About

Ear to the Wild’s mission is to help improve humankind’s relationship with the wild, natural world by learning to listen to it. We hope to inspire folks to cultivate their own unique and authentic connection with the natural world. Our intent is to open an auditory channel to the music of wild places, habitats, and animal communities, and to let them speak directly to people’s hearts. By listening to the voices of the earth’s remaining wild places we can better understand them. By understanding, perhaps we can then begin to step back, and let those places and their creature communities recover, and become strong again. As we face the impacts of global warming and climate change, it becomes more clear that nature’s power of resilience has much to teach us. Perhaps by lending an Ear to the Wild we can all learn, and begin to move forward into a future that is wild, free, equatable, and sustainable.

As a musician, with a deep love for the wilderness, listening to and recording the sounds of wild places has profoundly strengthened my connection to the natural world. I was fortunate to meet Bernie Krause in December of 1999. That meeting turned out to be the beginning of my life as a soundscape recordist. I’ve worked with him on projects ever since. In November/December of 2019, I was honored to be invited to partner with Bernie as the inaugural soundscape artist-in-residence with the Atlantic Center for the Arts at Canaveral National Seashore.

I started Ear to the Wild, and this website, in March of 2016. In October of 2022 I began producing the Ear to the Wild radio program for NorCal Public Media, on KRCB 104.9 FM Sonoma. These short interstitial radio segments feature soundscapes from around the San Francisco North Bay Area. In September of 2023 Ear to the Wild won the 55th Annual Public Media Award in the category of “Radio - Environment.”

I feel extremely fortunate to have found my way into this field. There are many people all around the world doing incredible work in soundscape ecology and ecoacousitcs. I’ve watched it grow over the last quarter century, largely as a result of my friend Bernie Krause’s efforts, and I’m excited by the number of young people who are embarking on their own paths into this work. We look forward to sharing their stories, and sounds of the Wild, with you as well. Together, we’re all learning to listen, to learn, and to grow toward a better world for all beings.

Thanks for lending an Ear to the Wild!

Jack Hines ~ Glen Ellen, CA - 2024 

Info

Ear to the Wild
P.O. Box 669
Glen Ellen Ca 95442

gamba@jackhines.com