A Year of Conversations
All the interviews, podcasts and recorded talks I did in 2023
This post is part of the process of wrapping up the work I did in 2023. There were so many podcasts and online conversations, I’d lost count of them, and I wanted to gather the links together in one place, along with those talks and other public events where recordings have been published online.
Many of these were moments in the process of taking a book out into the world: At Work in the Ruins: Finding Our Place in the Time of Science, Climate Change, Pandemics and All the Other Emergencies. Yet if the book was a common starting point, the conversations soon led off in different directions, depending on who I was speaking with. As for the talks, I never gave the same one twice.
Some of what follows was highlighted in earlier posts, but other recordings slipped through the net, so I hope you’ll find something here to catch your interest.
DH
January
Finding Humility at the End of Modernity – talking with Vandana Shiva in a film made by
. Hosted by the foundation’s director who was also my editor on At Work in the Ruins.How to Give Up – talk followed by a roundtable with Bayo Akomolafe, Ciclon Olivares and Maya Kovskaya, hosted by Athong Makury for the AMOR MUNDI Multispecies Ecological Worldmaking Lab, Chiangmai University.
The Re/Al/Ign – podcast interview with
.What Should Academics Do About Climate Change? – online discussion with Bryan Alexander and a live audience at Future Trends Forum.
February
We Need to Talk About George – Season 4 Episode 8 of The Great Humbling in which Ed Gillespie and I discuss George Monbiot’s Regenesis (audio version).
On Finding Home in the Ruins – interview with
for his podcast, The End of Tourism (audio version).Powerful Times – speaking with
for the interview series in which he asks ‘What can we do in these powerful times?’Climate Change, Collapse & Modernity – interview with James Ellis for Hermitix podcast (audio version).
At Work in the Ruins – interview with Hazel Kahan for WPKN Radio.
The World is Not a Problem – an in-person conversation with Iain McGilchrist at his home on the Isle of Skye.
Glasgow Book Launch: Wu Wei in the Ruins – a discussion with Alastair McIntosh,
& Dougie Strang, followed by audience Q&A. This was a live event hosted by the GalGael in Govan, the Centre for Human Ecology and ENOUGH!Newcastle Book Launch: The Ruins of Modernity – a discussion with Martyn Hudson at the NewBridge Project.
Leeds Book Launch – discussion with
and audience Q&A at Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel.Norwich Book Launch: The Great Humbling Live – a special recording of the podcast with Ed Gillespie and guests
and in front of a live audience at Norwich Arts Centre (audio version).March
At Work in the Ruins – this conversation with
was Spaceship Earth podcast’s most-listened-to episode of 2023.At Work in the Ruins at The Stoa – a discussion with Bayo Akomolafe, Stephen Jenkinson & Vanessa Andreotti, hosted by
.At Work in the Ruins – talking about the book on the
podcast with Ashley Colby and (audio version).The Unimaginable – a discussion about the limits of ‘imagining’ the future with Michal Osterweil. This was part of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Imagination Infrastructure conference and our session was hosted by Gabriella Gomez-Mont.
April
Thriving Through Collapse – my first appearance on Gordon White’s Rune Soup podcast (audio version).
Finding Hope at the End of the World – talking to
for his podcast, We Are Already Free (audio version).At Work in the Ruins – a dialogue with the South African social worker and justice monitor
.May
Talking About Endings – a conversation with Ben Johnson for Peripheral Thinking podcast.
LifeHouses – in my second appearance of the year on
, Ashley Colby and I co-host a conversation with Adam Greenfield about his LifeHouses proposal for reimagining underused churches as community hubs (audio version).The Sacred – podcast interview with
(audio version).June
Conversations at the End of the World – a live discussion with Andrew Boyd for Dark Mountain, hosted by
and Nick Hunt.July
At Work in the Ruins – speaking to Steve Brett for the Undercurrents podcast.
Atlantic Council Debrief: Are we thinking about climate change the wrong way? – podcast interview with Ben Judah (audio version).
August
Making Good Ruins – keynote talk at Climate Existence conference, Sigtuna.
Everyone’s Favourite Subject – talking climate change with Waylon Lewis on his Walk the Talk Show.
September
Four Things Worth Doing in Challenging Times – a print interview with
.Panel discussion at Stockholm premiere of Avtryck/Imprint – a discussion in Swedish with director Mattias Olsson, Johanna Desthon, Melda Nahnfeldt,
and Andy Frank.October
Food & Community in the Ruins: Reality Roundtable #05 – discussion with
and , hosted by (audio version).North of the Future – talking with David Cayley as part of the Ivan Illich conversations series hosted by
and Marcus Rempel (audio version).Are All Christianities Esoteric? – my second appearance of the year on Gordon White’s Rune Soup podcast, talking about Ivan Illich and the renewed cultural energy around Christianity (audio version).
The Flawed Humanity of Ourselves – a conversation about writing and cultural practice with
for his series on Art, Politics and Life.November
The Ruined Church – starting a new series of the Great Humbling with Ed Gillespie (audio version).
Thinking Beyond the Climate Catastrophe – talking with Johan Gärdebo and Carl Hygrell for Manifesto podcast, including a discussion of the Swedish context of the book.
One No, Many Yeses – talking with
as part of the Ivan Illich conversations series hosted by and Marcus Rempel (audio version).Words in Wartime – Season 5 Episode 2 of the Great Humbling with Ed Gillespie (audio version).
We Used to Have Fun – Season 5 Episode 3 of the Great Humbling is the first of two episodes woven around John Higgs’s The KLF: Chaos, Magic & the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds (audio version).
December
The Forever Project – Season 5 Episode 4 of the Great Humbling with Ed Gillespie (audio version).
Making Good in the Ruins – my final public event of 2023 was a fireside chat with Carlos Saba and Laurence McCahill, founders of the Happy Startup School.
A Happy New Year to any of you who reached the end of this post! I am currently on holiday and will be back at my desk from 10 January. Until then, I wish you all the best for these first days of 2024.
The image I have is genteel philosophical discussions in the first class lounge on the Titanic. Much as I do myself.
Wow! Great! Thanks a lot for this impressive list! Looking forward to your podcast appearances and talks in the new year!