Doomer Optimism

In this episode of Doomer Optimism, Brendan, Jim and Nate discuss the role that narrative and stories play in shaping the way we perceive the world around us and continually recreate the structures and processes that cohere to the narrative that we tell ourselves and each other about the world. We are narrative creatures at our core, and in our present time there are a great many competing stories that make making sense of the world and developing a coherent self-story particularly difficult. One solution to this is to live tightly in relationship with particular people and a particular place. Jim Jones is a PhD Candidate at University of Waterloo researching narrative, craft, skills, livelihoods, place, complexity. Spooncarver and hedgelayer. @skillsrural Brendan Barnard is passionate about stewardship, long term thinking, and the intersections of nature, art, and science, cider captured Brendan’s attention in 2016 and he hasn’t shaken it. When he’s not grafting, planting, pruning, picking, pressing, or sampling cider you’ll find him cooking for his family. Nathan is a licensed psychotherapist and co-host of Altered States of Context, a podcast about psychedelics, science and psychotherapy. In addition, he serves as president of the board for the Illinois Psychedelic Society and is a board advisor for Entheo Il, a group dedicated to the successful passage of Illinois HB1, the Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens act. He also practices regenerative ranching and writes from his family's farm in rural west-central Illinois. He is a frequent guest and guest host for the Doomer Optimism podcast, a collective podcast dedicated to promotive creative and humane ways to engage with our social and environmental problems with creativity, hope, and good stewardship.

21 Helmi 20231h 27min

Andrew and Jason have a conversation around topics related anarchism, solar punk, and degrowth Andrew is a writer, artist, and YouTuber based in Trinidad & Tobago. As an ardent anarchist and firm believer in power to the people, Andrew aims to invigorate imaginations and encourage people to create a better world in the shell of the old. Andrew has an excellent youtube channel that can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@Andrewism He can also be found on twitter @_saintdrew

16 Helmi 20231h 10min

On this episode of Doomer Optimism, Simon Gooder and Tres Crow interview experimental farmer and science fiction author Shane Simonsen. Shane talks about his farming experiments in his difficult Australian ecosystem, and then dives into the impetus behind his science fiction novella series set in the distant future. About Shane Simonsen About Shane Simonsen Shane is a scientist, documenting his experiments through trialling and breeding crops and livestock that can produce without irrigation, fertiliser and imported nutrients on http://zeroinputagrilculture.com. A writer of biological sci-fi, working from his farm in Australia. About Simon Gooder Nature, gardening, permaculture, doomer optimism, design, regenerative action, community building, homeschooling. Building Permapeople.org in his spare time. About Tres Crow Tres is making the world a greener place one urban space at a time with my friends at Roots Down. He's also turning his .75 acre suburban lot into Old Crow Hill, a food forest, pollinator habitat, and community space. Follow along at innisfreeatl.com.

14 Helmi 20231h 22min

In this episode Jason speaks with Kimberly (@blkhomesteader) about her path towards gardening and homesteading, the Black homesteading and farming movement, the importance of own production and skill-building, the irony of underutilized land and problems of land access, political advocacy especially at the hyper-local level with HOAs, veganism and small scale livestock production, the hiphopisgreen organization, and much more. Kimberly is an experienced master gardener and urban homesteader, living in zone 9b, who is interested learning how to live a more holistic and sustainable life. Some links mentioned in the episode: Infinite Zion Farms: https://www.infinitezionfarms.org/ Hip Hop is Green: https://www.hiphopisgreen.com/ https://www.localharvest.org/orlando-fl

9 Helmi 20231h 9min

Jason hosts an interview with Simon Gooder about his path towards permaculture, homesteading, and the plant database and seed trading platform that he cofounded with Benjamin Knofe called Permapeople.org. Simon Gooder Nature, gardening, permaculture, doomer optimism, design, regenerative action, community building, homeschooling. Building Permapeople.org in his spare time.

7 Helmi 20231h 5min

An exploration of evolutionary dynamics and potential futures Matthew Pirkowski experiments at the intersection of software, behavioral / evolutionary psychology, and complex adaptive systems. These interests first took root while observing and modeling the collective behavioral psychology of capuchin monkeys at Yale’s Comparative Cognition Laboratory, with the goal of understanding why–and to what extent–our conceptions of “rational action” fail to describe what we observe beyond the domain of analytic abstraction. Such experiences catalyzed an interest in designing and building the interfaces through which human perception and purpose contacts the computational processes that have thoroughly saturated our lives and minds. Matthew is presently building a platform for modeling purpose-aligned human networks as naturally emergent organisms. He also consults on system architecture, advises nascent companies and communities, and writes about topics related to the evolution of human socioeconomic, technological, and representational systems–in particular the emergence and impact of cryptoeconomic protocols, as outlined in his Crypto Beyond Capitalism essay series. He spends most of his free time maintaining, regenerating, and growing food on a bit of land in the Cascade Range. He can be found as @MattPirkowski on twitter

3 Helmi 20231h 40min

During the night of February 1/2, 2021, a military junta deposed the elected government of Burma (Myanmar) and instituted martial law. Protests followed, answered by a violent and swift crackdown by the newly self-installed military dictatorship. In this episode we hear from "Romeo," a pseudonymous young woman living and working in Yangon since before the 2021 coup. We discuss some of the events leading up to the coup as well as citizens' grassroots resistance efforts over the past two years, the actions of the junta to attack protestors in the streets, imprison, interrogate, and torture suspected members of resistance groups, and what (albeit faint) sources of hope exist for circumstances to improve for the people of Burma. Interview conducted by Josh Kearns, who has worked with grassroots efforts in Burma for >10 years to provide communities' access to low-cost decentralized drinking water treatment and eco-sanitation. More info at: https://joshkearns.substack.com/s/field-notebook

1 Helmi 20231h 26min

Daniel Baryon (@anarkyoutube), Glen Ganaway (@glenganaway), and Jason Snyder (@cognazor) discuss modern day anarchism, how it's informed by complexity science, and how it works as a map for local solutions to a planet wide crisis. ‌ About Daniel Baryon Daniel Baryon is an anarchist theorist and organizer. He co-founded Cooperation Tulsa and is a key member of Scissortail Anarchist Organization. He also runs the YouTube channel Anark, where he produces video essays on anarchism and libertarian socialism. About Glen Ganaway Glen considers himself a product of the Military Industrial Complex, The Deep South and the Southern Baptist Church. Today he identifies as an Anarchist. Born in Anchorage, Alaska to a deeply religious family and raised in the gated communities of Navy bases.The 80's found Glen doing sex work and waiting tables to support an injection habit. Glen cleaned up in the 90's and joined the Radical Faeries, a loose knit collection of Pagan Queer Anarchists. He met the love of his life Yolanda, an East Village legendary performance artist in 2004. Glen went on to be ordained an Interfaith Minister and acquire an Integral Mentor Certification and a BS in Healthcare Management, which he uses for UFCW Local 2013. Glen's passions include Advaita-Vedanta, Integral Theory, Anarchism, and Regenerative Agriculture. His next project is a 4.4 Acre Homestead in Vermont. About Jason Snyder Metamodern localist | homesteading, permaculture, bioregional regeneration | meditation, self inquiry, embodied cognition | PhD from Michigan State University, faculty Appalachian State University.

27 Tammi 20231h 3min