Polarised

In this episode, Daniel and Philipa discuss perception and language in a more-than-human world with cultural ecologist, Dr David Abram. David Abram is a cultural ecologist, geophilosopher, and the founder and creative director of the Alliance for Wild Ethics (AWE). His books include Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology  and The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. David is the recipient of various fellowships and awards, including the international Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction, David recently held the international Arne Naess Chair in Global Justice and Ecology at the University of Oslo in Norway.Explore links and resources, and find out more at  https://www.thersa.org/oceania/regeneration-rising-podcast  Join the Re-generation: https://www.thersa.org/regenerative-futuresReduced Fellowship offer: In celebration of the launch of Regeneration Rising, we're offering a special promotion for listeners to join our global community of RSA Fellows. Our Fellowship is a ne

In this episode, Daniel and Philipa welcome Dr Tyson Yunkaporta back for an extended yarn on relatedness and making embassy through community.  Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, educator, maker, researcher, and poet. He is the founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and the author of two books, the bestselling “Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World” and the recently published “Right Story, Wrong Story:  Adventures in Indigenous Thinking”. Tyson’s work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises.Explore links and resources, and find out more at  https://www.thersa.org/oceania/regeneration-rising-podcast  Join the Re-generation: https://www.thersa.org/regenerative-futuresReduced Fellowship offer: In celebration of the launch of Regeneration Rising, we're offering a special promotion for listeners to join our global community of RSA Fellows. Our Fellowship is a network of over 31,000 inno

In this episode, Philipa and Daniel talk about post-activism, border transgressions and making sanctuary with Dr Bayo Akomolafe and Dr Tyson Yunkaporta. Bayo Akomolafe is a widely celebrated international speaker, post-humanist thinker, philosopher, writer, activist and professor of psychology. He is the author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences:  Letters to My Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak. Bayo is the Founder of The Emergence Network and and a Global Senior Fellow at the University of California Berkeley. He is also the  Inaugural Scholar in Residence at the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, educator, maker, researcher, and poet. He is the founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and the author of two books, the bestselling “Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World” and the recently published “Right Story, Wrong Story:  Adventures in Ind

In this episode, Daniel and Philipa discuss the practices that can help us reconnect with the living world with renowned author and activist, John Seed, and deep ecology practitioner, Skye Mandozay.John Seed  is the founder and director of the Rainforest Information Centre in Australia.  Since 1979 he has been involved in the direct actions which have resulted in the protection of the Australian rainforests. He has written and lectured extensively on deep ecology and has been conducting Councils of All Beings and other re-Earth ing workshops  around the world for 25 years. With Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming and Professor Arne Naess, he wrote "Thinking Like a Mountain - Towards a Council of All Beings"(New Society Publishers) which has now been translated into 12 languages. He is an accomplished bard, songwriter and film-maker and has produced 5 albums of environmental songs and numerous films.Skye Mandozay is South African born, now living on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne Australia. She is an Animist, Deep Ecolo

In this episode, Philipa and Daniel discuss the kindness at the heart of reality with author and biophilosopher, Dr Andreas Weber.Dr Andreas Weber is a Berlin-based author, biophilosopher & independent scholar. His work focuses on re-evaluating our understanding of the living world in which organisms are subjects and the biosphere is a meaning-creating and poetic reality. Andreas is the author of numerous books, inlcuding Enlivenment: Toward a Poetics for the Anthropocene, The Biology of Wonder, and Matter & Desire: An Erotic Ecology. Explore links and resources, and find out more at  https://www.thersa.org/oceania/regeneration-rising-podcast  Join the Re-generation: https://www.thersa.org/regenerative-futuresReduced Fellowship offer: In celebration of the launch of Regeneration Rising, we're offering a special promotion for listeners to join our global community of RSA Fellows. Our Fellowship is a network of over 31,000 innovators, educators, and entrepreneurs committed to finding better ways of thin

In this episode, Daniel and Philipa are joined by award-winning permaculture teacher and designer, Morag Gamble, and best-selling author and integrator, Jeremy Lent. Together, they discuss the urgent need to realign our patterns of meaning with the life-sustaining patterns of our planet to create thriving, regenerative cultures. An award-winning permaculture teacher and designer, Morag Gamble has been at the forefront of the permaculture revolution for over 30 years. She is the founder of the Permaculture Education Institute and the Executive Director of Ethos Foundation, a permaculture education charity for refugees. She hosts the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast, exploring what a thriving one-planet way of life lookd like with leading ecological thinkers, activists, authors, designers and practitioners.Jeremy Lent is the best-selling author of The Patterning Instinct and The Web of Meaning. His work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways to

In this episode, Daniel and Philipa talk with best-selling author author, physicist, and educator, Dr Fritjof Capra about how adopting a systems view of life can help to address our current crisis of perception.  Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., is a scientist, educator, activist, author and systems theorist. Capra received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Vienna in 1966 and spent 20 years doing research in theoretical high-energy physics, including at the University of Paris, the University of California, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre, and the University of London. He also taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University. Capra first became popularly known for his best-selling book, The Tao of Physics, which explored the ways in which modern physics was changing our worldview from a mechanistic to a holistic and ecological one. Over the past 30 years, Capra has been engaged in a systematic exploration of how other sciences and society are ushering in a

In this episode, Daniel and Philipa talk with award-winning author and regenerative leadership expert, Carol Sanford. In this episode, Daniel and Philipa are in conversation with award-winning author and regenerative leadership expert, Carol Sanford. Carol draws on her experience working with business leaders to explain the importance of working on change in an indirect way. Carol Sanford is a consistently recognized disruptor and contrarian working side by side with Fortune 500 and new economy executives in designing and leading systemic business change and design. Through her university and in-house educational offerings, global speaking platforms, best selling multi-award-winning books, and human development work, Carol works with executive leaders who see the possibility to change the nature of work through developing people and work systems that ignite motivation everywhere. For four decades, Carol has worked with great leaders of successful businesses such as Google, DuPont, Intel, P&G, and Seventh

In this episode, Daniel and Philipa talk with Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organiser, Dr Lyla June Johnston. Lyla June shares lessons from her Diné, Tsétsêhéstâhese and European heritage and highlights the importance of engaging with, recognising and respecting Indigenous wisdom traditions as we seek to reinhabit our world regneratively.  Lyla June is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her multi-genre presentation style has engaged audiences across the globe towards personal, collective, and ecological healing. She blends her study of Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions. She recently finished her PhD on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans.ReGeneration Risin

Many of us are guilty of imagining that we can neatly measure and therefore manage the world around us. But an essential aspect of life is its continued motion. How might we learn from the patterns and nature of this motion in order to think ‘like an ecology’?Nora Bateson is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and educator, as well as President of the International Bateson Institute. Her work brings the fields of biology, cognition, art, anthropology, psychology, and information technology together into a study of the patterns in ecology of living systems. Her book, Small Arcs of Larger Circles, released by Triarchy Press, UK, 2016 is a revolutionary personal approach to the study of systems and complexity.ReGeneration Rising is a specially-commissioned RSA Oceania podcast exploring how regenerative approaches can help us collectively re-design our communities, cities, and economies, and create a thriving home for all on our planet.Explore links and resources, and find out more at  https://www.thersa.org/ocean

When faced with global social and environmental challenges, we can assume that we should be entirely focused on solving the problems ‘out there’. But without paying attention to our inner world and inter-being - the ways in which we relate to one another - can we really reimagine our world and enable flourishing futures for all? In this episode, Daniel and Philipa are joined by peace pilgrim, activist and former monk, Satish Kumar. Aged 9, Satish renounced the world and became a wandering Jain monk. Inspired by Gandhi, he decided at 18 that he could achieve more ‘back in the world’, campaigning to turn Gandhi's vision of a peaceful future into reality. Satish founded The Resurgence Trust, an educational charity that seeks to inform and inspire a just future for all. He was the Editor of the charity's change-making magazine, Resurgence & Ecologist, for over 40 years. He co-founded Schumacher College, which he continues to serve as a Visiting Fellow.ReGeneration Rising is a specially-commissioned RSA Oceani

ReGeneration Rising is a specially-commissioned RSA Oceania podcast exploring how regenerative approaches can help us collectively re-design our communities, cities, and economies, and create a thriving home for all on our planet. In this first episode of the second series, co-hosts Philipa Duthie and Daniel Christian Wahl talk to Biomimicry pioneers Janine Benyus and Dr Dayna Baumeister about the practice of learning from life’s enduring patterns and wisdom. Over 3.8 billion years life has evolved to create the conditions conducive to life. In comparison, the history of human innovation is vanishingly brief. What might we learn if we looked to nature as our teacher, not only for inspiration in physical design but in ways of learning, relating and collaborating?Janine Benyus is a biologist, author, innovation consultant, and self proclaimed “nature nerd.” She may not have coined the term biomimicry, but she certainly popularized it in her 1997 book ‘Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature’. She is Co-founde

How might the creation of scarcity, lead to popularity?  Johnny Lynch is a Scottish musician, also known as Pictish Trail. As well as his solo and collaborative performance career, he runs a unique record label from a remote Scottish Island. In this final Spark of the series, enjoy some of Johnny’s music along with his take on what it means to be your very own limited edition – with unlimited results.  Disclaimer:  This Spark has been created using material recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the material.  Presentation by: Johnny Lynch Music by Pictish Trail: PICTISH TRAIL Lost Map Records: Shop — Lost Map Records The Isle of Eigg: About Eigg - The Isle of Eigg Produced by: Unboxed - a UK-wide festival of creativity that brought together Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEAM). Brought to you by: The RSA - the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce. Where world-leading ideas become world-changing

When can constraint be a good thing?  And why should we learn to trust, in order to maximise creativity? Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist, author and public speaker. Malcolm’s enquiring mind and capacity to communicate complex ideas very clearly has made him a best-seller across many book titles.   In this sequence of mini-Sparks, Malcolm considers the beauty of constraint, the role of story in ideas and how trust and creativity are intrinsically linked.  Disclaimer:  This Spark has been created using clips recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the material.  Presentation by: Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm’s Books: Malcolm Gladwell – Home | Malcolm Gladwell (gladwellbooks.com) Produced by: Unboxed - a UK-wide festival of creativity that brought together Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEAM). Brought to you by: The RSA - the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce. Where world-leading ideas become world-c

How can injecting ideas into art create meaningful direction? Nadya Tolokonnikova is perhaps known best for being a musician and founding member of the group Pussy Riot - but would describe themself primarily as a conceptual artist and political activist.  Nadya was jailed in their home country of Russia in 2012, following a performance in Moscow Cathedral. Amnesty International named them a ‘Prisoner of Conscience’.   For Nadya, concepts and ideas come first. Joy and mental health should all form part of activism, and we have the power to create our own future.  Disclaimers:  This podcast contains some use of strong language. This Spark has been created using material recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the material.  Presentation by: Nadya Tolokonnikova Pussy Riot News: Pussy Riot to receive the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize (faroutmagazine.co.uk) Music by Pussy Riot: Pussy Riot - YouTube Produced by: Unboxed - a UK-wide festiv

How can collective artistic experiences help us to understand how our minds work?  This short audio Spark introduces the Dream Machine – one of ten UK-wide projects from Unboxed.  Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science; he also wears other hats including Editor-in-Chief for a leading neuroscience journal and he’s a best-selling author. In this neurologically soothing Spark, you can enjoy some of the atmospherics of a twenty first century Dream Machine - and the words of Professor Seth - as he explains how new frontiers in neuroscience are being crossed in this collaborative space between Arts and Sciences.  With atmospheric music by Jon Hopkins.  Disclaimer: This Spark has been created using material recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the material.  Presentation by: Anil Seth – Neuroscientist Music by Jon

How can wonder and positivity impact the way we make progress? Dr Ella Gilbert describes herself as a cloud nerd and all-round polar enthusiast. She has a post-doctorate role in climate modelling at the British Antarctic Survey and believes that communication is key when it comes to the big scientific challenges.    In this audio Spark, Ella discusses the idea that creativity and imagination are essential in any discipline, and especially in finding our way towards more helpful outcomes for our future habitat.  Disclaimer: This Spark has been created using material recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the material.  Introduction and Presentation by: Ella Gilbert | Climate scientist | London See Monster: UNBOXED | SEE MONSTER Ella’s Climate Research: Homepage - British Antarctic Survey (bas.ac.uk) Produced by: Unboxed - a UK-wide festival of creativity that brought together Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STE

How can the science behind a specific human emotion, change our lives for the better? Dacher Keltner is Professor of Psychology at Berkeley University, California and is the founder of the Greater Good Science Center. You may have heard his podcast, the Science of Happiness.  Dacher and his students have been studying the transformative power of a single emotion. Keep listening to hear a brief history of our understanding of awe, its age-old purpose in the pursuit of knowledge… and how the humbling effect of a walk in the woods might just change the way we approach things.  Disclaimer: This Spark has been created using material recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the material.  Presentation by: Dacher Keltner Dacher’s Research Hub: Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life (berkeley.edu) Produced by: Unboxed - a UK-wide festival of creativity that brought together Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEAM)

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and science educator. She’s also a broadcaster and author - bringing science to life for her many audiences.  In this audio Spark, you’ll hear a potted tale of dreaming big and reaching for the stars.   Maggie’s story is one that we can all feel inspired by, whichever field we create or work in. We’ve got to think big.   Disclaimer: This Spark has been created using material recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the material.  Presentation by: Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE — Take Three Management (take3management.co.uk) Produced by: Unboxed - a UK-wide festival of creativity that brought together Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEAM). Brought to you by: The RSA - the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce. Where world-leading ideas become world-changing actions. Subscribe for new episodes weekly and visit our website to find out more about our Design for

Adrian Hon is Co-founder and CEO at Six to Start, creators of game-like stories and story-like games - including the world's bestselling smartphone fitness game, "Zombies, Run!" which has over ten million players.  Before Adrian became a game designer, he was a neuroscientist and experimental psychologist at Oxford, Cambridge and the University of California San Diego.   This Spark is taken from Adrian’s keynote speech, made during the research and development phase of Unboxed.   Adrian tells us how he approached the research and creation of his book, A New History of the Future in One Hundred Objects.   He asks us to consider how we can use specific words to understand how we might overcome despondency about the future - and become hospitable to new ideas that will benefit everyone.   Disclaimer: This Spark has been created using material recorded online during the pandemic - so the sound quality varies in places, but this shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the material. Presentation by: Adrian Hon - Co-Fou