How to Save the World - tipping points of social diffusion with Katie Patrick of Hello World Labs

Accidental Gods

39:50

The truth is out West! We’re hopping on the ET Highway and venturing to the most notorious alien hot spots, including Roswell’s infamous crash site, Area 51’s eerie perimeter, and a mysterious desert watchtower. Join us as journalist Laura Krantz, host of the podcast Wild Thing , beams up to share stories from the front lines of UFO reporting—from strange sightings and quirky festivals to a mailbox where people leave letters to extraterrestrials. Maybe you’ll even decide for yourself: Is Earth a tourist stop for spaceships? UFO hot spots you’ll encounter in this episode: - UFO Watchtower (near Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado) - Roswell, New Mexico - Area 51, Nevada - Extraterrestrial Highway (aka State Route 375), Nevada - Little A’Le’Inn, ET Highway, Nevada - E.T. Fresh Jerky, ET Highway, Nevada - Alien Research Center, ET Highway, Nevada - The Black Mailbox, ET Highway, Nevada Via Podcast is a production of AAA Mountain West Group .…

about a year ago 1:18:42

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Katie specializes in designing innovative apps, dashboards, and campaigns that drive environmental action by leveraging insights from behavioural science and game design. Her work combines rigorous research with creative execution to develop solutions that inspire sustainable behaviors and measurable impact. She has advised the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Google, the U.S. State Department, the University of California, the European Commission, Dassault Systèmes, the Institute for the Future, Magic Leap, and Stanford University, as well as numerous startups focused on behavior design for environmental action.

Katie is passionate about biophilic design and envisions a future shaped by ecotopian principles. Her thought leadership has been recognized globally; she delivered a TEDx talk in 2020 and spoke at the UN General Assembly in 2021 on the role of creativity, optimism, and imagination in environmental change.

In our conversation, we range wide and deep through and across the ways each of us can bridge the divides in our cultures and bring change to our local worlds - and thus to the wider world, exploring the power of gamification, evidence base and feedback loops to create real, enduring change.

Hello World https://www.helloworlde.com/
Climate Action Design School https://www.helloworlde.com/climate-action-design-school
Katie on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/
Katie's TED Talk. https://youtu.be/GOWYwEtzeH4/
Katie's Book https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-save-the-world-katie-patrick/1671034
Katie's Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/6QaoYkmNqLSsn89zWMw3nl?si=540f4604608d4652

Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/
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319 episodes

How to Save the World - tipping points of social diffusion with Katie Patrick of Hello World Labs

Accidental Gods

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published about a year ago

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Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/
Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/

319 episodes

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Accidental Gods

1
Farm as Church, Land as Lover: Community. farming and food with Abel Pearson of Glasbren 1:16:50

15 hours ago1:16:50

1:16:50

We all know the future rests upon us building heart-grounded, spirit-led communities that link humanity to the Web of Life. We know that the key to this is building reciprocal relationships with our food and the land from which it comes. Doing this is…harder. So this week, we're speaking with Abel Pearson of Glasbren. Abel is a friend of the podcast - we last spoke in the depths of the pandemic when he was farming 3 acres and beginning to feed the local community in ways that helped the people in a ten mile radius really to connect with the spirit of the land on which their food was grown. Now, Abel and the team are farming 138 acres of National Trust property, and still producing food for people in the local area - but so much more than that, they are building communities of place, passion and purpose, centred on the land and the cycles of the seasons and the ways we can build authentic relationship, full of reverence for the many, many layers of life in, on and under it the soil. He says that everything he does now is for his young son and the children to come, in the hope that they might yet enjoy abundant foodscapes, clean rivers and regenerative cultures. Glasbren https://www.glasbren.org.uk/ Support the Farm https://www.glasbren.org.uk/farm-supporter Glasbren courses https://www.glasbren.org.uk/courses Episode #25 with Abel https://accidentalgods.life/nurturing-our-bodies-and-souls/ If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership . If you'd like to join our next Gathering ( you don't have to be a member ) it's on 6th July - details are here. And if you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work, you'll find us here .…

Accidental Gods

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Working from the Inside Out: Paths to Personal and Global Transformation with Renée Lertzman 1:09:54

8 days ago1:09:54

1:09:54

We've known for decades that the 'Yell, Tell and Sell' strategy of belittling people, endeavouring to cajole—or shame—them into some kind of change doesn't work - in fact it can't work. It's not how we're wired. Cognitive neuroscience has been telling us this for decades but it's only recently that people have begun to listen. One of those who has been speaking in the wilderness for a long time—and is now finally being heard—is this week's guest, Renée Lertzman. Dr. Renée Lertzman is a researcher, advisor and strategist who translates relational psychology to change our approach to our planetary crisis. Applying her graduate training as a psychosocial researcher, she designs frameworks and methods, grounded in public health, clinical psychology and neurosciences, that guide people to take action and create impact on climate and sustainability issues. Over the past two decades, Renée has worked with global leaders, startups, governments, and mission-driven companies—including Google, IKEA, the California Academy of Sciences, and WWF—helping them navigate the emotional complexities of climate engagement. She’s also the founder of Project InsideOut, an initiative that equips changemakers with psychologically grounded resources for collective transformation. This is the key to our survival. We need to learn how to engage ourselves and each other in ways that will transform ourselves and each other. We need to bring serious emotional literacy to the table so that we can create the containers, and attune to the anxieties and aspirations of people around us. We need, above all, to equip people to make sustained and sustainable change. This is the core of Renée's work and hearing her talk about it in depth is the first step to making it happen. Enjoy! Learn more at reneelertzman.com and projectinsideout.net . Renée on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/reneelertzman/ Renée's TED talk https://www.ted.com/talks/renee_lertzman_how_to_turn_climate_anxiety_into_action…

Accidental Gods

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The Others Within Us: Meeting our Spirit Guides and other entities with Bob Falconer 1:11:31

15 days ago1:11:31

1:11:31

Our world is more magical than we know - more than we can know. Increasing numbers of us are realising that the 'citadel theory of mind' where we see ourselves as isolated units within the boundaries of our own skulls is not how the world works. But if it isn't, then how do we make sense of the worlds beyond consensus reality? How do we engage with the web of life and all that's around it in ways that are respect, reciprocal and generative? Robert (Bob) Falconer is a long time IFS practitioner and trainer. He is the author or co-author of many books, including Many Minds, One Self which he co-wrote with Dick Schwartz, who is credited with founding Internal Family Systems Therapy. For me, this is the form of therapy that leans closest into spiritual work, particularly into shamanic work, and Bob's book, The Others Within Us: Internal Family Systems, Porous Mind and Spirit Possession is a ground-breaking work that blows open the fallacies of the citadel mind model and opens us to a wide spectrum of other realities in other cultures, all of which acknowledge the existence of non-human, non-embodied energies that have at least a degree of agency and that can interact with human beings in ways that are either to our benefit or our detriment. Very few are neutral. So as we hurtle towards the edge of a cliff, pushed by our culture's endemic inability to engage with our own traumas, talking to Bob seemed pretty much essential. We talk quite a lot about IFS, which is Internal Family Systems therapy and at the start, we open up more of what that's about, though I do encourage you to read the book Bob co-wrote with Dick Schwartz. We also - and this is a trigger warning - explore some of Bob's own life history of harrowing sexual and physical abuse so if this is likely to trigger parts of you, then please only listen when you're feeling grounded and well resourced. Beyond that, we range far, wide and deep across the boundaries where science meets spirituality and philosophy meets psychotherapy, all of which is squarely in the area that I think needs most work, for all of us. Bob's website: https://robertfalconer.us/ Bob on YouTube https://robertfalconer.us/youtube-channel/ Bob's Books: Out now: The Others Within Us: Internal Family Systems, Porous Mind, and Spirit Possession OUT ON 22nd MAY 2025 - Opening the Inner World: Spiritual Healing, Internal Family Systems and Emanuel Swedenborg Co-written with Dick Schwartz: Many Minds, One Self by Richard Schwartz and Robert Falconer Other books Thomas Zinser Soul-Centered Healing Lloyd DeMause The History of Childhood David Gordon White - Daemons are Forever Dreaming Awake Contemporary Shamanic Training: https://dreamingawake.co.uk Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/ Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/…

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Radical Change: Building a Parallel Economy with Peter Kemp of Citizen Coin 1:20:14

22 days ago1:20:14

1:20:14

We are living through a time between stories—where the old economic narratives of scarcity, extraction, and separation are crumbling, and a new one is seeking to be born. At the heart of this transition is the question: What do we truly value, and how do we express that value in ways that nourish life? Imagine a society where every act of care, contribution, and kindness is not only appreciated but economically recognised . Schools, councils, and local businesses become part of an ecosystem where value flows back and forth amongst the people who create it . This doesn’t replace wages or public services—it enhances them. This is a good step of the way towards a culture that's predicated on solid core values of compassion, integrity and generosity of spirit, and where we value what we care about, rather than what we can grab. So how do we build this in ways that work - and do so inside the current system? This week's guest, Peter Kemp, calls himself a professional dot-joiner. Peter is a UK-based digital innovator and social entrepreneur whose career has spanned web technology, media production, civic engagement, and alternative economics. He was a co founder of HullCoin, and currently serves as CEO of Value Squared (V2) Ltd and the Social Value Academy, organisations dedicated to reimagining how we understand, measure, and reward social value. As part of his work, Peter has helped to establish Citizen Coin - a digital, values-led complementary currency designed explicitly to recognise and reward social, environmental, and civic contributions that often go unpaid and undervalued in the mainstream economy. He says, 'The current economic model—predominantly built around fiat currencies and centralised systems—is increasingly failing to deliver equitable outcomes, community cohesion, or environmental resilience. Citizen Coin offers a new approach: a digital token earned through pro-social actions—such as volunteering, participating in community initiatives, or engaging in sustainable practices. These actions are verified by local authorities, public sector bodies, or accredited third-party partners. Unlike traditional money, which is often scarce and controlled, Citizen Coins are abundant where social value is being generated.' Crucially, Citizen Coin is not a replacement for fiat currency . Instead, it operates as a complementary economy —a parallel system that strengthens local resilience, incentivises positive behaviour, and redistributes recognition for care work and civic participation. More than a technology, this offers a shift in worldview —a move from scarcity to abundance, from extraction to contribution. As we face overlapping crises of inequality, climate, and mental health, complementary economies like this are no longer radical—they are necessary. Citizen Coin is not just about digital infrastructure or economic reform. It is about choosing a new story—one where we honour the unseen, uplift the essential, and move from domination to stewardship. It is about birthing an economy in service to life. Value Squared https://www.value-squared.com/#about Citizen Coin https://www.citizencoin.uk/ If you're interested in joining us at a Gathering, or in the Membership, please follow the links below: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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Beyond Zero Sum: Rehumanising our Conflicts with Carm Aufderheide of NorthStar Training Solutions 1:35:41

29 days ago1:35:41

1:35:41

All flourishing is mutual, that's a given. And yet the schisms in our culture, the tribal divides and limbic hijack seem to grow deeper and more powerful by the day. It doesn't have to be like this. We do have the tools of connection, of genuine listening, of offering trust to gain trust and offering respect to gain respect, we just need to know how - and when - to put them into practice. If we're going to move forward into that future we'd be proud to leave behind, we need to start practicing these skills as if the world depended on them - because it does. This week's guest is someone who practices and teaches the deep, transformative skills of conflict resolution daily. Carm Aufderheide has a master’s degree in conflict and dispute resolution (CRES), and qualifications in positive reinforcement dog training from the Karen Pryor Professional Dog Training Academy (KPA-CTP and CPDT-KA) and in Separation Anxiety from Malena DeMartini, bringing both to her consultations in her NorthStar Training Solutions in Oregon. Together, these put her right in the middle of quite fierce conflicts that rage around the dog training world over the various styles of dog training, most of which boil down to: do we use force or don't we? This is a perfect microcosm of the greater macrocosm of our torn and wounded world and Carm brings her dual skills to this with grace and intelligence and a fierce compassion that is a joy to encounter. I first came across Carm on the Functional Dog Collaborative podcast and was blown away by the clarity of her thinking, and her capacity to live true to her convictions. I made contact later that day and we set up time for the podcast. That was roughly six months ago, when the world was a different place. Now, recording on the day of the Pope's death, as our reality spirals deeper into chaos, it feels ever more essential that we learn these skills. Carm suggested a whole set of reading before we recorded and I have put a link to all the books, as well as Carm's NorthStar website in the show notes. Northstar Training Solutions https://www.northstartraining.info/ Street Epistemology https://www.streetepistemology.com/ Albert Mehrabian's 7-38-55 Rule https://www.rightattitudes.com/2008/10/04/7-38-55-rule-personal-communication/ Carm on the Functional Dog Collaborative podcast Carm's Recommended reading How Minds Change by David McRaney Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg High Conflict by Amanda Ripley The Book of Beautiful Questions by Warren Berger Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss We Can Work it Out by Marshall Rosenberg If you're interested in joining us at a Gathering, or in the Membership, please follow the links below: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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Red Pill/Blue Pill, Green Pill/True Pill – Creating a Media Commons with Debs Grayson of Opus Independents 1:24:28

5 weeks ago1:24:28

1:24:28

Our legacy - or status quo - media is owned and run by billionaires for billionaires and the stories they promote are the ones that will keep us all in line. How do we shift the global narrative towards a future of mutual flourishing? It is axiomatic of this podcast that stories – the good and the bad – are what got us to where we are. We are a storied species. Everything we do arises from the stories we tell ourselves and each other about ourselves, each other and our relationship with the communities of place, purpose and passion around us. Often, we're seeking respect and the pride of knowing we've contributed to the things we care about. But many of us are living in media echo chambers which have no connection to the other bubbles around us. So how do we bridge the gaps? How do we created a media eco-system, a commons, that works for the people by the people, growing stories of agency and empowerment, motivation and direction in, by and from our communities? This week's guest, Debs Grayson, is a facilitator, researcher and organiser living in Sheffield. She works for Opus Independents, where she spends most of her time developing relatable, accessible metrics to track progress towards the Sheffield City Goals, and also on the People's Newsroom Initiative (PNI). PNI is a project housed within Opus broadly focused on journalism innovation, and our recent work has been reimagining journalism as 'storytelling commoning' - collective practices of sharing and weaving together stories that can support a just climate transition. With a background in media research and campaigning for a transformed media system, she previously worked for the Media Reform Coalition running the 'BBC and Beyond' campaign, which also developed ideas of a 'media commons'. Alongside her role at Opus, she is currently working with the independent press regulator IMPRESS on various projects, including presenting Dis/Mis, a podcast on dis- and mis-information and how we build a trustworthy media. Opus: The People's Newsroom https://www.weareopus.org/the-peoples-newsroom Elinor Ostrom 8 Rules for Managing a Commons https://earthbound.report/2018/01/15/elinor-ostroms-8-rules-for-managing-the-commons/ Hastings Commons https://hastingscommons.com/ Amam Cymru https://www.amam.cymru/ Amam Cyrmu post on the People's Newsroom https://amam.cymru/the-peoples-newsroom/what-is-a-storytelling-commons-and-why-is-it-so-hard-to-talk-about Dis/Mis podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dis-mis-exploring-misinformation-in-modern-media/id1775649531 Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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How to Save the World - tipping points of social diffusion with Katie Patrick of Hello World Labs 1:18:42

6 weeks ago1:18:42

1:18:42

'If you're not changing the numbers, you're not changing the world.' So says this week's guest, Katie Patrick. Katie Patrick is a Silicon Valley based environmental engineer, climate action designer, and author of How to Save the World: How to Make Changing the World the Greatest Game We've Ever Played, now taught in Harvard University’s graduate program and top recommended reading material by UNEP. Katie specializes in designing innovative apps, dashboards, and campaigns that drive environmental action by leveraging insights from behavioural science and game design. Her work combines rigorous research with creative execution to develop solutions that inspire sustainable behaviors and measurable impact. She has advised the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Google, the U.S. State Department, the University of California, the European Commission, Dassault Systèmes, the Institute for the Future, Magic Leap, and Stanford University, as well as numerous startups focused on behavior design for environmental action. Katie is passionate about biophilic design and envisions a future shaped by ecotopian principles. Her thought leadership has been recognized globally; she delivered a TEDx talk in 2020 and spoke at the UN General Assembly in 2021 on the role of creativity, optimism, and imagination in environmental change. In our conversation, we range wide and deep through and across the ways each of us can bridge the divides in our cultures and bring change to our local worlds - and thus to the wider world, exploring the power of gamification, evidence base and feedback loops to create real, enduring change. Hello World https://www.helloworlde.com/ Climate Action Design School https://www.helloworlde.com/climate-action-design-school Katie on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-patrick/ Katie's TED Talk. https://youtu.be/GOWYwEtzeH4/ Katie's Book https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-save-the-world-katie-patrick/1671034 Katie's Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/6QaoYkmNqLSsn89zWMw3nl?si=540f4604608d4652 Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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Bonus: Thoughts from the Edge - If the current system is not fit for purpose, what's our core response? 35:02

7 weeks ago35:02

35:02

Suppose we accept that the current system is not broken - it is doing what it was always designed to do - which is to shovel wealth and power from the many to the few at a human scale and from the more-than-human world to the industrial/technical maw of predatory capitalism at an ecological scale. This is a death cult and it is in its death throes, but it will take us all down with it if we let it. Suppose then, we accept that, while the current system may not be broken, it is absolutely not fit for purpose , if that purpose is the continuation of complex life on earth; if it is the flourishing of humanity as an integral part of the web of life; if it is a world predicated on values of compassion, decency, integrity, generosity-of-spirit and absolute confidence in our place as conscious nodes in the web of life. IF this is the case - then we need a whole new system. We need a movement that will bring this system into being. In this solo podcast, Manda explores what the baselines of a new system might look, feel and work like. Manda's Substack post https://substack.com/home/post/p-158280401 Jan Andrew Bloxham post https://substack.com/home/post/p-157874742 Jason Hickel 'No the US is not a beacon of democracy' https://substack.com/@jasonhickel/note/p-158661867 If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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Wellbeing: It’s about wholeness, not happiness - with Dr Mark Fabian, author of Beyond Happy 1:48:00

7 weeks ago1:48:00

1:48:00

We grow up thinking we want to be happy (or at least, not-sad). But happiness isn't enough. What we need is wellbeing, and as Dr Mark Fabian quotes in the dedication to his book, Beyond Happy , "Wellbeing is about wholeness, not happiness, and wholeness is so much more demanding than happiness.' So what is wholeness, and what does it demand of us? As the old world crumbles and the new is struggling into being, what steps can each of us take to bring ourselves ever closer to a sense of being complete? This week's guest, Dr Mark Fabian, is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Warwick, and an affiliate fellow at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. In, Beyond Happy, his first book for a general audience, he explores how evolution has wired us to keep happiness just out of reach, leaving us perpetually stuck on a happiness treadmill. Instead of striving to escape it, he argues that we should focus on making the treadmill a place we want to be . Finding this place of relative equanimity begins with listening to our emotions, discovering intrinsic motivation and pursuing our authentic values. Mark coaches us through this process of self-actualisation and then knits it together into a collective, cooperative way of being, building relationships that matter and that work. Mark's book will be available in April - here: https://bedfordsquarepublishers.co.uk/book/beyond-happy/ Or order from your favourite local independent bookshop. Please remember to put a review up on Amazon and GoodReads as well as anywhere else you feel is worthwhile. (this applies to every book you read and like - algorithms matter) and If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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A Longing for Belonging: Shifting the Cultural Paradigm with Looby Macnamara and Leona Johnson 1:23:58

8 weeks ago1:23:58

1:23:58

If we are in the midst of the Great Derangement (thank you Amitav Ghosh), what tools do we have to help us shape a system that is actually fit for purpose? Who are our elders and what can they teach us? How do we learn to listen to our heart's (and hearts') desire and shape the communities of place, passion and purpose that will allow us to emerge into a different culture? Our two guests this week live and work at the heart of a global movement for cultural change. Looby Macnamara is the co-founder of the Cultural Emergence movement. She is an author, designer, gardener, song leader, mother, and artist. She has written four influential books including People & Permaculture and Cultural Emergence - and she has a new one coming out in September: Design Adventures: Discover a Creative Framework for Effective Change . She is also creator of the CEED card deck - Cultural Emergence Empowerment & Design . With her partner, Chris, Looby runs Applewood Permaculture Centre in Herefordshire, UK, where they facilitate courses and demonstrate permaculture of both land and people . Leona Johnson, host of Connection Matters Podcast, is a transformational life coach, connection facilitator, and guide dedicated to personal growth, cultural emergence, and regenerative ways of being. She has spent decades exploring how we heal the crisis of disconnection, within ourselves, in our relationships, and in the world around us. Through her work in nature connection, rites of passage, life coaching, and cultural emergence, she supports people to step into Connected Self-Leadership and what she calls ‘Everyday Spirituality’ practical, embodied ways of living with depth, purpose, and alignment. Leona co-hosts the PEACE course with Looby and online with Jon Young, runs the Connection Matters Leadership Programme, Nature Quests around the world, and Children, Nature & Spirituality courses. At the heart of her work is a simple but powerful message: When we remember our interconnectedness, with ourselves, each other, and the other than human world, we step into our fullest potential and create the conditions for a thriving world. These two transformational women are part of a growing movement to shift the entire foundation of our culture. What happens if we stop being the hamsters in the wheel of modernity and become the lively, inspiring, inspired - and connected - individuals we could be? In this episode we explore the nature of cultural emergence, the values that could underpin our new culture and the real, grounded, practical ways we can begin the journeys of shift in ourselves and our communities. Cultural Emergence www.cultural-emrgence.com Cultural Emergence Courses https://cultural-emergence.com/courses-overview/ PEACE Course (24th - 29th June 2025) https://applewoodcourses.com/uk_courses/peace-empowerment-and-cultural-emergence/ Applewood Courses https://applewoodcourses.com/courses/ Looby's Books https://applewoodcourses.com/sales/books/ Leona's website: https://www.leonajohnson.life/ Leona's podcast Connection Matters https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/connection-matters-podcast/id1515564368 Leona's FREE mini course on Elemental Connection https://pages.leonajohnson.life/elemental-connections-hello and If you want to share the journey with Accidental Gods, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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Now Then! Building networks of citizen power with James Lock of Opus in Sheffield 1:14:32

9 weeks ago1:14:32

1:14:32

We all know the current system of predatory capitalism is not fit for purpose. We don't (yet) all agree on how to fix it, but for sure, no problem is solved from the mindset that created it. So how do we begin to compost the debris of the failing system to grow something constructive, generative, connected communities that can act as a bridge from where we are towards that future we'd be proud to leave behind? James Lock is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Opus Independents Ltd , a not-for-profit social enterprise, working in culture, politics and the arts. Opus works to encourage and support participation, systemic activism and creativity with project strands that include Now Then Magazine & App, Festival of Debate. Opus Distribution, the River Dôn Project and Wordlife. I met James and other members of Opus in Sheffield last summer when we were all part of the Sheffield Social Enterprise Network summer conference and I was really blown away by their understanding of systemic thinking, by their absolute commitment to total systemic change and by the flexibility of their thinking. Here were people who were taking the concepts that we talk about and making them real, amongst real people in a real place. So we agreed that we'd talk first to James for an overview of what Opus is and does, how the thinking comes together and how we can each take ideas from here and scale them up and out in the places we live. Clearly each city, town, village, street is unique, but some principles are universal and I think we can all learn from the ways James thinks about things as he strives to create the bridges towards a new system. Links Opus https://www.weareopus.org/ Festival of Debate https://festivalofdebate.com/ Opus 2024 Report https://www.weareopus.org/opus-annual-report-2024 Opus on LInkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/opusindependents/ Fairness on the 83 https://fairnessonthe83.nowthenmagazine.com/ Citizen Network https://citizen-network.org/ Dark Matter Labs Cornerstone Indicators https://darkmatterlabs.org/initiatives/cornerstone-indicators Plum Village podcast w Kate Raworth https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mindful-economics-in-conversation-with-kate-raworth/id1579910767?i=1000669364849 James is Co Founder & Director at Opus Co Founder of Now Then Magazine Co Founder of the UBI Lab Network Co Founder of Festival of Debate Co Founder of Foundations Earth Co Founder of The River Don Project Voluntary Roles: Social Entrepreneur In Residence at Sheffield Hallam University Advisory Board Member on SYMCA Local Nature Recovery Strategy General Secretary of the Independent Media Association South Yorkshire Social Enterprise Place Steering Group Member Advisory Board Yorkshire & Humber Office for Data Analytics If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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Be More Hawk! Being the courage to follow what's right with Rachel Musson of ThoughtBox Education 1:13:58

10 weeks ago1:13:58

1:13:58

The old systems are no longer fit for purpose. What does an education system look like that's fit for the twenty-first century - where we put self care, people care, earth care at the heart of what we do? This week's guest, Rachel Musson, has made it her life's work to fashion ways of learning for all ages that put this Triple Wellbeing principle into action. In everything she does, from leading ThoughtBox Eduction, to creating the Transforming Leadership Course, to writing her glorious, inspiring children's books, to her podcast, Two Inconvenient Women, with her fellow Thoughtboxer Holly Everett, she is being the change we need in the world. At this time where the old is breaking apart and the worst are full of passionate intensity, Rachel is a living example of the fact that the best of us can also be full of passionate intensity and that this can sow seeds of change that ripen into something close to miraculous transformation. Rachel is a beacon of inspiration and optimism, of how we can connect to the web of life and build networks of mycelial change in our personal and collective lives. ThoughtBox Education : https://thoughtboxeducation.com/ Transforming Leadership Course : https://thoughtboxeducation.com/leadership The next online course after recording starts 4th June 2025 Order Story Books https://thoughtboxeducation.com/storykit Rachel on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-musson/ Rachel and Holly's podcast Two Inconvenient Women https://thoughtboxeducation.com/tiw-podcast Episode 52 of Accidental Gods https://accidentalgods.life/living-to-learn/ Triple Wellbeing Practitioner Course in London on April 1st 2025 https://thoughtboxeducation.msnd24.com/tracking/lc/a318407c-86a0-4fd3-990e-3614925cc90a/392b9a45-f2f3-44aa-bf90-0afdc15fb732/dfaf176f-fc9c-4809-5698-0c04d852d104/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

Accidental Gods

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Miraculous Carbon: Celebrating the Book of Life, Death and Potential with author Paul Hawken 1:22:37

11 weeks ago1:22:37

1:22:37

How do we step past the magical thinking of the elites that says we can either use AI to 'Solve for Climate' - or just ignore the entire climate and ecological emergency completely? This week's guest, Paul Hawken, has been at the forefront of intelligent responses to the entire meta-crisis for decades. He has been profiled or written in hundreds of articles in the biggest newspapers across the world and has written nine books, six of which have become bestsellers, including Blessed Unrest , Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation and Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming . He’s the founder of both Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration, which is the world’s largest, most complete listing and network of solutions to the climate crisis, describing by agency, what each level of society can do, starting from the individual. If you're in the UK and waiting for Paul's new book to come out in August, then I'd thoroughly recommend you explore Regeneration as a good place to start. For those of you in the US, Paul's new book comes out on the 18th of March so you can get your pre-orders in now. This book is 'Carbon: The Book of Life' and truly, it's one of those books you'll read in a single sitting and then pass round to your family and friends so they can know the things you now know. I learned so much in this book: how supernovas are formed, how some really brilliant people worked out the formation of carbon - and one of them was knocked off the Nobel Prize because he began to believe there must be some kind of organising principle behind the formation of life. I learned the horrors of how we are destroying the ecosphere, but I also learned some of the wonders of humanity - how the Mi'kmaq tribe in Canada name large pine trees by the sound of the wind moving through the branches one hour before sunset in October - and then can return decades later and will know if trees have been damaged by comparing their names to the sound they hear. How other tribes in Alaska can predict the weather two years in advance by listening to the patterns in the web of life around them… Truly, this is a beautiful book, beautifully written and it contains within it, the seeds of hope that we speak of often on this podcast - that human creativity and compassion endure and are our gifts to the world. “Endlessly endlessly fascinating! Human beings, over the millennia, have come up with a thousand ways to carefully observe the world around us, and Paul Hawken has managed to collect and synthesize these observations—from the sweat lodge to the satellite—in a way that helps us see what now must be done. There’s information, and then there’s wisdom—and this book is a compendium of the latter.” BILL MCKIBBEN Paul's Website https://paulhawken.com/ Paul's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-hawken-0792b The link to purchase the book is here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/316928/carbon-by-paul-hawken/ Project Regeneration https://regeneration.org/ If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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Authentically human: celebrating the magic of life with Mark McCartney of the 'What is a Good Life' podcast 1:19:37

12 weeks ago1:19:37

1:19:37

In these turbulent times, what values most strongly underpin our humanity and how can we nurture our relationships with all parts of ourselves, with ourselves and other people and with ourselves and the web of life? This week's guest is another podcaster. Mark McCartney is host of the 'What is a Good Life' podcast, which is now into well over 100 episodes. Mark is a coach and writer based in Berlin, via Dublin, Ireland. He started his 'What is a Good Life' project in 2021, it became a podcast soon and now, in it's fourth year, he's interviewed over 250 people with humanity and sensitivity - and a glorious, marrow-melting Irish voice - that brings out the best in a suite of truly remarkable people. So this was my chance to turn the microphones the other way around and ask Mark what values underpin his life, that have brought him from Ireland to Peru and back to Germany? How has he navigated the turbulence that is common to our lives, how has he approached those moments that push us to ask the most important questions of who we are, and what we're here for. How has he found that sense of being, belonging, becoming that we all seek? Authenticity and the capacity for honest self reflection feel really critical now and in this conversation, Mark models both of these with deep humility and humanity as he and I explore integrity, vulnerability, humour courage, the capacity to listen to our body minds and act on instinct when it's right to do so - and how to let go of lifelong terrors and learn to love the objects of our fears. Nothing is certain any more - it never was, but we were able to seduce ourselves into thinking we could predict the paths our lives would take. Now that we know we can't do this, learning from people who are able and willing to walk in uncertainty seems to me one of the most valuable lessons we can embrace. So this is what we're doing. Enjoy. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/what-is-a-good-life/id1663668603 https://www.whatisagood.life/p/the-silent-conversations If you want to share the journey with us, we're here: Accidental Gods Gatherings https://accidentalgods.life/gatherings-2025/ Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/join-us/…

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Seeing the Bigger Picture: psychedelics and sense-making with Alexander Beiner of Kainos 58:41

13 weeks ago58:41