listen to Vandana Shiva on Cultivating Fearlessness: https://www.campfire-stories.org/vandana-shiva-on-cultivating-fearlessness Watch the films at Campfire Stories: https://www.campfire-stories.org/ CREDITS Music: Arvid Rask Sound mix: Boris Laible The Campfire Podcast is hosted by documentary filmmaker Mattias Olsson and is part of Campfire Stories, an independent film platform exploring the roots of our ecological and social troubles — and the beginnings of a different direction. Films and conversations are freely available. Campfire Stories is sustained by people who believe this work matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Vandana Shiva | On Cultivating Fearlessness How do we find the courage to stand up for what we believe in, even when the forces we face seem overwhelming? And how do we keep working towards a different world without falling into despair? Dr. Vandana Shiva has spent decades challenging powerful corporations and defending farmers’ rights, seed freedom and the living diversity of the Earth. A physicist by training, author of more than 30 books, and founder of Navdanya, an organisation working to protect seed diversity and promote ecological agriculture, Dr. Shiva is a leading voice in the global movement for food sovereignty and regenerative farming. We begin with the Chipko movement, the non-violent forest resistance movement in the Indian Himalayas, where villagers, particularly women, stood between loggers and the trees they depended on. For Shiva, it offered a profound lesson: when we turn towards what we love, rather than simply fighting what we oppose, we find another source of strength. From there, we explore industrial forestry, monocultures, genetically modified crops, seed patents and industrial food systems. Shiva challenges the idea that food production can be separated from the living systems that sustain it, and reflects on the importance of biodiversity, healthy soil, small-scale farming and generations of farmers’ knowledge. We also venture into the territory where ecology meets philosophy. What can quantum physics teach us about the interconnectedness of life? What might we gain by moving away from a culture of consumption towards one in which we participate more directly in creating the conditions for life to flourish? At the heart of the conversation is fearlessness. Shiva speaks about trusting the truth we stand for, drawing strength from the wider community of life, and refusing to let the scale of the challenges before us become a reason for inaction. Hope, she suggests, is something we can cultivate — just as we can cultivate fear or love. We don't have to carry the whole world on our shoulders. We can begin with the next step, taken in service of the Earth and the communities we belong to. IN THIS EPISODE • The Chipko movement and non-violent resistance • Forests, biodiversity, community and democracy • Industrial forestry and monocultures • GMOs, seed patents and farmers’ freedom to save seeds • Real food, soil health and regenerative agriculture • Biodynamic farming and living systems • Quantum physics and interconnectedness • Cultivating fearlessness in the face of ecological and social crises • Moving from consumption towards a regenerative culture LINKS Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Learn about the Youth Initiative Program (YIP), which facilitated this conversation: https://yip.se/ Watch On Biodynamic Farming , the film referenced in the episode: https://www.campfire-stories.org/on-biodynamic-farming Explore the films at Campfire Stories: https://www.campfire-stories.org/ The Campfire Podcast is part of Campfire Stories, an independent film platform exploring the roots of our ecological and social troubles — and the beginnings of a different direction. Films and conversations are freely available. Campfire Stories is sustained by people who believe this work matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Stephen Jenkinson | From the Ruins of a Greenhouse What does it mean to belong to a place and a culture? How do we live with grief and death in a society that often tries to keep both at a distance? And what do we owe the generations who come after us? In the second part of this special live conversation, recorded in Sweden, I continue my discussion with Stephen Jenkinson – author, farmer, culture activist and creator of the Orphan Wisdom School. Drawing on his work with dying people and their families, his apprenticeship with a master storyteller, and his understanding of Indigenous teachings, Stephen explores what modern culture has lost sight of – and what it might take to recover. We begin with the idea of orphanhood. Stephen reflects on the history of European settlement in North America and the difficulty of finding belonging when a culture has lost its connection to ancestry and place. He explains the meaning of the Orphan Wisdom School and offers a profound account of dodem poles: a way of understanding ancestry that recognises the animals and other forms of life that made human existence possible. From there, we turn to longing, belonging and the stories that shape our lives. Stephen speaks about his experience of learning from a master storyteller, and about how that apprenticeship changed his understanding of responsibility and adulthood. The conversation also explores what he calls a death-phobic culture. Drawing on his years in palliative care, Stephen questions a society that treats dying as the opposite of living. What might it mean to live in a culture where death is understood as part of life, rather than something to be hidden away? In this final part of our conversation, we consider young people, grief and the future they are inheriting. Stephen challenges easy promises of hope and asks what it means to become worthy ancestors – people whose actions can offer something meaningful to those who come after us. IN THIS EPISODE • The Orphan Wisdom School and the search for belonging • European settlement, ancestry and cultural homelessness • Dodem poles and our dependence on the more-than-human world • Longing for a different way of living • Storytelling, adulthood and the practice of grief • Palliative care and the problem of a death-phobic culture • The difference between survival and a life well lived • Young people, the future and the responsibilities of elders • Hope, difficult times and becoming worthy ancestors LINKS Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Learn about Stephen Jenkinson and the Orphan Wisdom School: https://orphanwisdom.com/ Explore the films at Campfire Stories: https://www.campfire-stories.org/ The Campfire Podcast is part of Campfire Stories, an independent film platform exploring the roots of our ecological and social troubles – and the beginnings of a different direction. Films and conversations are freely available. Campfire Stories is sustained by people who believe this work matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Stephen Jenkinson | From the Ruins of a Greenhouse What does it mean to live in a world that is alive, rather than treating the land and its creatures as resources for human use? And what might a different kind of culture ask of us? In this special live edition of the Campfire Podcast, recorded in Sweden at a gathering called From the Ruins of a Greenhouse , I meet Stephen Jenkinson – author, farmer, culture activist and creator of the Orphan Wisdom School. Known for his work on grief, dying and elderhood, Stephen brings an unusual perspective to some of the assumptions underpinning modern life. We begin with farming and the relationship between people and land. Stephen describes learning to pay attention to the history of a place, resisting the urge to make everything productive, and leaving part of his farm untouched by human intervention. For him, farming involves as much watching and listening as doing. From there, we explore what he calls the poverties of our time. Stephen challenges globalisation and the idea that human differences must be overcome, and speaks about village-mindedness as a way of understanding how we live together. We discuss animism – the recognition that the world around us is fundamentally alive – and what changes when humans stop imagining themselves as the centre of existence. The conversation also turns to misanthropy, historical responsibility and the difference between conscience and self-hatred. How do we acknowledge the harm embedded in our cultures without losing sight of what remains possible in human life? Throughout, Stephen asks us to reconsider our place among other species and the responsibilities that come with being part of a living world. IN THIS EPISODE • Farming as listening to the land, not simply producing from it • Globalisation and the loss of meaningful difference • Village-mindedness and the challenges of living together • Animism and the aliveness of the more-than-human world • Human dependence on other species • Misanthropy, conscience and historical responsibility • Grief, love and finding a meaningful role in troubled times LINKS Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Learn about Stephen Jenkinson and the Orphan Wisdom School: https://orphanwisdom.com/ Explore the films at Campfire Stories: https://www.campfire-stories.org/ The Campfire Podcast is part of Campfire Stories, an independent film platform exploring the roots of our ecological and social troubles – and the beginnings of a different direction. Films and conversations are freely available. Campfire Stories is sustained by people who believe this work matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Dougald Hine | On Regrowing a Living Culture What happens when the stories that have shaped our lives no longer make sense? And how do we find ways to live together when the world we took for granted is beginning to unravel? Dougald Hine is a writer, speaker and one of the founders of the Dark Mountain Project, a cultural movement exploring how we make sense of ecological and social breakdown through art, storytelling and a deeper relationship with the living world. He and his partner, Anna, are also building A School Called Home – a gathering place and learning community in rural Sweden dedicated to what Dougald calls regrowing a living culture. We meet in an old shoe shop that Dougald and Anna are turning into their home and a small school. Around the kitchen table, they are creating a space for conversations, shared meals and learning that can help people recover ways of living together that have been pushed aside by modern industrial society. Our conversation begins with the Dark Mountain Project and its challenge to the stories of endless progress that underpin modern civilisation. Dougald reflects on the limits of conventional environmental activism, the importance of acknowledging fear and despair, and the role of artists and storytellers in helping us face the times we live in. We also explore the relationship between Dark Mountain and the Transition movement, and the possibilities that emerge when we make room for uncertainty rather than rushing towards another ready-made story. From there, we turn to climate change and its deeper cultural roots. What if ecological breakdown is not simply a technical problem to solve, but a consequence of how we have learned to see and treat the world? Dougald considers the possibilities for action between individual lifestyle changes and mass political movements, pointing towards the importance of local communities, shared responsibility and small spaces where we can practise being human together. We also talk about grief, the living world and a different kind of hope – one that can emerge after we have stopped pretending to know how the story will end. In closing, Dougald invites us to think beyond our own lifetimes and consider how we might contribute to a world that will continue long after we are gone. IN THIS EPISODE • The Dark Mountain Project and its challenge to stories of progress • The Transition movement, art and cultural change • A School Called Home: building a learning community in rural Sweden • Regrowing a living culture beyond the market and the state • Climate change as a symptom of a deeper cultural crisis • Local action, community resilience and practising being human together • Grief, despair and a hope that remains open to surprise • Reconnecting with the living world • Old-growth forests, future generations and our place in a story beyond our lifetimes LINKS Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Explore the Dark Mountain Project: https://dark-mountain.net/ Read more about Dougald Hine's A School Called Home Explore the Transition movement: https://transitionnetwork.org/ The song in this episode is called Till Skogen , by the band Kolonien Explore the films at Campfire Stories: https://www.campfire-stories.org/ The Campfire Podcast is part of Campfire Stories, an independent film platform exploring the roots of our ecological and social troubles – and the beginnings of a different direction. Films and conversations are freely available. Campfire Stories is sustained by people who believe this work matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen | Reawakening Nordic Animism What changes when we stop seeing the world as a collection of lifeless resources and begin relating to it as something alive? Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen is a Danish historian of religion whose work explores Nordic animism, shamanism and the ways traditional worldviews might help us rethink our relationship with the living world. In this conversation, we explore animism as a way of relating to the world – one that recognises the possibility of respectful relationships with other-than-human persons, from lakes and mountains to animals and the wider landscape. Rune describes how his academic work, including research into Afro-Brazilian religions, led him to look at Nordic cultural traditions with fresh eyes. We talk about modernity and its separation of human meaning from a supposedly lifeless external world. Could this way of thinking be part of the deeper cultural crisis behind ecological destruction? And what might it mean to develop new stories and mythologies that help us recover a sense of kinship with the world around us? Rune takes us into the Norse myth of Ragnarök, exploring its possible connections to historical climate disruption and the breakdown of relationships between people and the world they inhabit. We also discuss raven symbolism, folklore, seasonal traditions and the animistic traces that may still be present in contemporary Nordic culture. Towards the end, we consider how people can reconnect with the traditions of the places where they live, while respecting the distinct histories and political struggles of Indigenous peoples. Rune suggests that tradition need not mean preserving something unchanged. It can be a living, evolving process through which we renew our relationships with land, culture and one another. IN THIS EPISODE • What is animism, and how might it change our relationship with the world? • Modernity, the story of separation and the idea of a lifeless Earth • Nordic shamanism, traditional knowledge and cultural renewal • Norse mythology, Ragnarök and the climate crisis • The raven as a symbol of kinship between humans and nature • The animistic roots of Yule and Scandinavian seasonal traditions • Indigenous knowledge, cultural appropriation and reconnecting with place • How we might re-traditionalise ourselves in a changing world LINKS Support the Campfire Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/mattiasolsson Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NordicAnimism The music in this episode comes from Daniel Reid . Explore the films at Campfire Stories: https://www.campfire-stories.org/ The Campfire Podcast is part of Campfire Stories, an independent film platform exploring the roots of our ecological and social troubles – and the beginnings of a different direction. Films and conversations are freely available. Campfire Stories is sustained by people who believe this work matters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With author, poet and grief counsellor Stephen Jenkinson , this episode revolves around the topics of Grief, Soil and the Origins of an Orphaned Culture – our culture. Our elder-bereft, drunk-on-efficiency, consumerist, clearcutting-of-forests, fracking-of-mountains, bottom-trawling-of-the-oceans culture. The unfortunate inheritance of Our Day. Some of the questions in this conversation are inspired from the interviewer’s recent reading of the book “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn . Others come from the pain of being a human in the time of the Sixth Mass Extinction. Please visit Campfire Stories for our films and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast episode features author, poet and grief counsellor Stephen Jenkinson , and it revolves around the topics of Grief, Soil and the Origins of an Orphaned Culture – our culture. Our elder-bereft, drunk-on-efficiency, consumerist, clearcutting-of-forests, fracking-of-mountains, bottom-trawling-of-the-oceans culture. The unfortunate inheritance of Our Day. Some of the questions in this conversation are inspired from the interviewer’s recent reading of the book “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn . Others come from the pain of being a human in the time of the Sixth Mass Extinction. Please visit Campfire Stories for our films and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brigid LeFevre runs the community supported agriculture operation ”Förädlad” (roughly ”Enhanced”) in Järna, Sweden. It’s a biodynamic vegetable garden that focuses on fermenting the harvest in order to enrich it with lactic acid bacteria and to make it keep for a long time. Brigid grew up in an anthroposophically inspired Camphill community in Northern Ireland where volunteers lived and worked together with people with special needs. Growing up in a place where food production was separated from the economic market has had a big impact on Brigid’s philosophy as a farmer. And really, come to think about it, why should the global ups and downs of the economy determine the operating practices of local farms? In Brigid’s garden it doesn’t. She grows and ferments vegetables for the members, who subscribe to her jars of delicious sauerkraut, kimchi and all sorts of lacto fermented pickles all year round. It’s a local, circular economy, which underpins an alive garden, buzzing and chirping, where the goal isn’t to turn a profit, but rather to make the soil more alive with the passing of each season. This podcast brought to you by the film platform Campfire Stories – Inspiring Change through Film . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kristina Turner is the author of the book "Natural Birth – A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Breastfeeding". She describes herself as a birth activist, and was one of the leaders during the occupation of Sweden's last midwife-led maternity ward when it was being shut down in 2016. This episode is brought to you by the film platform Campfire Stories. To watch our documentaries visit: https://campfire-stories.org/ For more on Kristina Turner, check out www.braidoorganics.com or www.fodalugnt.se For more on Stephen Jenkinson, who read that poem in the beginning, visit: https://orphanwisdom.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A conversation with author and philosopher Charles Eisenstein about negative interest, universal basic income, nature’s rights and a reimagined school system. And of course about the Corona virus. This show is brought to you by the film platform Campfire Stories . The music in this episode is As if we remember by Ben Bushill . There's a film at Campfire Stories about Ben Bushill titled One Poem to Catch it All . And there's one about Charles Eisenstein titled An Unlearning . Enjoy! Love from your host Mattias Olsson . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The entry point for this conversation is the corona pandemic. But we'll also get to some other pretty interesting topics, including some phenomenon that made books fall out of the shelves in my living room recently. Plus we'll treat you to one of the tracks from Stephen Jenkinson's and Gregory Hoskins' album Dark Roads. This podcast brought to you by the film platform Campfire Stories . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Jenkinson interviewed at his farm in Canada on topics like burial practices, the meat industry and touring with Brother Blue. We’ll also hear Stephen describe some of his brushes with death, and what they’ve done to his relationship with life. This show is brought to you ad-free by the film platform Campfire Stories . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s the role of filmmakers in times of ecological and social collapse? Can they in fact contribute to positive change through inspirational and solutions-focused films? Happen Films is a production company based in New Zealand that produces films on topics like permaculture, regenerative farming and waste-free living. Check out their work at https://happenfilms.com/ The films of Campfire Stories are available at https://campfire-stories.org/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rob Hopkins of the Transition Movement in Totnes, UK. On how transitioning is done there and why it matters, both globally and locally. Interview by Mattias Olsson. This podcast is brought to you by the film platform Campfire Stories . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charles Eisenstein is an author, philosopher and speaker. In his book "The Ascent of Humanity" he seeks to answer the question "How did we end up here – at the tipping point between an alive Earth, and a dead one?". His search for answers goes all the way to the root of the human existence, as he dissects the story which underwrites that which we call "normal". The myth of our time, if you will. This interview was conducted by Mattias Olsson in Järna, Sweden, following Charles' visit to the 10 year anniversary of the Youth Initiative Program. This podcast is brought to you by the film platform Campfire Stories . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen is an activist, teacher, author and farmer. He has a master’s degree in theology from Harvard University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Toronto. He worked for many years in what he refers to as the “death trade” (palliative care) at a hospital in Canada, and has guided hundreds, maybe thousands of people through their dying times. When I heard Stephen was coming to Europe with his “Nights of Grief and Mystery” tour – a mix of storytelling and concert – I immediately booked a ticket. The day after attending the show in Portsmouth on the southern coast of England, I was fortunate enough to get the chance to interview him. This podcast is brought to you by the film platform Campfire Stories . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.