In this episode I speak to Kevin Strauss, author of one of my favourite books for environmental education Tales with Tails: Storytelling the Wonders of the Natural World. The book includes stories that Kevin has written or re-told along with activities that can be used in formal or informal education, by teachers, parents, park rangers and, well, storytellers. I talk to Kevin, an environmental scientist, about what got him into storytelling. He shares tips for using storytelling in teaching natural history both inside and outside of the classroom, how to create and adapt stories and where to find inspiration.
He shares an original story, The Stonemason’s Daughter, which has a folktale-like format and theme. It is not available anywhere else either in print or as a recording.
For this week’s episode, I spoke to Catriona Blanke in Germany. Catriona is a gifted singer-songwriter and storyteller with a passion for sharing Earth Stories with joy and connectedness. Catriona has a background in theatre and organisational change. She offers courses and trains people in theatre and storytelling for social transformation. She has been an Earth Charter Ambassador for almost a decade and weaves this into the storytelling work she does. In this episode, she talks to me about why stories matter, the renewed interest in storytelling in Germany, the Earth Charter and the Earth Stories Collection.
In this episode, I talk to award-winning Australian storyteller and workshop facilitator , Jenni Cargill-Strong. We had a fascinating conversation covering a range of topics from enchantivism, to working with different types of stories for social change, telling stories in a country dealing with the legacies of colonialism, storytelling and place…and of course trees. Trees seem to pop in to almost all of these podcast episodes. We love trees. Throughout our conversation, Jenni outlines stories that point audiences towards ‘The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible’ (the title of a book by Charles Eisenstein).
Michael Meade retells the Native American story ‘Black Dog and Weaving Woman’ in his book ‘Why the World Never Ends’; explains it to Russel Brandt here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VaEKZRa1rQ and shares it on his podcast here: ‘Living Myth’ Podcast: ‘Making the Earth’, Episode 172 (paywall)
Books mentioned
‘Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants’ byRobin Wall Kimmerer. I’ve been told the audiobook read by Kimmerer is fantastic as she has a great voice and hearing her read the text adds meaning to it.
Charles Eisensteing, ‘Climate: A New Story’ and ‘The More Beautiful World we All Know is Possible”
Favourite Folktales from around the World’ Yolen, Jane (Ed)
Jenni’s story ‘The Mulberry Tree’ is in Susan Perrow’s ‘Stories to Light the Night: A Grief and Loss Collection for Children, Families and Communities’ http://susanperrow.com/
Restorying the Earth 