ReWilding our Water: From Rain to River to Sewer and back with Tim Smedley, author of The Last Drop

If you listen to this podcast for any length of time, you'll know that I believe the way forward is predicated on our finding shared values—I'd go for integrity, compassion, courage and generosity of spirit as the baselines—and then a suite of clear asks in the outer world and needs in the inner world.  In logistical terms, at an absolute baseline, we need Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Soil. These are non negotiable and the fact that we currently have none of these is a grim indictment of how much we live in an economy that sucks the life out of everything rather than a society that grows. But we do have people who are working flat out to change the narrative on exactly these topics and this week's guest, Tim Smedley, is one of these.  Tim is an award-winning sustainability journalist who has worked with the BBC, the Guardian, Sunday Times and Financial Times. He is also a celebrated non-fiction writer. His first book, Clearing the Air: The Beginning and the End of Air Pollution, was shortlisted for the UK's Royal Society Science Book Prize. His latest: The Last Drop: Solving the World's Water Crisis was a Times Book of the Year and has been described as 'Smart, Sobering and Scholarly' which it certainly is.This is one of those books that's both terrifying, utterly compelling and—I'm glad to say—ultimately inspiring.  Yes, the world's water is in a desperate state.  Yes, it has been horribly mismanaged almost everywhere by the kleptocracy that masquerades as a democracy in our modern world.  But yes, we do have responses that will work, they have been carefully explored and water is one of those unifying elements that brings people together across tribal boundaries. We all need clean water and getting there means we need to find common principles by which we can live. Spoiler alert: turning water into a for-profit commodity is not a part of the solution.  Regenerative agriculture, re-Wilding our waters, beavers (yay!) and sane water saving/sparing practices definitely are. Tim is so knowledgeable and his books are both brilliantly researched and utterly personal.  He goes to the places he writes about and his first-hand experiences are priceless.  I have put links in the show notes for both of his books, plus the Medium article on DeGrowth which is where I first came across his work.  Please do explore afterwards. Tim's website https://www.timsmedleywriter.com/Medium on Degrowth: https://medium.com/the-new-climate/we-need-to-talk-about-degrowth-part-ii-4d71c44067b9Article in Prospect Magazine https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/environment-news/climate-change/70022/why-isnt-it-raining-extreme-weatherTim on LinkedIn https://uk.linkedin.com/in/timsmedleyTim on Medium https://medium.com/@tjsmedleyTim on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/timsmedley.bsky.socialTim's BooksClearing the Air https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/clearing-the-air-shortlisted-for-the-royal-society-science-book-prize-tim-smedley/1246586?ean=9781472953339The Last Drop https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-last-drop-solving-the-world-s-water-crisis-tim-smedley/7544965?ean=9781529058178What we offer: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life. If you'd like to join our next Gathering 'Becoming a Good Ancestor' (you don't have to be a member) it's on 6th July - details are here.If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here. If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are here

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Another World is still Possible. The old system was never fit for purpose and now it has gone - it is never coming back. We have the power of gods to destroy our home. But we also have the chance to become something we cannot yet imagine, and by doing so, create a future we would be proud to leave to the generations yet unborn. What happens if we commit to a world based on the values we care about: compassion, courage, integrity? What happens if we let go of the race for meaningless money and commit instead to the things that matter: clean air, clean water, clean soil - and clean, clear, courageous connections between all parts of ourselves (so we have to do the inner work of healing individually and collectively), between ourselves and each other (so we have to do the outer work of relearning how to build generative communities) and between ourselves and the Web of Life (so we have to reclaim our birthright as conscious nodes in the web of life)? We can do this - and every week on Accidental Gods we speak with the people who are living this world into being. We have all the answers, we just lack the visions to weave them into a future that works. We can make this happen. We will. Join us. Accidental Gods is a podcast and membership program devoted to exploring the ways we can create a future that we would be proud to leave to the generations yet to come. If we're going to emerge into a just, equitable - and above all regenerative - future, we need to get to know the people who are already living, working, thinking and believing at the leading edge of inter-becoming transformation. Accidental Gods exists to bring these voices to the world so that we can work together to lay the foundations of a world we'd be proud to leave to the generations that come after us. We have the choice now - we can choose to transform…or we can face the chaos of a failing system. Our Choice. Our Chance. Our Future. Find the membership and the podcast pages here: https://accidentalgods.life Find Manda's Thrutopian novel, Any Human Power here: https://mandascott.co.uk Find Manda on BlueSky @mandascott.bsky.social On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandascottauthor/ On FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/MandaScottAuthor