How can a relationship with one animal open the door to the depths of humanity? In this episode, returning guest Kurt Russo, shares how he came to see the world through Tokitae, a Southern Resident Orca held captive in the Miami Seaquarium for decades. As he mourns Tokitae’s recent death, Kurt reflects on the ways nature gives us signs of the greater mysteries of life, and he considers how we may come together again through nature. Kurt encourages listeners to consider the ways we may “learn in the lap of Mother Earth.” 

This conversation is equally rooted in the material realities of protecting the Salish Sea, the Snake River, and the more-than-human kin that call those places home, and the spiritual questions that cruelty and disregard for the more-than-human provoke. How has humanity gotten to such a point? Kurt shares guided wisdom about the realities of commodification, ecocide, and the capacity of the human soul for intentional cruelty. How we fight against such darkness matters not just for humanity, but for all with whom we share this precious earth. 

Kurt Russo is currently the Executive Director of the Indigenous-led nonprofit, Se’Si’Le, that is dedicated to the application of ancestral knowledge to reimagine our relationship to the nature of nature. He worked for the Lummi Nation from 1978-2020 in the area of sacred sites and treaty rights. He also served as Executive Director of the Native American Lands Conservancy in California from 1998-2016 and was Senior Advisor to the Kumeyaay-Digueno Land Conservancy of southern California. He was the co-founder and Executive Director of the Florence R. Kluckhohn Center for the Study of Values from 1987-2002. He has a BS and MS in Forestry and a PhD in History. He has worked abroad with Indigenous communities in their efforts to preserve their ancestral lands and knowledge in Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.

♫ The music in this episode is  “Eurybia” by Francesca Heart and “Interlude” by Julius Smack.

Episode References

The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso | Goodreads 

“Time in the White House and fighting for the Sacred Sea. A Lummi matriarch tells her story”

Hitler's Willing Executioners by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen

Se’Si’Le 

“Groups plan to sue to remove Snake River dams over hot water troubles for salmon” | OPB 

“Tokitae the orca died from diseases linked to aging, necropsy says” | The Seattle Times

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