Accidental Gods

Revolutions don't work, and we don't have time. What we need now is a Regenerative Renaissance where we all envisage the whole, beautiful, clean, thriving world we want, and set about making it happen. In this second part (of two) podcasts, Rieki Cordon of the SEEDS regenerative currency explains how a new economy could work, based on regenerative values and principles. Rieki Cordon of SEEDS says,...

We all know that our economic system is broken - that the ways we share value are skewed so that the super-rich grow richer while the rest of the people and planet suffer. But if we're to replace the dollar as an international currency, what will work, how will it work, how can we make the transition to a genuinely equitable, regenerative currency?  What does a Regenerative Renaissance look like?...

It's long been said that it's easier to imagine the total extinction of humanity than it is to imagine an end to capitalism.  But Charles Eisenstein's Sacred Economics blew that away.  An updated version has been released on the tenth anniversary of publication.  Here, Della Duncan talks to Charles and his son Jimi about life, capitalism and building the more beautiful future our hearts know is po...

We all know the current system of politics and governance is utterly dysfunctional. But what will it look like - what will it feel like - to organise ourselves so that everyone has a voice, so that we come together as co-creators and build networks and movements based on our common visions and values?  With Indra Adnan of The Alternative Global, author of The Politics of Waking Up.  Indra Adnan is...

We all know that methane is a far more dangerous greenhouse gas than CO2.  But what if we could harness it and put it to good use?  What if it we could power our cars and heat our homes on waste food? Will Llewellyn of Red Kite Management explains the potential and how to apply it.   Will Llewellyn has worked in the renewables industry for decades.  Now a co-director of Red Kite Management, he adv...

In a world in existential crisis, deep within what Joanna Macy called The Deep Unravelling, we have a critical need for road maps to help us navigate a way forward to a future we can't yet imagine.  Rupert Read, originator of the Thrutopia concept, discusses how he came to coin the term, what it means - and, crucially, how we get there. Nobody can doubt now that we're in the midst of the climate a...

As our world balances on the edge of transformation, how do we rewild ourselves and our inner cities?  How do we build communities of place and of purpose that work, that give us resilience, life, hope - and a deep, enduring, magical connection to the earth?  Jamie Quince-Starkey and Ross Nicholson of Down to Earth Derby describe the utterly inspiring work they are doing to achieve exactly this. ...

Our current economy is based on idiocy, selfishness and bizarre ideologies. What happens if we completely replace it with a different, better system?  How would it work? What would the world feel like?  Professor Steve Keen, Honorary Research Associate with the Institute for Strategy, Resilience and Security at the University College London, was one of the handful of economists to realize that a s...

If we are to create a regenerative future we'd be proud to leave to the generations that come after us, how can we shift the extractive, profit-based business model that imprisons our industries?  What would happen if we unleashed the creative potential of those who are caught in a model that is no longer fit for purpose?  Insights from Garry Turner, industrialist, businessman, thought leader - an...

What can you do if you want to be a gentle, careful, strategic activist? The kind who catalyses change in empathic ways, who strives to understand people in power and who uses the magic of hand-crafts to connect at the level where (r)evolution happens?  Sarah Corbett of the Craftivist Collective does exactly this and empowers others to join her. At the age of three years old, Sarah Corbett occupie...

What's our economy for? Does it have to keep growing at the expense of all we hold dear; the things that make life worth living? Or can we re-imagine a new way of doing things that would value what matters most to us, and keep people and planet healthy? Yannick Beaudoin is Director-General for Ontario and Northern Canada with the David Suzuki Foundation and Director for Innovation and forOntario w...

Thrutopia is open to everyone who tells stories in whatever form.  But if you're in the early stages of your writing journey and want some support, these are Manda's Ten Key Pointers to writing well: a basic Writing Apprenticeship in an hour! The Thrutopia Masterclass is designed to help us all generate the ideas, the frames and the stories we'll need to take us through to a future we'd be proud t...

What do we do when the world isn't working for us? When our every fibre rages against the machine and our place in it?   Maggie Ostara talks about her own path from a high-flying academic career, through to a life of clear purpose and contribution that has authenticity, integrity and power.  Maggie Ostara, PhD left her job as the Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Columbia University when s...

How can we use the leading edge of design thinking to create climate activism that really works? Dave Johnson is a lawyer, teacher, writer and design thinker who is bringing his breadth of understanding to bear on the climate and ecological emergency.    Dave Johnson began his career as a trial lawyer in the courtrooms of Miami. After a decade, he came to Stanford to study design, tech and environ...

How can we improve our health, reduce the costs to the NHS by 50%, restore soil biodiversity, reduce flooding, reverse ecosystem decline and draw carbon down from the atmosphere into the earth's crust?  Regenerative Farming does all of these and more - and Patrick Holden of the Sustainable Food Trust is at the heart of a movement to spread the word around the world.   After studying biodynamic agr...

How can we shape our culture to be one where everyone thrives?  How can we write our new stories where everyone is heroic?  How can we connect to the world of spirit in ways that include everyone? With Tamsin Omond, climate activist, strategist, organiser and author of DO/Earth.  Since dropping banners against Heathrow Airport's third runway from the roof of the Houses of Parliament, Tamsin has co...

We live on stories. We thrive on visions of futures we want - or terrify ourselves with those we definitely don't.  But when it comes to our own near-term future, we don't have the stories that tell us how we got it right.  So we need to write them - Urgently!  One of the things that sets us apart from other species (as far as we know) is that we are forever building futures in our heads. Whenever...

In a world where governments are failing on all levels, can regenerative business be the change we need to see in the world?  Can the new wave of meaningful work create the sense of coherence and community and connectedness to the earth that we need to take us forward?   Nathalie Nahai is host of The Hive podcast, author of two books, international speaker and consultant with businesses big and sm...

What is the nature of being and belonging in the current world? How can we honour the rite of passage that is happening, and let go of the old ways, let them die to the past, live in the liminal space of unknowing, and step into a future that emerges from the best of who we are?    Isla McLeod is a celebrant, ritualist, walker-between-the-worlds and deep connector to spirit.  She says of herself:...

How do we understand dreams in ways that make sense of 21st Century life?  How can we interpret them in ways that have meaning for us as individuals, in the complexity of our lives?  Rabbi Jill Hammer has explored the depths of dreams and dreaming with her new book - and here talks to us about what she learned, and some of the dreams that touched her most deeply. Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD, is an auth...

How can we find joy in life again? How can we create beautiful things to wear that allow us to be the best of ourselves - and build community while we do it?  Alice Holloway is co-founder of London Urban Textiles Commons, and she's committed to finding the answers.  Join us for an inspiring, sparky exploration of how our future can be different. Alice Holloway has a degree in jewellery making from...

How can we be the best possible stewards of the future for our children?  How can we meet their eco-anxiety and teach them resilience, adaptation and give them the skills of systemic thinking that will help them navigate the uncertainties to come?    Eva Bishop is mother of two young children, as well as being a long-term a climate activist and current communications director for the Beaver Trust....

What is Power?  How do we use it: both power over each other, and the power that fuels the world?  How could we use it better? In this, our ninth season (and third year), we are aiming to look more deeply into the ways we might create a flourishing future that we would be proud to leave to the generations that follow us. With that in mind, our first guest of this new season is Richard Heinberg, au...

As we head down into the dark nights of the year, the quiet time of introspection, of assessing the year just gone and thinking forward to the one yet to come, Accidental Gods joins with the hosts of Upstream and The Hive podcasts: 3 women engaged in the best of change to bring the world to a flourishing future.  This is now official solstice tradition - we three explore the questions we've asked...

 What are the best, most readable, most inspiring and most give-able books this season?  Manda's solstice list of her favourite Fiction and non-Fiction books read in 2021. Plus a bonus handful of must-listen podcasts.  Here we go, people of the podcast - the books and their links. I've linked through Blackwells, because I used to love Heffers (part of the same chain) when I was in Cambridge.  Do o...