UK-based smallholder Chris Smaje speaks with Seán and Caroline. Topics covered include agroecology, the need to balance different forms of property ownership, and the globalism/localism debate. Chris is based in Somerset in the UK and worked as an academic sociologist and anthropologist for some time, but then changed focus to the practice and politics of agroecology.…
DetailsProgress of the Covid pandemic The Omicron variant has proved to be more infectious than previous variants but created less morbidity and mortality. In Europe and elsewhere overall it seems that hospital admission rates and deaths attributed to the virus are steadily falling. One caveat however is that the fall isn’t consistent over different countries.…
DetailsTo kick off our 2022 series, Caroline Whyte of Feasta and David Somekh of the EHFF spoke with Isabel Carlisle, the director of the Bioregional Learning Centre in Devon in the UK. Isabel spoke about her earlier career as an archaeologist and in the art world, and how she became involved in the climate movement…
DetailsCaroline Whyte and Seán Ó Conláin speak with Gerry McGovern, who is a specialist in identifying and reducing digital waste and the author of the book ‘World Wide Waste: how digital is killing our planet and what we can do with it’. Gerry has written eight books about digital design and has appeared on numerous…
DetailsDear friends and colleagues from the EHFF Community. This year has been one of Zoom and Microsoft Teams burn-out for sure. Very sad we’ve not had the chance to meet face to face. Nevertheless, despite the constraints, it seems a lot has been accomplished. As you can see from the features page on the website (or our YouTube…
DetailsSymbiosis and system change: potential lessons from mycology Bill O’Dea, a specialist in mycology, talks with Seán Ó Conlaín and Caroline Whyte about the immense contribution that fungi make to the biosphere, their nutritional value, the threats they are facing, the complex symbiotic relationship which they have with each other and with other species, and…
DetailsNow the days are noticeably shorter, we emerge from a rather strange summer to a busy Autumn schedule, still dominated by concerns about the latter phases of the pandemic as well as the UN declaration that the global climate situation is ‘code red’. Most of our meetings continue to be on-line. In this edition we…
DetailsBrief report on proceedings: The event drew an online audience of over 120. The event started with gentle guitar music of Paddy Flamenco (Paddy Anderson). Davie Philip ( a member of Hub steering group) introduced proceedings with a poem from fellow Cloughjordan resident, poet Mel White (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMS6VDB5Yys ). Mel’s inspiring poem was followed by…
DetailsThis podcast continues with the theme of transformation catalysts which we also explored in last month’s Seán Ó Conlaín interviews Steve Waddell, who is the lead steward of the global Bounce Beyond movement which accelerates initiatives working to make regenerative, life-centered economies realizable at scale as “next economies” communities. Steve has a Ph.D. in sociology…
DetailsFrom the editor: Dear readers! The summer has begun, somewhat reluctantly in parts of Europe, and the pandemic continues to dominate public discussions. We’ve been sending you a number of Newsflashes since the beginning of the year, but no Newsletter. Not because we haven’t been busy, rather the opposite! Prior to the summer break (if…
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