7 episodes
Blossom Trees and Burnt Out Cars BBC Sounds
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Talia Randall talks to the nature-loving pioneers who are smashing down the barriers–visible and invisible–that keep so many of us locked out of green space. From a park in Glasgow, to a beach in Cornwall and a Traveller site by an A road in London.
Nature can help us work out who we are. Take Ione, a British-Mexican land worker who finally understood what it meant to have a mixed identity when she saw a Mexican plant growing in English soil. As a kid, Talia broke into the nature reserve on her council estate. Some call this trespassing, others call it playing out. Which children are allowed to play in nature freely and which kids are seen as a threat? Now that Talia isn’t that kid anymore, she reflects on her own relationship to nature, has it changed as her class has?
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6. How plants can tell us who we are
Talia Randall’s quest started with a simple question. Who does and who doesn’t have access to nature? But it’s grown into so much more than that. In this final episode, Talia reflects on her own mixed heritage and wonders if she needs a plant portal to re-connect with her roots?
She talks to Ione Maria Rojas, a British-Mexican land worker who finally understood what it meant to have a mixed identity when she planted a Mexican crop in English soil. The scent of a tropical plant trying desperately to bloom on a frosty windowsill, can be the catalyst to helping us find a home in the world.
Mulch-lover Mothin Ali and beekeeper Carole Wright talked about gatekeeping in episode one. In this final episode, they tell Talia how their gardens have been gateways to a deeper sense of belonging.
Produced, Written and Presented by Talia Randall
Contributors: Ione Maria Rojas, Carole Wright, Mothin Ali,
Production Mentor: Anna Buckley
Tech Producer: Gayl Gordon
Executive Producers: Khaliq Meer & Leanne Alie
Commissioned for BBC Sounds Audio Lab by Khaliq Meer
Artwork by: Mike Massaro -
5. The drowned out voices of climate change
On a park bench in the Scottish sun, community organiser Zarina Ahmad talks about her fraught experiences in environmental spaces. Unpicking tricky terms like ‘hard to reach communities’ and ‘behaviour change’, she tells Talia Randall what’s missing from many climate change movements and describes how not everyone has an equal say.
Calling each other out might feel uncomfortable but it’s a necessary part of coming together to make conversations about climate change more inclusive.
Produced, Written and Presented by Talia Randall
Researcher: Erica McKoy
Contributors: Zarina Ahmad
Production Mentor: Anna Buckley
Tech Producer: Gayl Gordon
Executive Producers: Khaliq Meer & Leanne Alie
Commissioned for BBC Sounds Audio Lab by Khaliq Meer
Artwork by: Mike Massaro -
4. How to look at the landscape
Does the violent history of the English countryside fuel a sense of who does and who doesn't feel as if they belong in rural England? And what can be done to make everyone feel more welcome?
Talia Randall meets three people who are reclaiming their right to belong in rural England.
Louisa Adoja Parker raised her children in Dorset. For years she felt her face didn’t fit in the landscape. Uncovering the hidden history of 18th century black people who walked on her local beach has helped her feel at home.
Manchester lass Anita Sethi is asserting the rights of ordinary people to go for a walk in the countryside. Her epic journey across the backbone of Britain follows in the footsteps of the working class ramblers who trespassed on privately-owned land in the 1930s.
And the founder of ‘Black Girl’s Hike’, Rhiane Fatinikun is celebrating black joy in nature and creating new nature traditions so that in the future there will be no barriers to being outdoors.
Produced, Written and Presented by Talia Randall
Researcher: Erica McKoy
Contributors: Rhiane Fatinikun, Anita Sethi, Louise Adjoa Parker
Production Mentor: Anna Buckley
Tech Producer: Gayl Gordon
Executive Producers: Khaliq Meer & Leanne Alie
Commissioned for BBC Sounds Audio Lab by Khaliq Meer
Artwork by: Mike Massaro -
3. Who gets to be a nature writer?
Talia Randall meets three nature writers who don’t fit the traditional mould. Is nature writing only for old, posh guys, she asks. It might sound like a niche question but it opens up some incredible conversations about the nature of identity and the nature of us. Disabled nature poet, Jamie Hale, founder of the working class nature writing prize, Natasha Carthew and writer Anita Sethi are challenging the gatekeepers to let more people into this exclusive club. And they make Talia wonder - could she ever call herself a nature writer?
Produced, Written and Presented by Talia Randall
Researcher: Erica McKoy
Contributors: Natasha Carthew, Jamie Hale, Anita Sethi
Production Mentor: Anna Buckley
Tech Producer: Gayl Gordon
Executive Producers: Khaliq Meer & Leanne Alie
Commissioned for BBC Sounds Audio Lab by Khaliq Meer
Artwork by: Mike Massaro -
2. Traveller communities: severed from the land
Over a cuppa in a Traveller community on the outskirts of London, Talia Randall chats with Josie O Driscoll, Emma and Joseph about their relationship with nature. Many Traveller communities have been re-located to polluted, hazardous sites. What’s the impact on their wellbeing and their sense of belonging? And what can be done to keep the deep cultural connections with the land alive? From herbal remedies revived from memory, to wellbeing gardens where children can play without the prejudice they face in public parks, Talia hears how Traveller communities are finding ways to stay connected to nature, against the odds.
Produced, Written and Presented by Talia Randall
Researcher: Erica McKoy
Contributors: Joseph, Josie O Driscoll, Emma,
Production Mentor: Anna Buckley
Tech Producer: Gayl Gordon
Executive Producers: Khaliq Meer & Leanne Alie
Commissioned for BBC Sounds Audio Lab by Khaliq Meer
Artwork by: Mike Massaro -
1. Locked out of Nature
When someone described Talia Randall’s council estate as ‘the road with the most burnt-out cars in London’, she was baffled. Why not describe the blossom trees in the front gardens, blushing pink every Spring? Why had they overlooked nature and beauty and focused only on the grime?
In the first episode of ‘Blossom Trees and Burnt Out-Cars’ Talia explores if access to nature is linked to social status. With 1 in 5 people unable to access green space she asks, who has the keys that unlock those gates? Talia meets beekeeper Carole Wright, who runs ‘Blak Outside’ and is helping to connect working class people to green spaces. In Leeds, she finds Mothin Ali, a YouTube gardener who started ‘Dig it Out’ to tackle racism in horticulture.
Produced, Written and Presented by Talia Randall
Researcher: Erica McKoy
Contributors: Mothin Ali, Carole Wright
Production Mentor: Anna Buckley
Tech Producer: Gayl Gordon
Executive Producers: Khaliq Meer & Leanne Alie
Commissioned for BBC Sounds Audio Lab by Khaliq Meer
Artwork by: Mike Massaro