THE SPACESHIP EARTH PODCAST

A new Earth Sessions mix from me: SpringingTo mark the light returning, the sun rising, warmth, blossoms popping, life coming back, possibility… love.A mix of vinyl and digital spanning 30 years - deep, housey, organic, trippy, vibey, and lively.I hope it makes you move wherever you are.With gratitude to the wonderful artists, producers and labels for these creationsTracklist via the Spaceship EarthListen on Soundcloud, Apple Podcast and SubstackLet’s stay togetherLet’s dance.Peace and OutDan Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

A wandering walk through Ghostwood Down explores land regeneration, willow groves and rituals that reopen belonging. The ramble celebrates unknowing, liminal spaces and creative practices like solos and councils. It questions hardened political logic, critiques war and media, and imagines grassroots, place-based care as a response to ecological and social collapse.

I originally recorded this episode with Chris Hines, EP 17, seven years ago in 2019.I’ve decided to repost it now. This week in the UK we had the launch of the Channel 4 real life drama series - Dirty BusinessA three part doc-drama based on a decade-long investigation into England’s water companies, it follows the story of two unlikely citizen detectives who notice that the fish in their local river are dying and are determined to find out why. Telling the real stories of whistleblowers and victims who believe their lives have been destroyed after encountering sewage polluted water, Dirty Business is a factual drama investigating one of the biggest corporate scandals in British history.And it is well worth a watch.It also features Chris Hines (through an actor) - surfer, environmentalist, sustainability innovator who over 35 years ago co-founded environmental surf charity Surfers Against Sewage in Cornwall UK.Their work has been pivotal over the years in connecting the s**t and pollution in the British seas and rivers to the gross negligence of the privatised water companies, extractive economics and short term politics.This conversation I hosted with Chris in Dublin back in 2019 explores that journey, what was happening at that time in the early 90’s and what drove Chris and fellow founders to build out this movement despite having no real idea what they were up against and with absolutely no resources.But this is a story to inspire all of us, that if you care enough about something then go and make stuff happen.It’s worth a listen in my view because it’s more relevant today for those who are feeling outrage and fury about all manner of things around them and want to do something about it.How with no resources and getting creative and working with your community extraordinary things can and do happen.Chris is wise, humble, a true elder.Let me know what you receive if you listen and do share with others that might appreciate itLINKSA Grain of SandSurfers Against Sewage Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

In the last few years I’ve been recording DJ mixes at particular moments in the Earth cycle and putting them out on the podcast - Earth sessions - they are a way for me to mark the season, the moment in the year and how it makes me feel and how it makes me want to move through electronic and dance music.This is a new one. A live mix to honour this darker time of the year, and the darker times unfolding on Spaceship Earth.Recorded in my kitchen on a Friday night after a long walk in the woods.I wanted to start slow and ambient, to acknowledge the slower liminal space of winter and gradually pick up the pace.This was a mix of vinyl and digital - spanning 30 years of releases.From ambient electronica, early rave inspired house, breakbeat, melodic techno, tech house and some progressive bits.Respect to all the artists and producers for these sonic offerings.I hope the mix moves you in some wayMovement, dancing and connection is a way through these unravelling darker times.We must stay together. Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Sam Crosby, oral storyteller and myth-informed guide reconnecting communities to story, ancestry and the living Earth. He speaks by fire about myth as an orientation tool, the difference between age and true eldership, how AI reveals a mythic void, and practical ways to seed local eldering and ritual. The conversation wanders through place, ceremony, and simple storytelling as paths back to meaning.

This is a short share about a winter learning journey we are hosting for the 4th year- Into the DarkIt begins on the evening of 20th January 2026, registration is open until 9th January.Into the dark invites us to enter a container over five weeks, to co-create our orientation and intentionality for the year ahead in community - human and more-than-human.It's a deep, gentle, experiential  journey.  Creating space for connection, contemplation and creative practice,  exploring parts of ourselves and the Earth, and ways of knowing that modernity doesn't allow us to attend to. Its an invitation to actively reject the urge to accelerate into productivity and growth as the year begins .To dwell instead with attention and intention in this darker, slower time.Unfolding over 3 consecutive weeks, peaking with a threshold walk, a self paced, powerful ancient ritual on land near you with a follow up incorporation session a week later.A time to plant vital seeds for the year ahead.As the light begins to return.Into the dark is guided by Dan Burgess, Ally Kingston and Mark Sears.Full details and how to register via link  Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, a scientist and conservationist from the Peruvian Amazon, discusses the vital role of rivers in biodiversity and indigenous culture. Meg Avon, a creative activist, highlights her relationship with urban rivers and the political act of swimming. Sound artist Louise Romain shares her exploration of ecosystems through audio, emphasizing the impact of listening on marine life. Together, they stress the importance of local stewardship and innovative ways to connect communities with their rivers.

What if music isn’t just entertainment, but a remembering?A returning.A way back into the felt sense of being part of nature, not apart from nature.In this intuitive, playful, open and wide-ranging conversation, I sit down with Sophia Shnapp - an impact producer working with organisations like EarthPercent - the Music Industry’s Climate and Nature Foundation alongside the Wisdom Keepers Delegation and Futr Earth.Sophia works at the intersection of culture, music and systemic change but that doesn’t quite capture the essence of how she moves.She’s a pollinator.A bridge-being.A shape-shifter between worlds:From the dancefloor and the woodland, through policy rooms and prayer circles, within the music industry and the more-than-human world.Sophia is a proper Earthling,  culture lover and movement maker  She’s guided by deep purpose, and the power of music to awaken hearts, spark change, and remind us we all belong to this great big living Spaceship we call Earth.This was an insightful, honest, creative conversation that often led to us to riffing imaginatively on what could be and I really respect Sophia’s willingness to dance with complexity, nuance and contradiction.We spoke about music as something that wakes us up again, not just emotionally but somatically, in the body:How a bassline can regulate a room.How a melody can remind us we still have a heart.How a festival, a choir, or a dancefloor becomes a temporary village - teaching us something about belonging we didn’t know we were missing.Together, we explore:🌬️ Music as a gateway into feeling, intuition and interconnection.🌿 Nature as origin story - how childhoods shaped by land root the work we do today.🎧 Culture as systems change - what happens when artists, activists and elders collaborate.🔥 Fear, endings and uncertainty - and how feeling is not weakness but medicine.🌀 Rites of passage & the 4 Ds - dance, drums, deprivation, and the “drug” of altered states✨ Imagination as infrastructure - how new worlds begin inside conversations like thisSophia asked:What if music is one of the ways the Earth is trying to get our attention back?That question has stayed with me.Sometimes conversations I have on this podcast are like doorways and this one felt like that - a shared stepping-through into a wider field of possibility.It opened up space for imagining what could be and that in my opinion is vital exploration for these times.It’s an episode that wanders beautifully - honest, mischievous, open-hearted.I really enjoyed this one, I hope you do too if you give it a listen.And if you do please let us know what it brings up for you.And please give it a share to someone else who might appreciate it.This is how we grow together, through reciprocity and entanglement.Becoming Crew on Spaceship Earth.LINKSSophia Shnapp InstagramEarth PercentWisdom Keepers DelegationInto the Dark - 5 Week Winter Learning Journey from Becoming Crew Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe

Mark De'Lisser, a poet and nature-based mentor, joins to discuss modern masculinity, blending strength with vulnerability. He shares insights on grief as a pathway to healing, emphasizing the importance of feeling and connecting with one another. The conversation touches on the power of creativity in survival, the impact of community on mental health, and the significance of rites of passage for young men. Mark also reads from his debut poetry collection, 'Ashes to the Breeze,' highlighting themes of renewal and the beauty found in decay.

How can we learn to dance with complexity, contradiction, grief, beauty, uncertainty, horror and surprise without abandoning the dance-floor ?Dancing feels like an interesting invitational metaphor to me for these timesIt invites us into the body and out of our stuck heads.It invites us into presence and relationship with life in the moment,To be present with our bodies, with each other, with other life formsIt’s movement, spontaneity, flow, expression, vibe, response,Response-ability.Dancing is aliveness.And we need alive-ness.To break the numbness.So on that, I offer a new Earth Sessions mix: AutumnismFor this season of letting go.An hour of tunes, that have been moving me of late and that capture for me the feels of this season - the endings, the abundance, the darkness, the joy, the mystery.I hope they move you in some way.Tracklisting hereAnd if you struggle with dancing, it could well be our deep patriarchal programming - you know the voice - ‘I can’t dance’I offer some words I heard a wise man once say about letting yourself go on the dancefloor…‘No one’s looking at you and no one gives a f**k’So stay awake to what is happening, what is ending, what needs to end and tend to what needs to begin.Look around you, find the thing that speaks to you, find the others and get stuck in.Love and care at the centre.And try to stay curious with the trouble, the discomfort.Do not abandon the dance-floorREPEAT: Do not leave the dance-floor of life.As Nena and WestBam said…‘We are the future, that’s the pastWe are the moment built to lastWe are the up, that’s the downWe wear the newschool engine crown’ Get full access to Becoming Crew at becomingcrew.substack.com/subscribe