About us
Earth.fm is a non-profit, free repository of 900+ pure, immersive natural soundscapes from around the world. Join us in the effort of awakening together to the wonder and preciousness of Mother Earth.
Based on empirical evidence as well as numerous recent studies from all over the world, listening to natural soundscapes (particularly mindful listening) has a great positive impact on our wellbeing, and potentially on our respect for nature. However, these soundscapes are increasingly scarce as we humans continue to destroy the natural ecosystems which produce them.
That’s where Earth.fm comes in: as well as sharing a new natural soundscape every day, we’re actively helping the community to go out in nature more often and discover a deeper, more direct connection with the wonders around us, which can lead to more well being on individual and collective levels.
Our project is inspired by the Earth Holder Community created by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and by our passion for soundscape ecology.
An Earth Holder works to preserve this planet for living beings by taking care of the air, water, and soil.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Please help our non-profit to continue to exist
Earth.fm is a non-profit initiative developed by Digital Partnership for Regeneration and Reconnection, a European charity with registry code 80615833, and Fiscally Sponsored by The Biodiversity Group with Tax-Exempt status in the United States. Earth.fm is guided by principles rooted on altruism, scientific evidence, and the systemic view of the natural world.
On top of our goal to preserve natural soundscapes around the world, we also want to develop partnerships with organizations who care for the regions where nature sounds are found most valuable.
Initiatives:
- Develop, maintain and improve web and mobile apps to stream nature soundscapes,
- Keep growing our library of immersive nature sounds, in collaboration with our community of contributors,
- Research and educate our audience on topics such as environmental conservation, sustainability, noise pollution and nature sounds among others, through our blog, newsletter and podcast,
- Support new nature sound recordists, specially those from underprivileged backgrounds, so they can become nature conservation champions in their respective areas of the world.
We claim that in order to induce transformative change in human-nature relations we need a shift from a morality of utility to a morality of care.
(Muradian and Gómez-Baggethun, 2021)
Team:
Catalin Zorzini [founder]
For the last 8 years, Cata has been building a free mindfulness app with Zen Buddhist insights alongside a team of dedicated and creative mindfulness practitioners all over the globe. While the Plum Village App continues to develop and grow, he felt the aspiration to start a separate project in order to share his love for natural soundscapes and ecosystems.
Borja Blanco Mendez [operations manager]
Borja is an Industrial Engineer passionate about sustainability and systems thinking who loves working in the field. He worked all over the world in community based projects to protect and restore nature, such as East Bali Bamboo Bikes or Project Stop.
Bogdan Tudorancea [project manager]
Bogdan is a founding member of Inspired Magazine, having accumulated almost 12 years of experience with content management. In his spare time he likes to study classical music and explore visual arts. He’s quite obsessed with fixies as well. He owns 5 already.
Rajendra Kumar [developer]
Raj is our lead developer and occasional guardian angel. He’s using his magic to make everything work smoothly, from coding the website in WordPress, to optimising the site speed, fine-tuning servers and everything in between.
Marc Anderson [nature sound recordist]
From capturing vibrant habitat soundscapes to the voices of individual species, Marc loves tracking down rare and captivating soundscapes. In a world where man-made noise is ever pervasive, finding pristine wild sound can be a challenge and his work often involves travel to remote locations.
George Vlad [soundscape ecologist]
George also likes to focus on pristine natural soundscapes free from human influence, of which there are less and less every day. He’s on a quest to escape man-made noise, which takes him to remote and sometimes inhospitable parts of the world.
Merve Gençer [painter]
Merve is a young artist who loves bright colors. She is mostly creating acrylic and watercolor works inspired by beautiful nature scenery. She’s been focusing on painting for the last 7 years and can’t see herself stopping anytime soon!
Alexander Okhlopkov
Alexander is a video artist based in New Zealand, he grew up in Siberia surrounded by deep snow and immense taiga forest with deep roots in his indigenous culture and heritage of Sakha people and their true love of nature. He has worked on several environmental projects from upcycling to birds conservation projects. Nature is an endless inspiration for Alexander.
Anca Rusu [editor]
Anca is a hardcore reuser, upcycler, and walker with a strong interest in media literacy and environmental communication. She crosses Greenwich Park almost every day listening to podcasts on her 10-year-old mp3 player.
Melissa Pons [nature sound recordist, curator]
Melissa is a field recordist and sound designer based in Portugal, creating stories with her nature field recordings seeking for a transversal approach to her works. In 2021, Melissa was short-listed as Best Field Recordist in the first edition of the Sound of the Year Awards, after four releases of field recording albums recorded in Brazil, Sweden and Portugal. She’s also a composer with work published by Dragon’s Eye Recordings and Gruenrekorder.
Jan Brelih [nature sound recordist]
Jan is a sound recordist and expedition leader who travels to some of the world’s most wild and endangered natural habitats, documenting their sounds. His work involves conducting extensive fieldwork and then carefully compiling rare audio libraries. While adrenaline-fueled activities are part of his nature, he also values slowing down and practicing mindfulness. He follows a path in which the practice of recording sounds develops a deeper connection with oneself and the natural world, embracing the wonders of life in the present moment.
Chohee Jung [web developer]
Chohee loves creating things that bring joy to people. She is passionately developing and improving the Earth.fm website to be more friendly and accessible for everyone. She grew up in South Korea listening to the sound of cicadas and crickets every summer, and is now based in the UK.
Marko Sustarsic [mobile developer]
Marko is a biochemist turned software engineer, who is working hard on developing our iOS and Android apps. He is interested in environmentally conscious projects and particularly initiatives that help people appreciate, get inspired by and develop a connection with the natural world.
Partners
1% for the Planet
1% for the Planet is a global network that connects businesses and non-profits committed to environmental sustainability. Businesses in the network pledge to donate 1% of their annual sales to non-profits dedicated to tackling major environmental issues such as climate, food, land, wildlife, water, and pollution.
Earth.fm is a proud Environmental Partner of 1% for the Planet, meaning that all the donations we receive from businesses in the 1% for the planet network, can be certified towards their commitment.
The Biodiversity Group
The Biodiversity Group seeks to foster an effective, efficient, and equitable conservation sector to elevate the profile of Life Overlooked thereby ensuring conservation of biodiversity in all its forms.
The Biodiversity Group provides a Fiscal Sponsorship for Earth.fm, allowing Earth.fm to raise funds in the United States with a Tax-Exempt status.