The Gift of Life
The January/February 2025 issue
In this issue of Resurgence & Ecologist, we celebrate the joyous theme - The Gift of Life.
In his Slow Read article, Paul Evans shares his surprising discovery of the enchanting and mostly overlooked ecosystem hosted by the 'dead-looking' gnarly stump of a tree felled by a storm and that got us thinking about how The Gift of Life often shows up in the most unexpected places.
We go on to explore this idea with articles that shine a light on The Gift of Service and The Gift of Young People and Their Superpowers.
We have many deeply moving and life-affirming pieces - from textile artist Anna-Louise Meynell's extraordinary tale of her move from Scotland to the family homestead in India where she now works with artisan weavers, to Sharmila Desai's celebration of the gift of yoga and her deep connection with ancestral lands.
In our Wisdom & Wellbeing section, Satish Kumar reminds us that all life is sacred and as Veganuary marks the milestone of 11 years since its launch, activist Jan Goodey reveals what happens when vegans and farmers actually sit down and talk together.
We hope you enjoy our selection of free articles from this issue of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine.
To read the issue in full, purchase a print or pdf magazine, or join The Resurgence Trust to receive 6 issues a year, with free access to the complete archive.
Featured articles from the latest issue of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine
Cooperative ways forward
Jan Goodey considers the future of farming and the role that a secure and sustainable plant-based global food system can have in staving off the worst-case scenario of climate breakdown. Cooperation and communication will be the key to a successful transition.
Read more...
Reviving Lake Uru Uru
Gustavo Blanco, a founding member of the Uru Uru Team in Bolivia, winners of the 2024 Iris Project main prize, explains what winning the prize means to the project - and how they use Indigenous wisdom to tackle environmental devastation in the lake.
Read more...
Opening to grace
Sharmila Desai describes the gift of rooting on her ancestral lands in Goa and of embracing yoga as a whole life practice of being and doing. She shares her devotion to the rescue water buffalo and abandoned cows she and her family so lovingly tend and take care of.
Read more...
The gift of finitude
Finding aligned purpose and value in your work has never been more important, with pension ages rising and the prospect of a 50-year working life looming. Stephanie Paterson, considers what work could look like if we genuinely see it as part of life - and understand that life itself is a gift.
Read more...
Life is sacred
"Life is one. But it manifests in a million forms. We celebrate the unity of life." Satish Kumar reflects on the sacredness of life and articulates why there is no matter without spirit and no spirit without matter, concluding that it is this divine entanglement that makes all of life a gift.
Read more...
Celebrating Dartmoor
Lara Goodband, curator of the new contemporary exhibition Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape, explains why the place is so evocative and important to artists, and Matthew Shaw reviews the exhibition which comes at an important time in Dartmoor's history.
Read more...
Picture Credits
Cover image: Fabulous Fungi, Upspring by Jana Nicole; Photo © Mint Images Limited/Alamy Stock Photo; Planting totoras © The Iris Project & MakerChange Studio; Tvisha with baby water buffalo Rama, photo: Justyna Traczyk; Hermit (Candlelit Glasshouse) by Lara Cobden; Photo © Jonas Gerlach/Unsplash; The Summoning Stones © Alex Hartley, commissioned by RAMM, Exeter City Council, 2024
