Folk Rise Rooted, in collaboration with Threads Radio, is a series of five podcast episodes interwoven with folk music which explore the potential of climate action in our communities.

This is the first of a two-part episode with beekeeper, activist and founder of the London-based organization Bees and Refugees Ali Alzein. In this episode Ali and myself, Jemima Gleave, discuss his experience of war in Syria and how he went about setting up an organization that teaches the craft of beekeeping as a therapeutic intervention for refugees, asylum seekers and the wider community. The episode was recorded in Oasis Garden in Waterloo, an urban farm in central London. Please forgive the background noise. As a special for refugee week, at the end of the episode I discuss some research I conducted about the anthropology of borders.

Track List: Lisa O'Neill: Rock the Machine Maya - Youseff: Syrian Dreams Bird in the belly: Bee's - Al Jazeera : Syria: Songs of Defiance | People and Power - Youtube Songlines: Songs of the Syrian Refugees - Landless : Lassie lie near me - Rónán Ó Snodaigh : Tá’n t’Ádh Liom - Karen Dalton : Katie Cruel

Art - Poppy Patsianas

This is the second episode with beekeeper, activist and founder of @beesandrefugees Ali Alzein. In this Episode Ali and I discuss the anatomy, behaviour and social structures of bees and also discuss sustainable beekeeping skills more broadly. We discuss what we can do to help increase bee populations and also what we can do to act in solidarity with refugee populations. The episode was recorded in @OasisGarden in Waterloo in central London, so please forgive any background noise.

Swan Arcade: Keep the Faith - John Martyn: Run Honey Run - Anne Briggs: Let No Man Steal Your Thyme - Emmalou Harris, Rufus Wainright, Dick Gaughan, Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Wild Mountain Thyme - Karine Polwart : Women of the World - Davy Graham : Anji - Sabah (صباح) زي العسل (Zay el-Asal) (Like Honey)

Art - Poppy Patsianas

I recorded this eipode at the Land Workers Alliance Land skills fair.

Land Workers Alliance is a union of farmers and land-based workers with a mission to improve the livelihoods of their members and create a better food & land-use system for everyone. They are a democratic member led union run by producers for producers. All of their policies, representation and training comes from farmers. foresters and land based workers who have direct experience of the issues they work on.

They are members of La Via Campesina, an international organisation of 200 million peasants, farmers and agricultural workers around the world. They work with them to achieve a global vision of agroecology, food sovereignty and sustainable forestry.

They work for a food and land use system that operates within the finite limits of our earth, regenerates natural resources and cools our planet without compromising the ability of others of future generations to provide for themselves. They want to see power put back in the hands of producers and communities.

At the Land Skills Fair there was an abundance of ideas shared concerning ways that we can cultivate climate justice in our communities. I managed to capture some of these ideas in my interviews with a few lovely members of the landworkers alliance: Elsie Harp, Molly Scott Cato, Xana Salazar and Marina O’Connell.

Music: The Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir, Pilentze Pee - Elizabeth Carthy and Nancy Kerr, Bushes and Briars - - Woody Guthrie, This Land is Your Land -
Huvimi, Stella Chiweshe - Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith, The World Turned Upside Down - Hothouse Flowers, Si Do Mhamo I - Sona Jobarteh, Jarabi - Barry Gleeson, What Will We Do When We Have No Money - Afro Celt Soundsystem, Whirl-Y-Reel 2.

Art by Artemio Rodriguez, Ardelitas from Estampas de la Revolution

In this episode, recorded at St Werburghs City Farm, I was joined by story teller Ben Haggarty. Ben is one of the world’s leading performance story tellers and a sector pioneer. He creates, performs and writes work inspired by international fairytale, myth and epic. He became a driving force behind re-envisioning storytelling as a contemporary performance art in the UK. He founded the Crick Crack Club in 1987 who create exuberant, wild, weird and wonderful events across the UK. Ben and I discuss the function of story in the climate action movement, what stories can teach us about the human psyche and the roles that greed, laziness and sex play in environmental destruction.

Music: Baaba Maa, Bouyel - Oak, Song of Amergin - Mathias Duplessy, Tcheryn Deya - Kate O’Dempsey, Bodies - Anna and Elizabeth, I don’t want to die in the storm - Csókolom, Dog Daze.

Art - Black Lodge Press

For this episode I joined Alex Geldenhuys, founder of the sail-cargo brokerage company New Dawn Traders . During our conversation Alex and I discussed the environmental impact of conventional shipping methods, the potential of the sail cargo industry as an alternative to fossil fuel dependent sea transportation, some of Alex’s experiences of moving cargo across oceans under sail, the relationships New Dawn Traders have with their producers and the social impact of the sail cargo movement.

It was a real gift to meet Alex, she is incredibly knowledgeable and has created an extraordinary, radical company whose heart is rooted in support of our planet and our global community.

Please support New Dawn Traders and treat yourself to some sail cargo goodies. To find our more, visit newdawntraders.com.

I hope you enjoy the episode. The music featured is an exploration of some songs that have arisen out of various Folk artist’s relationships with water, the ocean and sailing.

Ye Vagabonds, Lowlands of Holland - Abigail Apell, Down By The Water - John Francis Flynn, My Son Tim - Lankum, The New York Trader, Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling, The Water - Afrocubism, Jarabi - Doran the Band, Our Captain Cried - The Exmouth Shanty Men, Randy Dandy O.

Episode art - ‘Sailing with an Albatross’ by me :)