Carrots and Conviviality – in conversation with Carmel Duffy

Carmel Duffy is a pioneer of system change. For over four decades she has chosen to live more lightly and thoughtfully. It was a great pleasure and honour to spend a morning hearing her story which is shared here. Enjoy! Many thanks to Carmel, Pete, Tom and Ben for their warm hospitality and generous welcome. …
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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).

System Change: Fear & Greed vs Love & Sharing

Please join us for our 2021 annual gathering It will be on Wednesday 8 December at 1800 GMT online and in person (RSVP required). This year we will step back and review our big picture perspective of the state of the world and the path forward as volatility of human systems (politics, economics etc) and …
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In conversation with Michael Hickey

author, organic pioneer, changemaker Topics include*stacking shelves then changing course*facing The Wall in Alice Springs*natural skills*finding yourself, choosing your path*self awareness*cause and effect*writing to explore oneself*reincarnation*transcending the division between ego and soul to find your *consciousness*dream therapy*self-acceptance for courage to change*following relationship, not objective*communication, appreciation, confidence*recognising and facing your own past and prejudices*challenge catalysing cultural …
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Making Sense of Ourselves and Our World

An essay on “education as if people and planet matter” originally drafted for The Dartington Trust and Resurgence and published on Clive Menzies Outersite.org. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The answer is obvious, if you can look back in time. Eggs came first in fish, reptiles, then birds. It was an egg …
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How Happiness Works

Last’ week’s “code red for humanity” got me thinking – ironically – about happiness. What makes you happy? Actually, let’s back up. What IS happiness, that feeling of positive lightness that makes the world seem rosy? “Hap” is the Middle English word for “chance, luck, a chance occurrence”. Sounds about right. “Happy” is defined as …
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BT news – logging, spring planting, garden course, fishing, yoga, … nature.

What’s going on at Ballin Temple? More than we expected, especially as Ireland has been under lockdown all year so far.  If you’ve seen some of the posts on social media you’ll have an inkling of how busy we’ve been.  In order to keep the fires burning we were doing a lot of logging since …
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POV recovery of timber from woods.

A couple of POV videos of recovery of timber for the fire from the woods. This might be of interest to smallholders etc. (“Don’t try this at home.”) Many thanks to Noel Hutton for tuning and sharpening one of the two similar saws used. ‘Twas running better than new! A fine dry day made all …
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The elephant of inequality revealed by USA – the herd leader.

Since 1974, upward redistribution of wealth to the business classes has cost the American labour force $50 Trillion. That’s enough to pay every single person working in the bottom 90% an additional $1,144 a month. Every month. Every single year. America has become more unequal during what seemed to be a golden age of wealth. …
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