Podcasts. See link       https://alanmulhern.podbean.com/

Latest podcast series July, Aug.Sept. Oct. 2023:

The Ecological Catastrophe.

This is the start of a mini-series on the ecological catastrophe of the Anthropocene. In the first episode the emphasis is on climate but subsequent ones will explore other components of this crisis, for example the great destruction of  bio-diversity, otherwise known as the sixth extinction event.

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Part 1 July 15th. S2 Ep87

The current ecological emergence is undeniable. But evidently it can be ignored.

Can the attack upon nature be characterised as evil since it is a prime example of the destruction of Life and the Good?

Can something of the magnitude of Business Civilization,  the first example of a truly global civilization, reform itself to the extent required to avoid catastrophe?

Can a global leadership emerge that stops fighting and squabbling?

Will a global totalitarianism be required and will this lead to a world dystopia?

Can we rise to meet the scale of the challenge we face?

Do we realise that what is required is not just some new inventions leaving our standard of living and way of life intact  but rather a vast paradigm shift and a change in our very thinking and way of life?

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Part 2. August 15th. S2 Ep88.  Life has always been dependent on and deeply interlinked with climate. The earth passes though great cycles of glacial and warming conditions with enormous consequences for the promotion or restriction and even extinction of life. Hominins, our ancestors, adapted to changing habitats and climatic environments. The genus Homo, of which Homo sapiens is but one species among others, had an even greater capacity to adapt. Nevertheless many of them succumbed to extreme climate change. Homo sapiens with its higher level brain power, symbolic thought and language, wider social and trading networks, more complex tools and weaponry was the most able to manage the increasingly colder and extreme climatic conditions and consequent changing food supplies. so far.

However the extremity of environmental and climatic change continues to our own period and we are reminded of Toynbee’s acute observation that civilization has to continually manage its challenges or face extinction. The same applies to species. Our species, Homo sapiens, is now a global business civilization and despite all its creativity is in great danger. Climate change, often very severe, quite simply has been one of the biggest factors in earth history. And it has been one of the most powerful influences also in human history.

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Part 3. Oct 1st.  Ep89 

This episode identifies the other elements of the ecological crisis aside from climate:

Biodiversity loss

Chemical pollution into land, air, rivers, and oceans

Particle pollution of the atmosphere

Deforestation and land use

Freshwater scarcity

The phosphorous and nitrogen cycle

The episode continued by identifying Business Civilization as the immediate source of the contemporary ecological disaster.

Next it introduced the Dasgupta Review with its investigation of the contemporary trauma of global biodiversity reduction.

Finally it explored Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind.

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Part 4. S2 Ep90  Oct 31st

This is the fourth episode in this miniseries on the ecological catastrophe of our age.

The GHG emissions targets are not being reached on time.

We need to prepare for survival in a degraded world.

There needs to be a spiritual vision to give us insight into the climate and other crises of our age. This spiritual vision should also provide guidance.