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Deep listening
In this issue of Resurgence & Ecologist, we explore the meaning and experience of deep listening. The more we listen, the more we learn from the stories we hear back.
We introduce the pioneering work of Pauline Oliveros who recorded the ambient sounds around her deep in a cave, and who coined the term ‘Deep Listening’ as a practice.
Edward Davey gives us powerful reasons to stay actively hopeful after such a challenging year, an NHS psychologist tells us about an initiative called Spaces for Listening, and artist Rachael Mellors shares how she listens to both the Embodied Earth and her Soul Ancestors to create art that is firmly rooted in the planet’s cycles and recycles.
Throughout this issue, we invite you to cultivate the practice of Deep Listening by paying attention to that in the natural world that we may otherwise be too busy to hear calling to us.
Highlights
- The Earth Prize: Susan Clark
- The Zephaniah Forest: Katie Dancey-Downs
- Finding hope in troubled times Edward Davey
- Spaces for listening: Brigid Russell and Charlie Jones
- Practice of Gratitude: Satish Kumar
Featured articles
The Earth Prize
Inspired by the Nobel Prize awards, The Earth Prize shows the enormous impact young people can have on finding solutions to our climate challenges by highlighting uplifting projects. Susan Clark reports.
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The Zephaniah Forest
Beloved poet Benjamin Zephaniah died on 7 December 2023 at the age of 65. Katie Dancey-Downs speaks with his brother David Springer and learns about the plan to plant a forest in his memory.
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Finding hope in troubled times
Edward Davey gives us three powerful reasons to stay actively hopeful and grow in our collective grief after such a globally challenging year. In his Slow Read article he explains why his attention is firmly focused on opportunities for positive change.
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Spaces for listening
Brigid Russell and Charlie Jones introduce Listening Spaces, the online initiative they set up jointly during lockdown to give people somewhere to both listen and be heard. Sessions continue to be held twice a week and are free to attend.
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My neighbours, the owls
In an extract from her book The Company of Owls, Polly Atkin shares the joys of living alongside owls. "Everything I know about my neighbours, the owls, I know through the imperfect lens of my own watching, my own earthbound body, my own heavy head and all it has hoarded over my lifetime."
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Poetry: We, unruly Nature
Poetry editors Rachel Marsh and Briony Hughes enjoy Caleb Parkin's new poetry collection, with its emphasis on pools, playfulness and the tricky more-than-human. "When you read his poems, you'll spot elements from queer culture, swaps in persona, changes in register and style, and a smattering of references to popular culture."
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Picture Credits
Cover image: January Storm v2 by Pine Feroda; Earth prize: Finalist 2024 - Team MycoFlo: Rajas Nanda demonstrating MycoBot river quality sensor; The Zephaniah Forest:Benjamin Zephaniah © Carl Randall, 2024; Finding hope in troubled times: Twisted landscape by Nate Hill; Spaces for listening: Artwork by Ingrid Nilsson Instagram: ingprintmaker; My neighbours, the owls: Artwork by Clare O'Neill; Poetry: We, unruly Nature: A Pink Sink by Georgia Robinson.
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Inside this issue
Article is free for all to view
Welcome
Life's cycles… and recycles • Susan Clark
Sharing ideas and discoveries of hope and comfort
Regulars
News from our community
Inspiring people to take positive action
Ecologist
Editors' picks • Yasmin Dahnoun
We share our top three stories from the news website focused on environmental, social and economic justice
The Earth Prize • Susan Clark
News of a prize that is all about young people making positive changes
Building a united front • Jan Goodey
We need to step out of our comfort zone
Exploring ethics in journalism • Beth Parkes
Press regulator Impress asked: What does ethical journalism mean in 2024?
Connected life
The Resurgence interview: Ruth Allen • Ruth Allen
Taking a deeper dive with geologist turned embodied psychotherapist Ruth Allen
Listening in the Landscape • Noela Dowling
Discovering the importance of deep listening
Food planet future • Robert Dash
Photographer Robert Dash shares astonishing images of everyday foods, taken from his new book
The Zephaniah Forest • Katie Dancey-Downs
Reporting on a tree planting project that honours the legacy of Birmingham poet Benjamin Zephaniah
The slow read
Finding hope in troubled times • Edward Davey
Finding reasons to stay hopeful for 2025 at the end of another year of global challenges
Deep listening
Recipes for listening • Susan Clark
Introducing the pioneering work of the late composer Pauline Oliveros
Listening to plants • James Garside
Meeting Helen Anahita Wilson, composer-in-residence at Chelsea Physic Garden
Spaces for listening • Brigid Russell & Charlie Jones
Introducing Listening Spaces, an online initiative that gives people somewhere to both listen and be heard
Treasure of the heart • Anna Chapman Parker
In her new book, artist Anna Chapman Parker offers an invitation to deep listening
Artist's statement: Listening to Earth and ancestors • Rachael Mellors
Artist Rachel Mellors describes the deep roots of her art practice
Wisdom and wellbeing
From inner peace to planetary health • Vikki Scott
Our ecological crisis is also a spiritual crisis
Practice of gratitude • Satish Kumar
It is important to live from a place of thanks
My neighbours, the owls • Polly Atkin
Sharing the joys of living alongside owls
Art and culture
Expressing our humanity • Anna Gillespie
Art can help us face up to the mess we have made on the planet
Money talks
A new exhibition at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum explores the role of money in society
Embodied ethics in the age of AI • Erin MacAirt
The human need for expression can never be outsourced to technology
Poetry: We, unruly nature • Rachel Marsh & Briony Hughes
Introducing the poet Caleb Parkin
Reviews
The frontline of the Amazon • Herbert Girardet
Review of We will not be saved: A memoir of Hope and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest
The promise of wilder gardens • Adam Weymouth
Review of One Garden Against the World: In Search of Hope in a Changing Climate
Making sense of climate politics • Sarah Whitebread
Review of Political Heat
From exhaustion to hope • Kate Blincoe
Review of Radical Rest: Notes on Burnout, Healing and Hopeful Futures
Existing as resisting • Emily Kenway
Review of Constellation of Care: Anarcha-Feminism in Practice
Be more horse • India Bourke
Review of The Bridleway: How Horses Shaped the British Landscape
Right to roam. Right to own? • Martha Dillon
Review of The Lie of the Land: Who Really Cares for the Countryside?
