214. A Life's Wisdom, Transformation & Romance: With legendary Bioneers founders Nina Simons & Kenny Ausubel

The RegenNarration Podcast

This treasured and unique conversation is with the legendary founders of Bioneers, Nina Simons and Kenny Ausubel. Bioneers is a cultural phenomenon - an innovative nonprofit organization that has been highlighting breakthrough solutions for restoring people and planet - for 34 years. What started as a somewhat reluctant conference in 1990 has become all sorts of other notable projects, including Bioneers Learning, and Bioneers radio and podcast. And there’s yet more to come.
Nina and Kenny also continue to be award-winning authors and filmmakers. You might even recognise Kenny from an appearance in Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature documentary The 11th Hour, for which he was also a central advisor. And when Nina’s new book landed on my desk last year, it doubled my hopes to meet them both when we reached their town. The book, ‘Nature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership’, is in many ways, the culmination of Nina’s life’s work to date. We hear more about this and other culminating and transformative moments in their lives here – from the ‘mystery’ illness that nearly claimed Kenny’s life as a teen (that Western medicine had no answer for), to Nina’s walk through a Puebloan garden soon after the couple met.
This was a very personal, at times riotous, and often revelatory wander through their life stories, with a literally thunderous finale. (Listen for the interplay of that storm towards the end!) It was an honour and joy to sit with them around the kitchen table of their beautiful adobe home in the mountains outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, for this rare public conversation with Nina and Kenny, together.
This episode has chapter markers and a transcript, if you’d like to navigate the conversation that way (available on most apps now too).
Recorded 20 June 2024.
Title slide: Kenny, Nina & AJ (pic: Olivia Cheng).
To see more from behind the scenes, become a member via the Patreon page.
Music:
Green Shoots, by The Nomadics.
Regeneration, by Amelia Barden, from Regenerating Australia.
The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests (thanks to Josie Symons).
Find More:
A favourite episode on the Bioneers podcast: Undam the Klamath! How Tribes Led the Largest River Restoration Project in US History.
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Capítulos

1. Music, Preview, Introduction & Supporter Thanks (00:00:00)

2. An introduction to the land of enchantment (00:04:30)

3. Meeting Kenny (00:12:40)

4. The illness that transformed Kenny’s life as a teen (that Western medicine couldn’t help with) (00:13:40)

5. A sudden death in the family prompts a revelation about the paradigm clash between medical systems (00:17:00)

6. Nina begins working with Kenny on a film about it all (00:19:40)

7. Being blown away by a Puebloan gardener and seed collector (00:20:40)

8. Bioneers begins (after a little convincing) (00:28:00)

9. How does your 34 year legacy with Bioneers so far feel with the world as it is? (00:31:00)

10. Breaking Gender Barriers in Leadership (00:32:26)

11. Women doing some of the most effective regeneration (& often under attack) (00:33:20)

12. Nina’s deeply personal story of a decades’ intensive work with women (00:35:30)

13. AJ’s personal reflection on being a brother ignorant of this stuff (00:40:00)

14. Nina’s reflection on connecting with her mother during & after dying (00:44:20)

15. Kenny’s journey with this stuff (00:46:45)

16. Navigating Gender and Spiritual Forces (00:46:59)

17. An ancient history of positive gender dynamics in North America / Turtle Island (00:50:50)

18. How ‘uncanny’ has happened in some incredible ways over their journey (& Kenny’s film Changing of the Gods) (00:51:30)

19. Cosmic Synchronicity and Conscious Transformation (00:54:23)

20. The magic story of how Bioneers dodged bankruptcy (what Nina doesn’t talk in public about) (01:01:00)

21. The power of work coming up with Bioneers - & their message for us next gens? (01:03:45)

22. Should we be doing more in media? (01:10:45)