Black Earth Podcast

In Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In this episode, we meet the amazing Etta Madete. Etta is an architect, advocate and real estate developer from Kenya. As the founder of Zima Homes, her passion and life’s work is building affordable, inclusive and sustainable housing for communities who need it the most.

In our conversation, we unpack what affordable and sustainable housing means, why spatial justice is important and how we can design urban spaces for all living beings to thrive.

Timestamps

Welcome - 0:00

Etta’s relationship with nature - 02:10

Etta describes her four principles of well-living - Earth, Fire, Water, Air - 06:48

Etta’s vision for affordable and sustainable housing and why it matters - 16:30

Why affordable and sustainable includes the welfare of nature - 31:53

Spatial justice and what that looks like in Africa - 47:00

How to support Etta and her work - 58:30

How to support Black Earth Podcast - 01:00:30

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Etta’s Four Principles of Well-living - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyrtXQEOoR4

How to support and connect with Etta

• Etta’s website and writings: http://ettagold.weebly.com/
• Etta’s business, Zima Homes - https://zimahomes.co.ke/

How to support and connect with Black Earth Podcast

• Subscribe to our podcast and leave a review wherever you listen to your favourite podcast
• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast.
• For partnership and media features, email us at [email protected]

In Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In this episode, we meet Dr Melissa Sikosana. She is a biomaterials scientist who is passionate about connecting art, science and design to solve society’s problems.

Dr Melissa speaks with us about an exciting discipline called biomimicry. Biomimicry is the art and science of learning how nature creates life in order to redesign a more regenerative and resilient world.

Dr Melissa shares with us what biomimicry is and how we can apply it to change the world around us and our relationship with nature.

Get ready for an inspiring episode that will leave you in awe of nature.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introductions

4:37 - Melissa’s relationship with nature

13:08 - How Melissa came across biomimicry

16:52 - What is biomimicry?

21:35 - The three seeds (principles) of biomimicry

27:23 - An example of how to apply biomimicry to design something

34:50 - Biomimicry is practiced across cultures all around the world

44:58 - Decolonising knowledge

51:40 - Using biomimicry to redesign our social and political institutions

01:02:00 - Affordable or free resources for you to learn more about biomimicry

01:02:43 - Marion’s experience with eco-grief and how biomimicry is helping her

01:06:30 - How to support Melissa and Melissa’s work

Resources mentioned in the episode

• Website: Biomimicry Institute
• Website: AskNature.org
• Book: Teeming by Tamsin Woolley-Barker

How you can support Black Earth Podcast:

• Subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to your favourite podcast and leave a review!
• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast
• For partnership opportunities email us at [email protected]

How you can support Melissa

• For collaboration opportunities contact Melissa via LinkedIn: Melissa Sikosana

In Season 3 of Black Earth Podcast, we are meeting visionary black women who are creating innovations inspired by nature.

In today’s episode, we meet Bryony Ella. Bryony is an inspiring artist-researcher who creates immersive and engaging public artworks that help us reimagine our relationship with nature.

In this episode, Bryony talks to us about her incredible artistic practice and how an emerging idea called embodied ecology can help us reconnect with nature and rediscover ourselves as nature.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction

02:03 - Bryony’s relationship with nature

08:09 - How Bryony’s relationship with nature shapes her practice as an artist

17:59 - Understanding embodied ecology

26:10 - The importance of trusting your experiences as a guide for creating and learning

27:30 - How embodied ecology helps us think about the world differently

33:10 - Discussing Bryony’s art project honouring Wangari Maathai

44:05 - Discussing Bryony’s art project ‘The Colour of Transformation’

53:19 - Discussing Bryony’s latest project, Melting Metropolis, and an opportunity for you to get involved!

57:00 - More info on the PhD opportunity to work with Bryony Ella

01:00:00 - How to support Bryony

01:02:00 - How to support Black Earth Podcast

How to support and connect with Bryony Ella

• Website: https://www.studiobryonyella.com/artist-statement
• Substack: Embodied ecology - https://embodiedecology.substack.com/
• Read or listen to Bryony’s chapter about her wild drawing practice in the book: Wild Service: Why Nature Needs You by Nick Hayes - https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/wild-service-9781526673299/
• Apply for a PhD opportunity to research with Bryony, ‘Heat, Health and Human Geographies’ - deadline 28 June 2024 - https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/studentships/heat-health-and-human-geographies/

How to support and connect with Black Earth Podcast

• Subscribe to our podcast and leave a review wherever you listen to your favourite podcast
• Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok @blackearthpodcast.
• For partnership and media features, email us at [email protected]

Indigenous Peoples make up around five percent of humanity’s population and yet they are some of the world’s best stewards of nature. Their scientific knowledge and ways of living are rooted in a respect for all life on Earth that informs the way they take care of nature. Indigenous Peoples are leading a new revolution in humanity’s relationship with nature.

In this episode, we meet the inspiring Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim. Hindou is an Indigenous leader from the Mbororo peoples of the Sahel region, Africa. She is the Coordinator of the Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad (AFPAT) and advocates for Indigenous leadership and knowledge in international nature and climate policy.

Join us as we learn about the central role of African Indigenous women in earth care. We also discuss the impacts of climate injustice on Indigenous peoples around the world and solutions to address climate injustice. Hindou also shares encouraging advice to Indigenous girls, women and communities facing climate injustice.

Episode time stamps

00:00 Welcoming Hindou

02:43 Hindou’s relationship with nature

04:38 How belonging to the Mbororo peoples has shaped Hindou’s respect and understanding of nature

08:32 Why Hindou’s best weather app is her grandmother

14:45 The central role of African Indigenous women in community decision-making

21:18 The impacts of climate change on Indigenous communities and how Indigenous Peoples are responding

30:48 What we and ‘developed nations’ need to do for climate justice

35:36 Hindou’s advice to Indigenous women and girls living with the impacts of climate change

38:36 How you can support Hindou

39:19 How you can support Black Earth

Support Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim

Connect and Follow Hindou on X and Instagram: @hindououmar

Support Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad (AFPAT): https://www.afpat.net/

Support Black Earth Podcast

Connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Tiktok: @blackearthpodcast

Visit our site and read episode transcripts: https://www.blackearthpodcast.com/

Support us through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BlackEarthPodcast

Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim black people’s ancestral connection to land.

In this episode, I speak with Leah about her personal journey into farming and what it means to cultivate a healthy and just relationship with land through farming. Throughout this inspiring conversation, we celebrate the contributions of black farmers and black growers in America and around the world.

Episode timestamps

00:00 Introduction

1:27 Leah’s relationship with nature

3:55 Landscapes that have shaped Leah’s passion for social justice, farming and food justice

6:02 The connection to land is personal, political and cultural for African-Americans

9:15 How food apartheid shaped her journey to co-founding Soul Fire Farm

12:57 The four elements of a healthy and just relationship with land

16:25 What a healthy and just relationship with land looks like at Soul Fire Farm

18:58 The four wings of the butterfly of transformative social justice

20:42 Why it’s important to remember and center Afro-Indigenous farming practices

24:26 bell hooks, love and trauma in black people’s relationship with nature

31:33 How to talk about food and land justice when living for many is unaffordable right now

35:46 Advice for people who want to take part in food justice in their communities

37:30 Leah’s upcoming book, Black Earth Wisdom

41:49 How to connect with Black Earth podcast

Support and follow Leah’s work:

Soul Fire Farm - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/

Black Earth Wisdom book - https://blackearthwisdom.org/

Support and connect with Black Earth

We are on Instagram, Tiktok, and LinkedIn: @blackearthpodcast

Our website: https://www.blackearthpodcast.com/