#249 Finding the Courage to Care – Ways to build a Mothering Economy with author Jenny Grettve
In this moment of transition, we need to become the best of ourselves, as individuals, and as a culture. But how? What does it look like? More importantly, what does it feel like? Designer and Thrutopian thinker, Jenny Grettve says it’ll feel as if we care for the web or life as a mother care for her children. And we’d better learn how to do it as fast as we can.
‘Are we [in our WEIRD culture] intelligent enough to be more generous than we have ever been throughout history?’ So writes Jenny Grettve, in her new book, ‘Mothering Economy’.
Jenny is an author, philospher, systems thinker and designer who joined us in Episode #228, talking about the principles and practice of her generative, systems-led design agency, ‘When!When!’
At the time, she said she was writing a new book – and now, ‘Mothering Economy’ is coming out at the end of this month (August), so we’re back in a wide, deep, provocative, generative conversation about what it might takes for us to have the courage to care deeply for ourselves, each other and the more than human world. She writes, ‘The profound mothering among humans that I envision is not a burdensome technological revolution, but rather a simple way of being together. We have a vast number of examples: what we lack is the intention and commitment to raise awareness…’
And so let’s do all we can to raise awareness by exploring the ideas deep in Jenny’s book and searching our own beings for ways to show up with stronger, clearer, more open hearts.
In Conversation
You may also like these recent podcasts
Autumn Equinox 2026
Here is an Autumn Equinox Meditation to help set you up for the shift from the long days to the long nights.
The Stewardship Freehold Village – an idea whose time has come – with Michael Taite
“When we build, we first remove the soil and replace it with rubble, concrete and tarmac. When we grow, we exclude all life from the land bar the one crop we want. Where we belatedly recognise our ultimate dependence on nature, we confine it to intensive ‘nature only’ areas such as rewilding zones, field margins and beetle banks.” Michael Taite 2026
Making Glorious Trouble with Uffe Elbaek, activist, system builder and author of Doubt, Hope, Action
We talk a lot on this podcast about the need for a new system: politically, culturally, in business, media and art…in everything we do. And yet, we don’t often have the opportunity to talk with someone who has set up a new political party – still less one explicitly predicated on the core values of courage, generosity, transparency, humility, humour and empathy. You’d think it would be hard to argue against these, but, as Uffe Elbaek discovered when he entered the Danish Parliament…the system doesn’t always want to be courageous, or transparent, or generous, or to embody humility, humour and empathy.
We All Came By Boat’ – exploring Ireland & Britain’s ancient myths and the world’s future mythologies with Clare Murphy
Cupla Focal! (Irish Gaelic for ‘A Couple of Words’) – so here are a couple of words and then a few more: what happens when the Fires in our Hearts become tsunamis of feeling that take us beyond the narrow imaginal cul de sacs our culture has created, and throw our doors wide open to the wonder of the past and the absolutely unknowable, glorious, constantly surprising possibilities of the future we haven’t built yet?
STAY IN TOUCH
For a regular supply of ideas about humanity's next evolutionary step, insights into the thinking behind some of the podcasts, early updates on the guests we'll be having on the show - AND a free Water visualisation that will guide you through a deep immersion in water connection...sign up here.
(NB: This is a free newsletter - it's not joining up to the Membership! That's a nice, subtle pink button on the 'Join Us' page...)