Episode 224 | Living with the Land – A Conversation with Dennis Arguelles

This Filipino American Life

Episode 224 | Living with the Land – A Conversation with Dennis Arguelles

This past fall, TFALpodcast’s Elaine took a California Naturalist Training Institute course with Community Nature Connection (CNC). CNC offers this course to anyone who aspires to be a steward of the land. CNC also offers customized trainings like:

• Backpacking 101
• Camping
• CA Native Plants
• Hiking
• Indoor plant care
• Leave No Trace Outdoor Ethics
• Nature Journaling (for beginners or for interpreters)
• Wilderness & Urban survival skills
• Wildlife Tracking and Scatting

In this episode Elaine has a conversation with Dennis Arguelles, Southern California Director with National Parks Conservation Association Dennis’ journey from Filipino and Asian American community organizing to urban planning to the National Parks Conservation Association. This conversation highlights the pastoral connection Filipinos have to nature. Dennis shares about his experience with farmers in the Philippines and how they live with the land instead of separate from the land, which echoes sentiments of land stewardship that indigenous people of California and indigenous people globally emphasize.

Here are links to the Merlin and iNaturalist apps mentioned in the episode:

Merlin Bird App

iNaturalist

Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on ThisFilipinoAmericanLife.com, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.

How do you live with the land? Are you an aspiring naturalist? Let us know! Leave us a voicemail at (805) 394-TFAL or email us at [e-mail].