Cultivation Cycle checklists

For gardens and farms, every stage of the cultivation cycle and all four seasons are important.  This holds true for people’s work and life generally, but we often over-focus on some stages of the cycle, and neglect others.  This quick checklist will help you see how you can use these cycles better. In gardens, farms … Read more

Composting: the upsides of your downsides

Imagine that you can tap into a major new source of energy and insight, that’s already within you: it’s free, abundant, and just needs a bit of effort to process it.   What’s more, you’ll be creating benefits out of problems that drain energy and pollute your inner ecosystem.  This is what composting offers you. … Read more

Why our front-line services need re-visioning

All of us depend on front line services: they include health, local authorities, education, care, and a myriad of voluntary sector organisations such as charities, help networks, and community groups. They are a safety net, and as stresses grow for most people, we need the support of front line services more than ever. But most … Read more

What we think about when we try not to think about global warming

By Per Espen Stoknes: guest blog by Jane Sanders There’s a Permaculture principle called the ‘edge effect’ which describes the incredible richness and diversity that is to be found where two habitats meet … for example the edge of a forest. This book brought this to mind as I experienced the weaving together of psychology … Read more

What is Post-Traumatic Growth? By Miriam Akhtar

The title may sound heavy-duty, but this excellent short book should be relevant for a lot of people. Miriam’s list of what can cause trauma is very inclusive, and her book is an easily accessible introduction to a range of wellbeing and resilience methods. The whole book is only 140 pages, with five chapters. It … Read more

Trees and Carbon Reduction

Crisis fatigue wears all of us down, so you may not be too aware that climate change is worsening. Our weather is a clue. For a useful objective update from the US National Climate Assessment, follow this link. Trees and agriculture have a major potential role to play in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, and even offsetting … Read more

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom

A Big Picture look at the impacts of AI I am hesitant to recommend people to read this book: if you already find the future scary and complex, be warned that this book explores some of the more extreme elements of that future. However, if you are feeling robust, it is well worth reading through … Read more

RESILIENZ (German) and RESILIENCE (English) – where´s the difference?

Guest Blog by Daniel Körner of Wisdom Tree Recently, my attention was drawn to the topic of resilience and how this concept has been taken up differently in the two cultures where I live, the UK and Germany/Austria. Typing ‘resilience’ into google UK, many initial results lead to news from the banking sector, official governmental … Read more

Learning from our Future Fears

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley I decided to re-read this book because several futures experts see it as a perceptive view of where our world is headed. Having read it, I can recommend the book as superbly written, and full of provoking insights. Brave New World is often bracketed with George Orwell’s 1984. Both books were … Read more