Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) was a social psychologist and humanist philosopher who concluded that love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.

A person who has not been completely alienated…

Developing the ISM tool for communities

The ISM (Individual Social & Material) Tool was originally developed to help policy makers engage people and influence their behaviours to deliver improved outcomes, strengthening low carbon policies and delivery. I’ve been commissioned by the Scottish…

Some field notes on Natural Change Hungary

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Natural Change Hungary at Kisújbánya — September 2105.[/caption]

It was an honour and a joy to co-facilitate a week-long Natural Change course…

The state of the climate movement

A long, but interesting perspective on the emergence, and necessary next steps, of the climate movement by Alex Evans of Global Dashboard:

Climate activists are now speaking with a strong, morally grounded voice that’s totally different from the…

Shifting Normal: How to use the Four Questions & Four Zones framework with your team

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Paired discussion at my workshop on the Shifting Normal guide at the CCF Gathering in…

The role of values in transformational change

In June 2015 I helped organise a roundtable with Tom Crompton, founder of the Common Cause Foundation. With around 30 participants we had to drop our original plan for a literal round-a-table-discussion, and designed a more structured approach which…

Martin Luther King Jr — Ecological Thinker

“I have a dream” is perhaps one of the most instantly recognisable speeches of the twentieth century, but apart from that I’ve known little about Martin Luther King. So I was delighted to discover he was an ecological thinker. Ahead of his time? or…

Save the hero, save the world?

Stories are powerful ways to communicate, indeed in my work I often encourage people to consider using ‘narrative’ to engage others more effectively.

But stories can be damaging and disempowering, especially ‘hero’ stories when essential elements of…

Science and values can’t be separated

Gavin Schmidt argues that once scientists enter a charged public debate, they will inevitably be perceived as advocating for one side or the other — whether or not that is their intention. And it fact…

it is almost always the case that a…