OBI KAUFMANN on the Ecotone of Art and Science /351
Photo by Obi Kaufmann of a line drawing of California on a piece of paper surrounded by pinecones, burnt matches, ink splatters and an array of plant matter.
What is life at the edges of ecosystems, at the moments of convergence? In this week’s episode, guest Obi Kaufmann introduces listeners to his understanding of consilience – emphasizing the importance of art and science in sacred relationship.
Obi shares in a reverie about what California has been and could be, and in doing so, he invites guests to imagine a world where we recognize nature as the undeniable truth of who we are. Discussing his signature field atlases, Obi shares a longing to understand the whole of a place – not just the marquee places, but the systems and interconnections that keep the earth pulsing with life. With this, Obi shares how a simple question can crack open the complexity of life on earth.
Obi brings rooted knowledge and esoteric inquiry to this conversation. His nuanced understandings of conservation, rewilding, and relating to the natural world, pull us into a framework for seeing a world of deep, beautiful relationality, even amidst pain and loss.
“California—I use that as a metaphor for greater processes across the land and inside of me to hold the whole of all of my views on how the world, society, and ecology are glued together by way of investigation of these very complex systems within systems.”
Photo of Obi Kaufmann
Obi Kaufmann is an award-winning author of many best-selling books on California's ecology, biodiversity, and geography. Obi’s signature style is as artful as it is analytic, combining masterful renderings of wildlife, hand-painted maps, and data-driven storytelling to present a hopeful and integrated vision of California’s future. An avid conservationist, Obi Kaufmann regularly travels around the state, presenting his work and vision of ecological restoration and preservation from the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildland Center to the Mojave Desert Land Trust. Most recently, Obi was the artist-in-residence for the National Park Service at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. You can catch him every month in conversation with author and tribal chairman Greg Sarris in their podcast called Place and Purpose. A lifelong resident of California, Obi Kaufmann makes his home base in Oakland and is currently working on Field Atlases to come.
♫ The music in this episode is “Open World” by Memotone, “Alder” by Magnetic Vines, and “Kogi Transmissions” by Daniela Lanaia.
Episode References
Consilience by Edward O. Wilson
Podcast: Place and Purpose
Secretary for Natural Resources
”What is 30x30?” - Conservation Corridor
”Thinking like a Watershed in the Age of Resiliency” by Obi Kaufmann
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For The Wild Podcast is an anthology of the Anthropocene; focused on land-based protection, co-liberation and intersectional storytelling rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth and consumerism.