Awakening Lands Anna Purpera & Benji Ross

In this is a new version of our “Building in Public”, and we’re sharing how we are making some updates to our recently published proposal. We realized that we need to take some time prototyping this workshop, using this opportuntity listen to our partners and community by condensing the workshop and delivering it to various groups throughout Erie Niagara. By doing this, we can refine the workshop, build experience and relationships, and have an easier process to share with other regions we are working with. We still plan to run a more formal series after this “season of listening”. We want to thank the Western New York Environmental Alliance for their ongoing support and insights as we take steps forward!
We also are excited to share a song that our friend, John Whitney, created for us at the end of this video. Check out this song and others by John on Vimeo!________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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If you’d like to support Anna and Benji in this work, we would greatly appreciate it. We are getting ready to put a lot more energy into raising the funds we need to make this workshop and the work to follow a reality. We’re still a long ways from our goal. If this inspires you and you’d like to support, you can subscribe by hitting the button below and select an amount to donate. You can also subscribe for free, we don’t want money to limit anyone from participating.
If you’d like to make a one-time donation, you can do so here.
Perhaps the best way you could support us is by sharing this with friends who you feel might be aligned and also inspired.
We also have dreams of bringing resources to regenerative storytellers, artists, workshop facilitators, producers, grassroots media, weavers, leaders, and more. We so badly want to build Awakening Lands into a richly dynamic ecosystem of learning and inspiration sharing.
Please, help us to form a flow of energy towards the kinds of things we all want to see more of.

Many thanks to Kula Applied Research Institute for helping us to unlock funding sources and providing wisdom, collaboration, and friendship.


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Please check out the companion Substack article that goes with this episode to see a bit of storytelling.


★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Please check out the companion Substack article that goes with this episode to see a bit of storytelling.


★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

To best follow along, please subscribe to our Substack. You can do so for free, or if you'd like to help us grow this regenerative storytelling ecosystem, you can donate.
https://open.substack.com/pub/awakeninglands/p/building-it-in-public-awakening-lands?r=3cr1x3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web


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Sylvin Ashbrook is a true a weaver in the Erie Niagara region. They are a Land Stewardship Coordinator at Grassroots Gardens WNY, working directly with community members across a network of community gardens in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. This experience aligns well with their dream of community-owned regeneration, and allows them to embed themselves in the area. They also focus their attention in supporting and uplifting the many different nonprofits doing work on the ground. Whether it is attending events, serving on boards, finding unique ways to collaborate, or giving plenty of shout outs in podcasts like this one, Sylvin embodies the prosocial mentality needed to weave whole-systems approaches. And they are part of a larger team that promotes this co-creative, collaborative framework for the betterment of social wellbeing in the urban setting. In this episode, we discuss environmental education, Grassroots Gardens and other innovative collaborations which we are sure to visit again in future episodes!
If you would like to learn about or support some of the work Sylvin does, check out and donate to the following organizations:Grassroots Gardens Western New York: grassrootsgardens.orgPollinator Conservation Association: pollinatorconservationassociation.orgWestern New York Native Plant Collaborative: wnynativeplants.org
Other organizations doing phenomenal work in Erie Niagara mentioned in this episode include:Buffalo Women of Environmental Leardning and Leadership (BWELL): bwell.communityBuffalo Niagara Waterkeepers: bnwaterkeeper.orgNiagara River Greenway Commission: niagararivergreenway.comBlack Rock Riverside Alliance: brralliance.orgWestern New York Environmental Alliance: wnyea.org
Some of the courses that Sylvin took that helped them along their path were through the following organizations:State University of New York at Cortland Outdoor Recreation majorUniversity at Buffalo M.A. in Sustainability DevelopmentCenter for Native Peoples and the Environment
Sylvin would love to share a list of books that have been incredibly helpful to them:
A Wetland Walk by Sheri Amsel (This was the first picture book that got me into nature and plants)Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv (A big part of why I became an Environmental Educator)Place-Based Education: Connecting classrooms & communities by David Sobel (He's a prolific writer and expert on place-based pedagogy) Braiding SweetGrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (The quintessential book on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and how we can use that indigenous way of knowing to come to a better understanding of the natural world)The Nature of Oaks by Doug Tallamy (A wonderful entomologist and advocate for backyard conservation efforts through Homegrown National Park)Meander: Making Room for Rivers by Margaret Wooster (This was the most recent book I've read and it set me up for a wholistic environmental look at WNY)Networks that Sylvin has been involved with in various capacities include: 
The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)The Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA)The New York State Outdoor Education Association (NYSOEA)Some songs Sylvin would like to share include: 
My Roots Go Down (This was a song I used in grounding exercises when I taught Forest Preschool) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZJfRunmd8c The Rainbow Connection (This song is just good vibes all around haha) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS3Lkc6GzlkYou can follow along as we continue to weave this story on our Substack at awakeninglands.substack.com.
If you'd like to support Anna and Benji to continue weaving stories through Awakening Lands, you can do that from our Patreon Page at https://www.patreon.com/awakening_lands. 


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In this episode, we speak with Lynda Schneekloth, one of the founding members of Friends of the Buffalo River (now Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper), founder of the Western New York Environmental Alliance, and Professor Emerita at the University at Buffalo. She came to Buffalo to teach landscape architecture at UB in the 80s, and fell in love with the city. Lynda is a placemaker, providing valuable insight into the history and culture of Buffalo, what makes this place so special, and how the land has shaped the culture of this post-industrial city. She has been weaving environmental and social activism in this region for decades and has a particular interest in supporting pathways for younger generations to get involved. Like so many of the regenerative leaders we interview, she also sees the importance of fostering the spiritual side of this work, and, in addition to being part of the Interfaith Climate Justice Community, has been holding a space monthly for others in the community to come together to support each other in active hope.
Here are some words from Lynda herself:
Buffalo Niagara Bioregion is blessed with many organizations and individuals working to protect and restore the natural and cultural heritage of this unique place on the Great Lakes. These groups most often work within the practice outlined in the seminal book, Active Hope (2022) - Stop Bad Things; Do Good Things; and Shift Culture. The groups below are just a few that have significantly impacted our community through their efforts in environmental and social justice.
Western New York Environmental Alliance www.wnyea.orgBuffalo Niagara Waterkeeper www.bnwaterkeeper.orgSierra Club Niagara Group www.niagarasierraclub.orgNative Plant Collaborative www.wnynativeplants.orgPollinator Conservation Association www.polinatorconservationassociation.orgPUSH Buffalo www.pushbuffalo.orgOur Outer Harbor Coalition www.ourouterharbor.orgClean Air Coalition of WNY www.cacwny.orgInterfaith Climate Justice Community (if interested, contact me at lhs1@buffalo.edu)
These and many more are active in the public and environmental life of our region through their projects and campaigns. And, in many diverse ways, they are also seeking to ‘shift culture’ through these actions. We know that without a radical cultural shift that the work that we do will not be effective in stopping climate change and species extinction. That is, frankly, a terrifying thought, but not as terrifying as the harm we do to the earth and each other in the name of our culture now. We seek a new understanding of life and our species and individual position in; we seek an end to the myth of separation and human superiority.
Every child knows that the earth is alive.  Every child knows that they are a part of everything.  Even children born into western, industrial cultures know this for the first years of their lives.  You have to be carefully taught that this is not true.  At least, not true if you want to be accepted and successful in this modern world.  It doesn’t take long for the awe and mystery of a living earth to be overshadowed by thebelief that most things on the earth are ‘not-alive’, that we are ‘separate’ and the most important because we are conscious, intelligent. . . you can list the reasons.
Believing our uniqueness carries privilege, we act as if we have the right to use whatever ‘resource’ we need.  This belief of separation is literally killing us and the earth through our exploitation and extraction of other life and other places. “The trouble with the eagerness to make a world is that, because the world is already made, what is there must first be destroyed” (Shepard 1995*).  And we have andcontinue the destruction. We may believe we are so smart, but science now tells us that intelligence does not belong to humans, but is distributed and exists in all life, from the cells to plants to all animals.  We have been living in a bubble of ‘fake news’ beliefs