In this episode of The Deep Seed Podcast, I sit down with wildlife biologist and conservation scientist Dr Shekhar Kolipaka to explore one of the biggest questions at the heart of regeneration: how can humans learn to live with nature again?

Shekhar takes us from ancient rock art and Indigenous relationships with wildlife to the rise of agriculture, modern cities and increasingly fragile food systems. We explore how humans gradually became disconnected from the ecosystems that sustain us and what it might take to rebuild that relationship.

But this isn’t only a philosophical conversation.

In Kabirdham (India) Shekhar and his colleagues are working with Commonland and local partners on the regeneration of an entire landscape. Bringing together forest restoration, agriculture, water, biodiversity, livelihoods, food security and local communities rather than treating each challenge in isolation.

We explore why farmers in the plains and communities living in the forested hills depend on one another, how relatively small changes can cascade through an entire landscape, and why ecological restoration ultimately requires something much harder than planting trees or changing farming practices: people have to want to participate.

That led Shekhar to investigate something rarely discussed scientifically in the world of regeneration: inspiration.

Drawing on psychological research into how inspiration actually works, his team asked a fascinating question: can you deliberately inspire an entire landscape to change?

Their experiment eventually led to Anjor, a gathering in Kabirdham designed around hundreds of local change-makers and the idea that transformation can spread from person to person. Effectively, turning inspiration into action.

We also explore human rewilding, biophilia and biophobia, urban food resilience, the importance of traditional ecological knowledge, and what landscapes around the world can learn from one another.

This conversation ultimately asks us to reconsider something fundamental: perhaps regeneration isn’t simply about restoring degraded ecosystems.

Perhaps we need to restore our relationship with them too.

🎙️ GUEST - DR SHEKHAR KOLIPAKA

Wildlife biologist, conservation scientist and landscape restoration practitioner working with Commonland in India.

✨ COMMONLAND

Commonland is a global organisation working to restore degraded landscapes at scale. Through its Four Returns framework, Commonland brings together local communities, farmers, businesses, governments and investors to build healthy and resilient landscapes for generations to come.

https://commonland.com/

✨ THE DEEP SEED

The Deep Seed is a podcast exploring the people, ideas and solutions helping regenerate our food systems and ecosystems. Through long-form conversations with farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs and leading thinkers, we explore how we can build a healthier relationship with the living world.

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on regenerative agriculture, soil health, ecosystem restoration, biodiversity and the future of food.

🌱 IN THIS EPISODE

Coexisting with nature • Biophilia & biophobia • Wildlife conservation • Ancient rock art • Traditional ecological knowledge • Human rewilding • Food-system resilience • Landscape restoration in India • Kabirdham • Regenerative agriculture • Water & biodiversity • Commonland’s Four Returns • The psychology of inspiration • Anjor • Community-led regeneration • Scaling landscape restoration

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