Center for Humans & Nature, Libertyville, IL Videos

Elementals vol. 1: Earth
📚 Elementals is out next week, on September 3rd! The second book series published by Humans & Nature Press, Elementals asks: What can the vital forces of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire teach us about being human in a more-than-human world? 🌿 Pre-order the series here: https://humansandnature.org/elementals 🌿 📖 The five Elementals volumes—Earth, Air, Water, Fire, An Elemental Life—offer essays, poetry, and stories that illuminate the dynamic relationships between people and place, human and nonhuman life, mind and the material world, and the living energies that make all life possible. 🌱 Vol. 1 - Earth is edited by Hannah Eisler Burnett & Kristi Leora Gansworth. Contributors include: Marcia Bjornerud, Hannah Eisler Burnett, Imani Jacqueline Brown, Nickole Brown, Franny Choi, Rita Dove, Kristi Leora Gansworth, Emma Gilheany, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Liam Heneghan, Jessica Jacobs, Danielle B. Joyner, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Laticia McNaughton, Tia Pocknett, Oyah Beverly Reed Scott, Jane Slade, Melissa Tuckey, and Andreas Weber Earth is living matter, place, and planet; soil, ground, and home. This volume offers earthy perspectives and elemental paths toward an ethic of interdependence, connection, and care for planet, place, and relations. ✍️ Elementals is edited by Gavin Van Horn and Bruce Jennings with poetry editors Nickole Brown and Craig Santos Perez. Elementals explores how people from various cultures across the planet have worked with these powerful forces of change and regeneration to shape landscapes and deepen personal and place-based relationships. ✨ Pre-order the series here: https://humansandnature.org/elementals ✨ 🎨 Pictured: Cover design for Elementals vol. 1: Earth. Beautiful design by Mere Montgomery, LimeRed Image descriptions in comments.

✨ Elementals is almost here! Out on Sept 3rd! Tap the “Elementals” link in our bio or visit humansandnature.org/elementals to pre-order.✨ 📚 The five volumes of Elementals, the second book series published by Humans & Nature Press, offer essays, poetry, and stories that illuminate the dynamic relationships between people and place, human and nonhuman life, mind and the material world, and the living energies that make all life possible. 🌿 Elementals asks: What can the vital forces of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire teach us about being human in a more-than-human world? ✍️ Elementals is edited by Gavin Van Horn (@storyvagabond) & Bruce Jennings with poetry editors @nickole.brown & Craig Santos Perez. With 90+ contributors, the series explores how people from various cultures across the planet have worked with these powerful forces of change and regeneration to shape landscapes and deepen personal and place-based relationships. 📖 Elementals includes: Earth, Vol. 1 - Hannah Eisler Burnett (@heebeeee) & Kristi Leora Gansworth, volume editors | Air, Vol. 2 - Daegan Miller, volume editor | Water, Vol. 3 - Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, volume editor | Fire, Vol. 4 - @stephkrzywonos, volume editor | An Elemental Life, Vol. 5 - @johnhausdoerffer, volume editor. 🍃 Elementals reveals how people are working with, adapting to, and cocreating relational depth and ecological diversity by respectfully attending to the forces that shape our everyday worlds: Earth, Air, Water, Fire. 🌱 We’re grateful for your support and enthusiasm for our publications and can’t wait to share Elementals with you. 🌿 Tap the “Elementals” link in our bio or visit humansandnature.org/elementals to learn more about the series and pre-order. 🌿 Pre-orders help Humans & Nature Press with spreading the word about Elementals and getting our books onto the shelves of wonderful booksellers. Book design by @merewolff @limeredstudio 🎨 🤳📚 by @ponderbop

🌥️ This is the ninth in an ongoing series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans & Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series, Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. In this month’s meditation, Abena shares a note on slowness and growth. Abena shares: “The sounds of soil, the sounds of a winter wind, the sound of a gray sky, the sound of the trees with their roots below, reaching into the minerals beneath, the sound of clay like soil by the creek and the sound of water gently passing by. These are the sounds of our dear earth-mother, moving along with the season. The air is a little warmer, and while it will get cool before it’s completely warm again, the changing seasons remind us of the shifting of time, slow change, slow noticing, slow feeling, slow looking… and while the land looks brown, there is so much life waiting beneath. A reminder to continue deepening, noticing, being, and growing.” Video description in comments.

❄️🌨️ This is the eighth in an ongoing series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans & Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series, Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. In this month’s meditation, Abena shares note on growth. Abena shares: “In this month’s meditation with the land at the Center, growth. Slow, moving, growth. The soft silence of this season creates space for all the living beings and the plants here move to the rhythm of the season, not rushing into the new year but rather putting all of their energy into nourishing themselves and each other for another season of slow growth. One of the things the lands teach us in the depths of hibernation season, is that it’s important to not to rush nature’s process. Growth will begin, bit by bit, slow and steady. And when the ground thaws we will see what has been growing below, above. So I invite you this month to just pause and center slow moving growth.” Video description in comments.

🍂 This is the seventh in an ongoing series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans and Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series, Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. In this month’s meditation, Abena shares note on seasonality. Abena shares: “As the days continue to slow down, the land gets darker earlier, and it will continue to get darker before it is bright again. A note on seasonality. The bare trees with their fallen leaves remind us to tune into our circadian rhythm, just like the creek reminds us to slow down. What would it mean to tune into the season with your full body? What would it mean to know that our roots will keep us collectively nourished this season? To move with less resistance and at the pace of water transforming into ice.” Video description in comments.

📚🍃 Humans & Nature Press and Humans & Nature Farm need the ongoing support of our wonderful community. We hope you will consider donating to these efforts for the year ahead. For a gift of $65 per year or $6 per month, we will send you an organic cotton reusable tote bag filled with our gratitude. Carry your favorite books, and save some space for 2024 Humans & Nature Press offerings, including our latest multi-volume book series, Elementals, as well as our newest ventures into the chapbook format. Your support makes the depth and breadth of our work not only possible but also sustainable. We’re grateful for you, our community. Donate to the Center for Humans & Nature at www.humansandnature.org/donate or tap the link in our bio and then tap on the “Support” button. Thank you for your generosity. Your gift seeds our future 🌱🌊

💧🍁 This is the sixth in an ongoing series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans and Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series, Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. In this month’s meditation, Abena shares an invitation to rest. Abena shares: “In this month’s invitation to meditate with the land at the Center: Rest. The leaves have fallen, and the branches of the trees reveal themselves to us once again. Notice how these trees, in community with each other, all shed their leaves of the past season in order to nourish their collective roots and bodies. A few of the plants down by the creek at the Center still have some green, and the water flows with ease, calmly reminding us to move with the season and to tune into the slowness before hibernation. And so I invite you to just breathe and to welcome a full body breath.” Video description in comments.

🍁 This is the fifth in an ongoing series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans and Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series, Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. In this month’s meditation, Abena shares an invitation to pause. Abena shares: “In this month’s invitation to meditate with the land at the Center: a deep, full body pause. The leaves here are ablaze. They’re the color of fire, reminding us to move with the seasons, to welcome the change that the seasons call for, and to breathe in the beauty of this planet. It’s a firm reminder to tend to our inner selves, each other, and our living ecosystems. And so I invite you, together with the land, to just pause and notice, and to take in big, deep, full body breaths.”

🍂🌼 This is the fourth in an ongoing series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans and Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series, Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. In this month’s meditation, Abena shares an invitation to notice. Abena shares: “This month’s invitation calls us to Notice. Summer has been in full bloom for a while calling on us to flourish, like the wild bergamot with the bees tucked underneath and the last of the echinacea, we are reminded but to notice the diversity of our ecosystems in full bloom, but as the seasons begin to shift, we can take a moment to pause and observe. What do we notice? What do you notice around you, the temperature of the air? The sun’s rays on your face? The way the wind blows softly, cooler? What do you notice around you? When we take a moment to pause and be still and just observe. What do the plants in our ecosystems tell us? Here at the Center, the goldenrod is in full bloom, the orange day lilies just as the violets flowers, are gone…until next year… The flowers here remind us that the seasons will shift, and that as we notice the shifting of these seasons we can embrace the change and just pause and observe.”

🌿 This is the third in an ongoing series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans and Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series, Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. In this month’s meditation, Abena shares an invitation to flourish. For the next several months, Abena is offering short meditations through sounds from the land, video, or voice. Stay up to date with Abena’s meditations on our reels. Video description in comments. #humansandnature #flourish #daylilies #naturemeditation #slowdown #environmentalart #connectingwiththeland #garden #ecosystems

🌿 Submit your work to Humans and Nature Press Digital through tomorrow, August 1st! Submissions close at 11:59pm CDT on Tuesday. We publish creative work — including essays, poetry, and visual and auditory art — that explores and promotes human responsibilities in relation to the whole community of life. Honoraria are given for published work. To learn more about our themes and guidelines and to submit your work, click here: https://www.humansandnature.org/submission-guidelines We look forward to hearing from you! #callforsubmissions

🍃 This is the second in an ongoing series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans and Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series, Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. In this month’s meditation, Abena shares an invitation to think about how you can deeply listen to our more-than-human world and to think about what a collaboration between you and the land can look like. This series is an invitation for you to reflect on what it means to be in reciprocal relationship with the ecosystem in your dwelling place. For the next several months, Abena will offer short meditations through sounds from the land, video, or voice. Stay up to date with Abena’s meditations on our reels. #humansandnature #slowdown #morethanhuman #naturemeditation

We recently gathered at The Mesa Refuge to celebrate the launch of our new Question in our publication series, Questions for a Resilient Future. The Question, “How do we come together in a changing world?” is curated by Humans and Nature Press Digital Editorial Fellows Kailea Loften and Kate Weiner of Loam. In an era of compounding crises, the need to come together to build strong coalitions and communities asks each of us to radically reimagine what belonging—to one another and to our Earth—means. In a culture of disposability, where so much is seen as waste, increasingly others in our movements, communities, and even families, we invite you to pause and consider: How do we handle each other? How do we come together in a changing world? Read more: https://humansandnature.org/how-do-we-come-together-in-a-changing-world This publication was produced with generous funding support from our partners at the Kalliopeia Foundation. This video was filmed during the gathering by Katherine Kassouf Cummings (Managing Editor, Humans & Nature Press Digital) at Limantour Beach, part of Point Reyes National Seashore.

Enjoy a few of minutes on the land, filmed a couple of months ago by Anja Claus (Senior Editor, Humans and Nature Press Digital and Land Liaison).

☀️ Welcome to a series of short meditations on the land, filmed at the Center for Humans and Nature and offered by our Land Reciprocity Fellow & Program Developer, Abena Motaboli (@abenaart). In this series Abena explores ways to collaboratively connect with land; inviting you to connect with the living earth, too, wherever you are, by slowing down and offering gratitude. This series is an invitation for you to reflect on what it means to be in reciprocal relationship with the ecosystem in your dwelling place. For the next several months, Abena will offer short meditations through sounds from the land, video, or voice. Stay up to date with Abena’s meditations on our reels.

A couple months ago Kinship co-editor Gavin Van Horn and contributor Rowen White appeared on the Cultivating Place: Natural History & the Human Impulse to Garden podcast. The conversation was a beautiful love-poem and invitation to connect more deeply with each other and with the more-than-human world, especially through the practice of gardening and seed-keeping. Below is an excerpt of Rowen reading from her Kinship essay, "Skywoman's Garden." You can listen to the full show at the link here: https://www.cultivatingplace.com/post/remember-kinship-belonging-in-a-world-of-relations

Two words: Skunk. Party. This week's #FridayNaturePic is an adorable surfeit of skunks!

*Sound on!* This week's #FridayNaturePic is a flock of sonorous sand hill cranes for the New Year, spotted by Gavin Van Horn.

As we approach the new year, we're celebrating our former #CHNArtists! This week we've highlighted Eleanor Spiess-Ferris, whose fantastical paintings imagine strange and wonderful encounters between humans and nature. Check out more of Eleanor's work alongside our interview with her: https://www.humansandnature.org/artist-crow

This week's #FridayNaturePic was sent in by Kate Cummings from her writing retreat in Tenakee Springs, Alaska! #Orcas #Alaska #Whales