Totnes Convergence
4-7 June 2020

2025 no more? The Tory victory, XR, and the coming storms

There’s no chance of Boris Johnson’s government implementing any of Extinction Rebellion’s “three demands” to save the climate and biodiversity. So...

Extinction Rebellion

Can regenerative economics & mainstream business mix?

Or, is it even possible to create regenerative businesses in a degenerative economic system?

economics climate change @Medium

A Journey To GameB

January 13, 2019  Twitter: @jim_rutt  mini-bio

@Medium

An algorithm that learns through rewards may show how our brain does too

By optimizing reinforcement-learning algorithms, DeepMind uncovered new details about how dopamine helps the brain learn.

New climate models suggest Paris goals may be out of reach

New climate models show carbon dioxide is a more potent greenhouse gas than previously understood, a finding that could push the Paris treaty goals...

physics carbon

Momentum faces backlash over ‘ludicrous’ Labour leadership ballot of members

The left-wing group Momentum is facing a backlash over its “ludicrous” ballot of members for the Labour leadership, with just one option for both l...

Labour

Boris Johnson made politics awful, then asked people to vote it away

Our investigations show how the Tories won big

Labour climate change

Attractors: The Guiding Stars of History’s Winners

What is the main difference between the winners and losers of history? Answer: Getting the attractors right.[i] Whereas the amateur studies how the...

Hanzi Freinacht @Metamoderna

What Are You Hungry For?

I still speak fast, think fast and eat fast but I’m swapping out my quick yes for a quick no.

Neo-Nazis on course to win second place in Slovakia election next month

Slovakia is set to become the latest European country to come under the influence of the far right, with polls predicting major gains for neo-Nazis...

Australia fires: Smoke to make 'full circuit' around globe, Nasa says

Smoke from huge fires is expected to travel back to Australia after circling the globe, Nasa says.

australia bushfires

Scientists use stem cells from frogs to build first living robots

Researchers foresee myriad benefits for humanity, but also acknowledge ethical issues

Sex Is Better If You Exercise

If you want to have more fun in bed, try getting off the couch

Jeffrey Epstein: Jail CCTV erased by 'technical errors'

The jail mistakenly saved surveillance footage from the wrong cell block, prosecutors say.

Robin Wall Kimmerer — The Intelligence in All Kinds of Life

The problem with calling another living being “it.” Photosynthesis envy. The renewal of the world for the privilege of breath. Mosses as a celebrat...

indigenous

Trump is ‘dangerous and incapacitated’ and urgent action must be taken, psychiatrists say in wake of Iran crisis

A group of mental health professionals have warned Congress it must act urgently to demand Donald Trump undergo an evaluation to determine his cont...

Lab-grown food will soon destroy farming – and save the planet

Scientists are replacing crops and livestock with food made in factories from microbes and water. It may save humanity’s bacon, says Guardian colum...

water

How Rupert Murdoch Is Influencing Australia’s Bushfire Debate

Critics see a concerted effort to shift blame, protect conservative leaders and divert attention from climate change.

australia climate change

How the oil industry has spent billions to control the climate change conversation

Activists say Democratic climate proposals won’t be able to pass until lawmakers put a stop to oil companies are trying to rebrand themselves

climate crisis climate change

A Sick Giant

We really need to do something about this.

Australia bushfires: 5 things to know about the crisis

Some key facts about the size, intensity and devastating impact of the fires.

australia bushfires

Police contradict claims spread online exaggerating arson's role in Australian bushfires

Donald Trump Jr was among those who retweeted misleading figures published by News Corp

australia bushfires climate change

How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the ‘1 Percent’

.. While many of us are working to ensure that the Occupy movement will have a lasting impact, it’s worthwhile to consider other countries where ma...

Iran fires back at US: What you need to know in 500 words

Key questions answered as over a dozen ballistic missiles launched by Tehran at two bases housing US troops in Iraq.

Bushfires have reshaped life on Earth before—they could do it again

The catastrophic bushfires raging across much of Australia have not only taken a huge human and economic toll, but also delivered heavy blows to bi...

australia bushfires physics

The Benefits of Exercise for Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in the United States. They affect nearly 30 percent of adults at some point in their lives.1...

20 Practical Things You Can Start Now to Radically Enhance Your Life

It takes extra effort to unplug from the digital distractions and frenetic energy of the modern world. Here are 20 practical things you can start t...

Love Is the Answer to the Climate Crisis

As the climate crisis worsens, and the window to solve it is quickly closing, we have a choice to make: we can shut down in fear or lean in and ope...

buddhism climate crisis climate change

Police in Australia are accusing 24 people of deliberately setting bushfires

The Australia wildfires are a countrywide catastrophe, mainly caused by drought and extreme heat, but dozens of people are directly to blame for so...

australia bushfires

Learning to Die in the Anthropocene

What do we do when failure is inevitable?

climate change

Practicing in Hell

An Australian practitioner warns fellow Buddhists not to give up their meditation practice in the face of devastating wildfires.

australia buddhism climate change

Images from space show that smoke from the Australian wildfires has now reached South America

The horrendous wildfires that have been raging in Australia since September have now become some intense that smoke has reached South America, some...

australia

Clive Lewis: to beat Tories, Labour has to work with other progressives

Lords reform and PR must be part of radical political reform, says leadership contender

Labour Green Party

Finland is considering a four-day week. Is this the secret of happiness?

Reduced working hours can boost productivity and cut carbon emissions. Here’s the evidence behind the idea

carbon

Water, Profit and First Nation Rights to Water | Q&A

"Corruption and capitalism has killed our rivers." Bruce Shillingsworth calls for Australia to wake up, and stop profiting on water.

australia capitalism water

Sustainable supply of minerals and metals key to a low-carbon energy future

The global low-carbon revolution could be at risk unless new international agreements and governance mechanisms are put in place to ensure a sustai...

physics governance carbon

How a fire has been kept burning continuously for 174 years in Devon's highest pub

The traditional Warren House Inn in Dartmoor, Devon is more than a mile from the nearest farm

York to ban private car journeys from city centre within three years

City councillors unveil ‘unashamedly ambitious’ goal to cut carbon emissions

carbon

New evidence shows that the key assumption made in the discovery of dark energy is in error

The most direct and strongest evidence for the accelerating universe with dark energy is provided by the distance measurements using type Ia supern...

physics

Nothing Is Outside of Awareness

Some simple questions to better grasp the meaning of “form and emptiness” from Zen monk Haemin Sunim

buddhism meaning

Alternative Editorial: 12 Possibilities for the 2020s

Five days into a new decade and the public sphere is febrile.  Australia appears to be on fire. As we know, this is not a cheap-shot metaphor...

australia Extinction Rebellion climate change @The Alternative UK

Here's what could be lost if Trump bombs Iran's cultural treasures

The US president has warned Iran he will obliterate its cultural sites. Here is our guide to the nation’s jewels, from hilltop citadels to a disco-...

Is Australia becoming uninhabitable?

Australia, one of the world's least welcoming nations to migrants, could shortly find many of its citizens seeking shelter and succour elsewhere. %

australia climate emergency

66 people now killed by flooding in Jakarta, and more rain appears to be on the way

The death toll from flooding in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta has risen to 66, authorities say, with two people still missing after the megalop...

Australia’s bushfires are a wake-up call: we must build a more humane economy before it’s too late

Economists used to admire scientists. Now they ignore them at our peril.

australia bushfires economics physics

Climate change: Electrical industry's 'dirty secret' boosts warming

It's the most powerful greenhouse gas you've never heard of, and levels in the atmosphere are soaring.

climate change

What you'd spend to prevent climate change — and what you could get with your money

On average, Australians are willing to chip in an extra $200 a year to prevent climate change. It turns out that money could go a long way.

australia consciousness climate change

Australia on Fire: This is a Call to Step Up & Wake Up

How the Current System Works The Questions to Ask Custodians of Planet Earth Resources for Waking Up The heartbreak, outrage and fear of the future...

australia

This small German town took back the power – and went fully renewable. Could your locality do this too?

By Bertie Russell , Research Associate, Urban Institute, University of Sheffield The case for ambitious and transformative environmental po...

@The Alternative UK

Yuin Indigenous Australians unite in historic healing ceremony at Mount Gulaga

As bushfires and drought ravage the nation, hundreds of Yuin people have gathered at the foot of Mount Gulaga for a historic healing ceremony on th...

indigenous bushfires

The Australian bushfires may be the "Chernobyl" of climate crisis - the event that makes our current system untenable

The Australian bushfires are apocalyptic enough to stoke anyone’s climate-crisis fears. But we were happy to see our friend and colleague Kather...

bushfires climate crisis @The Alternative UK

Australia Is Committing Climate Suicide

As record fires rage, the country’s leaders seem intent on sending it to its doom.

australia

Fox News' Tucker Carlson slams Trump's lurch toward war with Iran, suggests he was 'out-maneuvered'

If President Trump was watching Fox News at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday night, he got a violently mixed messages on his order to assassinate Iranian Gen...

Australian bushfire crisis: smoke turns NZ sky orange

New Zealanders are phoning emergency services to report a glowing orange sky as smoke drifts across the Tasman Sea from Australia’s bushfires.

australia bushfires

All your services in one place

All your messaging services in one place

Watch this Australian magpie perfectly mimic the sound of emergency sirens

A sobering reminder of the megafire's far-reaching effects.

australia bushfires

Australia fires create plume of smoke wider than Europe as humanitarian crisis looms

Bushfires ravaging Australia have now killed at least 17 people and created a plume of smoke thought to be present over an area greater than that o...

australia bushfires

Australian bushfires are so huge they're creating thunderstorms that start more fires

If powerful enough, a pyrocumulonimbus storm can generate a fire tornado, which happened during the Canberra bushfires in 2003.

australia bushfires

Germany cuts fares for long-distance rail travel in response to climate crisis

Cheaper fares as Deutsche Bahn passes on to customers the government’s cut on VAT

climate crisis climate change

Artificial intelligence is helping us talk to animals (yes, really)

AI has helped us decode ancient languages, and now researchers are turning the same technique to help understand our pets

Archaeologists discover remains of vast Mayan palace in Mexico

Ancient building found 100 miles west of Cancùn estimated to be more than 1,000 years old

Why Labour Lost: Oligarchs are Gaming Democracy ?? | George Monbiot

“The oligarchs have discovered the formula for persuading the poor to vote for the interests of the very rich” Watch Full 48 Minute Interview Here...

Labour @YouTube

War on Sensemaking II, Daniel Schmachtenberger

In War on Sensemaking, Daniel Schmachtenberger laid out why the 'information ecology' was so broken. It was a hugely popular film, with over 125,00...

Daniel Schmachtenberger podcast Rebel Wisdom

‘The forest is shedding tears’: the women defending their Amazon homeland

Global Greengrants UK, one of the four groups we are helping to fight the climate crisis, supports indigenous Brazilians

indigenous rainforest amazon climate crisis climate change

Electricity generated by renewables surpasses gas for first time

Electricity generated from renewables surpassed power from gas for the first time in the three months from July to September, official figures show...

Becoming Minimalist’s Top Posts of 2019

I love watching the life-giving message of minimalism and simplicity continue to gain momentum and reach new people every single day—through this b...

Poetry from the Future

“The seeds of a new world, taking root here in the shell of the old.”

governance

'Everyone loves a mushroom': London show celebrates art of the fungi

Works by 35 artists, designers and musicians feature in exhibition opening in January

Greens should rethink our relationship with Labour after its disastrous defeat

“While many Greens believe Labour is our friend, their tactics in elections show clearly that they see us as their key opponent.” Following another...

Labour Green Party The Green Party

We need to talk about geoengineering

Geoengineering is not an alternative to reducing our CO2 emissions. But it may give us the time and breathing space to transform our…

climate crisis climate change @Medium

Ram Dass, Beloved Spiritual Teacher, Has Died

The American spiritual leader, yogi, counterculture icon, and Be Here Now author has died. He was 88.

LSD consciousness

Therapy with Kink: An End to Shame

New recommendations describe best practices for clinical work with kinky people.

Australia has its hottest day on record

Australia this week experienced its hottest day on record and the heatwave is expected to worsen, exacerbating an already unprecedented bushfire se...

australia physics

Water Thieves Steal 80,000 Gallons in Australia As Our Mad Max-Style Future Becomes Reality

Thieves stole roughly 80,000 gallons of water in a region of Australia that’s suffering from one of the worst droughts in the history of the countr...

australia bushfires water climate emergency climate change

Climate of chaos: the suffocating firestorm engulfing Australia

The death toll from the unprecedented crisis has reached eight and sparked an apology from the prime minister

australia bushfires

The U.N. climate negotiations are over, and they were a disaster

And surprise, the U.S. helped screw it up.

climate change

How the race for cobalt risks turning it from miracle metal to deadly chemical

As a case in the US alleges links between tech companies and child miners in Congo, the Guardian’s global environment editor assesses the dangers o...

climate crisis climate change

Action in the Anthropocene

In the face of economic, social, and ecological breakdown, the inevitable transition is comming. And what it requires from us is beyond the realms ...

indigenous Extinction Rebellion @YouTube

Deep Adaptation Q&A with Charles Eisenstein hosted by Jem Bendell

Charles' website https://charleseisenstein.org is under construction right now, so check out https://sacred-economics.com Discover more at http:...

economics Charles Eisenstein

Voting and democracy are not the same thing! — Human Organising Co

There’s nothing in principle wrong with voting, so long as you recognise its limitations. Voting can be an effective way of gauging how a group f...

This one point perfectly sums up why Zac Goldsmith being handed a peerage is outrageous

By now, anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows that the Conservative Party had a great election night. But one person who didn’t was form...

Too hot for humans? First Nations people fear becoming Australia's first climate refugees

As the big dry bites and temperature records tumble, Aboriginal people in Alice Springs say global heating threatens their culture and very survival

australia indigenous water climate change

Why the left keeps losing, Rebel Wisdom podcast

The UK election has delivered a landslide win for the right-wing Conservatives, and the biggest defeat for the left-wing Labour party since 1935. ...

Ken Wilber podcast Rebel Wisdom Labour

Facebook has a neural network that can do advanced math

Other neural nets haven’t progressed beyond simple addition and multiplication, but this one calculates integrals and solves differential equations.

CRISPR, gravity waves, water on Mars: A decade of discoveries

From finding the building blocks for life on Mars to breakthroughs in gene editing and the rise of artificial intelligence, here are six major scie...

physics water