Dumbo Feather Podcast

Our conversation this month is with someone who has been hugely influential to us — Parker Palmer, a writer who works at the intersection of activism, social change and spirituality. Three decades ago, Parker helped establish the Centre for Courage and Renewal, which runs programs for people to come together in community and learn to lead from within. Here, Parker and Dumbo Feather editor Nathan talk about everything from eldership in the modern age to the importance of showing up in the world as your true self. Their conversation—centred around Parker’s new book, On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old—is a timely one, recorded just weeks before Parker’s 80th birthday. Show notes: Parker’s latest book is On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old can be found here: https://onthebrinkofeverything.com/ You can read our first interview with Parker in issue 44 of Dumbo Feather magazine, or see more of his work on our website. This podcast was produced by Lizzie Marton and the

For over thirty years, childbirth educator, birth attendant and counsellor Rhea Dempsey has been helping women to feel more empowered and better prepared when navigating childbirth. This month on the podcast, she chats with Dumbo Feather friend and host of the All Being Well podcast, Kayla Robertson about everything from why our attitudes towards birth have changed so dramatically since the ‘80s to how we can help create better birthing options for mothers and babies. We hope you find their conversation as fascinating as we did.Show notes: Enter the 2018 Dumbo Feather Reader Survey here: https://dumbofeather.typeform.com/to/InJ1AF Read more about Rhea on her site: http://www.birthingwisdom.com.au/about-rhea-dempsey/ Rhea’s conversation with our publisher and editor-in-chief, Berry Liberman can be found here: https://www.dumbofeather.com/conversations/rhea-dempsey/ You can listen to Kayla’s podcast—All Being Well—and find out more about her here: https://www.allbeingwell.com.au/ This edited conversation was p

This month on the podcast we’re a sharing a piece of spoken word storytelling by New Zealand-born writer and occupational therapist, Kirsten Taylor. Throughout this episode, Kirsten explores the changing relationship she’s had with her body from a young person to now. Our editor Nathan Scolaro first heard this story told live at The Weekly Service, a secular gathering in Melbourne where people share stories, contemplate ideas and engage in conversation—he was captivated by Kirsten’s story from the moment she began, hanging on every word. We published the piece in the healing issue of Dumbo Feather and because it works as beautifully on the ear as it does on the eye, we invited Kirsten to Dumbo Feather HQ to re-tell it for our podcast listeners.Show notes: To find out more about the Weekly Service head to their site here: http://theweeklyservice.org/To enter Dumbo Feather’s $1000 travel pack competition thanks to our friends from Patagonia and Bellroy, head to dumbofeather.com/winThe music you hear is by Denn

In front of a live audience, for an event by our friends at The School of Life, Nigella Lawson and Hugh Mackay chat about everything from why cooking for others is one of the most significant ways we can show people we take them seriously, to the role of food and self-care, to why the first thing Nigella bought when she moved into her new home was a table. It’s a beautiful ode to the role of food in our lives—how it can bring us all closer together, and ultimately help us to find belonging.Show notes:Thank you very much Nigella, Hugh and our friends at the School of Life for allowing us to record this conversation.Nigella’s book, At My Table can be found here: https://www.nigella.com/books/at-my-tableHugh’s book, Australia Reimagined can be found here: https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781743534823/This edited conversation was produced by our digital editor Lizzie Marton. The music you hear is by Dennis Liu. Stay tuned for our next conversation—or hear it first by subscribing to the Dumbo Feather podcast on yo

This month we’re bringing you a special episode of the Dumbo Feather Podcast, inspired by Issue 56 of Dumbo Feather—Embracing the Wild. We teamed up with New York based sound recordist, Matthew Mikkelsen, to take you inside one of the world’s last remaining natural amphitheatres—Olympic National Park in Washington State. We recommend you find a quiet place to listen to this one, to fully immerse yourself in the magic that Matthew has recorded. Show notes: Big thank you to Matthew Mikkelsen for his extraordinary work on this episode. You can read more about Matthew here: https://www.beinghear.com/team/ This show was produced by Matthew Mikkelsen and Nathan Scolaro. This episode is part of the Dumbo Feather wilding campaign. For more on the wild, purchase Issue 56 of Dumbo Feather here: https://www.dumbofeather.com/product/issue-56/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month we’re bringing you a live conversation with Issue 56 profilee, the legendary Bob Brown. For decades, Bob has inspired generations of Australians to feel a deep reverence for the environment—and campaign to protect it. In this episode, Bob talks with our editor, Nathan Scolaro, about his latest efforts to save the Tarkine, a wilderness region in north west Tasmania, and how embracing music, the arts and self-care is central to empowered activism. Show notes:This edited conversation was produced by our digital editor, Lizzie Marton. The music you hear is by Dennis Liu. Join Patagonia and the Bob Brown Foundation in telling the Tasmanian government to nominate takayna / Tarkine for World Heritage protection, by signing their petition here: https://www.change.org/p/premier-will-hodgman-support-world-heritage-protection-for-takayna-tarkineFind the Drew Dellinger poem Bob references here: https://drewdellinger.org/pages/poetry/961/hieroglyphic-stairwayRead more about the Bob Brown Foundation here: http:/

On the podcast this month is New York based illustrator, Mari Andrew. Mari’s captivating, relatable portrayals of her personal life and the world around her have made her an Instagram sensation, drawing a following of nearly one million people. Throughout this conversation, recorded live for our sister company, The School of Life, Mari chats with Dumbo Feather contributor Sarah Darmody and unpacks six guiding themes that have helped her navigate growing up, including resilience, authenticity and healing. Their chat is full of beautiful, tender moments and reveals. We hope you love it as much as we do.Show notes:Thank you to The School of Life Australia for hosting this lovely event. Mari’s new book is called Am I There Yet: The Loop-de-loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood.You can check our Mari's illustrations on her Instagram page, https://www.instagram.com/bymariandrew/This edited conversation was produced by Lizzie Marton and the music you hear is by Dennis Liu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for

Helena Norberg-Hodge joins our publisher Berry Liberman on the podcast this month. As a young woman in 1975, Helena was invited to join a film crew travelling to Ladakh, a remote region on the Tibetan plateau, just as it was opening up to tourism and other Western influences. She talks to Berry about the heartbreaking changes she witnessed during that time, and challenges conventional ideas we may have around progress and development. Above all, Helena advocates for an economy centered around community and the importance of carrying ancient wisdom into our future.Show notes: You can read more about Helena, and seven other incredible humans bringing about the next economy, including banker Muhammad Yunus and radical economist Kate Raworth, in issue 55 of Dumbo Feather magazine. https://www.dumbofeather.com/product/issue-55/You can also read more about Helena’s experience in Ladak in her book, Ancient Futures. https://www.penguin.com.au/books/ancient-futures-9780712606561 This edited conversation was produced b

Featured on the podcast this month is our very dear friend, Hugh Mackay. Hugh has been examining how we live for six decades, so he's got some pretty great insights into what makes a good life. In this live event run by our friends at The School of Life, Hugh shares wisdom about how we can become a more compassionate and less anxious society, by looking at and working within our local neighbourhoods and communities. Show Notes: Thank you to The School of Life for letting us share these wonderful words with our podcast community. This podcast was produced by Beth Gibson. Music is by Dennis Liu. You can read more about Hugh’s new book, Australia Reimagined, by visiting: https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781743534823/ And you can find out more about The School of Life, by visiting their website here: https://www.theschooloflife.com/ For more conversations with extraordinary people, why not head to our site, it’s dumbofeather.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month’s podcast is all about generosity—something our friend Ronni Kahn knows a lot about. Ronni founded OzHarvest—Australia’s leading food rescue organisation—driven by a passion to make a difference and stop good food going to waste. Along the way, she’s changed lives, changed the law (to make it safe for companies to donate surplus food) and opened Australia's first free supermarket. Chatting with Dr. Monty Badami for a live event run by our friends at the School of Life, Ronni tells us about her personal journey and offers advice on how we can open our hearts and be more generous in our daily lives. We’d like to say she’s inspiring, but it’s just not a good enough word. Show notes: You can read more about Ronni in our conversation with her from Issue 53 of Dumbo Feather—The Future of Power issue. You can also find out more information about OzHarvest on their site: https://www.ozharvest.org This conversation was produced by our digital editor Lizzie Marton, and the music you hear is by Dennis Liu.

We head to Byron Bay to hear environmentalist Paul Hawken and filmmaker Damon Gameau in an epic conversation about the state of the planet. Paul’s renowned book, Project Drawdown, is the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming—it outlines the 100 most substantive solutions to address climate change. Throughout this conversation, Paul and Damon explore why empowering girls and women is the number one solution to reversing global warming, how gratitude is central to building a more sustainable future and why we know more about Mars than we do about a cubic centimetre of soil.Show notes:Read more about Project Drawdown: http://www.drawdown.org/ Find out more about Damon’s upcoming film, 2040: http://www.madmanproduction.com.au/releases/2040-2/You can read more about Paul Hawken in our interview with him from Issue 52 of Dumbo Feather: https://www.dumbofeather.com/conversations/paul-hawken-is-a-solutions-man/ Paul references Bill McKibben’s piece, Global Warming's Terrifying New Math publi

This month we’re in conversation with best-selling author and psychotherapist Esther Perel. Esther’s podcast, 'Where Should We Begin?' has become an international sensation. The recorded sessions between Esther and anonymous couples—who visit her for one session only at her private practice in New York—have become a public health campaign for relationships. Chatting with our publisher Berry Liberman, Esther explores why modern relationships are more complex and nuanced than ever before, her love for breaking orthodoxies and how she dignified the experience of her teenage son bringing his girlfriend home for the first time. It’s a cracker of a conversation that we published in our latest magazine, entitled How We Love, and we adored it so much we had to share it with you as a podcast too. Show notes: You can listen to Esther’s incredible podcast series, Where Should We Begin, on Audible and iTunes. This edited conversation was produced by our digital editor Lizzie Marton. The music you hear is by Dennis Liu.

This month we’re sharing a particularly special conversation with Krista Tippett, creator and host of the much-loved radio show and podcast, On Being. For more than ten years, Krista has been asking spiritual leaders, poets, scientists and philosophers the big questions—about what it means to be human. She speaks with our publisher Berry Liberman about what it means to live a wise life, how can we connect more meaningfully with one another, and what questions we should be asking the Donald Trumps in our lives.Show notes:Production by our digital editor Lizzie Marton. The music you hear is by Dennis Liu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an age where we can find ourselves feeling exhausted on a daily basis—beloved cartoonist Michael Leunig brings perspective. A duck helping us navigate our way through choppy waters. In this episode Leunig chats with Myke Bartlett about how we can lean into the unknown, accept melancholy as an integral part of our lives, and find joy and beauty in the uncertain. Show notes:This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience for our friends at the School of Life. You can find the images that Leunig refers to throughout this episode by visiting www.dumbofeather.com/michael-leunigProduction by our digital editor Lizzie Marton. The music you hear is by Dennis Liu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Saamdu Chetri is the Executive Director of the Gross National Happiness Centre in Bhutan. GNH focuses on the wellbeing of the country’s people rather than the traditional economic measure of Gross Domestic Product and over the past 40 years it has been a success story in Bhutan.In front of a live audience, Saamdu chats with Danny Almagor, the founder of Small Giants, about his incredible story, how GNH can create the conditions for human and environmental flourishing and what ingredients are needed to live a happy life. Show notes:To find out more about GNH, head to their website: www.gnhcentrebhutan.org.This edited conversation was produced by our digital editor Lizzie Marton. The music you hear is by Dennis Liu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robyn Davidson is best known as ‘the camel lady’—a reference to her journey as a young woman crossing the Australian desert with four camels and her dog in 1977. Today, Robyn feels like a different person, yet there’s one quality that has remained a constant in her life: her ability to adapt to change. Robyn sat down in front of a live audience at The School of Life with our publisher, Berry Liberman, to talk about adaptability—and how to embrace the flux that is ever present in our lives.Show notes: Thank you to the School of Life for co-hosting this event with us.This edited conversation was produced by our digital editor Lizzie Marton. The music featured is by Dennis Liu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jostein Solheim is the CEO of Ben and Jerry’s—a social justice company that just happens to sell ice cream. In this episode of the Dumbo Feather podcast our publisher Berry Liberman sits down with Jostein to chat about using business as a force for good, finding purpose, and why he prides Ben and Jerry’s on being a highly emotional company. Show notes:This edited conversation was produced by Beth Gibson, and the music featured is by Dennis Liu. Further reading:B Corporation: https://www.bcorporation.net/Impact Investing: http://www.impact-group.com.au/what-we-doSmall Giants: http://www.smallgiants.com.au/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julie O'Shea is a living legend. After visiting a farm to buy some chickens, she found herself in a whirlwind that saw her save 400 hens in less than three days. Julie's story is uplifting, thought-provoking and joyous—she truly is making the world a better place. One rescue chicken at a time. Show notesJulie's hen rescue Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/Rescue-Hens-Northern-NSW-104507923412983/The interview for this episode was conducted by Nathan Scolaro, and this episode was produced by Lizzie Marton.This episode has been created thanks to our friends at Intrepid Travel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we’re hearing from Sydney-based artist, Laura Jones, about what happened when she spent ten days as an artist-in-residence at the Australian Museum Lizard Island Research Station. Laura brings to life her experience of witnessing the Great Barrier Reef’s changing conditions, how she learnt to use her art as a form of activism and how she worked alongside science to interpret and bring attention to the problems that our planet is facing.Show notes:Laura's episode of That Time When has been published to coincide with the Dumbo Feather Climate Challenge. To register for the Challenge and to receive next week’s email straight to your inbox, sign up on our site, where you can also find Laura's diary entries from her time on Lizard Island. Thank you so much to Laura for sharing your incredible experience with us. If you have a story to share—or feedback—drop us a line! We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @dumbofeather or you can send us an email at hello@dumbofeather.com Laura’s interview was conduct

This month we head out of Dumbo Feather HQ and take you on an adventure to the 2016 Melbourne Writers Festival, when we parked our caravan up at Federation Square and welcomed writers in for intimate conversations with a small audience. First up is British poet and educator Anthony Anaxagorou, a man who thinks deeply about each word he uses and the importance of being vulnerable. Then, we hear from Neil Strauss, New York Times best-selling author of The Game—a book which lead him to some pretty big realisations about himself and what makes a healthy relationship.The interviews in this episode were conducted by Nathan Scolaro and Mele-Ane Havea. This episode was produced by Beth Gibson. Music by Dennis Liu. We would also like to thank our friends at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. This podcast is sponsored by Bank Australia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.