About Wild Remembering
Our Mission
Wild Remembering offers in-person and online classes in nature connection, mindfulness, and earth-based skills and crafts. Our programs are designed to support people of all means and identities in developing a deeper sense of kinship and belonging with the natural world. With our offerings we strive to cultivate a community in which all people feel welcome and valued, where inspiration and creativity flourish, and in which all life is seen as beautiful and sacred.
“To be a member of a family, to be invited back into the fold is to re-member, and it requires that joining again, of remembering all the meanings of that word. I think we need to re-member these ancient ways of living that are already there and reimagine ourselves in them. To me, what’s most important is the re-membrance of other ways to live and figuring out a way to inhabit those deep stories.”
-Robin Wall Kimmerer
What We Believe
The Earth is in the midst of ecological and social crises unlike any we have have known before.
Forces of greed and domination within human cultures are driving these crises. These forces are not innate characteristics of humanity but rather cultural norms that have been imposed in order to benefit those who would profit off of the exploitation of people and the natural world.
People living within these domination systems become disconnected from their bodies, disconnected from their sense of spiritual purpose and meaning, disconnected from healthy, life-affirming community and culture, and disconnected from their sense of intimacy and belonging with the more-than-human world.
We believe that to address our ecological and the social crises at their roots we must heal and nourish ourselves so that we can remember ourselves whole and remember ourselves connected to a greater whole. We must reacquaint ourselves with the living world around us and become active protectors, stewards, and caretakers of the Earth. We must understand the unique gifts that each of us hold and help one another bring those gifts beautifully into the world. We must build and restore life-affirming cultures based on nurturance, care, and partnership with all living things. And we must act with mindfulness and compassion in all that we do.
Land Acknowledgement
Wild Remembering is based on the Caney Fork of the Tuckaseegee River in the Balsam Mountains of southwestern North Carolina near the town of Cullowhee. This and all surrounding land where we offer programs are the homelands of the Cherokee people (ᏣᎳᎩ) who have tended and stewarded these lands since time immemorial. The Qualla Boundary, seat of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is located about 25 miles downstream. The Cherokee people continue to be resilient in tending to their ecological and cultural lifeways and we are dedicated to solidarity with them and all indigenous peoples throughout the world in achieving futures of their own making.
As an organization that is specifically land-based, we aim to cultivate compassion, respect, and embodied understanding of our place in the more-than-human world. We begin this effort by honoring the histories of colonization, removal, and genocide that have shaped this landscape and the people within it. Through our programs we strive to build a community of learning in which all life is revered and respected and in which social and ecological healing are possible.
Our Commitment to Equity
Wild Remembering affirms the fundamental worth of every person in our community and celebrates the diversity represented in age, gender, race, ethnicity, place of origin, religion, sexual orientation, ability, political viewpoints, and socioeconomic status. As within healthy ecosystem, we understand that diversity is the foundation for a resilient community.
We acknowledge that we live in a world wrought with systems of domination, exploitation and oppression. We recognize that the histories of colonialism, racism, and exclusion in the founding of public lands, in the field of environmental conservation, and within the fields of outdoor & adventure have caused wild spaces to be less accessible and less safe for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). We believe that all nature should be a refuge and a place of peace and belonging not only for wildlife, but for all people.
We are committed to examining these systems of oppression at their roots, to working in solidarity with people of all identities towards collective liberation, and to building a more beautiful and just future for all people and all life. We strive to cultivate a community that feels safe, welcoming, and inclusive of people of all identities and to offer accessible programming and opportunities for involvement so that we can all feel a sense of belonging and interconnection with the natural world.
We are committed to growth, learning, and accountability as we work towards these goals and we would love to hear from you about how we can be more inclusive and better serve our communities. Please send all comments, questions, and ideas to info@wildremembering.com
Gift Economy
We believe that nature connection, embodiment practice, and earth-based skills are beneficial to all and essential in building beautiful and just futures. We also believe that these skills and practices should be accessible to everyone regardless of economic means. This is why we offer all Wild Remembering programs as part of the “Gift Economy”. In this model, goods and services are not bought and sold as they are in a market model of economics. Rather, they are given freely with no requirement of an exchange. For Wild Remembering this means that rather than charging a set fee for our classes and programs, they are offered either for free, on a sliding scale, by suggested donation, or through work exchange or barter. No one will be turned away from our programs due to lack of funds, no one is required to give, and no amount is considered too small.
At the same time, we work hard to create the programs that we offer and we have dedicated decades of our lives and have made large financial investments to gain the training and experience that we have. Operating within the current economic and social structures we still have needs and trust that participants and donors will support our work to a degree that feels fair, honest, and that respects your financial means and the value and benefit that you receive from our offerings. Your support helps ensure that our work can continue and that our offerings remain accessible to all.
“In a gift economy, wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away. In fact, status is determined not by how much one accumulates, but by how much one gives away. The currency in a gift economy is relationship, which is expressed as gratitude, as interdependence and the ongoing cycles of reciprocity. A gift economy nurtures the community bonds that enhance mutual well-being; the economic unit is “we” rather than “I,” as all flourishing is mutual.” -Robin Wall Kimmerer
To learn more about Gift Economics we recommend this article by Robin Wall Kimmerer or this podcast with Robin McKenna.
To learn more about sliding scale as a tool of Economic Justice we recommend this blog post by Alexis J. Cunningfolk.
About Topher
I grew up on the banks of the Caney Fork of the Tuckaseegee River near Cullowhee, North Carolina. Raised in a loving working class family of Anglo and Scottish ancestry I was instilled with a love of nature and value of spiritual practices. I’ve spent the best parts of my life exploring, studying, and communing with the critters and woods and creeks of Southern Appalachia and I’m excited to share my passion and sense of wonder with other nature lovers in my community. I dedicated most of my 20s and 30s to studying mindfulness, Ecopsychology, biology, and adventure education and have been leading and facilitating groups for over 15 years.
Outside of Wild Remembering programs, I lead online anti-oppression workshops for white men, guide international education programs for young people, and spend as much time as possible backpacking, birdwatching, writing songs, and making pottery.
I believe that these times of social and ecological turmoil are calling on all of us to imagine bold and beautiful new futures together, to activate our potentials, and to offer our gifts wholeheartedly in the service of healing and collective liberation. I am looking forward to learning and co-creating with you!