Spring Creek Podcast

This special edition of our Luminaries series focuses on creative work about watersheds. Today, in the final episode of these watershed-focused conversations, guest host Caitlin Scarano talks with Indigenous author and poet Rena Priest. Rena served as the 6th Washington State Poet Laureate and is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the 2024 Washington State Book Award, the 2020 Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award, and the 2018 American Book Award. For this series, Caitlin kept returning to the question of what it means to tell the story of a river, or the infinite stories a watershed can hold. Rena Priest's latest book, Positively Uncivilized, is a collection of essays from a Lhaq'temish perspective on storytelling, settler colonialism, ecology, treaty rights, and salmon. The poetry collection gave Caitlin a framework she hadn't found anywhere else for thinking about reciprocity as an ethic for living within a watershed. Rena's insistence that "we are interdependent organisms, reliant on the health of the whole" was ever-present in Caitlin's research into the Skagit River watershed. "Luminaries" is produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.

In this episode, Aisha Shillingford invites us into a practice of imaginative world-building that involves thinking far into the future, deep intuition, and bold dreaming. She says we have the right and the responsibility to imagine another future, and what comes next depends on our ability to imagine. Aisha asks us to imagine not just changing our current system by knocking down what's not working, but envisioning new systems altogether. She also reminds us that making space for imaginative work and allowing time for rest are necessary for entering a mindset of bold visioning and working toward the world we want to build. Aisha Shillingford is an artist, world builder, poet, and the Artistic Director of Intelligent Mischief. Her mixed-media collages, text-based work, street art, murals, installation and experiential design work reflect Black utopias, abolition, Black radical imagination, solidarity economics and climate futures. She has been an artist in residence within Laundromat Project's Creative Change Program, a mentor at the New Museum Incubator, and a Project Fellow at NYU Tisch Interactive Technology Program. She is committed to creating art, spaces and experiences that inspire Black folks to imagine and co-create beautiful futures together. This talk is part of the series "Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future" produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. If you'd like to watch a video version of this talk, it's available on Spring Creek Project's YouTube channel.

Today's "Luminaries" guest is Fred Swanson, a former research geologist with the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, and a Senior Fellow of the Spring Creek Project. He is co-editor of the books "Forest Under Story: Creative Inquiry in an Old-Growth Forest" and "In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens." Fred has a deep history with the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon's Cascade Range as both a scientist who has studied this place for decades and a supporter of the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program that has hosted more than 120 writers and artists in residence at the Andrews Forest. During this episode, Fred shares how Robert Michael Pyle's essay "The Long Haul" gave him a new perspective on his own role as a researcher and on the importance of taking the long view. Robert Michael Pyle is the author of nearly 30 books of prose and poetry. He is also a conservation biologist, butterfly expert, Guggenheim Fellow and one of the first writers-in-residence at the Andrews Forest. "The Long Haul" was an early contribution to the Long-term Ecological Reflections program, which is designed to last for 200 years, or approximately seven generations of human lives but only a quarter of the lifetime of the oldest red cedars. "Luminaries" is produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.

In this episode, Peter Friederici explains that societal responses to climate breakdown have been closely tied to the dominance of large-scale narratives that promote passivity and inaction. Close examination shows that these narratives follow the structure of classical tragedy as they support the status quo and inhibit creative change. We can do better by instead exploring alternative storytelling frameworks, such as comedy, that allow for adaptability, democratic decision-making, and the embodiment of radical hope. Peter Friederici is an award-winning writer who teaches classes in science communication and applied sustainability at Northern Arizona University. His articles and essays explore connections between humans and place, while much of his teaching-related work is focused on increasing the sustainability of regional food systems on the Colorado Plateau. His books include "Beyond Climate Breakdown: Envisioning New Stories of Radical Hope," which explores how mindful new narrative frameworks can enable humans to better shape their future. This talk is part of the series "Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future" produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. If you'd like to watch a video version of this talk, it's available on Spring Creek Project's YouTube channel.

Today's "Luminaries" guest is Brooke Kuhnhausen, a psychologist who deeply values creativity and collaboration as portals of transformation and imagination so vitally needed for new ways of being together and caring for our living Earth. She practices depth and relational therapy in her private practice and also trains and consults with other therapists, teaching in various graduate programs and therapy institutes. She is a climate justice advocate, has been part of a number of eco-feminist collaborations with visual artists, and helps others shore up the resilient inner practices necessary to cope with climate grief and show up meaningfully in climate activist spaces. During this episode, Brooke reflects on Joy Harjo's poem "Remember" from the collection "She Had Some Horses." Brooke explores the depths of Harjo's words by weaving in her own experience and the words of other writers and thinkers she admires. Joy Harjo (b. 1951) is a renowned poet, writer and musician from the Muscogee Nation. She served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. Her many honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and lifetime achievement awards from National Book Critics Circle and the Poetry Foundation. "She Had Some Horses" was first published in 1983. "Luminaries" is produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.

In this episode, Jennifer Atkinson explains that the age of climate consequences is upon us, and anxiety and despair are rising along with global temperatures. To successfully face the challenges ahead, we need to build more than solar panels and sea walls — we also need to build the emotional resilience to stay engaged in climate work over the long haul. She offers five key steps for navigating the psychological and emotional impacts of climate change while channeling our anxiety into collective efforts to create a livable future. Jennifer Atkinson is an author and Professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, Bothell. She researches eco-anxiety, grief and hope, and teaches seminars on climate and mental health that have been featured nationwide. Her most recent book, "The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators: How to Teach in a Burning World," offers strategies to help young people navigate the emotional toll of climate breakdown. Her podcast "Facing It" also gives listeners tools to channel eco-anxiety into action. This talk is part of the series "Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future" produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. If you'd like to watch a video version of this talk, it's available on Spring Creek Project's YouTube channel.

Today's "Luminaries" guest is Robert Michael Pyle, a renowned environmental writer, conservation biologist, butterfly expert, and Guggenheim Fellow. Bob is the author of nearly 30 books, including "Sky Time in Gray's River," "Chasing Monarchs," "Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest, "and "Wintergreen," which received the John Burroughs Medal. During this episode, Bob shares how Ann Haymond Zwinger's book "Beyond the Aspen Grove" changed his perception of what environmental writing could be. Zwinger (1925-2014) was an American writer and naturalist. "Beyond the Aspen Grove," published in 1970, was her first book. She went on to publish 20 more books on natural history, often featuring her own beautiful illustrations. Her writing covered many landscapes, including American deserts, alpine tundra, and Baja California, Mexico. She became a specialist on Western rivers. Zwinger was nominated for a National Book Award in Science in 1973, won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing in 1976, and won the Western Arts Federation Award for nonfiction in 1995, among many honors. "Luminaries" is produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.

Our inaugural guest on "Luminaries" is Kathleen Dean Moore, a climate activist, philosopher, celebrated environmental writer, and one of the co-founders of the Spring Creek Project. She co-edited the collection "Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril" and is the author of several books, including "Wild Comfort," "Holdfast," "Great Tide Rising," "Earth's Wild Music," and "Take Heart: Encouragement for Earth's Weary Lovers." During this episode, Kathy recalls a field course during which she and her students ponder the prose poem "Unchopping a Tree" by W.S. Merwin. Merwin (1927-2019) was an American poet who wrote or translated more than 50 books of poetry and prose, winning two Pulitzers and National Book Award, among many honors, in his decades-long career. In 2010, he was named the 17th Poet Laureate of the United States. "Unchopping a Tree" was originally published in 1970. You can find it in Merwin's prose collection "The Miner's Pale Children" or as a standalone piece in Trinity Press's gift edition. "Luminaries" is produced by the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State University. This series invites people to share stories about writing and art that illuminates their environmental thinking or work.