Episode 41 – How We Make Nature

Stephen Raitz and Chris Chang-Yen Phillips introduce a game on-stage.

The way we think about a thing can totally change the way we behave. We talk about nature as if it’s something outside of us. Separate from us. In this live episode wrapping up our season on humans and nature, we present three short talks to help you shake up your ideas about what’s natural and what’s not.

Luke Wonneck, Emily Riddle, and Stephen Raitz share three different lenses on how we build nature where we live: both the idea of nature, and the physical manifestation of those ideas. And then we let the audience build and play to see how we can make more space for the rest of nature in our city.

This episode was recorded live at The Almanac on Whyte. All photos on this post by Trevor Chow-Fraser.

This event was also a fundraiser for The Resilience Institute (formerly known as The Rockies Institute). Audience members helped us raise $600 towards their work, plus $75 and counting from sales of Amanda Schutz’s gorgeous illustration of a white-tailed prairie hare. It’s on sale through December.

We’ve been learning a lot this season about how climate change is already impacting humans and ecosystems in Alberta. TRI is an Alberta-based charitable organization that builds helps communities build resilience to climate change. They especially focus on partnerships with Indigenous communities, like this grasslands restoration project in Kainai First Nation.