Season 3 of Who Cares Wins offers a triptych of episodes that all explore how our inner landscapes shape our outer landscapes. For this third episode, Lily spoke with Merlin Sheldrake about how the leading edge of science asks us to shake up our perspectives on reality and our place and possibilities within it. They also discuss different species' perspectives, more-than-human rights, cooperation, entanglement, and just how mysterious our cosmos still is.

Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist, writer, and speaker with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama. His book, Entangled Life, is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, won the Royal Society Book Prize and the Wainwright Prize. Merlin’s research ranges from fungal biology, to the history of Amazonian ethnobotany, to the relationship between sound and form in resonant systems. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms. He is a musician and performs on the piano and accordion.

Credits

Audio Editor & Designer: James Powell

Artwork : Bethan Sherwood

Music : Cosmo Sheldrake

Sponsor : Impossible

Links:

The MOTH Rights project (More Than Human Rights): https://mothrights.org/

Merlin Sheldrake in conversation with David Abram - "Honoring the Wild Proliferation of Earthly Perspectives" : https://emergencemagazine.org/interview/honoring-the-wild-proliferation-of-earthly-perspectives/

Following on from our conversation and meditations from Plum Village, we now share a meditation led by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, poet and teacher, who founded Plum Village, and is often known as the "father of mindfulness."

More free meditations like this one can be found via the Plum Village app.

Link:

https://plumvillage.app/

Season 3 of Who Cares Wins offers a triptych of episodes that all explore how our inner landscapes shape our outer landscapes. For this second episode, Lily spoke with Dr Gabor Maté about authenticity, compassionate self-inquiry, and how our internal reality shapes our way of relating to the world.

Dr Gabor Maté is a Canadian physician who has written many best-selling books on childhood development, trauma, and addiction. His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada. His most recent book was, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture.

Credits

Audio Editor & Designer: James Powell

Artwork : Bethan Sherwood

Music : Cosmo Sheldrake

Sponsor : Impossible

Links:

https://drgabormate.com/

Dr Gabor Maté speaks with Piers Morgan about the Israel/Palestine conflict, Nov 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph9XF39yjgU

Dr Gabor Maté speaks with his daughter Hannah Maté about the Israel/Palestine conflict, Oct 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHDBw-wx6w0

Following on from the conversation between Sister True Dedication and Kate Raworth, here is a short meditation from Sister True D. More free meditations like this one can be found via the Plum Village app.

Sister True D is a Zen Buddhist nun ordained by Vietnamese peace activist and monastic Thich Nhat Hanh (known affectionately by students as 'Thay'). Sister True D is a former journalist, Cambridge graduate and edited several of Thich Nhat Hanh's books including 'Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet.' 

Link:

https://plumvillage.app/

Season 3 of Who Cares Wins offers a triptych of episodes that all explore how our inner landscapes shape our outer landscapes.

In episode one, Lily speaks with pioneering economist Kate Raworth and Sister True Dedication. Kate is the author and creator of Doughnut Economics: an economic model that balances between essential human needs and planetary boundaries. Sister True D is a Zen Buddhist nun ordained by Vietnamese peace activist and monastic Thich Nhat Hanh (known affectionately by students as 'Thay'). Sister True D is a former journalist, Cambridge graduate and edited several of Thich Nhat Hanh's books including 'Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet.' 

In this episode, Kate, Sister True D and Lily discuss the nature of humanity, the nature of reality, and how Zen concepts such as Inter-Being might be applied to the cultural assumptions that lie underneath our economic and political realities.

Credits

Audio Editor & Designer: James Powell

Artwork : Bethan Sherwood

Music : Cosmo Sheldrake

Sponsor : Impossible

Links

https://plumvillage.org/

https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/

https://www.ted.com/talks/sister_true_dedication_3_questions_to_build_resilience_and_change_the_world?language=en

This week we are sharing a conversation Lily had with her dear friend and mentor, the late John Burton, who sadly left this world earlier this year. This release is timed to coincide with COP15 (biodiversity) which is happening in Montreal, Canada.

John Burton was a co-founder of The World Land Trust and dedicated his life to conservation and protecting land for biodiversity. In this intimate conversation he shares some of his insights from 50+ years of working on the frontline of environmental protection.

If you'd like to support conservation projects close to his heart:

The John Burton Memorial Fund

We are delighted to share a few bonus episodes coming off the back of COP 27 in Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh. In this episode, Lily reflects on the COP27 outcomes - both positive and negative - with the pioneering activist Tzeporah Berman. Tzeporah co-founded Stand.Earth, led successful logging blockades in British Colombia; and more recently launched the Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty in 2021 which gained significant momentum in COP27. Lily and Tzeporah also discuss carbon pricing in Canada; the emotional toll and work of climate activism; and visions of the future.

Links 

Tzeporah Berman's  TED talk
 

Credits

Audio Editor: Dizplay Studios

Music by Cosmo Sheldrake

Who Cares Wins intro: Kelsey Bennett

Artwork: Bethan Sherwood

…and just like that we have finished Series 2 of Who Cares Wins. This season sought to look at some of the social roots underneath the climate crisis - from women’s equality to paternal rights; from Mother Earth to capitalism. What a journey it has been: from LA to the Atacama Desert… from the Amazon Rainforest to Afghanistan. Lily welcomed some incredible voices onto the podcast from Indigenous Activist Nemonte Nenquimo to Comedian Podcaster Deborah Frances White; political commentator Douglas Murray to International Climate Diplomat, Christiana Figueres. Join Lily as she looks back at highlights from each episode, teases out common - and differing - messages, and identifies key solutions voiced, to protect the planet we love.

Links

https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2022/

https://amazonfrontlines.org/campaigns/who-should-decide/ 

Instagram

@lilycole 

@whocares.wins

Credits

Producer: Kelsey Bennett 

Audio Editor: Kit Milsom

Music by Cosmo Sheldrake

Artwork: Bethan Sherwood

We’re rounding off our Extraordinary Women episodes..and almost the series… with one extremely special woman, Sonia Ramos. 

Last week on the podcast Lily started her journey into the Atacama Desert where she spoke with Cristina Dorador, a Chilean microbiologist, who is now working on re-writing the Chilean constitution…

Cristina has worked closely with indigenous activists, including Sonia Ramos, to draw attention to the threats that lithium mining - booming because of the push for green tech - is having on those ecosystems. 

As Sonia says: “Cristina’s work is the science of practise….and her’s is the science of observation.”  

Sonia walked across Chile multiple times to protest what is happening to her land.

Credits

Producer: Kelsey Bennett 

Sound designer: Kit Milsom

Music by Cosmo Sheldrake

Artwork

Bethan Sherwood 

Who Cares Wins Presents another Extraordinary Woman, Cristina Dorador. 

Join Lily as she starts her journey into the Atacama Desert in Chile. The Green Tech industry is now booming but what are the implications for the lands that they are mining for lithium? 

Cristina Dorador is at the forefront of science. As a microbiologist, she is researching and advising on the impact of lithium mining on the indigenous lands of Chile and is dedicating her work to finding environmental solutions to this issue. Not only that but she's now helping to rewrite Chile’s constitution!

Part 2 will feature Sonia Ramos next week.

With thanks to:

https://www.albemarle.com/

https://www.impossible.com/

Credits

Producer: Kelsey Bennett 

Audio Editor: Ryan Nile 

Music by Cosmo Sheldrake

Other sources: Artlist 

Artwork: Bethan Sherwood

Who Cares Wins Presents another Extraordinary Women, Zarifa Ghafari.  

Zarifa - one of Afghanistan’s youngest female mayors to ever be elected, had to flee the country to Germany last year when the Taliban regained power. She's been tirelessly advocating for women’s rights in a country with one of the highest gender gaps between men and women globally. 

She is someone who has defied the odds to reach her leadership position but it has not been without sacrifice - she survived 4 assassination attempts, 1 which ultimately killed her Father, General Abdul Wasi Ghafari. 

The music you will hear throughout is from The Zohra Orchestra : Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra, named after the music goddess in Persian writings and who performed at Davos in 2017. 

LINKS

https://theecologist.org/2022/jun/27/womens-rights-can-mitigate-climate-impacts

https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/economy-development-environment/the-climate-change-crisis-in-afghanistan-the-catastrophe-worsens-what-hope-for-action/

https://cn.weforum.org/event_player/a0P68000001Kd0vEAC/sessions/afghanistan-the-day-after

CLIPS AND MUSIC

Intro: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/afghan-teenage-girls-cant-attend-school

Music from The Zohra Orchestra & thanks to Weforum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9-jqGuRDX8

Credits

Producer: Kelsey Bennett 

Audio Editor: Ryan Nile 

Music by Cosmo Sheldrake

Other sources: Amazon Frontlines & Artlist 

Artwork: Bethan Sherwood