The RegenNarration

Hazel Henderson is a legendary author, advisor and media producer. It’s very hard to overstate the influence Hazel has had, and continues to have, throughout nearly 60 years of public life. Hazel has written 10 books, including ‘Mapping the Global Transition to the Solar Age', been translated into 27 languages across hundreds of outlets globally, won a multitude of awards, is listed in the Who’s Who in the USA, the World, in Business and Finance, and in Science and Technology, is a member of the Club of Rome, has been named in the Post-Growth Institute’s (En)Rich List as a top 100 luminary inspiring global prosperity beyond financial wealth, and has been repeatedly honoured as one of the ‘Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behaviour’. We could go on!Along the way, Hazel’s collaborated with a host of systems thinking pioneers, had defining experiences with the UN and other global agencies, been a pioneering advocate for equitable and sustainable human development, and an influential advisor on socially responsible business and investment. In her 70s, she became founder and media producer at Ethical Markets Media, which is a certified B Corporation, producer of the “Transforming Finance” TV series, and publisher of the Green Transition Scoreboard.E.F. Schumacher, the revered author of ‘Small is Beautiful: A study of economics as if people mattered’, said Hazel’s writing has “more 'reality' than almost any other writings on societal problems I know.” Senator Edward Kennedy called her "a unique contemporary pioneer in the effort to humanize modern science and technology".  This special episode with Hazel wandered across the personal and political, the heart felt and intellectual, the confronting and the thoroughly uplifting. Title slide: Hazel Henderson pictured in 1964 (supplied). Music:The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.Concluding music by Jeremiah Johnson.Find more:Part 2 of my conversation with Hazel Henderson.Hazel’s website.Ethical Markets website.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Featuring UK-based Dr Katherine Trebeck, a central figure in the global Wellbeing Economy Alliance, and co-author of the new book ‘The Economics of Arrival: Ideas for a grown up economy’. With special guests: Mike Salvaris, director of the Australian National Development Index, and global leader in the development of wellbeing measures; and Carol Innes, local Whadjak Noongar Traditional Owner and co-chair of Reconciliation WA, successfully engaging in shifting economic development frameworks locally. All in conversation with Anthony James. Recorded live in conversation with a full room at The Platform in Perth, a few days after the global climate strike and as the UN Climate Action Summit began. This event launched Katherine’s book, as part of a national tour around Australia in collaboration with the New Economy Network Australia. While everyday economics has assumed all growth is good, the richest countries already have plenty of wealth and resources — they have ‘arrived’. The Economics of Arrival urges us to move from enlarging the economy to improving it, exploring the benefits this could bring for all, and how it can be done.Importantly in this context, Aboriginal people in this country might well ask when they’ll have the opportunity to ‘arrive’. And with all we continue to learn about the sophistication of Aboriginal culture in Australia throughout millennia, what other narratives of ‘progress’ and development are available for us to share in?Hot on the heels of the Wellbeing Budget in New Zealand, just the latest in a raft of key developments around the world, we explore how we change systems, stories and measures, to transition to an economy geared towards shared quality of life, rather than sheer quantity of stuff.'Title slide pic: Joni Sercombe.Music:The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.Find more: Listen to the special extra to this episode, How To Make It Happen? (live Q&A)For a 25% discount on Katherine’s book, ‘The Economics of Arrival: Ideas for a grown-up economy’, enter the code ARRIVAL25 until 31 October 2019 on this website.Hear Katherine in conversation with Anthony on episode 29.Hear Mike with Tim Costello and Melissa Weinberg on redefining progress for episode 6.Wellbeing Economy Alliance.Australian National Development Index (ANDI).Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

This special extra to episode 48 features Katherine Trebeck, Mike Salvaris & Carol Innes, in live conversation with a full room at The Platform in Perth last month, launching Katherine’s new book ‘The Economics of Arrival: Ideas for a grown up economy’. We pick up the conversation on the topic of power, before opening up to a brilliant dialogue with the audience, and a series of resounding closing sentiments from each speaker. We explore the Wellbeing Economy Governments alliance, some extraordinary outcomes from the work Carol has been involved in, and a host of other positive developments around the world. The questions are asked, how can a more widespread transition to wellbeing economies take place? To what extent are people just going ahead and doing it? What part might a universal basic income play? What about debt and money more broadly? And how do we go about democratic reinvention, both within our institutions, and in how we engage with each other in daily life?Title slide: Katherine Trebeck delivering her keynote address (pic: Anthony James).Music:The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.Find more:Listen to the main episode 48, Arriving at Wellbeing Economy.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

The Global Climate Strike on the 20th of September saw upwards of four million people strike worldwide. A few hundred thousand of these were in Australia, including thousands of businesses and dozens of union groups, as adults were invited to join in and support the burgeoning student movement. It was all timed to lead in to the UN Climate Action Summit a few days later, where Greta and other young leaders also had a strong presence. This episode is dedicated to taking a look at this significant moment in time, and to getting some sense of the difference being made. You’ll hear a spread of voices from around Australia and the world, including Greta, a host of other impressive young people and some of their guest speakers at the strike, through to UN Chief António Guterres on what came out of the subsequent Summit. The film 2040 also screened at the Summit, so we’ll hear from award-winning director Damon Gameau about his impressions of the meet too. And while at the strike in Perth, Anthony spoke with a diverse range of adults around the margins of the march, asking what is moving them to step up, and how they are doing it. So here’s a look at these significant few days, some of the extraordinary context leading to it all, and the systemic and cultural changes starting to gear up.Title slide: the Perth climate strike (pic: Anthony James).Music:Far Away Castle, by Rae Howell & Sunwrae.The acoustic tune at the end of this episode is by Jeremiah Johnson.Find more:School Strike 4 Climate Australia.Greta Thunberg: the speeches that helped spark a climate movement, from The Guardian News.Global climate strike: Millions take to the streets to save the world, from Channel 4 News. The Greta Thunberg HelpLine, from ABC's 7:30 Report.Alexandria Villaseñor, a 14 year old climate advocate: opening speech at the first meeting of UNICEF's Second Executive Board Regular Session.David Attenborough tells world leaders at COP 24 that the 'Continuation of civilisation is in your hands', from The Guardian News 13.12.18.UN Secretary General António Guterres, participating as a ‘keynote listener’ at the Youth Climate Summit.Followed by his close of the Climate Action Summit 2019 (aSend us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Kate Raworth’s internationally acclaimed idea of Doughnut Economics has been widely influential amongst sustainable development thinkers, progressive businesses and political activists, and she has presented it to audiences ranging from the UN General Assembly to the Occupy movement. The Guardian even named her as “one of the top ten tweeters on economic transformation”. And last Tuesday Kate tweeted pictures of the world’s first City Doughnut Day in Philadelphia, advising they are “plotting a tool so we can share it widely.”Kate’s best-selling book ‘Doughnut Economics: 7 ways to think like a 21st century economist’ continues to provide perhaps the most promising framework for achieving an economy fit for this century; along with the simple yet profound visual symbol and metaphor for going about the change in how we think and organise ourselves. So to celebrate Doughnut Day, and on the back of where our last episode left off, it seemed like a good time to feature Kate on this podcast again. All the more in light of our live conversation event the day before Doughnut Day, launching Katherine Trebeck’s ‘Economics of Arrival’, for which Kate wrote the foreword.It’s also a week out from the next National New Economy Network conference here in Perth, Australia, and it was at the 2nd of these national conferences where this 20-minute keynote address by Kate was given. It features Kate beaming in on the big screen with her customary power pack delivery, on how the economy has come to work the way it does, and how to reorient it towards what we need and want in an economy today. It’s followed by Q&A with the capacity audience of around 300 people at Brisbane’s South Bank, hosted by Network co-founder Dr Michelle Maloney.So how are we to create an economy that, in Kate’s words, is ‘distributive and regenerative by design’? And how can we become less concerned about the growth of our economy, and more concerned about improving it? Music:Let Them Know, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.Economic Man vs Humanity, a collaboration between Kate Raworth, puppet designer Emma Powel and song writer Simon Panrucker.Find more:Kate's website. Hear Kate in conversation with Anthony in episode 3. Kate and her team are in the process of setting-up the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), ‘in order to connect and empower those who want to turn the ideas of Doughnut Economics into transformative practice to create a world that thrives'.4th New Economy Network AustralSend us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

This is a special extra to episode 45 with Jan Owen, Ian Dunlop and Miriam Lyons. Here’s the rest of the powerful conversation between our panellists and the capacity audience of 300 people at the 2016 National Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne, Australia. Title slide pic: NASA, from the ABC website. Find more:Listen to the main episode.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Economic growth is stagnating, hitting up against a range of limits. Last week’s news that GDP growth in Australia is at its lowest since the GFC, with interest rates already at an unprecedented low of 1% (they are negative in many places around the world), emphasises what is increasingly apparent to people around the world – the old model isn’t working, and it’s not coming back. So what’s the future of the growth-based system, and how do we transition to a new model of work, business and economics, while avoiding collapse?Around 300 people filled the Greenhouse in Melbourne, Australia, at the 2016 National Sustainable Living Festival, with a highly credentialed panel exploring these questions. While the conversation took place a few years ago, its relevance and importance only seem to heighten. You’ll hear from: Jan Owen AM, CEO of the Foundation for Young Australians, the Inaugural Australian Financial Review/Westpac Woman of Influence 2012, and former director for the Australian National Development Index (ANDI).Miriam Lyons, a campaigns director for the prominent progressive advocacy network GetUp!, co-author of Governomics, and previously the founding CEO of the Centre for Policy Development.Ian Dunlop, formerly an international oil, gas and coal industry executive, chairman of the Australian Coal Association and CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is a director of Australia21 and a Member of the Club of Rome.Each panellist speaks for 10 minutes, leading off with a little story on how they came to do what they do. Then we’re into another powerful Q&A with the capacity audience (featuring in an extra to this episode).In the words of Ross Gittins, celebrated economics writer and Economics Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald: "The beginning of economic wisdom is to understand that the advanced economies – including ours – have stopped working the way they used to and won’t be returning to the old normal."So what is the future of the growth-based economic system? Especially in the context of planetary limits, resource constraints, rising inequality, increased automation, increasing mental illness, and worsening extinction and climate crises. What’s an economy even for? And how can we recreate it for the better, and quickly?Thanks to Chris Grose from Scout Films for this recording, and the team at the Understandascope who supported this event. The Understandascope builds on the legacy of the late Professor Frank Fisher..Title slide pic: as used by the National Sustainable Living Festival for this event.Music:The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra,Find more:Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

This special extra to podcast 44 delves further into the back story to Wooleen Station and the rangelands, and those questions around meat production and consumption. From there David and Anthony talk about the at times extraordinary politics at play, why we the public are central to all this, and above all, what Major General Michael Jeffery, the former Governor-General of Australia, calls David’s master class and do-able plan. Title slide: the Nationally Important Wooleen Lake (pic: Anthony James).Find more:Listen to the main episode with David.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

David Pollock is one of Australia’s most prominent regenerative pastoralists, and he’s now the author of a new book that’s been described as ‘The astonishing story of reviving the oldest land on Earth’. It’s called ‘The Wooleen Way: Renewing an Australian Resource’. Many Aussies will have seen David and his wife Frances on ABC TV’s Australian Story. They’ve appeared four times so far, such is the way their story has captivated the country. They’ve also been guests twice on this podcast. This time, though, is the first time in extended conversation with David, book in hand and on location at Wooleen Station.The Wooleen Way’ is hard-hitting, expertly researched, and a great tale, with a compelling and holistic outlook. On the back of Charles Massy’s book ‘Call of the Reed Warbler’, this may just prove to be the next critical milestone in the shift towards a regenerative culture of caring for country, and the communities that comprise it. Western Australia’s Minister for Regional Development, Alannah MacTiernan, has already visited Wooleen in the wake of the book, and distributed numerous copies among departmental staff. Which is all the more fitting, given pastoral leases operate on public land, and on so much of it (nearly half of WA alone). This is arguably our most vital renewable resource - the effective functioning of the vast majority of this country, and other regions like it. And we’re losing it. But it doesn’t have to be this way. ‘The Wooleen Way’ is, on the one hand, the story of David’s life and the remarkable regeneration happening at Wooleen Station. And it is about so much more than that. As David sees it, “If we can only get regeneration on Wooleen, then we’ll have failed.”Join David as he shows Anthony around the Station to talk about the book, his story, and some of the how and why behind the regeneration of a country. Title slide: Frances and David at Wooleen Station (supplied).Music:The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.The outgoing music is by Jeremiah Johnson.Due to licencing restrictions, our guest’s nominated music can only be played on radio or similarly licenced broadcasts of this episode. Find more:Listen to the special extra to this episode with David.The new book ‘The Wooleen Way: Renewing an Australian Resource’. Wooleen Station.Listen to Frances in conversation with Anthony on episode 9. Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

The sharing economy is a phenomenon. But what is it exactly? The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says it “connects consumers to people who have products or services to sell, hire or lease via an online platform.” And “It includes services such as Airbnb and Uber.” But the folk at the heart of the sharing economy call that commerce – and in some cases, mere extensions of the current extractive economy that is driving us into multiple crises. Last year Anthony hosted the launch of a brilliant new book produced by Shareable. Shareable is an award-winning, non-profit, global hub of news, action and connection for the sharing transformation. It calls this transformation “a movement of movements, emerging from the grassroots, to solve today’s biggest challenges”, from poverty to global warming – the challenges that old, top-down institutions are failing to address. The book is called ‘Sharing Cities: Activating the Urban Commons’, a how-to guide showcasing over 100 sharing-related case studies and model policies from more than 80 cities. “From community composting to makerspaces, repair cafés and platform co-operatives, people are coming together in cities everywhere to develop solutions for the common good. They show that sharing can lead everyone to have more, together.”Leading off this conversation is the Australian editor of Shareable, Director of Social Surplus, and Research Fellow at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Darren Sharp, with a 10-minute keynote. Then we’re joined by special guests:Lizette Salmon, a pioneering figure in the Repair Café movement, founding coordinator of Albury-Wodonga’s popular Repair Café, and Coordinator of WATCH (Wodonga Albury Towards Climate Health). Dr Jose Ramos, co-founder of the Footscray Maker Lab, Director of Action Foresight, and fellow founding board member with Darren of the growing New Economy Network Australia. Their 5-minute responses are followed by audience Q&A, all taking place at the 2018 National Sustainable Living Festival. Music:The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.Find more:On Shareable and the book Sharing Cities, including how to purchase it or download a free PDF. On Darren Sharp. On Lizette Salmon and the Repair Café Albury Wodonga (with links to others). On Dr Jose Ramos and Action Foresight.On the NatSend us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!