The Rewilding Podcast w/ Peter Michael Bauer

I’ve lived with depression for most of my life. I’ve learned to manage my symptoms in order to function and live a more fulfilling life. I’ve dedicated this episode to working through some of the areas of overlap between depression and rewilding. This is a very personal topic that lives close to my heart. I was originally planning on doing this one solo, but I realized that it would be more impactful if it were in conversation with someone who shares similar but different experiences with depression. My guest on this episode is Sheila Henson. Sheila received her BA in History and an MA in Education, spent twelve years as a behavioral respite worker for children with special needs, working for many of those years at the Serendipity Center in Portland. Today she is an ADHD Coach, and is a well known and respected educator on tiktok. The drive to understand how to be kind, collaborative, and restorative within our social and ecological communities led her to Rewild Portland, where she now serves on the board of directors, heading up our transformative justice committee. Sheila and I also co-teach a Rewilding Your Health class through Rewild Portland. Notes:List of National Suicide Hotlineshttps://support.google.com/websearch/answer/11181469Sheila’s Websitehttps://www.sheilahenson.com/Sheila’s Tiktokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@adhdcoachsheilaSleep & Depressionhttps://www.sleepfoundation.org/mental-health/depression-and-sleepExercise & DepressionThe Challenges of Treating Depression with Exercise: From Evidence to Practicehttps://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.1111/j.1468-2850.2006.00022.xMeditation & DepressionAn update on mindfulness meditation as a self-help treatment for anxiety and depressionhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3500142/Diet & DepressionDiet and Depression—From Confirmation to Implementationhttps://www.anp3sm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/jama_berk_2019_ed_190008.pdfMusic & DepressionMusic therapy for depressionhttps://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004517.pub3/fullGreen Spaces and DepressionGreen spaces deliver lasting mental health benefitshttps://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_349054_en.htmlGardening & DepressionGardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysishttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5153451/Soil Microbiome & DepressionDirt has a microbiome, and it may double as an antidepressanthttps://qz.com/993258/dirt-has-a-microbiome-and-it-may-double-as-an-antidepressant/Crafting & DepressionAntidepressive response of inpatients with major depression to adjuvant occupational therapy: a case–control studyhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12991-016-0124-0Plant & Fungi MedicinePsychedelic Support the show

Lisa Wells is the author of Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World, The Fix, and winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize. Her essays have been published by The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Granta, The Believer, n+1 and others. She lives in Seattle and writes a column for Orion Magazine called Abundant Noise. She’s also one of my oldest and closest friends. In her latest book, Believers, she sought out many different people all seeking to find a way to live sustainably in the world, as we sit on the precipice of a collapsing civilization. In this conversation, we chat about the book, some of the subjects (including myself), the writing process itself, the role of storytellers as culture building, and much more.Notes: • Lisa Wells Website• Instagram Account• Believers: Making a Life at the End of the WorldSupport the show

In this episode I converse with someone who has greatly inspired me, Delia Ann Turner. Delia co-owns and operates The School of the Greenwood: For Creative Rewilding. Delia is an amazing craftsperson and educator. Our topics wandered from making hand crafts, living off the grid, traveling to learn from communities where hand made crafts are barely holding on, integrating what we learn back in our own communities, to her philosophy in carefully crafting adventure and fantasy camps for children, to running a small business and the contradictory aspects of living a wild life but also utilizing tools like social media to increase the reach and impact of her work. It was a wide-ranging conversation and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Delia's Links:Delia Ann Turner InstagramSchool of the Greenwood WebsiteSchool of the Greenwood InstagramMentions:Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with NatureThe Art of Not Being GovernedMushroom at the End of the WorldNancy BasketsEoin Donnelly (Timber Framer)The Bear and the NightingaleSupport the show

In this episode, I answer three questions from my patrons on patreon:1.  What is your advice for people just beginning on their rewilding journeys?2.  What is your favorite part of rewilding?3. What are your favorite books for rewilders to use for help rewilding?Support the show

Today I’m chatting with Clementine Morrigan, a prolific writer and podcaster covering a range of topics. In this conversation we talk about “cancel and call out culture” and the challenges of transcending punishment and imprisonment, in order to move toward a more egalitarian, transformative justice process when conflict arises–as it inevitably does–in our communities.Notes:Clementine Morrigan's Work• Lnk.bio• Instagram• Fucking Cancelled Podcast• Fuck the Police Means We Don’t Act Like Cops to Each Other ZineOther Mentions:• So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed• Conflict is Not Abuse• The Sociopath Next Door• Cursed Cancellations InstagramSupport the show

Eli Loomis is an instructor and Executive Director at Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS) in Utah. At 53 years old, BOSS is the oldest survival school in the country. It is notorious for its long, minimalist desert treks, including a 28-day field course. In this conversation, Eli and I talk about the history of BOSS, the psychology of survival and “The Won’t to Live,” the lack and need for Rites of Passage, context specific training, running non-profit wilderness schools, the transformative experience, and personal and psychological growth that can happen in survival courses, and so much more.LinksBoulder Outdoor Survival SchoolBOSS InstagramBullet Ant TestAmerican Guy Try’s Bullet Ant TestJohn Leach “The Won’t to Live”John Leach's Survival PsychologyRabbit Proof FenceMartin Prechtel - Long Life, Honey in the HeartKhalil GibranBarkley MarathonsThis episode is in Memorial of my friend Alex Leavens, my first ancestral skills teacher. Support the show

Today I’m chatting with John Zerzan, long time anarchist author, speaker and host of Anarchy Radio out of Eugene, Oregon.  John's writing has been instrumental in crafting the rewilding narrative. In this conversation, we jump right into some of the themes and history of primal anarchy, and work our way around various topics. Notes• John's Website• When We Are Human• Oak Journal• Future PrimitiveSupport the show

This episode is the first half of a conversation between myself and Natasha Tucker from Primal Anarchy Podcast. The second half will be released by them and a link posted here will connect you to it. The last time Natasha and I conversed this much was in my living room after the Rewilding Conference in January of 2020. It was great to catch up and chat about the things we are working on and thinking about at the moment. Take a listen and check out their site:Primal Anarchy PodcastNatasha TuckerSupport the show

In this episode I chat with Lise Silva Gomes, an artist who works with fiber, knots, paint and more, who has spent a great deal of time thinking and teaching about community grounded art practice. A huge aspect of rewilding is the practice of ancestral skills–learning to use your hands to create the technologies that we need to live, from the elements of nature that grow and dwell near us. I came to Lise’s work when searching out ethics, etiquette, and boundaries around communities of artists and creatives. Lise is an innovator in this field and has created some amazing resources around this topic that I’m excited to share with you.Notes• Lise’s Instagram• Lise’s Linktree• Craft & Practice: Meditations on Creativity & Ethics ZineSupport the show

“The earth’s biodiversity depends [very directly] on its human diversity.” - Stephen CorryIn this episode I chat with Stephen Corry, the former director of Survival International, a global organization that supports indigenous peoples in their struggles against colonialism. We talk about why the organization is important, and how it relates directly to rewilding. Stephen discusses the central myths of civilization and the prejudices that it generates in order to justify its destruction of tribal people. In the end our conversation lands on the problematic aspects of conservation, and the challenges that members of Survival International have faced in this work. Please support the podcast by donating to my patreon. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on apple podcasts and other podcast directories. Thanks for listening. Links:Survival Internationalhttps://www.survivalinternational.org/Stephen's Book:Tribal Peoples for Tomorrow’s WorldStephen's Twitter:@StephenCorrySvl• New report details indigenous struggle for land rights• Savaging Primitives: Why Jared Diamond’s “The World Until Yesterday” is Completely Wrong• Why Steven Pinker, Like Jared Diamond, Is Wrong• The Fierce Anthropologist• Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States by James C. Scott• Who was Ötzi?• Sahlins resigns from NAS as Chagnon enters• The Great Dance; a Hunter’s Story• The Big Conservation Lie• WWF Funds Guards Who Have Tortured And Killed People• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples• Ishmael by Daniel Quinn• Willamette; The Valley of an 8,000 Year Old CulturePhoto Credit: Gleilson Miranda / Governo do AcreSupport the show