Sense-Making in a Changing World

The most pressing question in these uncertain times may be how can we bring healing and protection to the Earth?Join me this episode the explore this question that Cynthia Jurs carried with her in 1990 as she climbed a path high in the Himalayas, to meet an “old wise man in a cave”—a venerated lama from Nepal. This question is the centre for both her work, her book, 'Summoned by the Earth', and our conversation - sharing her journeys around the world, from Australian Indigenous communities to the USA. And Cynthia's way of reaching the answer is through practice and acknowledging the importance of listening to the Earth and developing a relationship with nature  - to go outside, connect with the natural world, and ask how you can be of service.Cynthia became a dharma teacher (Dharmacharya) in the Order of Interbeing of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in 1994 and in 2018, was made an honorary lama in the Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in recognition of her dedication in carrying out the Earth Treasure Vase practice. Inspired by thirty years of pilgrimage into diverse communities and ecosystems, today Cynthia is forging a new path of dharma in service to Gaia—a path deeply rooted in the feminine, honoring indigenous cultures, and devoted to collective awakening. Cynthia leads meditations, retreats, courses, and pilgrimages to support the emergence of a global community of engaged and embodied sacred activists. You can find her offerings at www.GaiaMandala.net and her book at www.SummonedByTheEarth.org.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

I'm delighted to welcome Ansima Casinga Rolande to this final episode of our International Women's Series. I've worked with Rolande for many years now and I can truly say that she is one of the most inspiring people I've ever met.Rolande is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and is living currently in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. In this episode, she shares her story of how she came to be in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, the challenges of life in a refugee camp and how she started to make a difference.After taking the Permaculture Education Institute's Permaculture Design and Teaching Course, Rolande has been working hard to integrate permaculture into the camp - for healthy food, for livelihoods, for environmental restoration, for women and youth, for peace and for hope. From women's menstrual health to helping young artists in the camp, Rolande is empowering women and youth by providing education, livelihoods, and a sense of purpose.Rolande's work wouldn't be possible without the kind donations of people like you. The Ethos Foundation is a registered charity and sends 100% of all donations towards programs like Rolande's and supports free permaculture education for refugees, with direct impact where it is needed most. If you can make a donation, it is deeply appreciated, supporting life-changing permaculture programs led by local people in 10 refugee settlements across Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.Another way to support Ethos Foundation initiatives is to attend the Permaculture Education Institute's free, online events and donate at registration - this also goes 100% towards programs. To buy a reusable sanitary pack for a young woman in a refugee settlement and support sustainable menstrual health, visit this page. To commission a Nakivart artwork of your own and support young artists in Nakivale to make a livelihood doing what they love, visit I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

Join me in this episode as part of our International Womens' Series to explore how we can speak up for women and climate with Osprey Orielle Lake. Osprey is the founder of Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International, leading and inspiring a just transition towards a one-planet, democratised and resilient world.We discuss her new book, 'The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldview and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis', diving deep into the importance of worldviews of how they shape our understanding of the world and determine how we act.We need to engage at different scales - from personal actions to global community building - speaking up for nature and building womens' leadership in whatever ways we can.We also chat about how permaculture can be used in these actions and forming the basis for a theory of change. Deeply informed and felt worldviews are so important in creating the world we want to see.Make sure to look into Osprey's amazing work - get involved and support WECAN and read her book to delve more deeply into these ideas.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

In this second International Women's Series conversation, Clytie Binder joins Morag Gamble in discussing her Churchill Fellowship research on composting and the hyperlocal systems she has observed around the world. Tune in to learn about the importance in 'handmade' composting wherever you are and how it is being used to address the climate crisis. Clare emphasises the need to prioritise household composting and avoid food waste as the first step in the waste hierarchy. She also explores innovations in composting, from institutional composting in zoos, schools, and prisons to house level systems.Most of all, she highlights the need for a shift towards a circular economy - the importance of incorporating the social dimension into the life cycle of our foods and products.To dive deeper into this exploration of community composting, read Clytie's Churchill Fellowship report.Make sure you check out Clytie's latest project, the Local Community Compost Alliance, a national organisation in Australia supporting and advocating for community composting.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

Tune into this conversation as part of the International Women's Day Series with Helen Lehndorf as we share our deep relationship with nature - finding connection and empowerment in the edible landscape around us.We explore the practice of foraging and the concept of home as a sense of nourishment and connection with the land, discussing the journey of becoming ecologically conscious and the importance of being immersed in nature, in the city or the country.This episode a must listen for anyone searching for a deeper connection to place.As a published author of books like 'A Forager's Life', Helen has a beautiful way of emphasising humans' reciprocal relationship with plants and the wisdom of plant tending. She also highlights the significance of hyperlocal food systems and the power of food commons and radical reciprocity.This conversation also touches on the intersection of permaculture and motherhood, the importance of social permaculture, and the practice of writing and nature journaling.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

Tune in for an exploration of sense-making with author, educator, and local government councillor, Leah Rampy.If you're looking for insight into what it means to live in a changing world, the importance of remembering your kinship with the Earth and how to apply this to your daily practices, listen in to this episode.As well representing her local county as a councillor and writing books, Leah lives in a cohousing community, leads a local food initiative called Save Our Soils and runs the monthly gathering Church of the Wild. She also offers retreats and spiritual coaching - guiding experiences to reconnection with the Earth. You can find her recently released guide to living deeply with the planet, 'Earth and Soul: Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos' at this link. This book is a result of a decades long journey examining the gaps in our climate change conversations and uncovers what lies beneath our unwillingness to change our interactions with the natural world.I hope you find nourishment in this episode and enjoy our conversation!I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

In this episode, I welcome Ben Moody to explore a systemic way of reversing plastic pollution - a young regenerative entrepreneur with a big vision to clean the seas.Through his innovative business, Seven Clean Seas, Ben has managed to remove over 2 million kilograms of plastic from the ocean by working with a number of countries in Asia, engaging with communities to create positive local employment.He and his partners buy plastic credits from companies - a way to create a systemic solution for plastic pollution. This plastic neutral idea pushes for plastic reduction, but allows places like medical industries who use necessary plastics to offset their impact by sponsoring Ben's work of removing plastic already in the environment.As Ben sees it, this is a systemic problem. We have to stop the flow of plastic as well as cleaning it up at the same time. And if we can positively engage the communities that are involved in this process, then impact start ups like Ben's can really make a difference.Check out Seven Clean Seas' Instagram and Facebook!I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

Are you a teacher, parent or student wondering how permaculture can be related to school? Listen in to this episode, where I welcome Rebecca Leek - an educator weaving permaculture into school systems across England.Permaculture is commonly associated with gardening, but Rebecca shows how it can help our approach to education too.From producing no waste to valuing the marginal, the principles embedded in permaculture can really help shape our schools into places of genuine connection and emergence.What if we looked at our education system as a garden? How can we create composting systems in our social worlds? Tune in to explore.You can read Rebecca's article in the Guardian here.To explore more, listen to Episode 12: Education with Satish Kumar.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

Tune in to this episode with Dr Ruth Backstrom - author, facilitator and public professor - to explore why we need to rethink our democratic political systems, what a new democracy could look like and how we can make it happen.When we talk about politics, we often associated it with the 'us and them' - the distant, polarised landscape we see in the news, and in our discussions with those around us. Instead, Ruth's idea of a new democracy rests on citizen assemblies - a place to make a difference and learn through conversation - a participatory form of governance!Ruth focuses on the importance of teaching emotional intelligence to find empathy not only with other people, but with the planet too. To learn about a holistic form of approaching politics and the stories we share around it, listen to this episode! Dr Backstrom has recently released a book 'Igniting a Bold New Democracy: Empowering Citizens Through Game-changing Reforms' - a great guide into how we can create positive change in our political decision-making processes! Check out her work at www.ruthbackstrom.com to explore more.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

In this episode, I welcome Eric Ressler - a digital designer helping social impact organisations myceliate their stories into the world through Design by Cosmic. If you've ever wondered about what goes into the behind-the-scenes of a social action group or wanted to start your own, this is a must-listen!As an organisation designer, Eric goes into the nitty-gritty of what the most important steps for catalysing real world change are - from how to activate people through online platforms to the significance of taking a moonshot once in a while.Design by Cosmic supports organisations focused on making real world change hone down their impact story, their branding and their messages. If you're interested, check out their manifesto for social impact leaders!I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the showSubscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Morag also shares conversations through Our Permaculture Life YouTube, Permaculture Festival of Wild Ideas & monthly film screenings.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.