Accidental Gods

How bad are things really? Is it too late to avert the climate and ecological catastrophe? And if not, how do we pull ourselves back from the brink? Exploring answers with Paul Behrens, author of 'The Best of Times, The Worst of Times'. We live on the edge of change - the facts can be terrifying, but the creative potential of our times is inspiring and just as jaw-dropping as the horrors of the reality we inhabit.  Paul Behrens is Assistant Professor of Energy and Environmental Change at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He has advised governments and his work on climate change has appeared in leading scientific journals, as well as on the BBC, in the New York Times and Scientific American.  He's got a clear, un-sensational view of the way things are - and how we can bring ourselves back from the brink. In our conversation, we explore the realities and the possibilities  - and where we might go from here. Pauls Book: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Best-of-Times-The-Worst-of-Times-by-Paul-Behrens-author/9781911648093

How can we take the radical, renegade, rule-breaking, revolutionary ideals of the golden age of Pirates and transmute them to gold in our world? Alex Barker, author of 'How to be More Pirate' lays out the maps to the treasure of change. The concept of radical, renegade, revolutionary insurgency based on the model created in the Golden Age of Pirates was given wings by Sam Conniff's best selling book, BE MORE PIRATE.  In the wake of its success, Sam needed to find ways to help the many people the book inspired. And for that he needed help. Enter Alex Barker, Primary Pirate, visionary, breaker of rules and maker of gatherings on and offline. Alex and Sam between them have steered Pirate groups from industries as far apart as car manufacturing (Mercedes), Social Media Mega-Giants (Google) and nationally owned health care providers (the UK's NHS).  But we can go deeper than simply breaking the old, fossilised structures of industries... we can change the entire system. Because, as Sam says, 'problems will not be fixed by fixing the problems... what's really needed is an overhaul of the engine that's causing the problems. In other words, the business model.' And, as Alex says, 'I want to see many more new crews forming outside of formal structures, so that while the old models fall, new ones are already emerging.'  Accidental Gods seeks to be part of that emerging eco-system of new ways of being.  And to get there, we need new ways of thinking - and ways we can each break out of the moulds that have cast us.   Alex Barker offers a map to the treasure of change.  Follow us! The book: https://www.bemorepirate.com/the-bookThe Workshops: https://www.bemorepirate.com/the-workshopRethink Humanity Paper: https://www.rethinkx.com/humanity As we said at the end of the podcast, Mike Raven and Ross Thornley of AQAI have kindly agreed to let Accidental Gods subscribers and members access their Adaptability Quotient test.  The link is here: DISCOUNT CODE FOR AQAI: https://app.aqai.io/signup/aqme?discount_code=ACCGODS

In the midst of nonviolent direct action, is a red thread, holding the liminal space between the old and the new, between action and re-action, between hope and extinction.  The Red Rebel Brigade is a distinctive feature of XR Actions and here we have a glimpse from the inside. More at Red is the colour of our life blood. It joins us to the land and all the web of life.  It was chosen as the original colour of the silent life-dancers of Extinction Rebellion as an explicit symbol of this life blood - and although other colours have been used, notably black for oil and blue for the sea - the  feature of a red line of silent individuals threading between police and activists has become a key component of XR Actions across the world.  For those not involved in the Red Rebel Brigades, their presence can feel transformative.   To understand better the deep, shamanic connection with the land and the sensing-into-spirit that is an integral part of Red Rebel actions, we interviewed Sophie Miller, founder of the Cornish Red Rebels in the UK and key activist in many other actions over the past eighteen months. Anyone who is interested in becoming part of the world wide movement of Red Rebels can find out more on their web page:  http://redrebelbrigade.com

Greta Thunberg says that ‘We cannot save the planet by playing by the rules, so the rules have to be changed’.  This is self-evidently true, but that leaves us with the question of what rules could we create that we could all live by. Polly Higgins has the Earth Protector law, but Shelley Ostroff has gone one step further with her Codes for a Healthy Earth and the World Water law.  Together, these rules spell out our connection with the More than Human world, and leave us with agency, initiative, and a sense of genuine flourishing. Shelley Ostroff (PhD) is a planetary activist, leadership consultant, social architect, mystic and writer. She is the founder of www.togetherincreation.org, www.7days-of-rest.org, www.codes.earth and other initiatives dedicated to the healing and replenishment of the planet and all its inhabitants. Concerned by the suffering and devastation humans cause each other, other species and the planet, she dedicated herself to exploring whole-system systems dynamics and integrative healing wisdom from diverse disciplines and traditions. She has worked with people from all walks of life, from different sectors of society and across continents as a therapist, consultant, mentor, and creative partner in cultivating individual, collective and whole-system wellness. Through ongoing research and practice, she has developed a unique holistic approach to human and whole-system healing and transformation that includes evolving blueprints for a new form of holistic health-oriented global Eco-Governance.Links:Codes for a Healthy Earth https://www.codes.earthTogether in Creation: www.togetherincreation.orgSeven Days of Rest https://www.7days-of-rest.org/Accidental Gods: https://accidentalgods.life/

How do we shift the narratives of business so that it becomes part of the solution, not the core of the problem? Mike Raven of AQAI explores the ways business can adapt - and become part of a genuinely regenerative future. Mike  is a Radical collaborator, rapid researcher, speaker, facilitator and entrepreneur.He's a holistic business graduate and practitioner. He's a qualified Naturopath, who has studied at Schumacher College and been a UN Global Goals Ambassador.  He's co-Founder of LEAPS - which accelerates Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals using design-style sprints.And most recently, he's co-Founder of AQai, whose mission is to improve humanity's adaptability at speed and scale, to help ensure no one gets left behind, in the fastest period of change we, or any human, has ever experienced in this, and the next decade.Above all, he is a Husband, Son, Brother, Friend, former digital nomad and passionate Futurist.Links: Decoding AQ: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/decoding-aq-adaptability-confidence-with-ross-thornley/id1517421415AQAI.io: https://www.aqai.ioThe Squiggly Career: https://www.thesquigglycareer.comGlobal Goals. www.globalgoals.orgHolocracy" www.holocracy.orgRemote Year: www.remoteyear.comBiology of Belief: https://www.brucelipton.com/books/biology-of-belief

How can we rebuild our cities to become place of community, connection and coherence? How can we build multi-generational tribes that thrive and support each other in the hearts of our urban areas? Mark Lakeman of the City Repair project explains the changes he has made - and continues to make. Mark Lakeman is the founder of the City Repair Project, as well as the founder and Design Director at communitecture, architecture & planning. Both organizations are Portland, Oregon-based world-changing initiatives that transform social, political, and physical infrastructure in order to embed permanent transformative effects. He has also been lead instructor for the Planet Repair Institute’s Urban Permaculture Design Course for a decade. Mark’s work has been published by El Mundo, Dwell, Architecture Magazine, New Village Journal, Sotokoto, The Utne Reader, Permaculture Activist and many more. With City Repair, in 2003 Mark was awarded the National Lewis Mumford Award, and his collaborative work has been featured at the Global Venice Biennale Exhibition. Additionally, in 2017, Mark’s work in City Repair was awarded “Social Design Circle” global recognition by the Curry Stone Design Prize.Here, he talks to Accidental Gods podcast about his life's extraordinary journey from city architect to city repair - and how the world might look in 2030 if we got it all right. Links: City Repair Project: https://cityrepair.orgBuilding Convergence: https://www.buildingconvergence.com/about/Creative Mornings: https://creativemornings.com/talks/mark-lakemanCommunitecture.net: www.communitecture.netVillage Building Convergence: www.villagebuildingconvergence.comMark Lakeman: www.marklakeman.netPlanet Repair: www.planetrepair.org

Gill Coombs is a writer, coach, and facilitator. Her approach is rooted in her own long, colourful journey towards fulfilling work.  In 2010, Gill left a corporate Learning and Development career to travel around the country on foot and public transport, leading workshops for communities on living in harmony with self, people and planet. She is now an elder visionary with Extinction Rebellion and her own experiences of street-level non violent direct action led to the writing of her newly updated, and newly re-published book, 'The Trembling Warrior: A Guide for Reluctant Activists" - building on interviews and conversations with activists of all kinds, she has created a resource for anyone involved in action of any sort - direct or indirect.  With her help, we find the levels of activism that feel safe for us, learn how to build tribe and -crucially -learn how to resource ourselves, to avoid burnout and breakdown so common in the progressive activist movement. In this podcast, we explore, deepen and expand on the themes of the book, to create our own resource for Trembling Warriors. Gill's Website book page: https://www.gillcoombs.co.uk/thetremblingwarriorEarth Protector Communities https://earthprotectorcommunities.net/Embercombe - Dreaming the Wildfire: https://embercombe.org/dreaming-the-wildfire/Byline Times: https://bylinetimes.comDouble Down News: https://www.doubledown.newsNovara Media: https://novaramedia.comThomas Moore: Dark Nights of the Soul: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/291596/dark-nights-of-the-soul-by-thomas-moore/George Monbiot Article on Government Corruption: https://www.monbiot.com/2020/10/23/without-trace/The Alternative: https://www.thealternative.org.ukCompass Think Tank: https://www.compassonline.org.ukMore in Common: https://www.moreincommon.comLed By Donkeys: https://www.ledbydonkeys.org 

How do we re-democratise democracy?  Understanding that our current system is broken is the first step, but then we need to find ways to gather voices and give agency to those with wisdom, so that we re-create our systems of governance from the ground up. At the start of Lockdown, Eva and Justin set out to interview 100 people in Scotland - deep, wide, broad interviews across the widest range of opinions.  Now, they are bringing those together, creating the foundations for a consultative democracy that really listens to people’s cares and concerns.  If it can happen in Scotland, it can happen all around the world.  We need new structures.  This podcast, and the Medium article that led to it, aim to be the absolute foundation resources for those wanting to create whole, healing institutions based on the best of human Being. About Eva and Justin: Eva Schonveld is a climate activist, process designer and facilitator, supporting sociocratic system development, decision-making and facilitation in a range of contexts including XR Scotland. After many years working in the arts, she went on to co-found Scotland’s first Transition town and city, networked to inspire the Transition movement across Scotland, and was commissioned by the Scottish Government to establish and manage Transition Scotland Support.  More recently she has co-founded Starter Culture, which is developing a range of projects to tackle the marginalisation of the inner dimension at different levels of scale including working on supporting more relational ways of doing politics in Scotland. She is also co-founder of Heartpolitics which exists to address the interconnected social and environmental threats that arise from dividing humans from the wider ecology, and from dividing our minds from our hearts, which is currently working on a fractal Grassroots to Global process which aims to connect open-hearted listening and creative culture re-design processes with a global citizens assembly.  Justin Kenrick is an anthropologist and Senior Policy Advisor at Forest Peoples Programme where he works for community land rights in Kenya and Congo. He is a director of Life Mosaic, and also works on land reform in Scotland. He lives in Portobello, Edinburgh, where he chairs Action Porty which undertook the first successful urban community right to buy in Scotland. He writes in many contexts is active in the XR UK and XR Scotland Political Strategy circles, and is on the Stewarding Group of the Scottish Government’s Climate Citizens Assembly which XR Scotland campaigned for.  He has a PhD in anthropology from Edinburgh University, draws on a four year Buddhist psychotherapy training, co-founded Heartpolitics, is a Quaker, and has been imprisoned several times for peaceful direct action. His work focuses on enabling people to safely risk taking the steps needed to restore trust in themselves, their community, society and the world.LinksThe original Medium article:  Politics, Trauma and Empathy: breakthrough to a politics of the heart? https://medium.com/@evaschonveld/politics-trauma-and-empathy-breakthrough-to-a-politics-of-the-heart-8591d8dce628Sue Gerhardt 'Why Love Matters' https://www.academia.edu/4198318/Why_love_matters_By_Sue_Gerhardt_Abingdon_Oxfordshire_Brunner_Routledge_2004_Pp_256_9_99_ISBN_1583918175Sociocracy: https://sociocracy.co.ukGrassroots to Global: https://www.grassroots2global.orgThe Alternative: https://alternativet.dk/en

If Climate Change is a failure of the imagination and this is a time when we need to be at our most imaginative, how can we change the trajectory of our falling imaginations? Rob Hopkins of the Transition Town movement, has explored the depths of our imagination and creativity.  Our society is a dis-imagination machine.  But we can reverse it. Rob Hopkins, author of 'From What Is to What If?', offers an answer.   In this podcast, we explore the ways that all of us could combine to create a new future - ways to recharge and restart and give space to our imaginations.  Rob offers a vision of a future and actual examples of change happening now from the Civic Imagination Office in Bologna, with its pacts of actually doing things, that has inspired other towns in the UK to do the same, to the Doughnut Economics model and the ways people engage to make a difference. Here, we have  a wealth of radically transformative ideas that we can engage with on a daily basis to transform ourselves, our communities and our planet. Links Rob Hopkins site https://www.robhopkins.net/Buy the book from Rob's site: https://www.robhopkins.net/the-book/Rob's podcast Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/fromwhatiftowhatnextRadio 4 Food Program 'Sitopia' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000m49jKate Raworth Doughnut Economics model https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/AG_S3_P8_RobHopkins_12oct20.mp3Manda: So Rob Hopkins on our second try at the other end of a lockdown- the other end of first lockdown - welcome to the Accidental Gods podcast. How is life down in Devon? Rob: Life is kind of I don't know. I almost feel like I'm emerging from lockdown as a different person than I went in. It feels very strange kind of a process. And next week I'm going away to France to go and do some talks and stuff, which was supposed to happen in April or May and was cancelled. But actually, I'm sort of feeling that in the last six months, the furthest I've been is Totnes. I went to Exeter once and it was completely sensorially overwhelming. So quite how going on Eurostar and all that's going to be, I have no idea. Manda: This is how our ancestors lived there, wasn't it? There were people in our village who for whom going to Glasgow was a once in a decade event when I was a kid growing up. And the rest of the time they were within walking distance or maybe took a bus to the little town and that was it. Rob: I used to live in Italy when I was about in my early 20s and I lived in this village and we had this friend called Guido, who was about 80, lovely, lovely man, still running his farm on his own. He had a cow and a horse. And I remember he had one time an English backpacking young woman had come to stay in his house for a while and helped on the farm called Lynetta. We still talked about Lynetta all the time. And I don't think he'd ever been maybe he'd been to Pisa once, you know, he'd hardly ever been away. And I remember he said, I know you're going to London. If you go to London, just ask for Lynetta. Everyone will know.It's like this mental picture of London as it was the same size village.. Manda: So since we last spoke, you have started your own podcast and the whole of your book, 'From what is to What If' seems to me to have taken off as an Internet phenomenon. The concept of creative thinking as a way to move us forward has become central. So there may well be people listening to the podcast. Actually, I hope there are people listening to the podcast who haven't read your book yet, because that means that they will go out and buy it by the end of the podcast and we will enlarge the general audience of the concept of creative imagination and what it can do to begin to shape the more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible that Charles Eisenstein speaks of. So before we move into the work that you've been doing recently, can we talk a little bit about the book from what is to what is how it arose and the wonder that is contained within it? Rob: Well, it was kind of a two year project, really, that I did where I interviewed more than 100 people. I went to visit loads of really interesting places, projects. And it came about because I kept reading people who I really admire and respect, like Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein and George Monbiot and people. And they all seem to be using this term where they would say climate change is a failure of the imagination. It would kind of pop up and then disappear again. I'd be going, oh, ah, I was interesting. What do you mean by that? Why why would we be having a failure of the imagination in 2020 at a time when we need to be at our most imaginative? And then I came across some research done in 2011 by a woman callled Kyum Hee Kim, a researcher who had looked at a whole load of data from something called the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking, which is the sort of gold standard creativity test which had been done in the US on big samples of people going back to the 1960s. And the conclusion was that imagination and IQ had risen together until the mid 90s and then IQ kept rising and imagination kind of just like sort of divergent thinking had started to decline. And I thought, well, when this was published, it made the front page of Newsweek. It was a really big deal. And it was like people it was a whole lot of soul searching in the US about what does this mean for economic growth? What does this mean for Hollywood? And to which I was I don't really care about those, but I do really care about what that means for the fact that we're trying to imagine an alternative to business as usual, because business as usual is a suicide pact. And if we're stuck with our imagination, that's really, really serious. And actually, we were talking about lock down before for me, one of the one of the moments for me during lockdown that just nailed this thing of climate change is a failure of the imagination was the most surreal. I mean, the last four years have given us lots of surreal Donald Trump moments. But the one where he was talking about how he was trying to dismiss the idea of making buildings more energy efficient, because everybody knows that the only way to make buildings more energy efficient is to fill in all their windows. So they have no windows. I'm thinking you're the you're the president of this country and actually really on social media and things, I encounter so many people who get into that thing of, well, a low carbon future is basically living in a cave and eating potatoes, isn't it? And of course it's not. Of course it's not. And so in the book, what I wanted to do, it kind of help me really realise that a lot of what I've been doing for the last 10, 12 years and the transition movement and the writing and the talking I do is about longing and cultivating longing. The only way we're going to achieve a zero carbon world is by creating such deep longing in people that it becomes inevitable that we create it in a way. We say when when Neil Armstrong went to the moon, it wasn't his idea, it wasn't JFK idea. We had culturally been creating that longing to go there. Frank Sinatra sang us to the moon. Tintin wen...

If we gather in ceremony, sitting on the land, with a fire-keeper who understands the holding and has trained in the ways of the fire, there is so much healing.  Fiona Shaw is one of those people, trained in great depth and absolute integrity, to connect to the spirits of this land, and to hold the space for others to re-connect to the fire, the water, the land, the guides, gods and guardians of our ways. Here, she talks about the new depths and challenges - and, yes, opportunities, of this time. And how we can find authenticity in our grief. And new ways of being.  In 1997, Fiona Shaw was initiated as a Medicine woman in the Red Path tradition. Since then, she has created communities of ceremony in the UK, Germany, Portugal and Israel.  As the years have progressed, she has seen the acceleration towards the crisis of these times, and seen the changes in the nature of the circles.  This podcast was recorded at the Autumn Equinox of 2020, when Fiona had just come out of ceremony.  The grounding of that, informs all that she says of who we are, who we have been, who we could be - and the pathways of ceremony and human connection that can bring us to a profound healing of all that we are. Links: Fiona's Website: http://birthingthesoul.co.uk/Sacred Birthing Website: https://www.sacred-birthing.co.uk/