Answers to the Questions of life: Biomimicry, Complexity and Peacebuilding with Dr Deborah Benham

Today we're blowing open a route towards energy security, reduced carbon footprint and saving money - all in the way we make, distribute and use power.  If each of us could minimise our own power use, we'd be a step on the way to reducing our overall carbon footprint: more, we'd be changing the ways we think of ourselves as separate from the web of life. This week's guest is long time friend of the podcast Howard Johns. Howard is an activist, author, and serial entrepreneur in the field of energy generation - of how we power our lives, keep the lights on and keep ourselves warm.  Howard is now CEO of OneZero energy, a team of energy experts and digital nerds with a shared passion for getting homes off fossil fuels.  One of the biggest climate actions anyone can take is to retrofit their home with four components: Solar panels, batteries, heat pumps and insulation The combination of these makes homes more comfortable, but more importantly, it saves significant amounts of money and massively reduces the carbon footprint - weaning us off fossil fuels.  Howard himself has founded and led an award winning solar business, a pioneering community-owned energy company, and written a guide book to help others to do the same. He's given a TED Talk, occupied a coal mine and campaigned on energy and climate issues from inside parliament and atop treehouses, and until recently ran a large fleet of solar projects across the EU and UK.One Zero https://www.onezero.energy/Howard's website: https://www.howardjohns.net/Howard's book: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/energy-revolution-your-guide-to-repowering-the-energy-system-howard-johns/706009AG Episode 89https://accidentalgods.life/power-to-the-people/Indenture Hemp Insulation https://www.indinature.co/Homely Heat Pump Controllers https://www.homelyenergy.com/Any Human Power (Manda's book) https://linktr.ee/anyhumanpower

Our guest this week is Richard Smyth, author, crossword designer, cartoonist - and father of two young children Richard writes features, reviews and comment pieces for publications including The Guardian, The Times LiterarySupplement, The New Statesman, and New Scientist. His crosswords – both cryptic and quiz – appear regularly in New Scientist, History Today, and BBC Wildlife. He's part of the team that sets questions for BBC Mastermind, and he's a cartoonist: Private Eye, New Humanist and Claims magazines have all featured his work. He's the author of five non-fiction books of which the latest is The Jay, the Beech and the Limpetshell which is one of those captivating works that is both memoir and eulogy of a dying world. It brings together Richard's passionate love of the natural world with his care for his two young children. It's a captivating read that shuttles back and forth along the time lines, weaving Twitter comments from 'Average Dad' with items from the memoirs of old Victorian naturalists who tasted bird's eggs and considerations of how we help the generations that come after us to fall in love with a world that is going to be so, so different from when we were young - however old you are now, whatever your memories. So this is one or our more reflective, peaceful, contemplative podcasts, a paean to the worlds of our youth and a hope for the future.  Enjoy!Richard's Website Richards books at Hive 

in this second election special, we talk to Natalie Bennett (or Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle if we're going to be forma - but she said we didn't need to be) - one of two Green Party members in the House of Lords.  Natalie is author of the Book 'Change Everything: How we can rethink, repair and rebuild society' - one of the essential books of our time that outlines in detail how we can create the total systemic change we need. Natalie will be back in the autumn to discuss this in more detail, but in the meantime, we had a broad, deep conversation on the UK election - where it's going, where it could go and how each of us can help move a progressive, radical, thoughtful, compassionate, useful, climate-and-meta-crisis-aware agenda so that an incoming government will listen to us.  As she says, 'The Tories are Toast', but there's still a lot we can do to elect as many Green MPs as possible. Natalie Bennett website: https://www.nataliebennett.org/Natalie's Book: https://unbound.com/books/change-everythingNatalie on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GreenNatalieBennett/Natalie on Twitter https://x.com/natalieben

Our guest this week is Dr Deborah Benham, Biomimicry Educator, Transition Town Co-Lead Link and Deep Nature Connection facilitator - which puts her in a place to really unpick what it will take for us to depart the crumbling remains of late-stage capitalism and build a world based on connection, coherence and community. From her early days as a Marine Biologist, through her PhD on sea otters (I am not remotely envious of someone who gets to study sea otters for 3 years!), to her time in a community near Findhorn and now in a co-housing community in Dorset, Deborah's life has been oriented towards holding a vision of humanity as a helpful species on this planet. As you'll hear, she's the co-Lead Link for Transition Network, the charity which supports the international Transition towns movement; she's a trained Biomimicry Educator and with a background in Jon Young's Deep Nature Connection work, Deborah brings a practical, experiential lived and living toolkit that she shares and teaches - of how we can build thriving human societies, cultures, communities and businesses, designing with and as nature, creating mutual benefit for all life, using tech in life affirming ways, and uplifting justice, kindness and cooperation. We often reach an impasse where we know roughly what needs to happen, but don't have the conceptual or practical tools to bring it into being. Deborah has both - she's fully grounded in the theory of how communities of support, practice and place can come into being and she's teaching and living the practice. In fact - she's one of the core team creating the Nature Connection Camp from 4th - 10th August near Bedford in the UK so if you're around and want to experience the many ways we can weave the four threads she talks about, please hit the link in the show notes. Nature Connection Camp link for Tickets  - https://natureculturenetwork.org/connection-camp/  USE THE DISCOUNT CODE MandaConnection - VALID TILL JUNE 14TH Promo short video - https://youtube.com/shorts/924rR_uZtdA?si=DfbMMEIdg7PSNCwtVideo channel with testimonials from previous camps - https://www.youtube.com/@NatureCultureNetworkFacebook event page - https://www.facebook.com/events/1338787930132432Resource List Connect with DeborahDeborah's website www.deborahbenham.comDeborah on Linked In Deborah on Instagram - Nature’s Guide to Thriving WebsitesBiomimicry 3.8Biomimicry InstituteNature Culture Network - UKLiving Connection 1st / 8 ShieldsTransition NetworkBridport Co-HousingEvents, Courses, Online materialsIntroducing Biomimicry to your communityBiomimicry - Ask Nature Learn Biomimicry CourseCapra CourseGaia EducationNature Culture Connection Camp August 2024Nature-Based Village Building (enquire directly to Deborah to join the prototype 2024 membership)ProjectsBonn im Wandel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru2pywGzsH0Liege Food Belthttps://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jul/16/the-good-life-in-liege-the-start-of-a-food-revolutionResearch and BooksAldrich, Daniel -   social ties in disaster recovery Bregman, Rutger (2021).  Humankind: A Hopeful HistoryMacdonald, Miriam Kate (2022).  Emergent: Rewilding Nature, Regenerating Food and Healing the World by Restoring the Connection Between People and the Wild. Pedersen Zari, M.; Hecht, K. (2020). “Biomimicry for Regenerative Built Environments: Mapping Design Strategies for Producing Ecosystem Services.” Biomimetics 2020, 5, 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics5020018  Young, Jon, Ellen Haas and Evan McGown (2009).  Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature.Zelenski, J.; Warber, S.; Robinson, J.M.; Logan, A.C.; Prescott, S.L. (2023).  “Nature Connection: Providing a Pathway from Personal to Planetary Health.” Challenges 2023, 14, 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe14010016

Buy Manda's book hereOur first Election Special with friend of the podcast, Neal Lawson.Neal is Director of the progressive campaign group, Compass and co-host of the Compass podcast ,called It's Bloody Complicated. Neal is a long-time progressive campaigner and a tireless advocate for Proportional Representation as a vehicle for radical progressive change in the way we do politics.  In this swift half hour, we look at the circumstances of this utterly unexpected election and Neal explains the practical steps we can take between now and polling day  with the aim of brining about what he calls a progressive 'Pitch Invasion' that will fundamentally upgrade and update the way we arrange our governance structures... Neal Lawson on Twitter https://x.com/neal_compassCompass https://www.compassonline.org.uk/Neal in Episode #150 https://accidentalgods.life/charting-a-progressive-route-through-the-political-maelstrom/https://accidentalgods.life/charting-a-progressive-route-through-the-political-maelstrom/

This week's guest, Jessica Bockler is one of those people who sparks every fire in my being - and i hope in yours, too.  Jessica is an applied theatre practitioner and transpersonal psychologist who co-founded the Alef Trust a globally-conscious non-profit organisation offering online graduate education programmes, and open learning courses for people who want really to step into what Indy Johar so beautifully calls the emergent edge of Inter-Becoming. Jessica is integral to the Nurturing the Fields of Change Programme that brings people together from diverse walks of life to create an emerging community of practice around change - and she's Programme Director for the Trust's academic programmes in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology. She teaches on a range of topics, bringing spiritual perspectives to activism and social change - so you can begin to see why I find her work so enthralling. She stands at that nexus where transpersonal psychology meets shamanic practice, where being and becoming are an art and a practice in themselves, grounded in modern science - not the reductive, Head Mind science of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but twenty-first century science where complexity and systems thinking lie at the heart of all we do, where we recognise that only by becoming fully present in the moment, can we access the whole, vast intelligence of the All That Is and find what is ours to do. Jessica brings all this into being in social prescribing programmes, in theatre, in change facilitation, in the MSc at Liverpool John Moores University and in her daily life and she shares it in the conversation you're about to hear - including a clip of one of her own practices, that is solid podcasting gold.  If you're interested in finding out how we can access our own inner intelligence and build with others to co-create the foundations of that more flourishing future we'd be proud to leave behind, then this is the podcast for you.  ALEF Trust  https://aleftrust.org Nurturing the Fields of Change https://www.aleftrust.org/alef-applied/nurturing-the-fields-of-change-programme/MSc in Consciousness, Spirituality and Transpersonal Psychology https://www.aleftrust.org/academic-learning/masters-degree/Live Event: Healing Humanity, 1st June 2024, Broughton Sanctuary, Yorkshire eventbrite.co.uk/e/healing-humanity-imagination-embodiment-and-community-tickets-887551710057 Workshop: Embodied Imagination for Social Change, 2nd & 3rd September, Oxford eurotas2024.com/pre-post-conference-workshops/towards-emergence-embodied-play-and-sourcing-for-transformation Conference, 4 – 8 Sept, Oxford: Creative Bridges: embodied consciousness, psyche & soul in research and practice eurotas2024.comNational Academy for Social Prescribing https://socialprescribingacademy.org.uk/Inner Green Deal  https://innergreendeal.com/

Once in a while, a book comes along that changes how we see the world, that re-sets something fundamental in who we are and our capacity to engage with the Web of Life.  Braided Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer was one of these: at once poetically beautiful, spiritually inspiring and deeply thought-provoking. And now Osprey Orielle Lake has written 'The Story is in our Bones: How Worldview and Climate Justice can Remake a World in Crisis'.  This is a genuinely beautiful book on every level: full of living mythology, opening doors to how the bones of our language make the world around us, offering other perspective, other ways of being, living stories of where we came from and who we are and who we could be.  It's deeply honouring of Indigenous wisdom from around the world, and of the struggle of all those who suffer most and have done least to unleash the poly crisis that is so obviously impacting our world. The author is an extraordinary person, founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) which was created to accelerate a global women's movement for the protection and defense of the Earth’s diverse ecosystems and communities. She sits on the executive committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature whose goal is to 'transform our human relationship with our planet' and on the steering committee for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, which is modelled on the Nuclear non-proliferation treaties of the last millennium, and seeks to manage a global transition to safe, renewable and affordable energy for all. In short, she works internationally with grassroots, BIPOC and Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and diverse coalitions to build climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a decentralized, democratized clean-energy future. This is one of those conversations that dived deep into the heart of what really matters - how we bring ourselves to a place of genuine connection with the Web of Life  - in time - and in ways that will create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.  We could have talked for hours, and I have no doubt we'll come back again, but in the meantime, please enjoy the many layers of being and belonging that Osprey brings to all her work. Buy the Book 'The Story is in Our Bones' Osprey's website: https://ospreyoriellelake.earth/Women's Earth and Climate Action Network International https://actionnetwork.org/groups/wecan-internationalGlobal Alliance for the Rights of Nature https://www.garn.org/Osprey on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ospreyorielle.lake/Osprey on GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/137212679-the-story-is-in-our-bonesOsprey on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ospreyoriellelake/Osprey on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/osprey-orielle-lake-4286bb12/

This week the tables are turned and Maddy Harland, editor of Permaculture Magazine interviews Manda about her new 'seismic' Mytho-Political thriller, Any Human Power, which will be available from 30th May. "From a bestselling storyteller who brings together myths and speculative futures with a radical compassion, comes the story of a family at the heart of a political crisis and the ensuing uprising of a disenfranchised generation. A family that harnesses the skills and stories needed for real change, if they can choose the right path, before it is too late …As Lan lies dying, she makes a promise that binds her long into the Beyond. Fifteen years later, her teenage granddaughter, Kaitlyn, triggers an international storm of outrage that unleashes the rage of a whole betrayed generation. For one shining fragment of time, the world is with her. But then the backlash begins and soon she and those closest to her find themselves facing the wrath of the old establishment, who will use every dirty trick in the book to fight them off.Watching over the growing chaos is Lan, who taught them all to think independently, approach power sceptically and dream with clear intent. She knows more than one generation’s hopes are on the line. Nothing less than the future of humanity stands in the balance.Grand in scope, rich in courageous characters who breathe new life into ancient wisdom, here is a dream of a better future: a world we’d be proud to leave to our children and their children and on, generations down the line.‘A polemical thriller like no other, an absorbing manifesto to change the world. It constantly surprises. Manda Scott’s characters play havoc with your emotions, her narrative keeps you turning the pages, and her ideas might just change your life.’ANDREW TAYLOR, AUTHOR OF THE SHADOWS OF LONDON ‘The critical task in present times is to find a way out of the world-destroying political status quo. To make that happen we first have to imagine how it could happen. In Any Human Power, Manda Scott uses her own supreme imaginative powers as a novel is t to open windows into the flow of possibilities.’CHRIS SMAJE, AUTHOR OF A SMALL FARM FUTURE ‘This book brilliantly depicts the frightening reality facing those who mobilise against a violent global establishment. However, instead of regarding cosmic and spiritual forces as separate from politics, this book transforms our sense of what is possible.’RUTH CATLOW, CO-FOUNDER OF FURTHERFIELD"Ordering: If you're in the UK, please either order through your local independent bookstore or  by following this link https://linktr.ee/anyhumanpowerIf you're elsewhere in the world, you have options (NB - the book is currently only available in English. If you know a publisher who'd like to publish a translated copy, please let me know) You can order from the UK at the link above and they'll ship a hardback to you anywhere in the worldIf you'd like to order through your local independent bookstore, you can let them know that the books are available through the distributors   - Gardners UK or Ingrams USorYou can order an ebook from your national Amazon, Kobo or Apple stores and whichever you do - if you like it, please do leave a review at Amazon and Goodreads as well as whatever other social media follow - word of mouth is our best possible friend! Permaculture Magazine https://www.permaculture.co.uk/subscribe/Manda's Website https://mandascott.co.uk

Join us on a deep dive into the transformative world of composting with Nicky Grady Scott, a master composter and educator whose expertise is revolutionizing our approach to waste and regenerative cycles. In this enlightening episode, Nicky shares his journey from a passionate 16-year-old working with compost to the establishment of community-led recycling projects that have evolved into thriving businesses. Discover the science and simplicity behind composting, the importance of soil health, and how we can all contribute to a flourishing future by turning our "wasted resources" into rich, living soil. Whether you live in a high-rise or have acres of land, Nicky's insights offer practical guidance on creating compost, understanding soil's water retention, and the alchemy of air, water, and fire in the composting process. Tune in to learn how you can be part of this global movement towards sustainability, food security, and job creation. Get ready to be inspired to transform your food scraps into a force for regenerative change!Dr Compost https://drdotcompost.wordpress.com/about/Devon Composting Community Network www.dccn.org.ukDevon Schools project www.growingdevonschools.orgProper Job www.proper-job.orgNicky's book on Composting https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/how-to-make-and-use-compost-9780857845450/Complexity University https://complexity.university/Mycelium Network  https://www.mycelium-network.com/Nicky on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cYHHhLi0b3YCleanStream https://www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/we-scream-for-clean-stream

Author Stephen Markley opens the doors to The Deluge, his ground-breaking, world-changing Climate/MetaCrisis thriller- 900 pages that absolutely squarely rips into the current system in all its deficiencies - and offers a route through to a future that might work. This week's guest is someone who has mapped out a possible future in a depth and detail that leaves me awestruck. Stephen Markley's first published novel Ohio, was described as a wild, angry, and devastating masterpiece of a book. Stephen King called it this generation's Grapes of Wrath and there is no doubt that it's a beautifully written, lyrical, devastating debut. But it turns out Ohio was the book he wrote in the midst of writing the novel we're going to talk about today. The Deluge is nine hundred pages of astonishing depth and breadth that takes as its topic the meta-crisis. It's an excoriating evisceration of neoliberalism and the thousands of small acts of mendacity or cowardice or sheer self-absorption that have got us to the edge of the cliff. It's an examination of just how close we are, and a portrayal of how utterly catastrophic will be the impacts if we step over. It's a deeply political book, but at heart it's also incredibly humane, with a cast of characters that spreads across contemporary American life in ways that I have rarely, if ever, encountered. I read the book and connected with Stephen because Rupert Read, who was with us last week, called me up and said 'This is a glorious Thrutopian novel, you have to read it.' And there were times when I completely did not believe him. But he's right. it's big. It requires huge dedication. But it's well, well worth the investment in terms of the doors it opens - and the many ways it shows us how we might fail before we finally succeed. Stephen's website https://www.stephenmarkley.com/The Deluge https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-deluge-stephen-markley/7544942?ean=9781982123109