Accidental Gods

It occurs to me that we are now at an inflection point in the WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich and - notionally - Democratic) culture that has been so successful in destroying the ecosphere. A significant number of us now see what has been obvious to a minority for some time: that the system is not broken - it is doing what it was always designed to do: which is to maintain power in the hands of a few white men. What we know now, is that the system is not fit for purpose - IF that purpose is the survival of complex life on this planet, if it is the flourishing of the human and More-than-Human worlds in an indivisible web of life. We need a new system - and this realisation has landed not with the people who solve their problems with violent insurrection (see Jan 6th 2021) but with people whose primary driving aim is to find ways to connect and consiliate, to create coherence with compassion, to find courage and confidence and creative curiosity. And so this is our goal now - there is no point waiting for the side we favour to win in a broken system.   - We need a whole new system predicated on new and better values.   - We need to find our connectedness.  - At a bone-deep level, in the core of our tissues and the vast expanses of our individual and collective awareness, we need to remember our place in the Web of Life and work only from this.  - We need to start building something entirely different that does not rely on the structures of the broken system, even as it crumbles (or is dismantled) around us. This is our challenge.  Facing it will require everything we've got, but the old system is a self-terminating algorithm and we can all see the route to chaos and extinction now. If we're going to pull through and find that flourishing world we can bequeath with pride to future generations, nothing else matters now. Nothing. Find what's yours to do and do with all your heart.  Build imaginal islands with friends, colleagues and co-evolutionaries of the human and More than Human world.  Build narratives based on the heart-focused values that are our birth-right.Above all else, do whatever you can to connect to the More than Human world  - to the Web of Life  in all its awe-inspiring wonder, its majesty and beauty  - and ask 'What do you want of me?'  Listen to the answer, however it comes.And then do it.

If you're over 40, the world you grew up believing in no longer exists.  The younger generation approaches the polycrisis with open eyes, striving to find and nurture resilience, to listen to the whispers of synchronicity and let it lead them - and us - to a world that works for all life. Today, we're talking to Elliot Riley. Elliot is an educator, permaculture designer and practitioner working to bring wellbeing, reforestation and perennial food production into schools. Elliot graduated during the pandemic. When he left school, he was planning to join the paratroops, but after what he describes as a 'Thunderbolt moment', he shifted tack and, despite not having the grades, was able to get a place to study history at the New College of Humanities.  One pandemic and a degree later, he realised that mainstream education struggles to equip us for the challenges of a changing world. After two years upstream, studying Trauma-Informed Education and permaculture in the Dominican Republic, Elliot returned to his hometown, where he now works at The Saint Leonard’s Academy, leading a wellbeing programme called Future Growth, which supports students whilst transforming the community’s waste into a regenerative food forest. Through an initiative called OFFSET, Elliot’s working to spread the mission further.Elliot's Patreon Page for OFFSET https://www.patreon.com/offsetfoodforests/about/Elliot's instagram account for OFFSET food forest: https://www.instagram.com/offset_food_forests/The One World Orchestra's first single https://open.spotify.com/album/62UZvSNV1gtBXdqLQLdfrw?si=WIdwzar_RvivoA-P3dBiAThe Human Hive https://www.thehumanhive.org/our-storyVaughan Wilkins and links to his PhD thesis on the Zoochosis of humanity https://www.vaughanwilkins.com/thesis  Accidental Gods Membership https://accidentalgods.life/enrol/

How does an understanding of what makes dogs tick, help us to understand ourselves and our place in the world? What does it take to feel safe - as a human, or as a dog (or cat, or horse, or... anything)? And how can we help ourselves and each other find regulation in a VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous)?Andrew Hale is a Certified Animal Behaviourist who specialises in working complex behaviour cases, especially those involving 'Reactivity and Aggression.'  Look around you at the world.  Look at the news.  What two words best describe the nature of our local, national and geo-political processes? Andrew is one of those remarkable people committed to a Dog Centred Care approach, working with empathy and compassion to understand why any being is behaving in this way. His focus is on dogs, but what we're learning - and the reason I have invited Andrew onto the podcast - is that all the theories of secure or ruptured attachment, of the need for autonomy, agency, confidence and safety, apply in dogs as much as they do in people -or indeed, any sentient being.  This conversation dives deep into trauma (or at least, trauma responses), our capacity for secure attachment in the modern world, our parenting skills, our skills as people who choose to share our lives with other animals - and ultimately, our skills in helping ourselves cope with a culture that's increasingly going off the rails. It's not about to get any better, either. So the more we can find our own stability, the more we can help others. Which is what this episode is all about.  Relax, get yourself a cup of tea and let's explore what really makes us tick. Dog Centered Care https://dogcc.org/Dog Centered Care TV on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@DogCentredCare/videosDog Centered Care Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/dogccCandace Pert Molecules of Emotion https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/molecules-of-emotion-why-you-feel-the-way-you-feel-candace-pert/355476Attachment and Bonding in dogs and people https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4348122/

How can we achieve total systemic change? And are there politicians anywhere who are ready to make it happen (in a way that supports the continuation of complex life on this planet, not the scorched-earth destruction of the right)?The short answer is that yes, there are people deeply embedded in politics who know how dire things are and that we need urgent change. One of these is Natale Bennett, former Green Party leader and now Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, one of two Green Party members of the UK’s House of Lords. She is also the author of the book Change Everything: How We Can Rethink, Repair and Rebuild Society, which was published by UnBound in 2024.Her thesis is that what has been called political common sense over recent decades—that greed is good, inequality doesn’t matter and we can keep treating the planet as a mine and a dumping ground—has been a recipe for disaster. The ideology of neoliberalism has delivered poverty and destruction, with a few benefiting while the rest of us pay. We need urgent change - and we have the routes to do it.  Many ideas and arguments in this book have been inspired by the people she has met around the UK. Every idea in it has been road-tested, honed by interaction. We can only get through this dangerous stage  by relying on the collective ingenuity, talents and creativity of millions of people, all empowered to “do politics”. This book aims to synthesise the voices Natalie has heard and read –and encourage them to step forward. They collectively represent true common sense.That’s why she chose to publish it with Unbound using crowdfunding. You can order it through them, or it should be in your local bookstore. YouTube Introduction to Natalie's book https://youtu.be/US7EaCHR0ZsOther links of things we mentionedPlanetary Health Checks https://www.planetaryhealthcheck.org/Florida Congressional Race - details of where you can support this are in the blog  https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/15/2275160/-Hard-evidence-that-having-a-candidate-in-every-district-makes-a-big-differenceThe Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-dawn-of-everything-a-new-history-of-humanity-david-graeber/5715204?ean=9780141991061Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/bullshit-jobs-the-rise-of-pointless-work-and-what-we-can-do-about-it-david-graeber/2523934?ean=9780141983479Christian Felber's book, also called Change Everything, exploring the Economy for the Common Good https://christian-felber.at/en/books/change-everything/