The Good Energy Podcast

Today is a full moon and also the third year anniversary of my father’s death. It feels apt and honouring to share this conversation with you today.Like my father, David is a big hearted Pākehā man who believes in breaking through social barriers and is courageous in pursuing his vision.David’s background is in youth work. He started his career working for the Methodist Church as their National Youth Director. He spent many years working in Central Government where he led the National Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa under Helen Clark’s Labour government. He then ran his own consultancy before starting his current role at Wesley Community Action.In the last few years his attention has turned from trying to shift the whole system to creating small islands of change - warm spaces where communities feel safe enough to come together and address the issues that affect them most, such as meth addiction, poverty and food security. He understands that people are the experts of their own lives and have the resources to create change if given the chance.The stories that David tells of his work with the Mongrel Mob and local communities around the Wellington region are delightful and inspiring. Like my Dad, David looks for the good in people and doesn’t see social boundaries as barriers. Unlike my Dad, David has embarked on a personal journey to uncover and heal the trauma he’s inherited through his own family history.What strikes me about this conversation is the way David connects the personal and political. He makes the point that Pākehā culture has been founded on a suppression of trauma - a denial which has fuelled colonisation. He dignifies healing as important work and points to how Pākehā need to acknowledge and address our own trauma, to show up as equal treaty partners.We talk about how many of our Pākehā ancestors came to Aotearoa to escape trouble in the British Isles.“If you were doing well in those societies, you didn't really wanna hop on a boat and travel to the other side of the world,” he says. “It was people who were trying to flee something; desperate for a new chance and a new break.”And yet the science of trauma is teaching us that traumatic experiences that go unaddressed and unspoken, live on in our bodies and are passed down from generation to generation. While we deny our own trauma, it shapes the way we see each other and make decisions. David talks about how this suppressed trauma is baked into our political system; it’s in the language of our political processes and policies. ”The biggest barrier to change,” he says, “is the people who've got power and money thinking they don't need to change. And the problems that group over there.”David shares stories of heart-breaking betrayal, suicide and war from his own family history. He reflects on his childhood in the archetypal middle class suburb of Tawa and the culture he grew up with which encouraged academic success and conformity while suppressing anything unpleasant. He was born in 1962, not long after two world wars, a pandemic and a great depression.“Come the 1960s,” David says, “there was this desire to just progress, get ahead and dream, so all of that trouble and trauma was just pushed down. We developed ways to protect ourselves from feeling that. That became our culture.”It feels comforting to reflect on my Dad’s life and our family history in the light of this conversation. My Dad was a deeply sensitive man who never learnt to acknowledge or express his feelings of grief. His mother was an alcoholic and his father suffered from depression. As the oldest, Dad grew up doing his best to hold his family together. Though he was an incredibly cheerful man, he suffered from manic episodes and late in life was diagnosed with manic depression. I can’t help but see these episodes as eruptions of suppressed grief. It comforts me to see a pathway to healing these old wounds by tending to myself and my relationships now.Over the last few years as I’ve been learning about our environmental crises and the economic causes, I’ve found it easy to lose hope. The problems are so massive and large-scale. But I find something incredibly hopeful in David’s work and perspective. It reveals that we are all part of this system we live in and that while we separate ourselves and deny our trauma we remain stuck. But there is much hope in coming together and allowing space to heal and grow.LinksWesley Community Action: https://www.wesleyca.org.nz/Just Change: https://www.wesleyca.org.nz/just-changeTe Hiko: https://www.tehiko.org.nz/ Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

I’ve been exploring the economic forces that shape our world for a few years now and the more I learn, the clearer it becomes that underneath the many layers of economic and environmental crises is a kind of crisis of spirituality and of how we conceive of ourselves as human. I feel deeply honoured and excited to share this conversation with Pip Ranby, who is, among many other things, one of my favourite people in the world. Pip is both a spiritual teacher and a friend. I first came across her as my partner Rachel’s teacher in creative arts therapy. I got to know her when we asked her to be our marriage celebrant. She was an incredible comfort and guide as we navigated the difficult territory of working out what marriage meant to us as a queer couple and organising our love festival, which was amazing but stressful. Since then I’ve been seeing her regularly for what we call “spiritual accompaniment” sessions. She helps me make sense of life when I lose my way and has been an enormous support through the grief of losing my Dad and accompanying my Mum through her journey with dementia. I’ve attended many of Pip’s workshops, retreats and gatherings, and find them an enormous source of nourishment and peace in my life. I first had the idea to invite Pip for this conversation in 2023 at a workshop she facilitated on trauma and spirituality, which I attended straight after the annual conference of Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa. I was struck by how the wisdom and presence Pip was sharing spoke to the heart of the economic problems we’d been circling at the conference. I was struck by the way Pip dignified the struggle of trying to live within our economic system. She spoke about “industrial scale forces” that we experience intimately through our bodies. These forces are delivered through pervasive messaging which reduces women’s physicality to appearance, justifies sexual violence and silences voices of emotion and spirit. In this conversation Pip tells her personal story of trauma, loss and healing with incredible vividness and generosity. She shares her experiences of disordered eating, sexual violence and being helped out of the CTV building when it collapsed in the Christchurch earthquake. She speaks to the way these experiences of wounding and trauma opened her to the healing power of spirit and greater perception. Her story tenderly points to a pathway of healing that I believe lies at the heart of our economic regeneration. It reveals a more noble and generous idea of what it could mean to be human and the possibility of rebuilding practices, culture and economies from this more generous interconnected point of view.I hope you enjoy it.LinksTo find out more about Pip’s offerings visit her website: https://www.philipparanby.co.nz/She also mentioned the following people who have been inspirations and guides:* Cynthia Bourgeault: https://www.cynthiabourgeault.org/* Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms dance: https://www.5rhythms.com/gabrielle-roths-5rhythms/MusicThe music I’ve used in the interview is a glimpse of a song written by my wife Rachel (with a little contribution from me) and performed by the two of us. We haven’t shared the verses here, just the chorus. It’s called “Rising and Falling”. It feels special to share it in the context of this conversation with someone we both love and admire. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

Kia ora friends,I’m delighted to share with you this audio-zine of poems, incantations, prayers and blessings written by participants and conveners of the Gathering at the Gate course. The zine has been lovingly edited and voiced by Sylvie McCreanor.You may remember me interviewing Gathering at the Gate conveners, Elli and Wren, last year. I had just taken part in the course myself and it had a big impact on me. We explored the difficult territory of how our Pākehā ancestors contributed to colonising Aotearoa. We were encouraged to research our family history and to reach back to our ancient earth honouring ancestors in Europe, Britain, Scandinavia and other parts of the world to discover their rituals and practices.Lots of beautiful things came out of these explorations. This zine is a small collection of creative outpourings from the course. The hope is that it can be a resource to help us find own lifeways, words, practices and rituals that connect us with something wider and deeper that we can draw strength from now. You can view the zine or purchase a paper copy on the Gathering at the Gate website. To help you navigate the audio zine, here are some time My introduction 00:00:00Title: 01:43:70Acknowledgements: 01:55:43Introduction by Wren Maben: 05:01:23Part 1: Opening: 08:17:26* Untitled, Anonymous: 08:51:28* Acknowledgement as Tauiwi - Kay Benseman: 10:01:24* An invitation to gather in collective care - Áine Kelly-Costello: 10:58:64* A one-minute blessing - Beau Child: 12:37:24* Elli's mihi - Elli Yates: 13:06:66* Acknowledgement of country and opening dedication - Gambhīrachittā/ Lisa Kelly: 13:52:34* Untitled - Bec (Rebecca Pearson): 15:44:40* Blessing to open learning environment from Pukeahuto- Milly Taylor: 16:06:66* Chloe's opening for hui - Chloe Bisley-Wright: 17:25:30* Brosnachadh - Dani Pickering: 18:12:40* To open a space - Zoe Higgins: 19:05:53* To open a space - Key Benseman: 20:28:16* A blessing for a fine arts class I teach at Massey - Holly Walker: 21:37:26Part Two - Incantations: 23:09:53* An incantatory opening for mahi by Pākehā committed to decolonisation - Rachel Jane Liebert: 23:42:61* blessed: to consecrate in blood, hallow with blood, mark with blood - Helena Leon Mayer: 24:44:32* A contemplation on non-violence - Kay Benseman: 26:05:38* May we be like trees - Loo Connor: 28:29:67* Prayer for Tangata Tiriti - Elli Yates: 29:26:43* A Tangata Tiriti remembrance spell for the earth, the past, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi - Sylvie McCreanor: 30:31:27* May we all find more Patience - Mim Sherratt: 34:22:05* An incantation for ancestral reconnection and belonging - Claire Gibb: 35:23:16* Unsettling ourselves - Sylvan Spring: 36:29:59* Saining - Sylvan Spring: 37:48:67* Prayer for the hearth - Author unknown: 44:20:44* August-baum - Helena Leon Mayer: 45:17:10* Lied/song/waiata - Tess Dalgety-Evans: 47:53:54* Patience - Helen Lyttelton: 50:19:71Part Three - Kai: 51:14:42* Lillian's blessing for kai - Lillian Murray: 51:41:28* A blessing for food - Zoe Higgins: 52:07:26* A short, rhythmic blessing (in English) - Anonymous: 52:44:23* Six kai blessings - Anonymous: 53:14:11* Wren’s food blessing - Wren Mabin: 56:36:64* A toast to nourishment - Miriam Sherratt: 56:59:32* An invocation for kai, written at/for Samhain - Rachel Jane Liebert: 57:46:10* To share food - Milly Taylor: 58:31:48Part Four - Closing: 59:27:72* To close space - Milly Taylor: 59:52:18* Leasanan na tire (lessons of the land) - Dani Pickering: 60:55:27* To close a space - Zoe Higgins: 61:49:59* Wren's two-minute poem for opening or closing a space - Wren MabinBlessings! If you’d like to find out more about Gathering at the Gate or sign up for one of their courses, check out their website at https://www.gathering-at-the-gate.org/ Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

I’ve been looking forward to this conversation for ages! I first met Makerita Makapelu at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa conference in 2023. It was the end of a full day when I heard her presentation and I remember feeling instantly captivated by the joy and love which streamed from her as she described her work. Makerita is the Team Leader Innovation and Practice at Te Hiko, a community innovation hub in Cannons Creek, Porirua. It’s a vibrant diverse suburb, with a large Pacific Island community that suffers more than its fair share of injustices from an oppressive economic system. Te Hiko’s work is all about supporting people in the local community to realise their own capability. They do it by creating safe spaces where people can come together, relax and apply themselves to the challenge. Te Hiko’s vision is a local economy that allows people in Porirua to create from their own skills and local resources the abundance needed to live well. Over the last 18 years they’ve made significant progress towards this goal. They provide backbone support to a whole range of community initiatives. They facilitate a financial wellbeing programme and a savings pool helping people break the cycle of debt; they co-ordinate the Wellington Fruit and Vege Co-op which provides fresh produce at affordable prices, they facilitate a men’s group dedicated to reforesting the hills and a programme supporting people affected by or suffering from Methamphetamines. Talking to Makerita, I get the sense that anything is possible when people come together with love and respect around a purpose.In our conversation, we talk about her childhood and early career - her memories of Samoa before her family moved to Aotearoa, the challenges of growing up in Porirua and her discovery of theatre and dance, which started her on a healing journey. She speaks about the Samoan concepts of tautua (service) and Le Va (the sacred space between) and her vision for Aotearoa that we embrace our own indigenous wisdom. Makerita talks about the gap between the experience of real people on the ground and the policies intended to serve them and the work Te Hiko is doing to bridge that gap. She tells me about the Just Change Programme, which invites people who have a little extra money to spare to connect and grow meaningful relationships with people leading projects in the community. It’s not just about sharing money - it’s about understanding each other’s reality and building relationships of care. Te Hiko means “spark” in Te Reo and I got the sense of all these sparks being fanned to life by the loving support of Makerita and her team. Links Te Hiko websiteJust Change - connecting donors with community projectsHauora Kai: Wellington Region Fruit and Vege CoopGood Cents: Financial Wellbeing ProgrammeBig thanks to Casual Healing and Chur the Choir for the music!Makerita is a big fan of Bob Marley, so I’m delighted to be able to play this beautiful cover of One Love by local Paekākāriki musician Nikau Te Huki and Chur the Choir for letting me use this song. You can listen to the whole album here. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

Kia ora!It’s been a while since I’ve shared a podcast - partly because this one has taken ages to make! I’ve been reflecting on my interviews and learnings over the last year as I’ve been exploring the economics of homes and kāinga. I’ve pulled together snippets of interviews, passages from books and my own reflections of the subtle and profound ways this journey has shaped my life. I’m hoping that through this show I can share with you the blessings I’ve received from the beautiful people and ideas I’ve met. I’d love to give permission and hospitality to all the complex feelings we have while searching for home and belonging. I’d particularly like to open up a dialogue for Pākehā, searching for ways to belong in this whenua and to offer some of the pathways I’ve discovered in this exploration.My hope is to create more connections and contribute to a sense of possibility and togetherness as we all navigate these fractured times where it’s so easy to shut down and let our differences separate us.Lots of love,Loo Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

“The economy is too important to leave to the economists!” That’s what Gareth Hughes says. After working for a decade as an MP in parliament he got thoroughly tired of the seesaw of short term policies and the arguments over the type of ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. He’s now grateful to be working on the cause of the problems rather than the symptoms. He leads the small team at WEAll (Wellbeing Economies Alliance Aotearoa). Their mission is to build a non-partisan, Te Tiriti led, people-powered movement to transform the economy around the wellbeing of our people and te taiao.“We often think about the economy like it’s a force of nature, like the weather,” Gareth says. “But actually it’s a human-designed machine and it can be re-designed to get the outputs we want to see.”Economics is a hard thing to talk about - it’s complicated, boring and mostly we forget it exists, like the air we breathe. But Gareth is seeing a groundswell of people across the political spectrum who are realising that something is broken and needs to change. “Cracks are showing everywhere,” he says. “People are realising it’s not working and are open to talking about system change. I’ve talked to conservatives who are voting National who are really concerned about social cohesion… They just know that you can’t continue to have a society where people are falling through the cracks.”The time is right for change and Gareth’s mission is to help people see the alternatives and to help uplift and connect the efforts of diverse groups around the country into one big movement for change. His small team are working with businesses, local councils, Iwi groups and community groups to uplift, connect and support their work to shift and change our systems. There is so much going on at the grass-roots level with businesses, iwi corporations, community groups and local government. The international community is excited about Aotearoa. The experience of working with all these people has cured Gareth of his cynicism and he’s feeling positive and hopeful about the future. This is a very positive and hopeful conversation about pathways open to us and the changes already brewing.Some helpful links* WEAll Aotearoa: https://www.weall.org.nz/* WEAll - the global organisation: https://weall.org/And here are some links to the organisations and initiatives Gareth mentions in the interview for your further exploration:* Tokona Te Raki - Ngai Tahu hub for social innovation and Māori futures. * The Workshop - Narrative research and communication advisors - who suggested Gareth do a listening tour instead of a speaking tour.* Sophie Handford, WEAll Aotearoa’s new Future Generations Lead.* Neoliberalism - leave it in the 80s video.* He Ara Waiora - a framework to help Treasury understand Māori perspectives on wellbeing and living standards* Te Takarangi - a Tūhoe Māori reimagining of the doughnut economic model.* Wakatū Incorporation - An Iwi owned entity with a 500 year vision* Amotai - National registry for Māori and Pasifika owned businesses* Article on Taranaki Maunga attaining legal personhood Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

This conversation was just what I needed to lift my spirits after a year of overwhelmingly depressing news. Talking to Rebecca felt like meeting a slightly older and more illustrious version of myself. It gave me hope that it’s possible to live in a more intuitive and connected way without disengaging from the institutions and systems of society.Like me, Rebecca found it hard to choose between subjects at school and university because it was the connections between them that intrigued her most. Her instinct for finding unexpected connections has led her on a fascinating career path, starting with a degree in Chemistry and Maths and moving into architecture where she was captivated by discourses around feminism, art and Te Ao Māori. For several years she has played leadership roles in Massey University’s College of Creative Arts. She recently stepped down as Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor to dedicate more time to The Pākehā Project and other creative acts of decolonisation. Rebecca talks about how we’ve based our society and our entire approach to the world on the completely wrong assumption that we are separate and that our problems can be solved by pulling things apart and analysing the pieces. She calls this a “traumatised logic” - a way of thinking that has broken the world up into pieces and left us disconnected and at odds with each other.The Pākehā Project, is about becoming aware of these underlying assumptions and opening to other ways of seeing the world. It’s about learning how to listen and step back as well as using our privileges and positions of power to shift the systems we operate within. I love the way she describes this work as a joyful creative act. It reconnects us to our own vitality and opens us up to other beings and the living world.Links and referencesIn the interview Rebecca names some of her heroes and influences. Here are some links to follow up:* Sarah Treadwell - artist, architect and academic* Báyò Akómoláfé - author, speaker, teacher* Nora Bateson - filmmaker, writer, educator and creator of Warm Data* Veronica Tawhai - scholar and educator operating from an ethic of love* Louise Marra - Rebecca’s tuakana and co-founder of The Pākehā ProjectThe guitar music you’ll hear at the end of the conversation is by Rebecca’s brother Ben. It was the accompaniment to a song they sang together at their father’s funeral. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

I’m excited to share this conversation with Paul Tapsell (Te Arawa, Tainui) whose book Kāinga: People, Land, Belonging inspired my focus on homes and kāinga this year. It was very special to be invited to Paul’s ancestral home in Tapsell Road, Rotorua, where we met in the beautiful architecturally designed space shown in the photo above. Paul and his whānau envisioned and built this new home to replace the crumbling old house, built by their father. Back before the days of potatoes and colonisation, this site was a kumara garden and a foundation for the local economy. Now it sits amongst suburban houses, holding precious threads of culture and acting as a hub for the community as well as a home.Historic amnesia and the illusion of our harmonious bicultural societyIn our conversation, Paul painted a picture of a cultural divide ‘as wide as the grand canyon’, which we pretend doesn’t exist. “On one hand colonisation has dispossessed 780 kāinga communities of their economic base and on the other hand an incoming settler community from Great Britain has come to control that economic base but are living in what my academic mentor used to call historic amnesia.”Paul spoke about his great great grandmother who was bayoneted to death by British soldiers who were later given their ancestral land to farm for free. He described a Māori community, still living in poverty on the land they were forcibly removed to in 1869, while Pākeha farmers make millions on the land they were dispossessed from.Somehow, we have manifested a story of a harmonious bicultural society - the nation we call New Zealand. But this illusion is preventing us from facing the scale of trauma and disconnection and finding ways to heal.Paul’s hope, in writing the book, was to bring to light the forgotten stories and help bridge the cultural divide.Chasing pinpricks of light in the darkI was struck by Paul’s approach to facing these hard truths. “I problematise everything, almost to the point of depression, until I’m surrounded by this darkness. Then I step back and see where the little pricks of light are coming through - just these little pinpricks. Like going down a tunnel, I chase that light and see where it takes me.”Paul has found pinpricks of light in the fact that young Māori, whose whānau have lived in cities for generations, are wanting to reconnect with their ancestral kāinga. When that relationship between tangata and whenua is restored, there is hope for healing and true leadership. Young Māori give Paul hope.He also has hope in Pākeha and tauiwi. He shared a story of two Pākeha farmers who fell in love with the whenua and have dedicated their lives to restoring the health of the waterways. They are now working with Paul to connect with an impoverished Māori community living downstream, in the hope of sharing the ecological wealth they’ve helped to restore.“I think most reasonable non-Māori citizens of this country, if they understand the history, are more likely to respond proactively and create that bridge across the canyon and meet halfway.”We’re all complex. Let’s stop judging and listen to each other.Paul and I shared stories of ancestors who crossed the cultural divide and how their decisions have shaped our lives now.My great grandmother was Māori, born in Te Kaha in Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi (Bay of Plenty). She moved to Auckland, married a Lebanese businessman, had a family then died. From that point our family has been disconnected from our Māori whakapapa. I have inherited material wealth through the family business but none of the wisdom of my Māori ancestors.Paul’s grandmother came from Ireland where generations of her family had been dispossessed of their land by the English. Her brothers and sisters settled in Auckland where their families now own large chunks of the waterfront! Paul’s grandmother married a Māori man, found belonging with her new whānau and embraced their culture as her own. Apparently she was known as “the black sheep” of the family. From his Māori elders Paul inherited precious ancient taonga which he is striving to preserve.It struck me that the hau kāinga who stayed with their whenua and preserved the taonga have carried a huge burden for us all. They have taken a massive hit to protect these lifelines, which are now hanging by a thread.I found our conversation incredibly helpful for making sense of my own complex feelings and my role now. It’s not about pointing fingers or laying blame, it’s about being prepared to learn and listen, to feel the darkness and follow the pinpricks of light.Find out more about Paul’s projects and research https://www.takarangi.co.nz/https://www.maorimaps.com/Music creditWaiata koauau ki Te Papa-i-ōuru Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

Jessica is a kaupapa Māori researcher, author and advocate as well as being a farmer. She is the director and founding trustee of the Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust which is all about decolonising our food systems and restoring indigenous food sovereignty. She lives with her wife Jo Smith (Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu) on twelve acres of beautiful whenua in the foothills of the Tararua with the Remutaka and Orongorongo behind and Pākuratahi Forest Park nearby.  Jessica was involved in establishing Hua ParaKore, a kaupapa Māori system and framework for growing kai. It’s sometimes referred to as Māori organics, but it’s much more than just looking after the soil and our health. Hua Parakore is about reweaving the intricate web of relationships that connect us with each other and with our cultural and spiritual landscapes.“When I think about Māori food sovereignty,” Jessica says, "I think about food as whanaunga. Food is our relation. It comes from our cultural and spiritual landscapes, from the deities, Tāne Mahuta of the forest, Haumia-tiketike, Hineahuone, deity of soil, Papatūānuku and Ranginui. We are connected to those landscapes through our whakapapa of being the younger sibling, the youngest in the order.”Jessica and Jo are storytellers, activists, researchers and gardeners. Through their work with the Trust they connect dots across the food system, hold hui and bring growers together to amplify those spaces. At their farm they put the ideas into practice, growing food and restoring the native forest to re-cloak Papatūānuku.Over the past decade, Jessica has also worked extensively in the Māori housing sector, leading the Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge, as their Director Māori and helping to build Māori research and capability in the Māori housing area. Along with Jo, she edited the book Kāinga tahi, Kāinga rua, which gathers together Māori experiences and aspirations for housing. In our conversation, Jessica weaves together the kaupapa of housing and food sovereignty, showing how deeply connected they are. She talks about how colonial capitalism not only separated Māori from their ancestral kāinga, it has broken up family units, destroyed indigenous foodways and waterways and dismanteled the fabric of communities. She speaks about how current policy-settings create impossible barriers for Māori wanting to live intergenerationally and the pain of watching our current government pull out supports for papakāinga among many other things. Her hope and aspiration lies in Māori being empowered to take the lead in finding solutions. Her vision is for food to be the hub and heart of our communities - how we grow it and our relationship with the soil and seed. “I have a vision for indigenous food systems in Aotearoa”, she says, “that are thriving, intergenerational, connected to people in place, that are hua parakore, and that are creating a wellbeing of mauri-rich, abundant kai for people… My vision is for beautiful, healthy people, lands and soils, where we have sovereignty over ourselves.”Some helpful links: https://www.papawhakaritorito.com/https://jessicahutchings.org/ Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

When Simone Woodland dreamed up the idea of creating a co-housing village, she didn’t imagine she’d have to become a developer to make it happen. Simone moved to Aotearoa from the UK in 2018 as a Sir Edmund Hillary Fellow, on a visa programme specifically designed for social entrepreneurs like her. Her initial vision was to build a community that looks after burnt out social entrepreneurs. When Sarrah Jayne heard about Simone’s idea she was captivated. She gave up her job in Pōneke Wellington and jumped on board the mission. Together with some friends and supporters, they found a plot of land in Takaka, Mohua Golden Bay and started the journey. The core team was made up of three women, each of whom was pregnant and gave birth during the project. One of the secrets to their success, they say, was the incredible support and understanding they offered each other through these huge life events and the massive challenges of the job.Their aim from the outset was to create a community - to make it possible to live well together, forge deep bonds with neighbours, share resources, offer mutual support in tough times and tread lightly on the earth.But stepping into the process was a bit like jumping in a river - the system has a force of its own. It’s designed for large developers to build individual houses and it took a huge amount of energy and determination to hold to their values and create something affordable, communal and ecologically sound. The easiest way to navigate the system, was to start a development company - thus they became developers. It was a race against time and money as COVID struck, building costs soared and they held tight to the trust and life savings of the 30 or so groups who took a leap of faith to join the project. Some ideas - like composting toilets and tiny houses - had to drop away so they could get the job done in time. Explaining the concept of co-housing to banks, councils and lawyers was hard work. But they made it! Now the first of three clusters of houses has been completed and the villagers have moved in. The plan is to build two more clusters of houses to complete the village.In our conversation, Simone and Sarrah reflect on the ups and downs of the journey so far, what it’s like to see their vision realised and their hopes and dreams for the future. They see themselves as part of a nationwide movement to make housing more communal and accessible and less commercial. There are so many passionate people working hard around the country on similar kaupapa. They hope their efforts will help to strengthen the pathways in our systems for these important projects to succeed. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

Earlier this year I took part in an eight week online course called Gathering at the Gate, created and facilitated by my friend Elli Yates along with her three friends and co-conspirators - Wren (or Tamsin) Blundell, Erin Thomas and Dani Pickering. The aim of the course is to offer a kind and encouraging space for Pākehā or white assimilated folk to come together and explore the difficult questions around our legacy of colonisation and how we show up as responsible treaty partners without being paralysed by shame?Doing Gathering at the Gate has been a foundational part of my exploration of home and belonging. Through the course we were encouraged to delve into our own family histories and discover the stories of our settler ancestors who first arrived in Aotearoa - Where did they come from? Why did they come? Where did they settle? How did they establish themselves here? We learnt about the racist policies, laws and wars through which settlers were given land and Māori were displaced and disempowered. We were challenged to identify the ways in which we have benefited personally from those historical injustices through inheriting wealth and property and taking the opportunities we’ve had due to being white. For me, Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a generous invitation to make this land my home. But acknowledging the stories of how I came to be here uncovers a deep well of difficult feelings - shame, anger, sadness and confusion. Elli, Wren and the other facilitators held a gentle space for us to feel these feelings and make sense of them together. In this interview I talk to Elli and Wren about how their personal journeys have led them into this work. We explore the massive issue of shame - how it can paralyse us, but how it can also wake us up and help us move into a more compassionate and responsive state. We talk about the richness of relationships and the sense of belonging that can be found amidst the compost of past hurts. Show notesIf you’d like to find out more about Gathering at the Gate or sign up to one of their courses just go to https://www.gathering-at-the-gate.org/A big thanks to Elli, Wren, Dani and Erin for their brave work in this space. The quote Wren refers to in the interview about shame being the thin lid on top of a well of grief comes from Maegan Chandler, one of the co-creators of “Re-calling our Ancestors” - another Turtle-Island based online program akin to White Awake and Gathering at the Gate.The other quote Wren refers to is from an amazing documentary about reckoning with slave-holding ancestry called "Traces of the Trade" directed by Katrina Browne. Here it is in full:“In the Dagara Tribe of West Africa it is believed that the dead do not pass over into peace until the living have cried all the tears that these ancestors did not cry in their lifetimes - for that which they suffered and for the suffering they caused others. May we, the living, find tears that will bring peace to both us and the ancestors.”Malidoma Patrice SoméThe song I played half way through the show was recorded around the campfire at the Music Nature and Storytelling camp Wren attended in Northern New Wales (Hawk's Nest) with master tracker Jon Young. The singer was Junae Rodgers and the song came to her during her sit spot practice that morning. The song we played at the end of the show is another song from the same camp. It came to teenager Reminy Holmes during her sit spot practice. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

Charlotte Shade is a friend of mine and I’ve watched with interest and admiration as her group of housemate/friends have bought a house, had babies and brought them up together in a loving non-nuclear family group.In this conversation Charlotte and I explore where the idea of buying a house with friends came from, how her group made it happen and what they’ve learnt in the process. Being a lawyer, Charlotte has a unique perspective and set of skills. She created this legal agreement, which enables the group to navigate potentially difficult situations like someone wanting to leave. They have made this agreement open-source so that other groups can use or modify as needed. I was particularly struck by one thing that Charlotte said: “I’ve realised that you can just do things differently if you want. You just have to do it. It's not necessarily going to be plain sailing, but when is life ever plain sailing? It's hard. There's going to be difficult things. So why not do something different?”It struck me that these different pathways are open to us if we have the curiosity to look for them and the patience and confidence to navigate the challenges. It was clear from talking to Charlotte that the gains of energy, time and connection far outweigh the challenges of owning a house with friends. She call her and her partner “time millionaires” and she feels profoundly grateful for her situation. If you’d like to learn more about the benefits and challenges of co-buying and how to go about it, Charlotte’s house-mate Rupert has written some excellent articles: This article describes the process they went through to find their house. This article provides details on the legal and financial side of the process. This article describes the process of coming up with shared values.And this article is about having a baby while buying and co-owning a house. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

This week the tables have turned. Hannah gets to fulfil her dream of being a podcast host and I have a go at answering difficult questions about my childhood, the economics of my life, why I’ve chosen to focus on home and kāinga, what I hope to achieve in this project and why I feel like a piglet suckling an enormous industrial mother pig.It was a treat to explore the ideas and epiphanies this project is bringing me. I feel shocked that it has taken me 41 years to begin to understand the ways our economic system controls our lives. Despite my deep desire to connect with community and the whenua, I find myself relying on big corporations for my day-to-day sustenance - supermarkets, banks, oil companies etc. Ironically it feels simpler and less risky to keep suckling at these impersonal industrial entities than it does to do business with friends and family. It seems to me that we’ve lost a fundamental ability to work together and to sustain ourselves from the earth. That feels scary! But I do have hope that by understanding more and connecting more we can start to detach ourselves from the teats of the industrial mother pig and reshape the way energy and resources flow. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

I’m very excited to share this conversation with 19 year old activist and student, Anika Green. She grew up in an inner city Christian community called Stillwaters in Te Whanganui a Tara which aims to provide a space of belonging, transformation and faith for anyone who needs it. In her childhood home she was surrounded by all kinds of people who loved and cared for her, including homeless people, gang members, sex workers and refugees. She never learnt to view these people through a lens of difference. By hearing their stories and sharing in their grief and joys she learnt about issues of poverty, discrimination and injustice in a very personal and immediate way. By the age of four she was already a passionate advocate for social justice and her commitment has only grown since then.I used to visit the Stillwaters community when I was at university for the dinners and services they hosted every Friday and Sunday evening. I remember feeling like I’d come across a warm cave in a bleak landscape when I stepped inside. I was moved by the warmth and generosity with which everyone came together to eat, sing, laugh and chat. The experience cut through a sense of isolation in my life. It was refreshing and nourishing to get out of my bubble.In this conversation with Anika we explore the economics of her childhood home - how they afforded to feed so many people every week, where the energy and resources came from and how they balanced the needs of their family with those of the community. She told me about the home she’s creating for herself with other young students and her vision for how homes with open doors could provide the belonging and dignity people need to thrive.I was particularly struck by one thing Anika said: “When you know you’re loved and belong, it’s easy to be selfless.”To me, this statement speaks to the heart of economic system change. The Good Energy Project has taught me that alternative economic systems which honour the planet and people are possible - but they require a profound shift in the way we relate to each other. As Bryan Ines pointed out in our conversation last year, we need to re-learn how to work together. Talking with Anika, I had the sense that she lives in a wider field to other people. She has a huge capacity for service and connection because she receives so much from the people around her. She lacks the barriers, fears and indoctrinated ideas that cause other people to shut down. This conversation spurred some deep reflections of my own sense of belonging and my capacity to open my door and welcome people in. This has been both inspiring and confronting. I don’t think I could live in a home with an open door as Anika does at this stage. I don’t feel I have the capacity, the skills to establish healthy boundaries or a deep enough sense of belonging to draw on. But I feel deeply inspired by the openness and generosity Anika shows and I want to engage in the slow work of opening up and connecting across difference.It strikes me that unless we find pathways to belonging and ways to heal our own sense of displacement and shame, we won’t have the capacity to show up for each other or the planet. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

After interviewing lots of inspiring and knowledgeable experts it was so lovely to sit down with someone I know really well and embark on a journey together. Hannah is such a great storyteller. I was captivated right from the start by her descriptions of her childhood, her uncompromising teenage passion for animals and the environment and the way she veered off her scrupulously developed life-plan (to become a vet like her Dad) into the chaos, beauty and terror of the world.This is a beautiful story of the way life reveals pathways and hope where we least expect them.One of the reasons I wanted to interview Hannah now is that her story aligns with a new focus for my project.(By the way I have some very exciting news - I’ve been funded to continue the Good Energy Project for another year until October 2024!! I feel like I’ve spent my first year just getting my head around the topics of economics and climate change. In the next year I’m really excited to start to explore how I might be able to contribute.)One of the focuses for the funding being renewed is speaking to more young people - because our ultimate aim is to support young people who will inherit all these challenges. Hannah is quite young - 27. She wants to be part of a more caring and connected economy and world. But it’s really hard when you’re at the beginning of your career, everything is expensive and none of the obvious ways of making money align with your values.Another focus for my next year is to experiment with creative ways of working with the ideas and needs I’m discovering - I’ve spent my career devising creative interventions to help bring the humanity back to intellectual topics like science and engineering - things like magnificent science variety shows and storytelling events. I also find myself surrounded by creative people - my wife is an arts therapist, my brother and his partner are puppeteers and writers. I find myself drawn to creative people and I’m convinced that whatever the solutions are to these huge problems I’ve been exploring, they will need creativity to succeed. Hannah is one of my thinking partners for imagining what this could look like.Another thing I think we’ll need, to bring to life the ideas and possibilities I’ve been talking to people about, is some kind of spiritual or cosmological revolution - something that supports us to change ourselves and our fundamental way of seeing the world. I’m not sure I like the word “spirituality” but it expresses something under the surface that effects everything. Lots of my interviewees have eluded to similar things. Hannah has a nice way of describing this.So Hannah seemed the right person to help introduce some of these new themes and explorations. She’s also just fun to listen to! Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

I’m really pleased to be able to share this conversation with Max Rashbrooke - journalist, author, academic and expert on economic inequality and democratic renewal. I’ve seen Max around for years in Wellington. I’m pretty sure I remember him at parties a decade ago having rigorous political conversations. I’ve been stoked over the past year to get to know him and bit more.I loved this conversation! We went right back to Max’s childhood in Eastbourne and learned about his teenage love of sci fi, his core belief that another world is possible and the values of generosity and reciprocity which he holds dear. We explored the connections between poverty and climate change and Max’s vision for the future.I was struck by the resonances with my last conversation with Hemi Hireme (& Part 2) - the idea that forty years of market economy has stifled our imagination for what’s possible and eroded our faith that government initiatives can make a real difference in people’s lives. As a result many of us feel overwhelmed and fear that nothing works. Max talks about the importance of being able to connect with people across society and have real conversations about the things that effect us. He says we need real examples of how alternative approaches actually work - not just visions and values. And that these real-life stories are out there - we need to start sharing them more.“Now is the time for new ideas and frameworks to bubble up,” he says. “Are we building a nurturing society? And what would it take to make New Zealand genuinely the best place to bring up a child?”I love these questions. It was a hopeful conversation and a remedy for the overwhelm and hopelessness I frequently feel. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

This show is the second part of a two-hour conversation I had with Hemi over Zoom. It felt so rich I wanted to share it all with you instead of doing a separate interview. If you missed the first half, you can find it here: Decolonising our imaginations - Part 1I also recommend reading this article which Hemi recently wrote for the Spin-off: “The Sunday Essay: Two waka, three iwi, three hapū”. It tells a beautifully poetic story of his background and work. Hemi is on a mission to re-establish the Māori philosophy of Ranginui (Sky father) and Papatūānuku (Earth mother) as a foundation for our society. He has spent the past twenty years researching the history of capitilism and colonisation while immersing himself in his own Māori cosmology, which views the earth as a living entity. Hemi has a vision of re-establishing marae as the political, economic and social centres of our communities and seeding a culture that celebrates difference while finding belonging and connection in the land. Hemi talks about how our modern world is dominated by a European philosophy which separates us from the natural world and from each other. He believes that we need a spiritual and cultural renaissance to shake off old ideas that have colonised our minds and build the unity and strength we’ll need to survive climate change. He suggests that the Māori philosophy of Rangi and Papa offers a remedy to help bring our country together with hope, pride and diversity.I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

This show is going to be a bit different. Instead of interviewing Hemi I decided to share the conversation we had over Zoom when we first met. It felt so rich I wanted to share it all with you. It was also quite long (2 hours) so I’ve broken it up into two parts. I’ll post the second half in a couple of weeks.I met Hemi through Marceline and Tur at the Quatro Trust. As well as supporting The Good Energy Project, Quatro are supporting Hemi to create a book and an online course. Max Harris, who I interviewed a month ago, also recommended I speak to Hemi and admires his work.Hemi is on a mission to re-establish the Māori philosophy of Ranginui (Sky father) and Papatūānuku (Earth mother) as a foundation for our society. He has researched deep into the history of capitilism and colonisation and pulls stories and ideas from across the centuries and around the world. He’s also deeply steeped in his own Māori cosmology and is passionate about sharing the richness of this, especially with other Māori who have lost contact with their own tradition. Hemi has a vision of re-establishing marae as the political, economic and social centres of our communities and seeding a culture that celebrates difference while finding belonging and connection in the land.Hemi got in touch with Marceline after reading Tur’s guest blog post and hearing my interview with him. He wanted to express his excitement and support for Tur’s idea that Aotearoa could take a lead in reducing energy-use and waste through nurturing the pride and diversity of our communities. Along with his email, Hemi attached an article which he recently wrote for the Spinoff called “The Sunday Essay: Two waka, three iwi, three hapū”. It was reading this article that first drew me to Hemi. I was intrigued by the story he tells of his childhood, moving between worlds that had been touched to a different extent by colonisation. There was Waiotapu, the small forestry village near Rotorua where he lived, Whakatane, where he spent holidays with his cousins and a place called Pāraeroa in Te Urewera (or “up the river” as he called it). This was the spiritual home of Ngai Tūhoe, his mother’s whanau and the place that spoke most deeply to his soul. A place where he says: “Capitalism and the notion of private property had not arrived”.In Pāraeroa, Hemi describes, “there seemed to be no barrier between adults and children, horses and dogs, whānau and whenua… Everyone and everything came together as one world. Our world. In this world, the connections to the land did all the speaking.” I was so taken by Hemi’s description of Pāraeroa and the way it seems to have called to him as a beacon throughout his life as he’s come to terms with our history and the effects of colonisation. Hemi talks about how our modern world is dominated by a European philosophy which separates us from the natural world and from each other. He suggests that the Māori philosophy of Ranginui and Papatuānuku offers a remedy to the crises we face and a spiritual foundation to bring our country together with hope, pride and diversity.I was moved by how generous and inclusive Hemi was and inspired by his ideas. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

Last week I was lucky enough to get 2 hours of Natalia Albert’s time to interview her. (It was supposed to be 1 hour but after the first interview I realised I had forgotten to press record!!!! Arghhh!!! Can you believe it!? Fortunately Natalia agreed to stay for a second take. And I think the second was almost as wonderful as the first - perhaps better!This interview has a back story…. I first met Natalia in 2015 when I was part of an event she was leading - TEDx Wellington Women. I often tell people that event was my first genuine experience of feminism in action - I can thank Natalia and the amazing team she pulled together for that.During the process of preparing my talk, I was paired with a male coach who I really didn’t vibe with. Every time we met I got a little more lost! I struggled for weeks, but it wouldn’t come. A couple of days before the big event my coach declared my talk was not “TED quality” and advised me to pull out to save my own embarrassment. I was devastated and ashamed - I knew I had something important to say but whenever I was around that coach I lost my confidence and felt paralysed. I remember trying to sneak out of the building before anyone saw me. But Natalia spotted me first. Seeing her smiling face, I burst into tears. She took me aside and through sobs I told her what had happened.“You forget what that man said!” she replied with full conviction. “You’re going to get up there and be fantastic. This is my event and I don’t care what they say.”Oh My God! I’ve never experienced such a contrast of emotions in such a short period of time. Total doubt - that feeling of being entirely inadequate under the male gaze - followed by total belief sweeping in with power and warmth and telling me I was enough. Natalia had given me the central message of my talk - the power of belief over doubt! I went on to talk about how Science is based on doubt, which divides and makes sense of the world. Science is good - but belief is even better. I managed to write my talk in a day (with the help of my Mum) and it was a big success! It was also a turning point in my career where I started to back myself. I have Natalia to thank for that.I hadn’t seen her much since then so I was delighted to see her face up large on posters as a Wellington Central candidate - I imagine she could hold the same kind of encouraging space in the political sphere as she did for us. Seeing her prompted me to get in touch and let her know how much I appreciated her influence back then. That’s how we reconnected and how this interview came about. I loved this conversation! I learnt about Natalia’s childhood, growing up in Mexico with her single Mum and moving country several times as a young child. She spoke about how having dyslexia helped her develop a strong sense of self and how her difficulty finding work when she arrived in New Zealand fuelled her passion for accessibility. She’s a passionate advocate for the rights of marginalised groups such as migrant women, disabled and trans people.Natalia described her big vision of an accessible and transparent government and how making accessibility a measurable goal would improve the government’s impact across the board. We talked about the idea of fostering lots of different economies that meet the needs and skills of different communities - rather than talking about “the economy” as if it’s one big amorphous thing. She shared her appreciation for the fierce advocacy groups in New Zealand and the many role models and heroes she’s met here. She also shared some personal thoughts on her relationship with culture and community and how we could become a country that feels genuinely inclusive to all our citizens. Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe

I was up in Auckland last week and was lucky enough to catch an hour with this lovely human - Max Harris. The conversation was recorded in his living room with snacks and tea. There's many things I could say to introduce Max. He was born in London and grew up in Wellington. He's a lawyer and an activist. He was a Rhodes Scholar. He almost died once and his brush with death unexpectedly led to him winning a very prestigious fellowship from Oxford University to spend seven years on a research project. His research culminated in him writing a book called The New Zealand Project, which I thoroughly recommend.It's about rediscovering New Zealand's lost direction and establishing a new foundation for our economic system and culture based on the values of care, community, and creativity. Max talks about the way the reforms of the 1980s and 90s (commonly known as Rogernomics and Ruthanasia) drained our public life of values and narrowed our collective imagination of what’s possible. He shares some of his ideas for how we could blow our sense of vision and possibility open again. In particular, he focuses on how our central government could embody the values of care, community and creativity. They could introduce regulations that protect things we hold sacred (like healthcare and education). They could reform the tax system to address inequality and they could steer our collective action towards missions that serve the greater good.Max shares his vision to reinstate an organisation called the Development Finance Corporation (a government development bank), which could support the growth of new industries and innovative ideas. We briefly talked about how quantum technology and other seemingly random specialities of New Zealand’s scientists could help reinvigorate our economy.Max also shared why he’s excited about decolonisation and what he feels could be possible if we learn and from Māori perspectives and knowledge that is grounded in this place.Max is obviously very smart, but what I admire most about him is his optimism about who we are as people and what we could be. He seems to be able to maintain a lack of cynicism while facing up to the stark truths of the world. He speaks up for things like care and kindness, which I think can be hard in our intellectual and outcomes-focused world.I hope you enjoy the conversation too! Get full access to The Good Energy Project at thegoodenergyproject.substack.com/subscribe