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This is the poem I shared during Jamie’s lecture. It’s a reworked version of an original piece I first wrote in 2022 and performed at an East African spoken-word competition, which I then adapted to fit the task Jamie gave us.

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Interview with a butter bolete:

Me: I didn't know your name before (the humanmade name of course), but in your own words - how do you go by?

B: Rather than a matter of name you can just go by describing the way you perceive me, I feel. Others judge me and other members of my family by our looks mainly. We might be deadly just as well as we might be cure to some diseases.

M: So you've got variety of colours on you I can tell... and the umbrella-hat that's sort of a radar for navigating your being (in)existance in the world.

B: And I can provide shelter for smaller creatures as well. Or provide food for some. Or as I said... be deadly.

M: How do you find balance between life and death then? Are you the oracle trapped between the transient moment, suspension?

B: Beside the immanent truth coded in my genome, it's a matter of liaison - where in our green home I currently am, where are my brothers and sisters scattered. Are our arms and other limbs long enough to reach each other? Where lays the scope on the radar where I can't find their frequencies anymore?

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It-narrative (woolen sweater):

At first I was in move.

Incessant momentum.

Carried from places to places, not far away, far away, maybe.

Or I stayed in one place therein. Depends from who's perspective you're looking.

We were close to each other, then we disembarked.

But my previous self, part of me, is till there. Wandering somewhere.

The next thing I remember: bright lights, loud machinery, noises.

Fingers running through me.

Some add-ons, colours, substances put on me.

Now I'm shaped-re-shaped. A new skeleton given.

I changed the carrier now I'm spending more time with-and-on another creature, also the living one.

And just as previously -

I'm in move. Incessant momentum. Carried from places to places. Or staying in one place. Depends on the perspective...

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Interview with my palm tree.

I: How are you feeling today?

P: I'm alright, although I'm yearning for the sun already. Also, I could use some water.

I: Right, I will water you soon. I wanted to ask you, what makes you, you?

P: Well, if my past defines me, I came to live with you almost six years ago. Your grandma picked me in IKEA and travelled by bus to get me to you. I suppose that journey in itself is unique.

I: Right, but what if other plants have similar stories? I'm sure any plant she picked out would have ended up being you?

P:Definetly not. My existence is a result of a unique sequence events. I had 3 siblings in my nursery pot, remember, and somehow only I survived. I also have moved twice, almost died during winter and flowered three times. I am also the only palm tree that is currently sustained by you.

I: In relation to me, you are undoubtedly you. However without human intervention, what makes you you?

P: Even if I was a wild tree in the forest, I would have a unique height, width, shape, and pattern on my bark. The amount of branches and leaves, and birds that nest in them would be a unique combination. My personality has been relative to you only by a freak sequence of events.

I: thank you for sharing. I appreciate your unique features and personality, and value our conversations.

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when did my leaves,

stop providing tea

when did my stem,

stop healing your knees

when did I,

become just a weed?

how did the mayflower

banish me into exile

when he himself is guest who knows nothing

about me and or my land

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Interview with Laura.

Ok. Hey! Who wants to be interviewed? - strong no here, no , you? no -

From the corner of my ear I get an enthusiastic: Me! me! Here!

Hey! You want to be interviewed?

Yes! - she answeres with her feminine, joyful voice and bubbly energy. -

How shout I call you?

Laura. - pronounced not English, but letter by letter like in German or Finish -

Laura?

Yes!

Nice to meet you!

Thank you! You to!

How has your winter been? - I ask, only much later wondering why...did I sense that this is what Laura wants to talk about? -

Short.

True..Was it stressful?

No, not really she reflects

Warm?

Yeah, kinda...didn*t get much sleep

Do you sprout every year?

No, but I have been here since 2 years ago.

Can I come close?

No, don't come too close please.

- I retreat a little, having come closer already before waiting for the answer: ok sorry -

How are you getting along with your neighbors?

Quite Well :) ..Most of us are friends.

Not all?

No... some take a lot of space or try to hurt us.

Who is us?

Us. Those around me and I, who want to live peacefully together.

Did you have flowers?

I don't want to talk about my flowers.

What do you want to talk about?

the weather.

really!

Yeah.

Why?

Cause it's so lovely

Isn't it.

It feels SO good.

Anything else?

No, that's enough.

Should I end the interview?

Yes, please.

Ok. have a great life! :)

Thank you! You too! - she smiles -

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We have the Rio Grande right in our backyard, and decided to go for a walk as the water had just been released. It was not very far from the house, but all of a sudden there were birds I had never usually heard before. My dog Milo was more alert in a curious way, listening. The water flowed fast, filled with white foam. And I wondered what it was.

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Getting lost in a walk in the mountains of Senja, Norway. With more rainy weather each summer, the trails become harder to follow, and the landscape shifts mysteriously with every step. It was very foggy and wet during our walk. We had to focus more on footing and our immediate surroundings. Birds sounds could be heard still here and there, and even more clearly. It was one type of at-the-moment experience.

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what makes me hopeful for the future is for example German-Polish (namely Bautzen-Szprotawa Forest District) collaboration on environmental protection. Given that eastern Saxony areas (which neighbour with Polish borders) are rich in forests. Also, another aspect of it is that Bautzen is/used to be bilingual (German and Łużycki, which has elements of Polish and Czech). It makes me happy to see that a case study such as this one might be considered on both linguistic and outdoor education level. There are many levels and introspections to it.

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Quite surprising to spot Erinaceus europaeus (European hedgehog) especially that they're not as common in Oulu nowadays. Info checked on iNaturalist proves that it's been on the Oulu species checklist, but that it's rarely found north. Things like that could contribute as a practical teaching method (i.e. environmental studies) to teach about migrating/ endangered species.

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midnight sun in Finland, compared with (southern) Poland - photos taken at the same time.

Practical use of this method in teaching: asking students to compare pictures from both locations (i.e. what visible differences there are - with younger students try to use rather descriptive words like dark/bright/, shorter/longer day). With older students you can start discussing why are there differences in sunlight duration in different places on Earth and seasonal changes

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Enormous sky.

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Wei Bao Shan Xiang, Weishan Yi and Hui Autonomous County, Dali, Yunnan, China

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Wei Bao Shan Xiang, Weishan Yi and Hui Autonomous County, Dali, Yunnan, China

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Wei Bao Shan Xiang, Weishan Yi and Hui Autonomous County, Dali, Yunnan, China

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Wenchanggong located in Dali, Yunnan, China. It is one of the Taoism monasteries I enjoy. It has over 300 years history.

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Hu Tiao Xia Zhen, Shangri-La City, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China

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Hu Tiao Xia Zhen, Shangri-La City, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China

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Hu Tiao Xia Zhen, Shangri-La City, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China

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Can you see where is people and how georgous and huge the tiger leaping gorge is?

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He Xi Cun, Miyun District, Beijing, China

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He Xi Cun, Miyun District, Beijing, China

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He Xi Cun, Miyun District, Beijing, China

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It's my second time to be here. Still be amazed by the Great Wall by seeing it and thinking about the history.

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After a walk near Pyykösjärvi, I was about to arrive at a friend's place when I saw a hedgehog about to cross the road. It paused, looked at me, and I stopped; once it saw me stop, it started crossing. After it reached the grass, it glanced back at me, stayed for a while before moving on.

In this brief encounter, the hedgehog seemingly has its own way of asserting its pace and space.

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A willow grouse emerged from the small bushes near our hiking trail in Djevelporten, which is a very popular route near Svolvaer, Norway.

It was walking around languidly, then flew around and landed to another cluster of bushes, making loud noises. Despite the presence of many human hikers, it did not fly away but kept calling many times. It sounds like a complaint that there were too many humans.

Willow grouses use their call for territory defense. To me it is quite surprising to see an outnumbered bird enacting a refusal of human activities on its habitat.

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Found some little neighbors right next to the human dwellings. Seeing certain life spring up in less expected places brought excitement and intrigue

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Once I would flinch at the sight of tiny crawling things.
But when, in the quiet of the cemetery,
this green wanderer rested on my hand,
unbothered by my presence.
I realized! bugs are not intruders,
they are the silent keepers of balance,
the recyclers, the pollinators,
the patient threads in the fabric of life.
I am no longer afraid.
I am grateful <3

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Globular springtail as seen by decaying roots

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From the view of the Tansy Flower!

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The most delicate yet strong homes are spun from a spider’s own silk. Despite strong winds and rain these days, I found this little web clinging to the peel of the tree's bark, proving that with resistance and persistence, even the fragile can survive and thrive.

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Zoosphaerium neptunus et Tothesus Csengus

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Within the island where humans don't find emeralds, emeralds find their millepedes. Clinging onto them,

lining their shells with shine,

they merged through red and redder

just to find that

where there is air

their vibrant greens are answered by thousands.

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A walk among the forgotten and remembered

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Today I walked to the Oulu cemetery; guided by curiosity, pulled by history, and accompanied by peaceful silence. The oldest grave I saw was from 190+ years ago, some graves with chipped unnamed stones and moss growing quietly on them, and also freshly dug earth waiting for someone.

It struck me: we live on this earth for a short while, often without caring for it, and yet it’s the same earth that takes us in gently when we die. No matter who we are, where we come from, or what we believed, the earth doesn’t discriminate.

I felt more peace near the dead than among the living. The breeze carried a strange comfort. I left with one thought echoing: Are we living in a way that honors the land we’ll one day return to?

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What you cannot notice from looking at this picture it’s smell of forest fire. Last night another forest fire started close by in Luckenwalde. This morning we woke up to the smell of tar in the air. In two other current forest fires close by, humans have to decide whether to risk the possibility of death of a few individuals of one species to prevent the certain death of thousands of individuals of other species - due to undetonated ammunition of WW1 and WW2 in the burning forests. They don’t actually decide though, since laws and regulations have long been in place deciding for them to not fight for their cohabitants.

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Former Soviet military base town took me from a resilience walk to a walk with secrets and fences… I knew this town for a long time, but through the new guide I discovered that places, which I assumed flora should have taken over by now were still frequently groomed and visited…

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Walking with Play: I observed that nature can be use to teach children many concepts i.e., the flowers can be used to teach color, the sticks and stones to teach addition/multiplication/division/subtraction, texture, inspiration for story telling that improves language etc.

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Refusal and Resistance: This tree was cut, yet new branches and leaves sprouting and growing from the trunk.

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Irene A: Walking with Play: I took a walk around the forest surrounding Kuivasjarvi while reflecting on how children can learn through engaging with nature.

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In response to Pakistan’s growing water crisis, Teacher Usman from Azad Kashmir began a grassroots mission to harvest rainwater by digging ponds—listening to the land rather than waiting for rescue. Since Dec 2024, over 800 ponds have been created across the northern mountains. With minimal rainfall, these ponds have already held approx. 15 million liters of water.

This is more than a human effort—it’s a restorative relationship between people and place, where water is not only saved, but returned to the earth.

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I’m sharing pictures I took back in 2016 during a visit to Khanpur Dam, alongside a news article from 22 June 2025, which shows the same place now—its water level just 8 feet above the dead level. The contrast is heartbreaking. Environmental changes have impacted Pakistan in some of the harshest ways this year: no rains, frequent heatwaves, prolonged dry summers, and dry winters.

The consequences aren’t just human. Every living being—birds, animals, plants, even the ecosystems are under threat. The loss is not just economic or social; it is ecological. This crisis reflects how deeply interconnected we are with the environment—and how fragile that connection has become.

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"Still wet here" multispecies radical mapping in a moss bed. The paper is wet, but still holding integrity after a few weeks.

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We see you. Without your safety and flourishing, our respective places aren't safe and aren't okay.

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Who lives here? Perhaps, a few willows and more? "Hello" across the bay with Willow Bay by Winona Montgomery Gilliland. This reminded me of a story when my elder son, when he was very little, pointed to a patch of land across the lake, which to him look like an island and said: "Mom, look, an uninhabited island". I thought for a bit and told him: "How is it uninhabited if trees and birds, and stones live there? It is an inhabited island."

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4 am. A white plane "bird" is moving silently through a cacophony of birdsong. I first want to wave at it, as we did in my childhood, but I turn my gaze to a cradle of tiny dandelion suns sleeping quietly until some warmer hours of 8-9am.

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Bio (Art?)

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Example of resistance

If you look closely at where the apple tree touches the glass stairwell, you can see a bunch of blossoms reaching through the inside.

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There are three mid check points for you—30 June, 31 July and 27 Aug—during which you can upload your thoughts, images to this padlet. You don’t have to stick with these particular dates—you can be populating the padlet map whenever feels comfortable for you in between those dates and until our next workshop on 28 Aug. Three uploads during summer is enough, but you can do more if you feel like it. Three uploads might, for example, cover a) a surprising thing, situation, b) a challenge of the place, and c) a thing that makes you happy and hopeful

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Butterbur, 25.05.2025