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Worlds in Transition - Världar i Omställning

Worlds in Transition - Världar i Omställning

By MariaEF

Worlds in Transition, or 'Världar i Omställning' as the podcast series is called in Swedish, focuses on the transitions to sustainable lifeforms that goes on in different places around the world today, where people make change happen through active engagement in their own communities. In this first series I focus on introducing the concept of 'Transition' in the Swedish speaking parts of Finland, while also making visible the people leading this grassroots revolution in this part of the world. Future pods will bring more examples from around the globe.
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Steve Cote on Regenerating Public Lands through Fenceless Grazing

Worlds in Transition - Världar i OmställningJan 29, 2021

00:00
52:55
Satu and Sami Kumpulainen about the Wonders of Wool from heritage breeds in Finland

Satu and Sami Kumpulainen about the Wonders of Wool from heritage breeds in Finland

Satu and Sami Kumpulainen are siblings from Sievi in Ostrobothnia, Finland, who have dedicated their lives to sheep and wool. Together, they run the Isokummun farm and wool mill, which produces high quality yarn from the heritage breeds, Finnsheep and Kainuugrey. There are very few sheep farms focused on wool production in Finland simply because it is very hard to run this type of business—despite domestic wool being in high demand. Finland’s entry to the EU in 1995, and the lack of policies that would support domestic wool production, have left the country with a lack of infrastructure and know-how about the wool care for domestic sheep breeds. Due to this, most wool from sheep farms in Finland is considered a waste product and the indigenous Finnish breeds with high quality wool are in danger of going extinct. This is something that Satu and Sami want to change. Through the farm and mill operations at Isokummun, the Kumpulainen siblings aim to revitalize domestic wool production from heritage breeds in an ethically sound and environmentally friendly way. The Kumpulainens’ ethos is about fostering a respect for the indigenous Finnish sheep breeds and the incredible quality wool that these sheep can give us—if we care for them properly. In our conversation, we talk about what's so special about Finnish sheep breeds, the challenges sheep farmers have in Finland, and the rocky road taken by wool and yarn before it arrives to the shops.

Apr 01, 202245:35
Ulf Ullring om regenerativt lantbruk i Norge, Norden och världen

Ulf Ullring om regenerativt lantbruk i Norge, Norden och världen

Ulf Ullring från Østlandet i Norge är ursprungligen biolog till utbildningen men har också jobbat som jordbrukare, och med att sköta norska kulturlandskap, vilket också fört honom in på forskning kring betesdrift på betesmarker. Ull Ullring är en av pionjärerna i Europa inom den regenerativa rörelsen. Han var den första i norden som kom i kontakt med Allan Savorys läror om holistic management och det som han kallar målinriktat betesbruk. I den här diskussionen reder vi ut hur holistic management och regenerativt lantbruk har fått fotfäste i Europa och Norden samt skillnaden mellan dessa två begrepp. Ulf menar att det är en stor skillnad mellan hur man ser på brukad mark och vild natur inom utbildningsväsendet, och fram till nyligen höll alla sig till sitt eget “område”. Som biolog skulle man inte forska på betesmark på 80-talet men idag har forskare börjat bedriva mer multidisciplinär forskning där man drar nytta av insikter från båda ämnena. Vi diskuterar och hur den regenerativa certifieringssystemet EOV (eller ecological outcome verification som den heter på engelska) uppkommit och hur den skiljer sig från ekologiska certifieringsprocesser.

Intervju: Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes

Editering: Magdalena Lindroos

Feb 25, 202201:11:13
Åsa Vilhelmsson och Anders Assis om att regenerera landskap tillsammans med kor

Åsa Vilhelmsson och Anders Assis om att regenerera landskap tillsammans med kor

Åsa Vilhemsson och Anders Assis bor på Haskens i Sillerbo, i Hälsingland. Här driver de en gård enligt regenerativa principer. Utöver den egna gården jobbar Åsa som folkhögskolelärare och Anders förvaltar ett lokalmuseum i trakten. Deras resa in i det regenerativa har gått genom deras gemensamma intresse för historia och arkeologi. Berättelser om hur bondgårdar fungerade förr i tiden är något som alltid fascinerat dem och fått dem att själva bli intresserade av lantbruk. Men det var först när de kom i kontakt med Allan Savorys läror om holistic management som de började förstå hur allting hänger ihop. Det var som att ett svartvitt fotografi plötsligt fylldes med färger och gav en djupare mening till vad de håller på med.

Den erfarenhet som de fått via sin egen verksamhet och den kunskap som de skapat tillsammans med andra regenerativa bönder fick Åsa och Anders att vilja utbilda och inspirera andra om dessa metoder. Därför har de nu startat en ett-årig utbildning i regenerativt lantbruk på Bäckedals folkhögskola i Sveg i Härjedalen. Kursen drivs av regenerativa pionjärer i Norden, och syftet är att tillsammans med andra lära sig förstå den komplexitet som finns i landskapet och den självorganiserande helhet som vi människor är en del av. I det här poddavsnitten diskuterar vi hur Åsas och Anders syn på lantbruk förändrats under åren men också om hur samspelet mellan människan, djuren, och jorden kommit att forma deras syn på sig själva och det landskap de är en del av.

Intervju: Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes

Editering: Magdalena Lindroos

Feb 17, 202201:06:43
David Jonstad om flytten till landet och om att leva ett mer jordat liv

David Jonstad om flytten till landet och om att leva ett mer jordat liv

David Jonstad är journalisten som gjorde en u-sväng i livet och valde att flytta ut från Stockholm till en liten gård i Dalarna. Längtan till landet vaknade i David efter att han insåg att det inte finns några teknologidrivna innovationer som kan lösa den djupa ekologiska kris som mänskligheten och planeten befinner sig i. Under åren som gått har han hunnit skriva flera böcker där han reflekterar över klimatkrisen och den industriella civilisationens baksida. I den senaste boken Meningen med landet som kom ut hösten 2021 skriver David om sin egen resa ut från stan till landet och vad som på riktigt skänker livet mening när man vågar ta sig ur tillväxtekonomins och konsumtionssamhällets grepp. I det här poddavsnitten diskuterar vi den gradvisa förändring som David upplevt då ha börjat rota sig i en ny verklighet på landet, och hur hans egen identitet förändrats då han kommit närmare den natur han ser sig vara en del av. Vi talar också om hur svårt det kan vara att göra en sådan här omvälvande förändring utan att bränna ut sig på köpet.

Intervju: Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes
Foto Maria Hansson
Editering Magdalena Lindroos

Feb 04, 202255:24
Daniel Christian Wahl: Designing Regenerative Cultures

Daniel Christian Wahl: Designing Regenerative Cultures

Daniel Christian Wahl is originally from Germany but currently lives on the island of Mallorca in Spain. Daniel’s book, Designing Regenerative Cultures, has been a source of inspiration for many who want to learn more about what it means to engage in regenerative approaches in different areas of life. In this conversation we speak about Daniel’s own journey into topics related to regeneration and how he sees the changes that needs to take place to alter the destructive path most cultures are on today. Daniel says that sustainability or regeneration is a process of journeying into the future, rather than some sort of master plan blueprint that you can design, implement and then live happily ever after. Instead of getting caught up in thoughts about a collapsing ecology, Daniel thinks that the human dimension needs to be brought back into conversation in order to deal with the multitude of crises that the planet is facing. He says that to make a change happen and shift the discourse we need to look within ourselves and ask ourselves who are we, where do we come from, and where are we going?

Jan 21, 202201:07:33
Precious Phiri: Healing community and land through regenerative agriculture in Zimbabwe

Precious Phiri: Healing community and land through regenerative agriculture in Zimbabwe

Precious Phiri is a training and development specialist in regenerative agricultural practices and community organizing in Zimbabwe. Her main interest lies in working with rural communities to fight and reverse poverty, desertification, loss of wildlife, and climate change and its effects. She has recently founded an organization called EarthWisdom with the knowledge of her 9 year career as a Senior Facilitator at the Africa Centre for Holistic Management (ACHM) in Zimbabwe. In this conversation we talk about how regenerative management is not only healing land but also communities in areas that are marked by the legacy of colonialism. Precious knows how to work with communities and get them to unite on the common goal of healing land, and she also talks about the importance of tackling historic backgrounds and myths mindsets that may prohibit communities from engaging in transformative actions that can change the trajectory of the lives of the people and their lands.

Jan 14, 202244:43
Kristen Krash: Regenerating the Land in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest

Kristen Krash: Regenerating the Land in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest

Kristen Krash has set up a small farm called Sueño de Vida in Pedro Vicente Maldonado in Ecuador. She has a university degree in history, which shines through in her reflections and observations on what happens on the land. After working for a long time as a yoga teacher and practicing inner transformation, Kristen felt a call to be of greater service, by doing something on a larger scale. This calling prompted her and her partner to move from the United States to start a small agroforestry farm in the cloud forests of Ecuador. Kristen’s vision is to set an example of how to do regenerative farming in tropical ecosystems by reconnecting to the ancient, Indigenous ways, of living off the land and re-introducing methods that were “stolen” from the people during the green revolution in the 60s and 70s. She says that to do this you have to be able to create a sense of economic and environmental security for the people living off the land. Drawing on her insights about the history of collapsed civilizations, what Kristen means is that how we produce nutrient dense crops that can feed people is central if we do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. She wants to make clear that farming based on grazing animals is not always the best regenerative solution for the land, rather what kind of regenerative systems that should be put in place are highly dependent on where in the world the system is located. In her location, she believes that a system built on syntropic agroforestry practices, where you combine heavy tree pruning practices with other locally adapted agroecological systems will bring remarkable regenerative results.


Editing: Magdalena Lindroos

Picture: Hanna Park

Jan 07, 202201:04:00
Joshua Finch about Setting up an Urban Permaculture Farm in Finland

Joshua Finch about Setting up an Urban Permaculture Farm in Finland

Joshua Finch is originally from Florida in the United States. Today he lives in Finland with his Finnish wife and daughter. Five years ago, Joshua set up an urban permaculture-inspired farm in Espoo, nearby Helsinki, where he has been experimenting with agroecology and vegetable production sold directly to urban consumers. In this conversation, we talk about how he found his way to permaculture, holistic management, and agroecology. In addition, we reflect on his experience of setting up a market garden farm and what he has learned over the last five years about our current food system. Joshua also reflects on the limitations in the current food system, and his thoughts on how they are a result of modern farming and food production practices built up under thousands of years.

Jan 03, 202201:07:08
Vetenskapskarnevalen: Från ekonomisk tillväxt till ekologisk ekonomi
Dec 17, 202142:15
Gail Fuller about the Transition from Conventional to Regenerative Farming

Gail Fuller about the Transition from Conventional to Regenerative Farming

Gail Fuller is a pioneering regenerative farmer at the Fuller Farm near Emporia, Kansas, an area often dominated by conventionally tilled fields. Experiencing the problems of land erosion first hand is what initially drove Gail to experiment with no-till practices in the mid-1980s. After a few years of experimentations and failures, Gail realized that the key to success was asking the right questions about what the farm and the land needed. He started using cover crops and brought many different animals back to the farm. This led to a rapid recovery of the land, which also served to repair the water cycle, rehydrated the soil, and improved the soil fertility. In this conversation, we discuss the benefits and the vulnerabilities that can be involved when doing things differently in a traditional farming community, and the urgent need for a regional food system to support the conversion from monoculture landscapes—with their heavily tilled and degraded soils—to a diversified system that regenerates communities both above and below the ground.


Nov 05, 202133:59
Gundula Rhoades: How food solves the ecological and health crisis of people, animals and the planet

Gundula Rhoades: How food solves the ecological and health crisis of people, animals and the planet

Gundula Rhoades owns a veterinary practice in Inverell, New South Wales, Australia. Her recently published book, The Food Solution: Eating Today to Save Tomorrow, explains that by eating food that comes from regenerative farms we can help to reverse the degradation of human, animal, and soil health while also combatting climate change. In our conversation, we speak about how Gundula, or Gundi as she prefers to be called, came to realize the connection between soil health, animal health, and human health, and how her training in veterinary sciences did not prepare her to take a holistic approach to healing. We also talk about the changes that she sees currently happening in Australia; as more and more people are realizing the benefits of switching away from chemical-driven food production to more regenerative approaches of healing the land. In addition, we explore the effects of this shift she has noticed in the people and the animals visiting her veterinary clinic.

Oct 25, 202145:50
Tor Lennart Tuorda: Om samernas kamp mot den 'gröna' omställningen
Oct 15, 202147:59
Pablo Borrelli on Working to Regenerate the Landscape in Argentina

Pablo Borrelli on Working to Regenerate the Landscape in Argentina

Pablo Borrelli from the province of Chubut in Patagonia, southern Argentina has spent most of his career as a researcher and consultant trying to help farmers deal with desertification. For more than 30 years he thought that the problem was overgrazing and that farmers needed to reduce the number of animals on the land. However, this advice did not seem to help farmers, as their lands only continued to deteriorate and left them exposed to an ever-decreasing income from farming. In 2007, Pablo came across the work of some pioneering farmers that followed the principles of holistic management and planned grazing to heal their land and he started to look into what it was all about. He says that this turn to holistic management is what has saved his career. Since he began helping farmers to plan the movement of large herds of sheep and cattle on grasslands, Pablo has seen countless examples of land coming back to life. He has also helped to develop a worldwide certification system called EOV, or Ecological Outcome Verification, which works both as a label for the final products, such as wool, leather and meat, and as a tool for farmers to monitor and observe how their regenerative work helps to improved biodiversity, water infiltration, and carbon sequestration in the soil. In this conversation, we also discuss the lack of governmental support, and the role of market forces and large corporations to support farmers when switching towards regeneration. For Pablo, getting more farmers on board is what matters the most if massive amounts of land are to be saved from turning into deserts. There is absolutely no time to lose.

Oct 08, 202159:30
Donna and James Winter-Irving on their journey into regenerative agriculture in Australia

Donna and James Winter-Irving on their journey into regenerative agriculture in Australia

Donna and James Winter-Irving from Nagambie in Victoria, Australia, have transitioned from conventional to regenerative agriculture. Initially, it was Donna’s interest in permaculture that convinced her there must be another way to do farming in the dry landscapes of Australia. After attending a course on holistic management, the couple started to apply what they had learned in their own field. During this conversation we speak about the remarkable results they have seen related to both the profitability of the farm and how the land has responded as they have changed how they tend the land. We also speak about how important a community of support is for those making this kind of transition, and how holistic management, as a land practice, differs from permaculture, which is widely known in Australia where this land-based philosophy and teaching was originally invented. 

Editing: Magdalena Lindroos

Sep 03, 202154:26
Brian Wehlburg on going from growing tobacco to holistic land management

Brian Wehlburg on going from growing tobacco to holistic land management

Brian Wehlburg once grew tobacco in Zimbabwe, but in his search for how to preserve biodiversity and restore the health of degraded farmland he became an early adopter of Allan Savory’s teachings on holistic management and regenerative agriculture. Today Brian lives in Australia where he teaches others what he has learned over the past three decades. He also manages his own farm with grass-fed beef, pork, and chickens. Brian says that “it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, you can help the earth regenerate itself by improving the water cycle, the mineral cycle, and capturing as much sunlight as possible in the plants and on the land. This is what holistic management is all about and by improving these things life can get better for not just yourself, but for everybody.” Through his work, Brian has realized how important it is to have a healthy vision about what kind of life you want to live. It is through this type of vision that we can start seeing the world differently and thereby start doing things differently. In this conversation, we also talk about how the Covid-pandemic and the bush fires in Australia have affected the visions of how people think about their own future. There are more people interested in regenerative agriculture than ever before.


The podcast was recorded in January 2021.


Editing: Magdalena Lindroos

Aug 27, 202147:55
Living and teaching self-sufficiency in the Finnish wilderness!

Living and teaching self-sufficiency in the Finnish wilderness!

*This is a guest podcast made by Carolyn Tourunen, Linda Grönfors and Heidi Koivisto, Hanken School of Economy students in Sustainable Organizing in Times of Crises course.*

Welcome to a trip to Omavaraopisto, the School of Self-sufficiency, located in Rumo, North Karelia. In Omavaraopisto you will learn how to be self-sufficient by doing and experiencing the lifestyle in first hand. Omavaraopisto’s founders Maria Dorff and Lasse Nordlund will tell us more about the School and their experiences on self-sufficiency. Come and join us to the trip to the beautiful Finnish wilderness!

May 28, 202133:01
Elizabeth Barkla on Restoring Landscapes through Regenerative Farming in Chilean South

Elizabeth Barkla on Restoring Landscapes through Regenerative Farming in Chilean South

Elizabeth Barkla grew up on an organic dairy farm in New Zealand. While watching the cows on her childhood farm, she always had a feeling that there was something that was not right in the way that agriculture affected the natural environment. Yet, it was only when visiting a regenerative farm following holistic management principles on the island of Tierra del Fuego in Chile, when she understood what she calls ‘guilt free farming’ actually looks like in practice. Today, Elizabeth lives on her own farm in Aysén, where she together with her veterinary husband and herds of sheep, cows, horses and hens help regenerate the landscape. Through this work, Elizabeth has witnessed hands on the changes that happen in the soil, the plants, and the animals when nature is given a chance to regenerate on its own terms. In this conversation, we talk about how switching to regenerative practices means that the farmer can quite using chemicals, tractors, ploughs and seeding on the land, while increasing the profitability of the farm.

Editing: Magdalena Lindroos

May 14, 202143:25
Didi Pershouse on how regenerative approaches improve the health of soil, water, climate and people

Didi Pershouse on how regenerative approaches improve the health of soil, water, climate and people

Didi Pershouse, from Thetford Center, Vermont, teaches courses in regenerative approaches at the Land and Leadership initiative. Her books Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function and Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities connect the dots between the health of people and the health of soils, watersheds, and other living systems. In this conversation, we talk about her path from being a practitioner of ecological, or sustainable medicine to traveling across North America doing water infiltration tests, hanging out with cows, and meeting ranchers that have shifted from conventional ways of doing agriculture to holistic regenerative approaches. We also discuss Didi's observation that many farmers and ranchers who shift to regenerative management for practical reasons, end up having a response that Didi calls “falling in love with the world”.

Photo: Abigail Feldman
Editing: Magdalena Lindroos

Apr 23, 202159:33
Misty West Gay on decentring human privilege through a systems view of ranching

Misty West Gay on decentring human privilege through a systems view of ranching

Misty West Gay and her husband Jonathan Gay have a background in software business from the time when Internet was still young. In 2003, inspired by their grandparents work as farmers, Misty and Jon left their office jobs to become ranchers themselves. Today they tend the land of the Free Stone Ranch in Sonoma County, just north of the San Francisco Bay Area. In this conversation, Misty explores her own paths into to ranching. She refers to herself as a writer and a poet who has a special interest in bringing the landscape into the equation of food production. She reflects on her grandparents’ roots in the land and her parents’ desire to get away from the painful intersections between care for the land and economic citizenship. She and her husband had hoped to bring city resources to the land, but they discovered that it is all quite complicated. Their main concern has always been to care for all the living plants, microbes, fungi and animals on the land in order to regenerate the soil and the wider landscape. Inspired by system theory thinking and particularly the pioneering work of feminist scholar Donna Haraway, Misty speaks of the need to de-center the human privilege in food production. She says this is important if we are to understand how caring for animals and land includes a deeper sense of interspecies connections that goes far beyond what we comprehend by forcing such relations into the material world of goods and services.

Apr 16, 202141:50
Rebecca Hosking from wildlife filmmaking to agriwilding landscapes

Rebecca Hosking from wildlife filmmaking to agriwilding landscapes

Rebecca Hosking used to travel the world as a wildlife filmmaker for the BBC. During her travels she constantly encountered the destruction that agriculture caused to the precious wildlife that she was there to document. This led her on a path back to her family’s farm in Devon in the southwest of England.. Today she runs  part of the farm herself which allows her to experiment with what she calls agriwilding, a combination of agriculture and wildlife that is both climate-friendly and helps to boost biodiversity in the landscape. In this conversation, we speak about the deep connection Rebecca has with the animals on her farm, and what it feels like to be a woman doing agriculture differently in a field where most of the peers are men. We also talk about how the beauty of the stories on her farm helps to feed the local wool economy in the United Kingdom.

Apr 09, 202151:37
Philipp Weiss on the Promising Potentials of Food Forests in the Nordics

Philipp Weiss on the Promising Potentials of Food Forests in the Nordics

Philipp Weiss from Stjärnsund, Sweden, is an environmental engineer who worked in industry and academia, before realizing that life is too short to spend it in an office. He quit his job and turned his passion for edible perennial plants into a livelihood, writing books and teaching on the topic. Growing up in southern Germany, Philipp’s childhood home was located nearby an edible landscape, made up of hundreds of abandoned orchards that had naturally become a food forest on a large scale. This childhood memory of perennial abundance is what inspired Philipp to plant a food forest in his own garden and eventually also in the larger landscape of his community. In this conversation, we talk about the possibilities of establishing food forests at scale in the Nordics.

Mar 06, 202151:51
Blain Hjertaas on Going from Grains to Grass to Achieve Soil Regeneration

Blain Hjertaas on Going from Grains to Grass to Achieve Soil Regeneration

Blain Hjertaas is a third generation farmer with a lifetime of experience from the family farm near Redvers, Saskatchewan, Canada. About 20 years ago, Blain transitioned from conventional hi-tech grain production to holistic management principles, incorporating multi-species rotational grazing on grasslands, mimicking what the bison used to do on the same land several hundred years ago. After seeing the amazing changes on his land, Blain developed a passion for soil health and became an educator on how to switch land practices to help regenerate the landscape. In this conversation we speak of the remarkable changes he witnessed when the land that he cares for started coming back to life after decades of ploughing and grain farming.

Feb 26, 202147:28
Ronnie Cummins on How Grassroots Movements Are Building a More Regenerative Future

Ronnie Cummins on How Grassroots Movements Are Building a More Regenerative Future

Ronnie Cummins is founder and director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a non-profit network of consumers promoting a healthy, just, and regenerative system of food, farming, and trade. His recent book Grassroots Rising, is a call for action to build a strong global Regeneration Movement around education and awareness, consumer activism and farmer innovation that can also inspire to political change. In our conversation, we discuss how such grassroots alliances around regenerative farming can inspire citizens worldwide to become active participants in preventing ecological collapse and helping regenerative farmer to sequester large amounts of carbon in the soil.


Editing: Magdalena Lindroos


Feb 05, 202144:30
Steve Cote on Regenerating Public Lands through Fenceless Grazing

Steve Cote on Regenerating Public Lands through Fenceless Grazing

Steve Arco from Arco in Idaho, has been a soil and range conservationist for USDA for 27 years. During these years, he has acquired knowledge of how to handle and move grazing cattle on public land in a way that reduces stress in animals while increasing the health of soils on public lands. Inspired by the work of Bud Williams and Allan Savory, Steve has taught and written books on Stockmanship, which includes insights about how to manage cattle in ways that improve the health of the animals and the land that they graze. In this conversation, we speak about the role that well trained ranchers can play in helping cows to restore the health of rangelands and farms worldwide. We also discuss how Steve has come to realize that it is not the lack of knowledge or proof that these techniques are working, but rather inherited believes are limiting change in farming and ranging practices to occur on a larger scale.

Editing: Tommi Ranta

Photo: Matt Barnes

Jan 29, 202152:55
Ian McSweeney on making regenerative farming work through new land ownership models

Ian McSweeney on making regenerative farming work through new land ownership models

Ian McSweeney is the director of Agrarian Land Trust, an organization that works to bring farms into community centered ownership and equitable lease tenure. Recently, the Trust initiated a crowdfunding campaign with Fayette County and the Urban Renewal Authority to bring about secure and equitable lease tenure to New Roots Community Farm in the post-coal region of Southern West Virginia, in the United States. In this discussion with Ian we talk about why it is so important to find ways to fund the transfer of farmlands to the hands of the communities involved and how this can help a new generation of farmers who are eager to do regenerative farming but often lack the resources to do so.

Jan 22, 202139:25
Kevin Maher fostering futures through Agroforestry projects

Kevin Maher fostering futures through Agroforestry projects

Kevin Maher is a former commodity trader that became an agroforestry entrepreneur in upstate New York in the US. When one of his children got a rare food intolerance, Kevin started looking into the food and food production system. This started him down the path of agriculture; first becoming a member of a local Community Supported Agriculture, getting involved in the Transition Town movement and eventually doing some small scale farming himself. Through his involvement in local food production, he realized that agriculture can be a leverage point that bring people with capital together with people who know how to create a healthy ecosystems that sequester carbon and increase biodiversity. In our conversation, we talk about the potentials that large scale investments in agroforestry have for producing nourishing food, and building strong local economies.

Interview: Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes
Editing: Magdalena Lindroos
Photo: Sam Brooks Walker

Nov 27, 202050:34
Jon Lundgren about how regenerative farming supports insects and bees

Jon Lundgren about how regenerative farming supports insects and bees

Jonathan Lundgren used to be one of the leading entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, promoting the use of various insecticides on farmlands to combat pests. After listening to farmers who managed to enhance biodiversity on their farms using regenerative practices, Jonathan started asking himself questions about the negative impacts of the scientific results he was producing. Today Jonathan is no longer working for the USDA but has set up Blue Dasher farm in South Dakota. Here he uses his research to demonstrate how regenerative agriculture is part of the solution to build more resilient, diversified and pesticide-free food systems. We discuss the role of the scientist in the transition towards farming methods that support the health of insects, soils, people and the planet.

Oct 28, 202040:25
Kristina Forsberg om kornas roll i skapandet av en blomstrande landsbygd

Kristina Forsberg om kornas roll i skapandet av en blomstrande landsbygd

Kristina Forsberg bor i Ludvika i Sverige och för 3-4 år sedan sadlade hon om från en karriär inom det akademiska till bonde. Idag driver hon regenerativt lantbruk på hemgården. I det här samtalet diskuterar vi hur det kom sig att hon valde att satsa helhjärtat på lokal matförsörjning och hur hela byn där hon bor kom att stötta familjens projekt för de ville få njuta av en levande landsbygd med gräsbetande kor.

Editering: Tommi Ranta
Foto:  Louise Norström


Läs mer om poddserien och projektet Världar i Omställning på www.varldariomstallning.fi och www.worldsintransition.com.

Oct 21, 202035:15
Andrew McMillion about his journey into community seed banks

Andrew McMillion about his journey into community seed banks

Andrew McMillion grew up as an expat in Europe, Asia and the States and ended up in Norway where he studied philosophy in his youth. There he learn about the deep ecology philosophy taught by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. Being later employed in the tech industry in different parts of the world, Andrew started to think deeply about the environment and the consequences that climate change will have on all aspects of life across the globe. One think led to another and eventually he ended up buying a small farm near Oslo Norway, quitting his daytime job, and setting up a greenhouse. In this conversation we discuss how seed saving and community seed banks have played an important role in rooting Andrew´s life purpose in the very ecology which he is part of.

Photo: Karen Gjermundrød

Editing: Tommi Ranta


Oct 06, 202055:29
Daniela Ibarra-Howell on the Emergence of Holistic Management as a Global Movement

Daniela Ibarra-Howell on the Emergence of Holistic Management as a Global Movement

Daniela Ibarra-Howell is the co-founder and director of the Savory Institute in Colorado in the United States. As a child, growing up in Buenos Aires in Argentina Daniela dreamt of moving out of the big city to the countryside and so she studied agronomy so she could find a job out in the field. But in Argentina in the late 1980s, it was not easy for a woman agronomist to become a rancher. Instead, Daniela became a governmental advisor at the ministry of agriculture where she also become intrigued by the challenges of desertification. To find answers to these challenges she went to study in New Zeeland, where she also met her future husband Jim Howell. Jim introduced Daniela to the work of Zimbabwean Allan Savory, whose principles on holistic management gave her the answers she was looking for. One thing lead to the other and as a newlywed couple the Howells moved to the United States and founded the Savory Institute, a learning hub around holistic management practices. In our conversation we talk about the development of the regenerative agriculture movement that applies holistic management to their farmlands and how such practices affects life on land and the life of the farmers.

Photo: Savory Institute
Editing: Tommi Ranta

Aug 18, 202057:57
Magdalena Urioste on practising regenerative farming in Uruguay

Magdalena Urioste on practising regenerative farming in Uruguay

Magdalena Urioste in Uruguay calls herself a woman of the land. She grew up with ranching grandparents and parents and always wanted to have her own farm. But because of her gender and her economic circumstance that was not possible when she was young. Instead, she lived many years abroad and worked in the education sector before returning to her homelands to start a regenerative farm. She speaks of the incredible journey into revitalizing degraded land by applying holistic management practices to the soil and the effects this has on leading a healthy life. She also speaks of the alternative markets, community schools and the women’s network that she has been involved in setting up to create a regenerative culture in different parts of Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.

Aug 14, 202042:45
Susan Jennings on awakenings and regenerative farming's role in creating more resilient food systems

Susan Jennings on awakenings and regenerative farming's role in creating more resilient food systems

Susan Jennings is the director of the non-profit organization Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions, in Ohio, whose mission is to educate people about how to build community resilience in the midst of climate change. Recently this NGO bought a piece of land to create its own educational centre around regenerative agricultural practices for farmers, local community members and nearby schools. In our conversation, we speak of Susan’s own journey into regenerative practices and farming, which evolved from a chain of events following a spiritual awakening many years ago. We also speak of how all the disruptions that the covid-crisis have created in the conventional food supply chain has created a massive awareness about the urgent need to transition to more local and resilient ways of producing and consuming food.
Editing: Tommi Ranta

Jul 09, 202031:35
Thomas Snellman: Revolutionising Local Food through the REKO network

Thomas Snellman: Revolutionising Local Food through the REKO network

Thomas Snellman from Pedersöre in Finland is the founder of the REKO model that has come to revolutionise the local food scene in almost all Nordic countries. REKO stands for ‘rejäl konsumtion’, or fair consumption in English. It is a model for direct trading of food that connects local farmers with local consumers by using Facebook as its ordering platform and free parking lots for the delivery of the produce. Since the first delivery took place in 2013, REKO has experienced an exponential growth that covers large parts of the Nordic countries. Today the REKO network includes more than 500 local groups that in total connects 1.5 million consumers with 15000 local farms. In this conversation with Thomas, we talk about his own REKO-journey; how did he come up with this idea? And what are the reasons behind the success of REKO? We also talk about why REKO has proven to be so useful during the Corona crisis.

Editing: Tommi Ranta
Photo: Jonas Brunnström

Jun 11, 202030:51
Judith D. Schwartz: Regenerating Planetary Life through Soil, Water, Cows and Reindeers

Judith D. Schwartz: Regenerating Planetary Life through Soil, Water, Cows and Reindeers

Judith D. Schwartz is a journalist and author living in the mountains of Vermont. In her earlier career, she wrote articles for women’s magazines, about women’s health, and personal development. During the 2008 economic downturn, Judith started to ask herself questions about the origins of wealth creation. How can GDP be a measure of prosperity while not accounting for the wellbeing of nature? The questions led her on a journey of discovery of how soils are the source of true wealth creation in a healthy society. In her two books, titled “Cows Save the Planet” and “Water in Plain Sight”, Judith writes about the role of animal-land dynamics in restoring soils and the availability of clean water. In this conversation, we talk about how everything in nature is connected and how Judith’s insights on grazing animals led her to connect with Sami reindeer herders and other grassroots movements that promote soil restoration to address problems related to human and ecological health.

Jun 08, 202039:41
Peter Nelson on the migrating bees and their role in feeding America

Peter Nelson on the migrating bees and their role in feeding America

Peter Nelson is a filmmaker from the Hudson Valley in upstate New York. He grew up as a ‘free-range kid', always out in nature following the life of the birds and the insects. This eventually led him to become a backyard beekeeper. In the movie ‘The Pollinators’ he wanted to combine his love for food, nature and filmmaking skills to tell the story of the migrating beekeepers and their honeybees. In our conversation, we discuss the making of the movie and about the annual transportation of millions of beehives in and out of fruit, nut and vegetable fields on a tight schedule to ensure pollination on a massive scale. We also talk about how people can become involved to and support the practices and initiatives needed to reverse the detrimental effects that modern agriculture has on the health of these honey producing pollinators.

Editing: Tommi Ranta
Picture: Eric Krieger

May 06, 202033:19
Alicia Trezise-Segervall about starting up a small wool mill
May 05, 202038:58
Karl and Rose Wright about becoming sheep farmers in Petalax

Karl and Rose Wright about becoming sheep farmers in Petalax

Karl and Rose Wright from the Pacific Northwest in the USA have done what you could call ‘a reverse journey of emigration. After living most of their lives in cities and doing nine to five office jobs, they suddenly found themselves longing for a life in the countryside. In their search for the perfect place to live with their family, and a heard of sheep, they decided to move to Finland, back to the lands that Karl’s grandfather once had left in search for a new beginning in the USA. Together with four of their five children, Karl and Rose packed all their belongings and moved to Petalax, a small village in the Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnian countryside in western Finland. In our conversation, we talk about the reasons behind their decision to the leave the United States and what it signifies to become a sheep farmer from abroad in a place like Petalax.
Photo: Sebastián Fuentes
Editing: Tommi Ranta

Apr 23, 202056:16
Rob Hopkins about the emergence of the Transition Movement

Rob Hopkins about the emergence of the Transition Movement

Rob Hopkins is one of the founders of the Transition Network ­­­­­that emerged from the Transition Town Initiative in Totnes in the mid 2000s. Rob has written several books about how local communities can build resilience and more sustainable life forms by localizing the economy and making use of the skills and ability that exist within the community itself. I met Rob in 2018 at Schumacher collage just outside Totnes. During our conversation we talked about how the Transition Network originally emerged and spread across the world. We also discussed the challenges that arise when people from diverse backgrounds come together to change their behaviours and practices. Editing: Tommi Ranta

Apr 21, 202046:31
Avsnitt 15: Jörgen Andersson: om lokal mat och regenerativt jordbruk i Coronans skugga

Avsnitt 15: Jörgen Andersson: om lokal mat och regenerativt jordbruk i Coronans skugga

Jörgen Andersson i Åre är bonden som genom sitt genuina intresse för hållbar utveckling sökt hållbara lösningar för sitt jordrbuk. Han var en av de första i Norden som började tala för regenerativt jordbruk, alltså hur man kan stärka vitaliteten i ekosystemet med hjälp av gräsbetande djur och stöttande lokala ekonomier. I vårt samtal funderar vi på lokal matförsörjning i koronakrisens skugga. Vad behöver vi tänka på när den värld som vi vant oss vid plötsligt rämnar i tu? Vad händer med maten? Och hur kan vi använda krisen till att bygga mer hållbara lokala system?

Foto: Ole Rönning Kristiansson. Editering: Tommi Ranta

Apr 05, 202041:13
Avsnitt 14 - Jessica Granlund om självhushållning och hållbara relationer till djur och natur

Avsnitt 14 - Jessica Granlund om självhushållning och hållbara relationer till djur och natur

Jessica Granlund är djurhomeopaten, snickaren, och landsbygdsföretagaren som gjorde verklighet av sin barndomsdröm om att kunna rå om sitt eget hus. Hon flyttade ut till skogen i Petalax och blev självhushållare. Tillsammans med sin man och sina två barn har hon byggt upp en gård där det mesta cirklar kring alla de djur som finns på gården. Vi träffas för att samtala om hennes insikter om relationen mellan djurens, naturens och människans välbefinnande.

Jan 27, 202058:46
Världar i omställning - Avsnitt 12: Barbro Heikinmatti om konsten att kunna spinna hållbara garn

Världar i omställning - Avsnitt 12: Barbro Heikinmatti om konsten att kunna spinna hållbara garn

Barbro Heikinmatti är bibliotekarien och stickaren som på 80-talet tog saken i sina egna händer när hon märkte att kvaliteten på hennes stickgarn blev allt sämre. Det var konstfibrernas frammarsch som plötsligt gjorde att garnet hon vuxit upp med inte längre betedde sig som det skulle då hon stickade kläder åt sitt barn. För att garantera god kvalitet på sina stickalster bestämde hon sig för att lära sig spinna sina egna garn. Genom försök och misstag, och helt utan det stöd som idag finns att få via internet blev hon efter en tid en riktig mästare på att spinna. Idag är hon ett levande uppslagsverk när det gäller ullens historia och funktionalitet, men hon kan också om beklädnadsbranschen miljöpåverkan och den grynande medvetenheten som slagit rot hos dagens unga stickare. Vi träffades i hennes hus i Vörå för att prata om just detta; hur förstå hållbarhet genom en spinnares och stickares livslånga lärdomar. 

Editering: Tommi Ranta

Dec 29, 201959:15
Världar i omställning - Avsnitt 11: Samtal med Ingrid Biese om vad vi kan lära oss av Världar i Omställning

Världar i omställning - Avsnitt 11: Samtal med Ingrid Biese om vad vi kan lära oss av Världar i Omställning

Ingrid Biese är forskardoktor vid Social och kommunalhögskolan i Helsingfors. Hon har doktorerat och skrivit en bok om kvinnor som hoppar av karriären för att kunna välja arbeta på det sätt som passar dem bäst. Just nu forskar hon i män som hoppat av sin karriär. I det här sammanfattande samtalet i poddserien Världar i Omställning diskuterar vi på vilket sätt omställningsberättelserna liknar eller skiljer sig från det hon tidigare forskat i. Vi diskuterar också deras relation till min tidigare forskning om människor som försvarar sitt sätt att leva mot miljöförstörande projekt i sina byasamhällen. Under vårt samtal funderar vi på hur berättelserna som varit med i poddserien bidrar till förändring som stöder mer hållbara livsformer på denna planet.
Editering: Tommi Ranta

Nov 14, 201953:56
Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 10: Pella Thiel om att leda och organisera omställning lokalt och globalt

Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 10: Pella Thiel om att leda och organisera omställning lokalt och globalt

Pella Thiel är en av förgrundsgestalterna i Omställningsnätverket, den svenska delen av Transition Network som är en sorts paraplyorganisation för grupperingar och initiativ som jobbar med att ta fram mer hållbara livsformer lokalt. Sedan ung ålder har hon varit medveten om det ansvar och den möjlighet varje enskild individ egentligen har för att skapa förändring i människan relation till naturen hon är en del av. Hennes grundläggande tes är att den samhällsstruktur vi lever i idag, som bygger på ekonomisk tillväxt och separation från naturen, inte kommer att hålla ihop. Den är inte hållbar inom planetens gränser helt enkelt. Den övergripande frågan som hon jobbar med handlar därför om hur man kan skapa en kulturförändring så att människor börjar leva i balans och harmoni med varandra och ’det mer än mänskliga’ på denna planet. Vi pratar om hennes egen insats i det här förändringsarbetet men också om alla de utmaningarna som uppstår då man ger sig på att organisera samhällelig förändring från gräsrotsnivå.
Editering: Tommi Ranta
Foto: Marie Sparreus

Nov 14, 201938:30
Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 9: Christin Furu och Simon Gripenberg om omställning genom berättelser, konst och teknik

Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 9: Christin Furu och Simon Gripenberg om omställning genom berättelser, konst och teknik

Christin Furu och Simon Gripenberg bor i Jakobstad. De har länge engagerat sig i frågor som gäller hållbarhet och ekologi och har en djup förståelse för de hållbarhetsutmaningar som finns på systemnivå i dagens värld. I vårt samtal diskuterar vi vad det är som driver dem att engagera sig i de här frågorna och hur de själv jobbar med att skapa förändring i samhället i stort. I sin roll som universitetslektor i småbarnspedagogik vid Helsingfors Universitet använder sig Christin av berättelser för att öppna upp för samtal kring grundläggande moraliska värderingar med barn och vuxna i dagismiljöer. Simon har kombinerat sitt intresse för teknik, naturvetenskap och konst för att konkretisera och väcka allmänhetens nyfikenhet om tekniska lösningar som inte kräver komplexa storskaliga och resursintensiva insatser utan utgår från enkla material i kombination med naturens egen kraft.
Editering: Tommi Ranta.

Nov 14, 201956:00
Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 8: Alicia Trezise-Segervall om att starta ett litet ullspinneri

Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 8: Alicia Trezise-Segervall om att starta ett litet ullspinneri

Alicia Trezise-Segervall är ursprungligen från Sydney i Australien men kärleken förde henne till Vasa och därifrån till den lilla byn Koskö i Korsholm. Tidigare jobbade Alicia med international business på stora globala företag men idag är det det ultra lokala som ä drivkraften i hennes verksamhet. I Koskös gamla nerlagda skola har hon nämligen öppnat ett ullspinneri med maskiner som såldes på den lokala andrahands marknaden Findit. I vårt samtal talar vi inte bara om hennes resa in i den lokala ullens underbara värld, utan också om de hinder som finns för att garn- och beklädnadsbranschen ska bli mer hållbar i Finland. Samtalet är på engelska.

Editering: Tommi Ranta

Nov 14, 201938:41
Världar i omställning -Avsnitt 7: Mathias Nystrand, skrotkonst och alternativt leverne

Världar i omställning -Avsnitt 7: Mathias Nystrand, skrotkonst och alternativt leverne

Mathias Nystrand är författaren som blev skrotkonstnisse som blev byggare som blev självhushållare. När jag träffade Mathias bodde han ännu i Vörå i Svenska Litteratursällskapets hus Abramsgården. Där har han förutom att förkovra sig i sitt skrivande också haft skrotkonstsutställningar och workshops för skolbarn om hur man kan förvandla skrot till något vackert och värdefullt. Vårt samtal handlar bland annat om just hur skrot kan vara en väg in i omställning. Vi pratar också om hur pengar sätter gränser för vilken sorts omställning som kan ske och hur identiteten som uppstår i en arbetsgemenskap är en central del av hur individen definieras i dagens samhälle.
Editering: Tina Nyfors

Nov 14, 201931:03
Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 6: Julia Degerth om Zerowaste och hållbara värderingar 

Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 6: Julia Degerth om Zerowaste och hållbara värderingar 

Julia är personen bakom bloggen Grön i Åbo. Hon har ända sedan ung ålder känt ett stort intresse för miljöfrågor. Hon tänker mycket på frågor som har med miljö att göra och med bloggen har hon kunnat bygga upp ett kontaktnätverk till andra som går med likadana tankar. Idag brinner hon framförallt för en zerowaste-livstil och det är något hon också fått mycket uppmärksamhet för både på bloggen och som föreläsare runtomkring Åbo. I vårt samtal handlar mycket om hur man kan ställa om sitt liv så att det innehåller mindre plaster och avfall och hur Julia blir bemött i sin strävan att inspirera andra att våga leva ett mer hållbart liv.
Editering: Tommi Ranta

Nov 14, 201933:52
Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 5: Kaj Löfvik om odling, naturens kraft och omställning i Älvbyarna

Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 5: Kaj Löfvik om odling, naturens kraft och omställning i Älvbyarna

Kaj bor i Älvbyarna i Korsholm. Det här är en plats där många är intresserade av frågor om hållbara lösningar och där man också drivit ett EU-finansierat omställningsprojekt i några år i vilket Kaj och hans fru Paula haft en aktiv medverkan. För Kaj har intresset för hållbarhet i det egna livet lett honom in på nya vägar då han för några år sedan sa upp sig från sitt jobb som trädgårdsmästare för att istället kunna satsa på det som hjärtat och själen ville; odlingar och tid för reflektion och andlighet i naturen. Vi träffades på en het julidag sommaren 2018 och pratade om hur allt egentligen hänger ihop, det vill säga hur rätt sorts odling och matjord ger välbefinnande och hälsa, hur omställningen i Älvbyarna ger gemenskap och hur varandet i naturen är det som ger livet sin mening och sin kraft.
Editering: Tommi Ranta

Nov 14, 201932:15
Världar i omställning - Avsnitt 4: Paula och Eeva-Stiina på Lönnemo och om livet mellan två världar

Världar i omställning - Avsnitt 4: Paula och Eeva-Stiina på Lönnemo och om livet mellan två världar

Paula och Eeva-Stiina har hittat sitt hem på Lönnemo en bit utanför Salo på en naturskön plats. De ser sig inte själva som några som plötsligt fått för sig att 'ställa om', eftersom deras livsfilosofi alltid genomsyrats av hänsyn till naturen och omvärlden. Lönnemo består av en röd liten stockstuga från 1920-talet, med lite odlingsmark och en välskött björkskog som ger dem mer ved än vad de behöver för att värma sitt hus. Gården har de under åren utvecklat så att de kan njuta av livet utan den stress som det vanliga arbetslivet medför. Istället satsar de på att vara så självförsörjande som möjligt och sätta sin tid på samhällsengagemang, bland annat inom degrowth-rörelsen i Finland. Under vårt samtal pratar vi bland annat om rikedomarna som den här sortens liv gett dem och hur det känns att leva ett liv utanför en värld där det mesta handlar om tillväxt och konsumtion.
Editering: Tina Nyfors

Nov 08, 201929:20
Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 3: Madgalena Lindroos, om REKO, hållbar mat och livstil

Världar i Omställning - Avsnitt 3: Madgalena Lindroos, om REKO, hållbar mat och livstil

Madgalena Lindroos är född i Sibbo, utbildad i konsthistoria i Åbo, och sedan flera år tillbaka inbiten skäribo på Replot utanför Vasa. Hon skriver på bloggen Bohemian Maggie och har ett speciellt intresse för naturens skafferi - det vill säga alla de vilda örter som finns rakt framför näsan på oss när vi tar en vandring ute i skogen. Vårt samtal handlar inte så mycket om örter och skogsvandringar utan om hur man skapar förändring genom att aktivera sig i de stora - och små - frågorna om den hållbara matens framtid. Under de senaste åren har Maggie engagerat sig i matfrågor som administratör i en av de första REKO-ringarna i Finland och varit med och höjd medvetenheten om vikten av lokal, god och ren mat i Österbotten. Varför just mat? Och hur ser Maggie på omställning och hållbarhet - det är några av de frågorna som kom upp i vårt samtal i ett tyst hörn på Vasa Stadsbibliotek i medlet av maj 2018.
Editering: Tommi Ranta

Nov 07, 201954:09