top of page

Long Talks in the Woods

monthly speaker and conversation series
Next Talk: 2022 Stay Tuned for more
TAKING PLACE
January (no meeting)
February (no meeting)
March 20, done
April 17, done
June 5, done
July: for thinking
August: for reading
September 18, done
October 30, done
November 13, done
December: for reflection

On the internet while we manage the risks of covid-19, but in non-covid times, at the

Hastings Highlands Public Library

Maynooth, Ontario

Saturday sessions from 10 am to 12 noon

recorded and posted on the website for convenient viewing if you can't make this time.

Long talks in the woods.

Long Talks in the Woods is a speaker and discussion series. Long Talks in the Woods aims to be a generative hive, a place for learning, a place for en-skill-ment, a place where people can come to understand current issues in new ways and consider how they would like to engage. It is a capacity building space for change-makers.

In 2020, we envisioned this as a set of diverse conversations through which we could explore topics of interest and relevance to us as individuals and community members. We held five sessions in person before the pandemic changed the way we socialize and gather with others, and we got used to having our conversations on Zoom, with many folks watching through our YouTube channel as well. While we never anticipated digital communications technology to be as large a part of the conversations as they have become, we are grateful for the discussions, shared learning, and ideas we could consider with other folks online. The topics of interest that we started with soon evolved into themes of well-being, justice, climate action, and how to participate meaningfully so that our local communities and practices are part of the broader economic, ecological, and social transformations required of societies around the world.

In 2021, we are more focused in our conversations as the themes that emerged from last year guide our discussions this year. We will begin by discussing theories of change, which we imagine will include discussions of narratives of change, governance, political engagement or disengagement, ways of knowing, clarifying our motivations for change and our roles, and seeing solidarity in the diversity of approaches to change.

Our upcoming session:

Making plans for 2022- stay tuned for more...

upcoming talks

thinking about 2021,

the future, and change

Working from Home

Speaker: Barb Lindenberg and Shaun Sellers 

Dates: March 20, 2021

Chameleon

theories of change

Speaker: Jen Gobby

Dates: April 17, 2021

Navigating in Woods

narratives of change

Speakers: Meg Egler, Sam Bliss, and Shaun Sellers

Dates: June 5, 2021

affordable housing, the essential economy, and world building

Roofers at Work

Speakers: Shaun Sellers

Dates: September 18, 2021

long covid of the global economy

Cargo Containers

Speakers: Shaun Sellers

Dates: October 30, 2021

who are we in the future?

Disco Ball

Speakers: Ivan Vargas Roncancio

Dates: November 13, 2021

relationships to beings, land, and history: settler, cottager, and indigenous identities

Kayaks

Speaker: Hannah Spasov

Dates: Fall or Winter 2022, TBD

details to come

learning to world-build from the Zapatistas

Helping Hand

Speakers: TBD

Dates: Winter 2022, TBD

details to come

Thank you to everyone who came to the 2020 sessions and participated in the first year of Long Talks in the Woods! There were some really interesting discussions in each session and we are currently planning and looking forward to 2021. If you have any feedback or an idea of a topic you'd like to hear about, or if you want to suggest someone in the community that would be a great speaker, please fill in the feedback form at the bottom of this page.

2020 past  talks

SPEAKERS

an introduction to ecological economics

Foggy Forest

Speaker: Shaun Sellers

Dates: January 23 + 24, 2020

what do we mean by sustainability?

Paper Straws

Speaker: Shaun Sellers

Dates: February  28 + March 5,  2020

Street Protest

Speaker: Shaun Sellers

Dates: April 24, 2020   12pm- 2pm

bringing big ideas into a local economy

Sharing Food

Speaker: James Magnus-Johnston

Dates: May 22, 2020

home is where we are

Earth

Speaker: Shaun Sellers

Dates: July 24, 2020

imagining anti-colonial futures

Stained Glass Pattern

Speaker: Krista D'Amour Flute

Dates: June 26, 2020

capitalism, climate, democracy, and demands

a just transition to a right-sized economy

Butterfly

Speaker: Jon Erickson

Dates: August 28, 2020

SPONSERS

who is Long Talks in the Woods?

Responding to community appetite for deep discussion and rigorous questioning on existential topics, Long Talks in the Woods happens because Shaun Sellers, Marilyn Zehr and Barbara Lindenberg make it so.
 

Shaun Sellers is a PhD candidate in the Leadership for the Ecozoic program (L4E) at McGill University. She has a MSc in Ecological Economics from the University of Leeds, and a BA (Hons) in Business Management from Antioch University. Her research interests are in the foundational philosophies of institutions, the policy applications of social ecological perspectives, and the history of economic thought. (Learn more about Shaun here - click through to Session 1 info)
 

Barb Lindenberg is a dance artist, parent and administrator living in Maynooth. She holds an MFA from Simon Fraser University and a BFA from York University. She lends her administrative and communication skills to Long Talks in the Woods.

Marilyn Zehr is a spiritual director, and an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada, (originally ordained in the Mennonite Church), currently serving the Maynooth Madawaska Communities of Faith UCC.  She has a Masters of Theology (ThM) with a Diploma in Spiritual Direction (DSD) from Regis College, University of Toronto, a Masters of Divinity (MDiv) from Emmanuel College, U of T, and a BA (Hons) in religious studies and sociology. She has a deep connection to land, and seeks to be attuned to the Sacred through the earth and her creatures.  She and her wife Svinda Heinrichs co-founded and lead (in CoVid safe times) a wild church, Cathedral of the Trees, and are part of the Wild Church Network.

partners

HH Public Library Logo.jpg

TTM

Transition Town Maynooth

CONTACT

CONTACT US

For any comments or questions you may have, submit this form.

Thanks for submitting!

bottom of page