Alan Heeks

Book Digest: Social Change 2.0 by David Gershon

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The middle part of this book is a brilliant, practical, inspiring primer on how to pilot and scale up transformative social change initiatives, from a man who has done this with several impressive pioneering projects.  Like many American books, it’s twice as long as it needs to be, so I suggest you skip Parts 1 … Read more

Growing natural resilience: how can we learn from ecosystems

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I talk about resilience a lot, and I hear very varied definitions of it from others. Some regard resilience as a hard, cold, mechanistic idea, whereas my first images are of a green, creative springiness: the growing through problems that we can see in sustainable ecosystems.

This blog offers my views on how humans can learn about natural resilience from ecosystems, drawing on my twenty-five years’ experience in managing two cultivated ecosystems: a 130-acre organic farm in Dorset, and a 70-acre woodland in Wiltshire.

Retreat: THE SPIRITUAL ROOTS OF RESILIENCE – Nomadic Wisdom for our Changing Times

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with  Alan Heeks and Cordelia Prescott Allanton Peace Sanctuary, near Dumfries Friday 18th – Sunday 20th September 2015 The times in which we live are truly challenging, and they invite a response of courage and resilience from us all if we are to take positive steps into our own future. New role models and guidance from great … Read more

Pilgrim Without Map or Boots – New lifeskills for uncertain times

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I aim to have a retreat time of 3 – 4 days every quarter: it’s a good way to rest, renew, and review my direction. This time, I’m doing a self-guided retreat at the Northumbria Community, a centre in rural mid-Northumberland, inspired by the Celtic Christian monasteries which once flourished in this area. A spiritual … Read more

Resilience insights from Fukushima, Japan

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By Debbie Warrener I am blessed with strong connections with the wonderful country of Japan. I previously lived there for four years and speak reasonably fluent Japanese. It was therefore an enormous and humbling privilege to be asked to participate in a ‘Learning Journey’ to Fukushima this past November. A small group of us travelled … Read more

Too Old for This Kind of Thing?

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Learning from Africa: Courage and gratitude help

The bus puts me down in the dark at an isolated gas station near Jinga, a town in Uganda. There’s just me and four local guys: boda-bodas, motorbike taxis. Can I trust one of them to get me and my suitcase to my destination? I choose Martin, who claims to know where Adrift Rafting are located. After a brief but heated haggle on price, we set off.

It’s a very bumpy dirt road, but I find myself enjoying the novelty, riding pillion on a warm tropical night, with exotic birds alternating with chattering villages. After several miles, we arrive at the wrong place.

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Resilience: a Glasgow Conversation

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Resilience: a Glasgow Conversation – The Centre for Human Ecology in Scotland has been a trailblazer in exploring human sustainability and resilience for many years, so I was pleased to be invited as co-lead for this evening in Glasgow for them recently.
The discussion we sparked was lively, well informed and involved twenty of us. It offered some diverse, unusual views on what resilience is and how to enhance it. Here are some highlights…