Place and Purpose

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann are storytellers for whom the chaos of the modern world is tempered by a deep connection to land, home and community. In this ground-breaking, 12-part, video-podcast, these two esteemed chroniclers of California’s ancient wonder, explore the deepest questions of hope, culture, beauty, justice, time, and ecology. Recorded and broadcast live once per month, themes of the series revolve around the passing seasons and reflect on whether or not so many patterns of the past are unraveling in wake of a fast-approaching future. Recognizing that we live in a society that seems as challenged to remember the things it should as it is to let go of the things that no longer serve, Place & Purpose considers the greatest challenges and opportunities of our day. You are invited to join the discussion with Greg and Obi as they engage this search for meaning from the premise that the remedy to these conundrums exists inside the wisdom of the ancestors, that our collective recovery is written across the land, and lives inside the stories that are still to be told.

Episodes

Year Two: Episode Twelve - Armando Quintero, Director of California State Parks & Recreation

Greg and Obi invite Director of California Department of Parks and Recreation, Armando Quintero, onto the program. An experienced parks professional with expertise in park operations, outdoor education, equity and access, and diversity and incl...

July 10, 2024 • Season 2 • Episode 12 • 1:45:32

Year Two: Episode Eleven - Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann

When we embarked on the journey to create PLACE AND PURPOSE, our goal was simple yet profound: to immerse ourselves in the essence of a single location and use it as a lens through which to explore the complexities of our world. Now, as we appr...

June 20, 2024 • Season 2 • Episode 11 • 1:15:37

Year Two: Episode Ten - Manjula Martin, Author & Editor

Greg and Obi invite author Manjula Martin onto the show. Manjula is author of the national bestseller The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History. She is coauthor of Fruit Trees for Every Garden, which won the 2020 American Horticu...

May 06, 2024 • Season 2 • Episode 10 • 1:08:31

Year Two: Episode Nine - Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann

Join us for an inspiring episode as our two esteemed hosts, Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann, dive into and explore Greg's newest book: THE FORGETTERS (Heyday 2024).

April 19, 2024 • Season 2 • Episode 9 • 1:20:53

Year Two: Episode Eight - Layel Camargo and Niko Alexandre from The Shelterwood Collective

Greg and Obi invite special guests Layel Camargo and Niko Alexandre from the Shelterwood Collective onto the show. ABOUT LAYELLayel is Yaqui and Mayo of the Sonoran Desert. As a transgender and gender non-conforming person, the...

March 11, 2024 • Season 2 • Episode 8 • 1:31:44

Year Two: Episode Seven - Eric Wilder, Artist and Illustrator

Greg and Obi invite artist and illustrator Eric Wilder onto the show. Eric was trained early in his life as a traditional singer and storyteller by grandparents, Sidney and Essie Parrish of the Kashia Pomo people. Eric has dedicated his life to...

February 13, 2024 • Season 2 • Episode 7 • 1:48:17

Year Two: Episode Six - Greg & Obi Kick off a New Year

Join us for an insightful and inspiring episode as our two esteemed hosts, Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann, come together to reflect on the events of the past year and kick off the new year. Together, Greg and Obi will engage in a thoughtful discu...

January 13, 2024 • Season 2 • Episode 6 • 53:33

Year Two: Episode Five - Adina Merenlender, Professor of Conservation Science

Greg and Obi are joined by professor Adina Merenlender. Adina is a Professor of Cooperative Extension in Conservation Science at University of California, Berkeley in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Department, and is an inter...

December 11, 2023 • 1:28:14

Year Two: Episode Four - Caryl Hart, Public Lands Policy Expert

Greg and Obi invite public lands policy expert Caryl Hart onto the show. Caryl Hart, PhD is an attorney and expert in public lands and park policy, with over 25 years of advocacy, scholarship and administrative experience. She is currently Vice...

October 31, 2023 • Season 2 • Episode 4 • 1:17:01

Year Two: Episode Three - Rebecca Solnit, Author & Activist

Greg and Obi sit down to talk with Rebecca Solnit, a writer, historian, and activist. She is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, western and urban history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope...

October 14, 2023 • Season 2 • Episode 3 • 1:29:02

Year Two: Episode Two - Wade Crowfoot, CA Secretary of Natural Resources

Greg and Obi invite California's Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot onto the show. Secretary Crowfoot oversees an agency of over 25,000 employees spread across 26 departments, commissions, and conservancies. His agency is charged with...

September 11, 2023 • Season 2 • Episode 2 • 1:18:23

Year Two: Episode One - Steve Wasserman, publisher of Heyday

Greg and Obi invite publisher Steve Wasserman onto Place and Purpose. Wasserman is former editorial director of Times Books/Random House, publisher of Hill & Wang and The Noonday Press at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and served as editor of...

August 07, 2023 • Season 2 • Episode 1 • 1:28:09

July

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live, video-podcast from Sonoma Mountain. This episode streamed live on YouTube Live. The video replay is available on YouTube after the live broadcast, and audio-only versions are available on Spotif...

July 10, 2023 • Season 1 • Episode 12 • 57:26

June

June 02, 2023 • Season 1 • Episode 11 • 1:06:50

May

May 04, 2023 • Season 1 • Episode 10 • 58:17

April

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live, video-podcast from Sonoma Mountain. They will explore their role as caretakers of California's old stories and what these narratives might have to say to and about the people of twenty-first cen...

April 07, 2023 • Season 1 • Episode 9 • 1:04:45

March

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live, video-podcast from Sonoma Mountain. They analyze some traditional stories of seasonality, share observations of what is going on in the more-than-human world, and discuss some policy point...

March 12, 2023 • Season 1 • Episode 8 • 57:45

February

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live, video-podcast from Sonoma Mountain. In addition to talking about all things seasonal, Greg and Obi will also be discussing the story "Coyote Creates People" from How a Mountain was Made by Greg ...

February 03, 2023 • Season 1 • Episode 7 • 1:00:04

January

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live, video-podcast from Sonoma Mountain.

January 05, 2023 • Season 1 • Episode 6 • 54:22

December

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live, video-podcast from Sonoma Mountain.

December 02, 2022 • Season 1 • Episode 5 • 58:16

November

Recorded live on Thursday, November 3, 2022, at 10am PST, Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live, video-podcast from Sonoma Mountain.

November 07, 2022 • Season 1 • Episode 4 • 1:05:45

October

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live, video-podcast. This time broadcasting from Greg’s farm in Northern California.Learn more at: placeandpurpose.live

October 09, 2022 • Season 1 • Episode 3 • 1:09:36

September

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann continue their live-podcast from the backcountry of Sonoma Mountain. This time, the two discuss the coming of fall, harvest, and other topics related to California's seasonal history, ecology, and indigenous wisdom....

September 02, 2022 • Season 1 • Episode 2 • 1:03:39

August

Greg Sarris and Obi Kaufmann launch their live, video-podcast from the backcountry of Sonoma Mountain. Called “Place & Purpose”, this 12-part series will cover a vast range of topics exploring what it is to be from California. Ranging from ...

August 04, 2022 • Season 1 • Episode 1 • 2:02:32