HATCH Podcast Series – Episode 20: The Thrumming, Thumping Heart of the Planet

Deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and scattered sparsely across the Colombian and Peruvian borders, reside the Indigenous people of the Kichwa Nation. With more than 400 organized communities comprised of ayllus — groups of families — the Kichwa clans currently retain the rights to over 1,115,000 hard-won hectares in and around the rainforest. And they’re mere minor landowners.

After working and communing with Kichwa activist Leo Cerda for several days in his home village, host Tate Chamberlin and Cerda ventured back out of the verdant depths to meet with esteemed Amazon Watch founder and fellow activist Atossa Soltani at her hotel in the urban center of Quito to discuss the past, present, and future of the Amazon—the thrumming, thumping heart of the planet.

Photos by Tate Chamberlin
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