accidental gods blog

‘What do we have except the possibility to walk a path with heart?’ Dr Thomas Legrand has trained with shamans in Mexico and with Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France. His book, ‘The Politics of Being’ brings ancient wisdom and twenty first century science together to develop a compelling story of humanity’s future if we bring the best of ourselves to ourselves and each other in every moment.

BioChar, plant-dyed wool, rare breed sheep and cattle, veg boxes, and a commercial kitchen: all part of building a local regenerative, circular economy providing affordable food to local people. And it happened in the past six months.

What can we do, we who see the climate emergency racing towards us, but feel powerless? What is activism at its core and where do we find the courage to put our principles – and our fear, love and compassion – into action? James Brown, multi-medal winning Paralympian and Climate Activist talks about the nature of courage, action and his sources of hope.

If we have ten years to stop carbon emissions, how can we both rein in the power of the global finance and heal the damage done to the globals south in ways that are meaningful?

What is agro-forestry and how does it differ from Silvo-pasture or Agro-ecology? And when we’ve sorted that out, how is it that trees can become an integral part of our farming landscape, so that we can feed ourselves, while increasing the life, resilience and vibrancy of the soil? With Ben Raskin of Head of Horticulture and Forestry at the Soil Association.

How do we weave together the four pillars of people, landscape, economy – and spirit – into a working system that allows farmers and landowners to work with the land to grow the food humanity needs, while healing the broken earth? With Caroline Grindod of Roots of Nature, a regenerative agriculture consultancy that works on all scales at all levels from single small farms to large scale multinationals.

There was a (brief) moment when Dave Snowden was going to be a Jesuit priest. Instead, he became one of the world’s foremost thinkers, developers and evolutionaries in the field of change creation, complexity science and sense-making.

We live in a world where facts are at our fingertips and yet we increasingly live in conceptual silos where ideas are neither broad nor deep. How can we transform our ways of educating ourselves as we grow to adulthood/elderhood in a world where the ground is shifting under our feet? With Professor DJ Helfland, educator and astronomist.

How can we create a world where our children can grow in safety – both physical and emotional? How can we find that sense of psychological safety within ourselves? How can we find the authenticity and compassion to heal our own wounds so we don’t pass them on? With Louis Weinstock, child psychologist and expert in complex trauma.

How do we bring the world’s media on board with the climate and ecological emergency? What would happen if they became the fourth arm of the climate movement? Donnachadh McCarthy, journalist, columnist, author and long term climate activist explains why this is the single most urgent action we can take.

How do we design our built environment to be more than just ‘sustainable’ (doing things slightly less badly) and instead to be genuinely regenerative where all we build and make heals people and the planet? With Prof Janis Birkeland.

What are the most effective tools we can engage to create new, different, better futures? How do we translate our visions of a generative future into action now? What are our bridging tools, that exist now and take us forward to a world that would work for all of us?