Welcome, I'm Angela Bryant and you're listening to The Angel Rated Show, where we have inspiring conversations with people behind the products and services most often used by online business owners. On the show, you'll hear how their personal beliefs and values have influenced their businesses. If you're an online entrepreneur who wants to know about the integrity and impact of the businesses you're buying from, then this is the show for you. Hello, and welcome to this episode of The Angel Rated Show. I'm Angela Bryant. And with me today I have Helen Claire Harmon. Helen is the host of the Humans and Earth podcast and the founder of the School for Humans and Earth. So Helen, do you want to start by telling us all about the school for Humans and Earth?

I would love to. It's so nice to be here with you today Angela. So, the School for Humans and Earth has developed in my thinking over a number of years, I have a background in higher ed, and in the environmental humanities. I also have a lot of personal interests in the human Earth relationship and what's needed now and how we can go forward. In, maybe a deeper, more healing way than we've managed to in the last few decades, we've known about our environmental problems. At least since let's say the mid 20th century. And yet, we haven't really found a way up until this point to meaningfully address them. And very often. We've kept the human wellbeing, and the planetary well being conversations separate. So, you know, there's lots of talk about cancer rates, and neurological disease and asthma and, you know, all kinds of human health problems, many of which we're finding out are related to air pollution, environmental contamination from agriculture and industry. And then there's another conversation about saving the whales and the polar bears and halting climate change and saving the rainforest. And those are very important conversations but they have largely been kept separate. Then I think in the middle are all kinds of people. I'm going to use the word activist very broadly, just to imply people who care about the well being of the planet and human well being, and so they might kind of be activists in their minds and they might really be activists on the street or they might write letters sometimes and they might do things within their profession but in the middle are all of these people who want to see us live a better life on this planet, better for the planet, better for the people. I think a lot of us who have this awareness, have maybe had some health challenges ourselves because oftentimes we're people who are really striving to help and contribute and we may burn out. And here we are in 2020, our environmental problems are very serious, our human health problems are arguably, very serious. We're also dealing with a lot of racial inequity and ongoing things like warfare, which happened to be you know actually very interrelated with environmental problems as well. So, my big interest is combining the human well being and the environmental well being conversation, and even more important than that, I really want to support people in looking for their heart centered, their compassionate, their soul guided impulse, or how they want to contribute, because I think a lot of us talk ourselves out of what we feel needs attention, a lot of us have that compassionate impulse, maybe soul guidance to contribute or serve or speak up in a certain way and then we talk ourselves out of it. And I think that is actually the biggest place where we failed, even bigger than keeping the environmental and human wellbeing conversations separate is this failure to listen to our own most authentic true voice that saying things are not going very well on this planet and there's a lot of suffering. And I'm seeing it as a human being, and I know we can do better and I want to help, but I don't want to be the weird one, or I don't want to not fit in at work, I don't want to not fit in with my family. I am not really sure that this compassionate vision that I have is even valid or actionable. So I think a lot of people stay stuck or confused or in pain or quiet, and I would like to help.

That feels like such a massive bringing together of different areas, you're trying to bring together all that health understanding and environmental issues into one place but really offering up that ability to give people a chance to bring their voice to that conversation and step into their power of what they can do to serve. So what what led you to decide to start this school.

Well, a number of things. I grew up in a really beautiful pristine place in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. And so I think that was the foundation that gave me an awareness of what it's like to live in a place that is clean and healthy, and how good that feels to the body. I also have graduate degrees in the humanities, so I have a lot of training in thinking about human and cultural issues. Then, when I was raising small children in the Philadelphia suburbs, which are very nice suburbs very nice place to live. And we would have these air quality alerts when you know vulnerable populations the elderly and people with respiratory disease and small children were not supposed to play outside, and that filled me with panic because what was I going to do with my children that day and we didn't even have air conditioning so I knew that the outside polluted air was pretty much in our house, too, and intellectually I kept thinking, Wait a minute, small children are supposed to play outside, and I'm a stay at home mom so that my children can play outside, but I'm living in this ostensibly very nice place where there are days in the summer where we're not supposed to play outside. So that was really a big turning point for me. And the next thing that happened serendipitously was, I was actually training in Medieval and Renaissance history which I loved, but then I discovered this field of environmental humanities, and that opened a lot of doors for me over time in my own awareness of the need to put together the human conversation the environmental conversation. I've also been a teacher for a long time and so this work is also responding to what I've observed, my students desire. The work is also coming out of just my own desire to learn how to contribute authentically and mentor other people in doing that because again, I think, in our industrialized capitalist intellect, emphasizing cultures, certainly in the West and also in other places around the world. We tend to tell ourselves that we just kind of need to perpetuate the existing system and if we had some sort of compassionate heart based idea for helping well that's probably not very practical and you're probably not going to make money doing and it probably wouldn't work anyway. But I think that's our sticking point. That's why we have climate change, literally, so many of us for basically our whole lifetimes or certainly since childhood we've had the beginning of awareness of environmental problems, and I bet you like, just like me has at times felt like, wait a minute, this is not right, we could do better. We already in fact have the technologies and the knowledge to do better. I'm continually telling people that that we have piles of evidence now that we could solve our environmental problems, very quickly, and the related human health problems, if we simply had the will, if we simply had the belief that that's feasible because the technology, all exists to make the renewable energy transition to clean up industry to make shifts in how we handle capitalism or our economy. So, I think fundamentally, it really now comes down to our belief in ourselves individually and our belief in ourselves as a species. So that's another way to describe how I got into this and what the school is about is that I really want to support people in having that belief in their own inner sense of calling and having a belief that it's not too late, because I think most of our global conversation about this is very discouraging and kind of hopelessness inducing, and then people feel even more frozen, and that's not getting us anywhere hopeful.

So where would you like to see this business grow to over the coming years. What's your vision for it.

I have a pretty big vision for that. I'm planning to bring out to some courses, this fall and winter. And I'm also going to be bringing forth an intensive mentoring program for people who are really ready to step forward in their contribution and want a very focused group mentoring support. I'm already offering a one on one mentoring, and the podcast is a big act of service of the business because it's building this conversation continually with the people I interview. I'm hoping that within a year, the school will be an online consortium of courses, some created by me and others created by the types of people I've interviewed on the podcast, so that people can find this School for Humans on Earth, and they can find an array of learning opportunities and support opportunities for maybe their own increased understanding if they need that a lot of us are trying to understand how did we get into this mess and what are possible solutions going forward so there's definitely an educational aspect, but there's going to be a huge emphasis on solutions that are already in process that people need to know about and be welcomed in permaculture the transition movement, various kinds of solutions focused on environmental and racial justice, and certainly approaches that focus on mean I'm not sure self care is really the best to term it's relevant. But what I'm really wanting to teach is an earth centered self care or a nature oriented personal well being, where people learn that the natural world is completely our life support system and our own wellness can be very very tied well our own wellness is very tied to the natural world, we can deliberately make those connections. Certainly through nutrition and supplements, but also through physical and spiritual connection to Earth as a being, and to plants as allies and animals as allies. So I really hope that within a year, you'll be able to come to the school for humans and earth, and find a whole array of courses that will suit wherever you are, personally, on your path. And eventually I would really like to have a real time physical Learning Institute, were definitely young people but people of any age can come and gain intellectual knowledge, but also gain spiritual support and hands on experience in things like regenerative agriculture permaculture and natural building, and herbalism and things like that.

That's one big vision. I love the sound of that. And I really really like the sound of that nature based self care. Have you got key tips or suggestions of things that people, you know just the first couple of things people should learn about think about things that changes they can make in their own lives.

Yes, I would say first is to pay attention to what's really causing you pain, about the earth situation, and the human situation, because if not entirely fun to do that, but it's a huge clue as to where you are probably most suited to contribute. So you might be worried about animals, about a local ecosystem about people with asthma in urban areas, you know, we could go on and on with the list but what upsets you the most when you look at the human and earth situation, I think you need to kind of start there. And then, without spending too much time in the suffering and sorrow and pain. You can rather quickly identify what your compassionate inclination is. Do you really want to help with healthy food regenerative agriculture, urban food access restoration of an ecosystem that is close to you or maybe far from you. So, I would first start with your pain, and identifying how it reveals to you, where you feel most passionate about contributing. Second of all, I recommend connecting to the natural world, every day, certainly in a physical way, try to be outdoors and sit with a tree, touch a plant, get your bare feet on the ground work in a garden and go for a walk. If you're living in a place where it's hard to do those things at least spend time at the window and look at the sky or get into your urban art, and then you can become ready to take that a little bit deeper, like to sit very quietly with a plant or an animal or see what it's like to connect right to Earth, as a presence and the being. That is a source for us right now have a lot of stability, a lot of healing, a lot of comfort and I think a lot of guidance. My first podcast interview is with Rachel Pfotenhauer who really specializes in this earth connection so encourage anybody to listen to that episode because Rachel is really really good at this. So, you can keep following my work and Rachel's for deeper tips on what it's like to really connect with nature, through your body through your mind through your emotions, and in a spiritual or soulful way, that's something that I really recommend that people pursue because it gives us a sense of clarity and direction, and meaning and purpose.

So some of these ideas might be quite new to people. Is there anything you would say to reassure people about these ideas that they you know that they go back centuries or that it's almost that we've lost track of who we are and what our place on this earth is.

Yeah, yeah, thank you. I think there are all kinds of directions we can go there, one we can note that indigenous peoples, and we were all indigenous originally indigenous peoples have always carried out these practices of Earth connection Earth attunement a heart based or soul based approach to being in the world. And we continually come back to indigenous wisdom, you know, notice how people in industrialized cultures, we continually reject indigenous wisdom and we continually seek it out and reclaim it so I think there's something in us that knows there's something very valid there. We can also go to a contemporary more scientific psychological standpoint like eco psychology, which is starting to study and measure how it appears that human mental health decreases in separation from nature, human mental health increases in connection with nature. And then we have physicians in places like Japan, who were actually measuring what happens to your stress chemicals after you go for a walk in the forest and lo and behold they go way down. So, the Japanese are not the only ones practicing this but I think there's some of the leaders in actually putting people with health challenges at a forest based health clinic or prescribing people spend time in a forest every day as part of their treatment for their health problems and that's very very science based. So, I'm really interested in continually having both angles of that conversation, whether it's looking at prehistoric human culture and indigenous traditions and wisdom, or looking at spirituality or looking at the current science, that is saying we need to do this, I can also refer people to the work of Dr. Jim Conway he's a PhD level plant pathologist who have a long career in the agricultural chemical industry, and then discovered that he has an ability to communicate directly and energetically with plants and now teaches courses in that. So I think he's just one of many many crossover people who've realized, calling this stuff woo woo is actually missing the science, it's missing, what humans have been and done for millennia, and it's missing the opportunity we have right now to put a lot of conversations together, put a lot of bodies of knowledge together, and become more whole people. Another time I could talk about how we created this split with the scientific revolution where we said, okay, anything spiritual religious intuitive, emotional, it stays over here, and then anything rational, that we can measure with evidence, we're going to prioritize that and they have to be separate. There's a huge rich conversation going on now, even among scientists, saying, well, because there solves a lot of problems, doing that and that's actually another way to explain why we have climate change because we've said for about the last 400 years. If you have any emotional concerns or heart based concerns about what's going on. Just go Be quiet, or read a poem or something like that but don't bother us because we are pushing ahead with progress. So, there are wonderful people, like, the British scholar Stephan Harding who's at Schumacher college, I also interviewed him recently and his interview is out. He is one of these amazing crossover scientists who saying, scientific empirical data gathering. Yes, emotional, heart centered spiritual approach as well. Yes. So, the conversation is getting really, really exciting because more and more people are participating in it, and any listener you know feel free to reach out to me directly if you want some more tips on how to pursue this line of thinking and awareness as the resources now are just abundant, if this is interesting to you.

It makes me so happy to hear that I'm actually feeling quite emotional just listening to you. I think as you were speaking all I could think about was the fact that everything has been so siloed, it's like sciences over here, and everything else is over there, and you can be in one camp or the other, and that idea of bringing together those different areas and seeing where they cross over and where they overlap and what they can learn from each other into something as big as health and climate change and environment, just feels like such a fantastic focus. So where, what is it that you want to be known for at the end of all this.

I would like to be known for creating and leading the school for Humans and Earth as a really supportive resource, and Learning Center for people. And I would like to be known for being one of the contributors to reweaving our intellectual and emotional, spiritual conversations. I think that is going to continue to flourish and blossom in the 21st century and a lot of us are going to contribute. I would also really like to be known for supporting people in finding their authentic voice and calling, and expressing that, as we've done an unfortunately, good job of suppressing people's authenticity, their sense of calling their sense of soul mission. In the last few decades or centuries, and I think if we're going to salvage human life on this planet. We have to stop that we have to encourage people know, go get whatever kind of intellectual training is meaningful for you that's great. But what is it inside of you, that is your unique sense of calling or contribution and it may be something simple, it may be that you're going to raise eggs for people in your neighborhood and have a beautiful garden or it may be something quite large, you know leadership role, but it hurts me so much when I talk to people in their teens and 20s, who say something along the lines of, we should make this change as a culture but it would be too hard or I would love to contribute in this way but I don't know if that's really a career. No, no. We have to stop saying that we have to find a way for everybody to identify the contribution they feel called to make and help them to see that if they really feel it as a potent calling or inclination, then it is valid, and it's actionable, and there's a way for them.

I think sometimes it takes a lot of guts or a lot of soul searching to really understand what your purpose is, and find that and then feel confident and able to follow it. So tell us a bit more about you as a person, in terms of your I mean obviously your worldview is all tied up into your business but is there anything else about your personal values or your principles or beliefs that would be interesting to share with people

Oh gosh Let me think. Well, as I said I grew up in Colorado, I've lived in several places in the US, California and Michigan upstate New York, which I absolutely love. I've been in Pennsylvania for a long time. I'm a gardener. I love permaculture biodynamic agriculture. I'm kind of a casual homesteader, you know, I do some food preservation and food fermentation. I'm a mom I have three young adult teen children, and I'm also one of those people who's had a lot of health challenges on this path of looking for my deepest contribution, and my most genuine authenticity, so I have a lot to offer to people who may feel like their emotional or spiritual or physical sensitivities aren't a very good match with this world and people who are looking for ways to thrive, even if they are kind of more sensitive or experiencing some health challenges, so that's been a big part of my journey.

So why don't you tell us something about how you celebrate accomplishing a goal.

Oh, that's a good question. Well, I come from kind of a white Protestant workaholic background so I'm not great at that I'm working on that sometimes I celebrate accomplishing a goal by just going back to work. But what I want to have as more of my practice is a really deep and thoughtful pause a connection to my sense of spiritual guidance, a connection to the natural world certainly to earth, and they think our relationship with Earth is a big reason why we're here. And so anytime that I remember to tune into that, then I think I'm doing well and that's a celebration of being human here in the physical body, and whatever it is that I or someone else has accomplished, if we or I are seeing it in terms of our relationship to earth, and our embodied presence here, then I think that's good. So, sometimes I just go for a walk and notice the trees, or pick some flowers in my garden.

This feels like such a massive topic that half an hour is not going to even scratch the surface or do it justice in any way. So before we wrap up, is there anything else that we've not covered that you would like to share about your mission, or about your vision for the future.

There's one other thing I would really like to offer to anyone who's listening, and that is the observation that a lot of our conversation, globally, on these topics, is really discouraging. We have a tendency in the news media to cover everything that's going along, and not to give very much attention to the amazing things that are happening all over the world like the transition towns movement, and the massive spread of biodynamic agriculture in places like India, the growth of regenerative agriculture in the United States, and in Europe. So, you know, those are just a handful of examples we could come up with dozens, so I would say, if you're feeling discouraged. Be really careful about what information sources, you are paying attention to. I sign up for the Optimist Daily News solutions for example it's a new service based in Europe, that gives a daily digest of really inspiring news stories from around the world and there are several new services like Optimist. You can also get on the newsletter lists of groups like transition, or permaculture lists or whatever, environmental organization or institution, you can discover that is not just reporting on emergencies, but is enacting regenerative solutions and telling people about that. I think there is a lot of reason for optimism and hope right now, but whether or not you feel it depends on information that you were paying attention to, and whether or not you have the courage to choose hope, instead of despair, actually, in some ways, I think that takes more courage, and we need to mentor one another in deciding that we are going to be a flourishing species on this planet with other flourishing plant and animal species and a well planet, and we believe that can happen. And we're going to participate in it, and you may participate in a very small way I think that's fine. There are all kinds of small ways that everyone can participate without making major shifts in their lives, but whether or not we can enroll more and more people in believing that a positive healthy flourishing future on this planet is possible for us, I think is going to be really crucial. So, I invite everyone to consider that for themselves.

That sounds like a perfect place to wrap up. Thank you ever so much for joining us, do just want to finish by telling people where they can find you.

Yes, the School for Humans and Earth is at humansandearth.com, and you'll find the podcast there, the podcast is also now on most of the major podcast distribution services. So, Humans and Earth Podcast should be easy to find and the website is available to learn about mentoring and there will be e-courses.

Fantastic and we'll make sure that we've got the school and the podcast added to Angel Rated as well so we can find them both. Well thank you so much for joining us, Helen, it's been a rollercoaster ride of emotions for me especially and such a massive topic and such important work so I'm so pleased to have had this chance to hear more about it. You can read the show notes from this episode, you can go to Angel rated.com slash podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love you to subscribe to the channel and don't forget to share this episode with your friends. The Angel Rated Show is brought to you by Angel Rated, the independent directory and review sites for all the products courses and services used by online business owners. It's the best place to find the perfect product for the next stage of your business or personal growth. Learn more and list your business free of charge at Angelrated.com.