Sense-Making in a Changing World

In this episode of Sense-Making in a Changing World, I am joined by quite a different guest than you will usually find on this show to explore something that will have enormous implications for our life and work - Artificial Intelligence (AI) - and already does. Mo Gowdat is author of Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World released on 1 October 2021 and also international bestseller, 'Solve for Happy' in 2017.While I am right on the edge of my field of knowledge, experience and comfort here, this is Mo's world. He has worked as a big-tech executive for 30 years and was formerly the chief business officer of Google [X] - the 'moonshot lab' exploring things like driverless cars and AI and candidly shares his thoughts on the dangers and possibilities.Woven through our discussion is also the exploration of purpose. As an executive of one of the biggest companies of the world, he says the richer he got, the more unhappier he became - something he noticed of many people in his world. He started deeply researching how to find happiness and purpose. Then tragically in 2014, he lost his 21 year old son, Ali, in what should have been a routine operation, Mo completely changed his life and launched his personal moonshot project, 1 Billion Happy (#1BillionHappy) in honour of his son.  Last year he also started a podcast, Slo Mo discussing the profound questions and obstacles we all face in the pursuit of purpose in our lives.Back on the topic of AI, Mo says the current direction that this technology is taking, is putting humanity at risk to an unprecedented degree and is something we need to pay serious attention to. We cannot simply ignore it and hope it will go away. Elon Musk is also on record saying that AI is a greater threat than nukes. Mo says that Artificial intelligence genie is already out of the bottle and  already 'smarter' than humans. In his latest book, he explores what we can all do now to teach ourselvI'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 of Sense-Making in a Changing World I am joined by the legendary Darren Doherty - a 5th generation land manager and trainer from the Bendigo region of Victoria, Australia. He's developed his own regenerative farming training platform, the Regrarians (Regenerative + Agrarian), inspired by many practices including PA Yeoman's Keyline Scale of Permanence, Fukuoka, Allan Savory's Holistic Farm Management, Permaculture and others. Darren has trained thousands of people in 50 countries and been involved in the design of thousands of properties. You can find his thinking in the Regrarians Handbook and associated training programs. Darren's family is also deeply involved in Regrarians, local food projects, their own farm,  film-making and a cafe/artspace in Castlemaine  - Cream Town.FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DARREN'S WORKRegrarians: www.regrarians.orgFilm: Polyface: A world of many choices http://www.polyfaces.com/Regrarian Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/RegrariansLtd/Cream Town https://www.facebook.com/creamtowncafe________________________________LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORLD OF PERMACULTURE WITH MORAG GAMBLEExplore the permaculture films, articles, masterclasses and other resources on Our Permaculture Life Youtube channel & blog.Find out more about the Permaculture Education Institute and becoming a certified permaculture educator.If your main interest is getting a thriving food garden set up,  take a look at this online course: The Incredible Edible Garden.________________________________Download this list of 10 of Morag's favourite books.   Click here to watch my free 4 part introduction to permaculture video series. ________________________________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 of Sense-Making in a Changing World it is my honour and delight to be speaking with a giant in the world of design, Professor Janis Birkeland.  Janis has dedicated her personal, professional and academic life to figuring out what is genuine ecological and social sustainability and how we can work towards it.She was drawn to exploring and reimagining the design of our cities, the places where we live and work to explore this question. She first became an architect and urban designer, then transferred into city planning. Later she became a lawyer to better understand the barriers to systems change.Janis originated the theory of Net-Positive Development and Design and is the author of many books - Positive Development, Design for Sustainability and more recently Net Positive Design and Sustainable Urban Development which includes an app ...as well as 100s of papers. Janis has been a Professor of Architecture at QUT, Professor of Sustainable Architecture at the University of Auckland and is now an Honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne .Together we explore ways to rethink how to design human settlements for one-planet-living in ways that enhance not destroy the places they are in.________________________________LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORLD OF PERMACULTURE WITH MORAG GAMBLEExplore the permaculture films, articles, masterclasses and other resources on Our Permaculture Life Youtube channel & blog.Find out more about the Permaculture Education Institute and becoming a certified permaculture educator.If your main interest is getting a thriving food gardI'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 of Sense-Making in a Changing World, I am delighted to share with you a conversation I had recently with the wonderfully insightful artist, writer and researcher, Christina Conklin exploring the impact of the climate crisis on our oceans and cities around the world, and the possibilities for hope.Christina and co-author, Marina Psaros have recently released The Atlas of Disappearing Places: Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis  published by New Society Press - a beautiful yet confronting work to help us see the devastating impact of the climate crisis as well as the opportunities for individual and collective action. The atlas shares stores of twenty places around the world and explores "the impacts of climate change - changing chemistry, warming waters, strengthening storms and rising seas - using the metaphor of the ocean as a body to draw parallels between natural systems and human systems." This book doesn't shy away from the existential threats and offers a clear picture of what happens if we don't act. It's an amazing work of art that considers the seriousness of our situation and at the same time, the possibilities of hope if we choose to face this and act differently. Christina's beautiful maps of each place depicting these possible futures are made themselves of seaweed. Christina and I met through our shared support of the work of Bemeriki of Rwamwanja Rural Foundation - a refugee-led permaculture program in Rwamwanja refugee settlement in Uganda. If you can help us further support the establishment of a permaculture demonstration farm, youth kitchen gardens, widow's livelihood programs and free access to permaculture education, please donate here through our registered charity, Ethos Foundation. I send 100% directly to the community undertaking this work.You can listen to the audio here, or 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 of Sense-Making in a Changing World, as I chat with Hannah Maloney - Nipaluna/Hobart-based permaculture writer, designer, educator, film-maker and change-maker who has just released her first book, The Good Life: How to Grow a Better World - a positive book about how our everyday actions and decisions can be significant climate action. I first met Hannah's dad when we were starting Northey Street City Farm in Meanjin/Brisbane. Lots of the original herbs came from his nursery. She grew up in this inner city herb nursery and inherited a love of plants  and met many amazing mentors along her journey into a permaculture life. For the past 15 years, Hannah has been creating permaculture projects of all kinds with the bigger picture always of contributing to a climate safe future, and establishing her own urban permaculture home and garden on a steep hillside. In 2015 she was awarded the Tasmanian ‘Young Landcare Leader Award’ for her work with Good Life Permaculture and co-establishing Hobart City Farm (since closed). In 2018, she took part in the Tasmanian Leader’s Program and in 2019 started appearing as a guest presenter with Gardening Australia on ABC TV and featured in the Women Of The Island project. You can choose to watch this conversation over on our podcast youtube here.________________________________LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORLD OF PERMACULTURE WITH MORAG GAMBLEExplore the permaculture films, articles, masterclasses and other resources on Our Permaculture Life Youtube channel & blog.Find out more about the Permaculture EducatiI'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 am so delighted to welcome Dr Dominique Hes to the Sense-Making in a Changing World Show. In this episode we explore what it means to design for life to thrive and deeply listen to Country in the face of multiple crises.Dominique is an award winning educator with over 25 years of experience in universities, communities and professional organisations with focus on design, placemaking, regenerative development, biophilia and urban greenery.  Dominique has degrees in botany, engineering and architecture and brings an interdisciplinary approach to all her work.  She is an Adjunct Fellow at the Cities Research Institute at Griffith University and Honorary Fellow at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne. Her passion is teaching people their potential agency in contributing to a thriving future. She is also author of Designing For Hope: Pathways to Regenerative Sustainability with co-author Chrisna du Plessis, and Chair of the Board of Greenfleet - a leading not-for-profit organisation committed to protecting our climate by restoring our forests. Dominique and I are both members of the Regenerative Songlines Australia and she also recently became a member of the Permaculture Education Institute.Come and join us in conversation.________________________________Download this list of 10 of Morag's favourite books.   Morag's 4 part introduction to permaculture video series.________________________________LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORLD OF PERMACULTURE WITH MORAG GAMBLEExplore the permaculture films, articles, masterclasses and other resources on Our Permaculture Life Youtube chaI'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.

Being in service of a regenerative future is what shapes Trish Hansen's choices and decisions about the projects and collaborations she puts her energy into. It is my great delight to welcome Trish to the Sense-Making in a Changing World show.Trish is a prominent thought leader in the fields of creative health and wellbeing, the creative and cultural life of places public art, and the 'vibe' of neighbourhoods and cities. She was recently the President of the Australian Institute for Urban Studies, is a Director of the South Australian Living Artist Festival and is Founding Principal of Urban Mind Studio, Ambassador for Good Design Australia and a Fellow of the Centre for Conscious Design. Together we are  part of the new Regenerative Songlines Australia network. Come and join us in conversation here as audio, or over on the Sense-Making in a Changing World Youtube.________________________________Download this list of 10 of Morag's favourite books.   Morag's 4 part introduction to permaculture video series.________________________________LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORLD OF PERMACULTURE WITH MORAG GAMBLEExplore the permaculture films, articles, masterclasses and other resources on Our Permaculture Life Youtube channel & blog.Find out more about the Permaculture Education Institute and becoming a certified permaculture educator.If your main interest is getting a thriving food garden set up,  take a look at this online course: 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.

My wonderful guest on this episode is a 2021 Kofi Annan Changemaker, a Ugandan permaculture gardener and educator living in near the capital city of Kampala, Irene Nagudi. Through this work she is also a peacemaker, climate activist and conservation educator. She dreams of starting a permaculture education farm outside of the city to give youth a fresh perspective on a way to move forward - a good example to show what is possible.  Currently she runs a permaculture program called Kichini Gardeners - encouraging people with just tiny spaces to grow kitchen gardens and recycle their wastes. Connect -Learn - Lead is her motto.The recent International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in August 2021 tells us that climate change is human induced, happening faster and affecting people and places everywhere.  People like Irene are stepping up around the world to influence positive change in as many ways they can.Irene  was infuriated by being part of groups where young people were sidelined and was determined that the youth voice about what needs to be done and what is important for the future and well-being of people in her community and the planet. 'Being silenced hurts a lot' she said. She has followed her heart, is learning permaculture, has become a Youth Climate Ambassador, works with young women in slums and reaches out to children around her community - she says connecting with children is the way to reach the parents and grandparents. Her dedication has led to her proudly being selected as one of the 12 young people who are the 2021 Kofi Annan Changemakers. She is part of this program to amplify her work in her urban permaculture education program. Irene is creating urban permaculture gardens and welcoming young people to come and get involved. Her aim is to ripple this out from her own community to schools and beyond. Irene is introducing composting, tiny gardening, seed saving and natural methods of growing. As well as food gardening, she sees this as a peace-building project, climate action, nature connection and poverty alleviation program.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.

It is my great pleasure to welcome  Ross William to the Sense-making in a Changing World show. Ross, who's traditional name is 'Tummulba' means lightning, is a proud  Bindal person of Townsville to Burdekin regions (on his father’s side). Bindal people are star people.  On his mother’s side he is connected to the Islands and peoples of Erub and Mer Islands of the Torres Straits. He is part of two indigenous led initiatives here in Australia - Future Dreaming Australia and Regenerative Songlines Australia.   I loved talking with Ross and so grateful for how generous he was in helping us to understand indigenous land management practices and perspectives and ways of restoring and regenerating Australian ecosystems and ways of knowing too. We talk about regeneration, governance models, Australian food, dance, energy, the stars, dark matter, the unseen, water, climate change, continuing semi-subsistence lifestyles of remote indigenous communities. He describes songlines too - the stories of country, ways of sharing and connecting knowledge for survival  and how the first law for everything was always the environment. I was really thrilled to hear him say "Permaculture is a modern version of the way we watched and looked after land, and how the land provided". Grab your notebook and listen in. So much richness here. Future Dreaming Australia offers an opportunity for us to rethink specialised cross-cultural courses, to help non-indigenous people understand and support Aboriginal approaches to caring to country. Regenerative Songlines Australia is working to create a continent-wide network, that connects regenerative projects and practitioners. It is led by First Nations peoples and inclusive of all Australians; focused on amplifying local and bioregional initiatives, and connected to international “regenerative roadmap” partners.Ross has over 40 years working with Traditional Owner groups, Elders and Leaders in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander   environmental, social, cultural, economic and planning matters.  NB: You can watch our youtI'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.

How do you communicate big ideas that stick and spread in local communities?  Listen in. Sustainability communication is one of the many talents of my guest on this episode of Sense-Making in a Changing World, Chhaya Bhanti. Chhaya is the Founder and Director of Vertiver- a women-owned, Indian social enterprise full of designers, storytellers, artists, researchers and passionate environmentalists. They create engaging campaigns to cultivate positive change around issues of waste, forests, biodiversity, climate action, ecosystems conservation, water, and sustainable agriculture - also through Iora Ecological SolutionsChhaya was a brand designer living the high life in New York when she woke up to the inherent waste and destruction that her industry and own work were creating. She returned home to India, took time out to reacquaint with her country (riding her bicycle down the Himalayas from Ladakh!), and then set up her own communications company to be a positive influence in the world. Chhaya's advocacy work supports policy change and community empowerment affecting millions of people. Here's some facts from her website which are some of the driving motivators of her work. In India: One in every four people depend on forests for their livelihood85% of household water use depends on groundwater48% of children under 5 years old are malnourishedOutdoor air pollution causes 1.2 million deaths a yearI look forward to talking with Chhaya again soon - next time with some of the communities she works with to explore urban permaculture ideas. NB: You can watch our youtube conversation here.________________________________Download this list of 10 of Morag's favourite books.Morag's 4 part introduction to permaculture video series.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.