Growing Old: Tales from an Urban Canopy

Tamara Power-Drutis, Colleen Echohawk, Katie Mosehauer, Lylianna Allala
  • 4.8 (25)
  • PLACES & TRAVEL
  • SERIES
Growing Old: Tales from an Urban Canopy

Explore Seattle's urban forest and the humans that live within it. Imagine what the Puget Sound might look like in the year 2070, if it's to become a place where both trees and humans grow old. Share in the stories and histories that have shaped the forest we live in: colonialism, assimilation boarding schools, Japanese internment, and regional restoration among them. Follow the story of Chief Seattle Club, as they turn concrete into a Medicine Garden at Eagle Village. Welcome to Growing Old.

Season 1

  1. EPISODE 1

    Eponymous

    Explore what the Northwest looked like pre-contact, with Native nutritionist and food sovereignty expert Valerie Segrest of the Muckleshoot Tribe. Walk through Schmitz Preserve Park where 50 acres of towering Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar still stand tall amid West Seattle’s urban community. Imagine what Seattle might look like in the year 2070, if it's to become a place where both trees and humans grow old.

    30 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    Be the Hummingbird

    Go the heart of Seattle's Rainier Beach neighborhood, where an immigrant family and thousands of volunteers turned 20 acres into a Japanese garden unlike any other. Hear the story of Fujitaro Kubota and the garden that carries his name, told by Joy Okazaki, President of the Kubota Garden Foundation. Travel with the Kubota family to Camp Minidoka, where they were interned along with 7,000 other Seattle residents of Japanese descent during World War II. Take part in Earth Corps’ restoration efforts to bring Salmon back to Mapes Creek, which runs through Kubota Garden into Lake Washington.

    30 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    Prairie Garden (episode 3)

    Harvest wild plants with Native nutritionist Valerie Segrest of the Muckleshoot Tribe. Explore what a regionally-based food system could look like in the Pacific Northwest. Take part in establishing edible prairie-land in your city to increase access to native foods.

    29 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    Sing the Old Songs: Part 1 (episode 4)

    Explore the systems of assimilation that aimed to eliminate Native culture in the United States, systems that began in Washington State. Travel to the Yakima Indian Reservation, where the very first assimilation board school opened, sparking the seizure of tens of thousands of Native children from their parents. Hear how one family rediscovered the songs of their ancestors.

    35 min

  5. EPISODE 4

    Sing the Old Songs: Part 2 (episode 4)

    Picture what it would look like for Seattle's housing and hospital infrastructure to reflect Coast Salish culture. Consider the role that forced sterilization of Native women has played in creating today’s high rates of Native infant mortality. Travel to the heart of SODO, where the Chief Seattle Club is turning concrete into a Medicine Garden. This is Growing Old.

    27 min

  6. EPISODE 5

    Reciprocity (episode 5)

    Explore the role that trees play in human health and urban climate resilience, particularly amid a pandemic. Talk with City of Seattle urban forestry policy advisor Sandra Pinto de Bader, Urban Forestry Commission chair Weston Brinkley, and University of Washington research social scientist Kathy Wolf about the risks facing Seattle’s local trees with regards to climate change, development, and unintended neglect. Discuss the role of reciprocity and care in restoring Seattle’s “emerald” canopy. This is Growing Old.

    33 min

  7. EPISODE 6

    Stay for the Trees (episode 6)

    Meet five native Seattle trees and plants through the eyes of humans that care for them: The Western Red Cedar, Dougfir, Madrone, White Pine, and Fern. Gain identification skills to help you find them in your urban forest. Learn how you can help them become climate resilient. Visit the Washington Park Arboretum, and meet the champion Pacific Crabapple growing old there. Learn what it would take to see more native trees growing along Seattle's streets. Hear the premiere of Until the Break of Dawn, the new single from Black Stax written for Season 1 of Growing Old.

    37 min

  8. EPISODE 7

    Reset (episode 7)

    Explore what it looks like to fragment a forest, to drain a river, and to make a city unsafe for the humans that live there. Travel from the Black River to the West Duwamish Greenbelt, from Rainier Beach to Judkins Park, and ask, what would it take to press reset? Instead of a continued legacy of deforestation, displacement, and police brutality, what if Seattle tried something completely new? Hear how the Duwamish River became a waterway and how the Black River became a stream. Learn from food sovereignty strategist Valerie Segrest about the role of the Duwamish River in the Muckleshoot creation story and how a Supreme Court decision renewed Tribal access to ancestral fishing sites, pressing reset on their economy. Travel to the West Duwamish Greenbelt, where 500 acres were logged, mined for gravel, nearly turned into a highway, and finally restored to the largest contiguous forest in Seattle. Hear from Lylianna Allala, Climate Justice Director with the city of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment and Nancy Whitlock from the Nature Consortium about what it took to press reset, and to begin restoring a biodiverse forest. March with 60,000 people from Judkins Park to Jefferson Park to declare police brutality a greater public health crisis than coronavirus. Hear from Jace ECAJ and Colleen Echohawk on what a resilient forest can teach us about keeping each other safe, and how we might press reset in this moment. Listen to the premiere of Affliction, the new single from Glass Heart String Choir which was inspired by the West Duwamish Greenbelt and written for the Growing Old series.

    45 min
  9. Contiguous (episode 8)

    EPISODE 8

    Contiguous (episode 8)

    In the season one finale of Growing Old, travel forward to the year 2070, and explore the contiguous forest of Seattle’s future. Visit Eagle Village, where residents came together to turn concrete into a medicine garden during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflect on the first season of Growing Old, and share your vision for what our city might look like in the year 2070.

    29 min
  10. Welcome to Growing Old

    SEASON 1 TRAILER

    Welcome to Growing Old

    This is the kind of story that begins in a forest, on the traditional lands of the Duwamish and Coast Salish People, past and present. It’s a story about Seattle’s urban forest and the humans that live within it. We start in the year 2070, imagining what our City might look like if we planted the right seeds today. We follow the story of Chief Seattle Club, as they turn concrete into a Medicine Garden at Eagle Village. And we end each episode with how we might work together so that the humans and trees in our community can grow old. This is Growing Old.

    1 min

  11. SEASON 1 TRAILER

    The Puget Sound Foodscape (teaser)

    Explore what the Puget Sound foodscape looked like pre-contact with Native nutritionist and food sovereignty expert Valerie Segrest of the Muckleshoot Tribe.

    4 min

Trailers

4.8
out of 5
25 Ratings

About

Explore Seattle's urban forest and the humans that live within it. Imagine what the Puget Sound might look like in the year 2070, if it's to become a place where both trees and humans grow old. Share in the stories and histories that have shaped the forest we live in: colonialism, assimilation boarding schools, Japanese internment, and regional restoration among them. Follow the story of Chief Seattle Club, as they turn concrete into a Medicine Garden at Eagle Village. Welcome to Growing Old.

Information

  • Creator
    Tamara Power-Drutis, Colleen Echohawk, Katie Mosehauer, Lylianna Allala
  • Episodes
    11
  • Seasons
    1
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2020 Growing Old Project
  • Show Website
    Growing Old: Tales from an Urban Canopy

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada