“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence – it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” Peter Drucker’s comment captures the need for system change that defines Astraea. When we stepped out of our old lives and into the unknown in 1999, we had a clear goal: To find balance between people, …
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Category:4 Energy
Mary Robinson, Nature and Dandelions
“We are in a crisis!” Mary Robinson’s keynote message was the right way to open her Climate Conference – which she promptly re-named the “Climate and Nature Conference – don’t you agree?” The whole audience agreed enthusiastically. Tom turned to me. “Mary Robinson CAN!” he smiled. A fitting acronym for “climate and nature”! Shortly after, …
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The Second Holocaust
For 70 years the word “holocaust” has been in common use and we all knew it was about the bigoted murder of thousands of civilians during The Second World War. Schindler’s List and other movies have brought the tragedy alive in our minds. It was about the wholesale extermination of people to make space for …
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“I Want A Revolution”
A conversation with Brigidine elders about the future, with 15 minutes of mindful movements at the beginning. This special event took place on 1 February 2024 when we enjoyed an open conversation with 3,000 years of life experience. As you will hear, we approached the opportunity with some references, including elements of our recent timescape …
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What is a system change entrepreneur? : in conversation with KCLR
KCLR’s spoke with us for their Ours to Protect series. In November, KCLR producer Ethna Quirke spoke to Tom Butler about his retreat from the corporate world, a return to nature and his work with the Carlow County Environmental Network and their upcoming “Feast upon the Earth” event. The programme was released in two broadcasts: …
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Feast Upon The Earth – The Book
Back in April when we sat down to brainstorm over a coffee and dreamed up an installation exploring the human relationship with nature we had no idea it would lead to such wide insights and wonderful feedback from visitors. Feast Upon The Earth was a powerful experience and the resulting timescape brought out new understanding …
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Propaganda tries to justify the invasion of Ukraine and killing people like us.
It was fascinating to explore the history of the Russian Federation in a DW documentary from 2021 which discussed the tensions in the countries that ceded from the USSR/Russian Federation. But the most striking element was how retarded the progress of Russia has been under Putin, whose imperialistic ego has funnelled money into the army …
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The War Will Be Over in a Week, and Ukraine Forgotten in a Month
People around the world are yearning for peace. But leaders do not want to make it happen. Instead prevarication and incompetence is allowing Putin to take Ukraine. The Russian army will have control of Ukraine in week. We will have forgotten about it in a month as we will be distracted by another sensational news …
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System Change – videos of our meeting
Thanks to all who joined our gathering on 8 December 2021. A fascinating conversation ensued (part 3) after an introduction to System Change (part 1) and a tribute to Richard Auler (part 2).
The success of COP26
No COP 26 wasn’t a success. Objectives were not met. An agreement to promise to do better next year is not an achievement. Worse is the deception by fossil fuel promoters (who represented the biggest delegation at the conference (bigger than any country including USA or China) that they will start to phase out fossil …
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