In the very first episode of Radio Ecozoic we’re thrilled to welcome Josh Sterlin, a friend and fellow researcher with the Leadership for the Ecozoic initiative. Josh’s PhD thesis, Cultural Rewilding: An Ethnographic Study of the Nature Connection Movement, explores wilderness awareness education and culture-building in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. After a technical glitch forced us to re-record the episode, we were grateful for the chance to sit down with Josh again in July 2023 and dive even deeper into his research. A lot had happened in the time between the two recordings, including a devastating wildfire season across North America that made the conversation about connecting to wilderness, especially through forests, all the more poignant during the second recording. In this episode, Josh takes us through his experience working with wilderness schools as part of his PhD fieldwork, how he has continued to practice their teachings in his own life, and introduces us to the concept of a “sit spot.” A sit spot is a simple yet powerful way to foster a deeper connection with the broader natural world, which involves regularly sitting quietly in the same outdoor location to observe your surroundings. Josh offers guidance on how to create your own sit spot, whether you're in a forest, a park, or even an urban area, and explains how this practice can help cultivate a sense of belonging and a greater capacity to care for both the beauty and destruction we face in today’s world.

Links:

L4E - https://www.l4ecozoic.org/

Critical Media Lab (CML) - https://criticalmedialabmcgill.com/

Josh’s website - https://jsterlin.org/about

Wilderness Awareness School - https://wildernessawareness.org/

How to create a sit spot - https://wildernessawareness.org/articles/sit-spot-faqs/#:~:text=The%20best%20Sit%20Spot%20is,safe%20while%20you%20are%20there.
https://wildernessawareness.org/articles/core-routine-sit-spot/

Radio Ecozoic is created and hosted by Bobi Steel, Juliana Neira, Lindsay Ofrias, and Shaun Sellers. It is executive produced by Julian Flavin and Sean Cannon. Music is by Marxist Jargon. The show is a project of the Leadership for the Ecozoic Initiative, which is based at McGill University and the University of the Vermont, as well as the Critical Media Lab, which is housed in McGill University's anthropology Department.