There's a Fall Coming
Autumn news, America plans, chances to meet online and in the flesh
Four weeks from now, I’ll be looking down onto the tops of clouds from inside a metal tube, high above the Atlantic, surrounded by strangers, all of us on our way to America.
Never let the strangeness of these lives we’re given just now slide out of view: neither the privilege that they represent, nor the costs that underwrite them, paid by others, nor the questionable judgements involved in accepting such a bargain, nor the uncomfortable wonders that come along with it all.
It’s happening, then, this American tour.1 I couldn’t wait to share the plans, so while we get the details nailed down, I’ve put together a save-the-date rundown of where and when events are happening. You’ll find that below, along with an invitation to a Zoom call this Sunday for anyone who wants to get involved in organising and spreading the word and bringing together gatherings and helping make the best of this long and questionable journey.
The countdown to the tour is also the countdown to the paperback publication of At Work in the Ruins, and the book is available for preorder – or if you take out an annual subscription to this Substack between now and the end of September, then I’ll send you a signed copy to wherever you are in the world.
Today is my first day back at school, back at the desk in the old shoe shop, looking out over the autumn ahead. Up here, the change in the seasons is already coming over the horizon. Our old apple trees are so laden with fruit that one of them just lost a bough. Truly, there is a fall coming.
There’s news below of other undertakings in the months ahead: events coming up in Sweden, the UK, and the in-between spaces of the internet.
Meanwhile, I’m arriving back at my desk like a bee returning to the hive with her pollen-basket full, heavy with stories and lines of thought that were gathered in the weeks of summer, carrying questions to feed the work of the coming year.
In these countdown weeks, I’ll be sending out short letters with news and thoughts sparked by the tour and the book itself. Once I’m on the road, there will be a tour diary, as on last year’s UK trip. Then, further into the autumn, I plan to make good on my promise to slow down and lean into writing essays: there’s a series I have in mind around the challenge of imagining the end of the fossil age, and the ways this breaks our familiar political frames; and there are some older pieces about friendship and the commons, which I was brought back to, thanks to conversations with our recent guests, Chris and
. When November comes around, I’ll be teaching a new online series with a school called HOME. More news about that soon.So there you have them, my first-day-of-term intentions: so many freshly sharpened pencils, clothes not yet worn-in and as yet too long in the sleeve. It’s good to be able to lay them out and share them like this. I look forward to meeting a good many of you, somewhere along the routes sketched out below.
DH
Autumn Calendar
Events on both sides of the Atlantic and several sides of the internet in not-quite-chronological order.
American Tour – Save The Dates
A full announcement with the events, venues and collaborators will be coming in the next few days, but in the meantime here are all the dates and places on the tour. With the exception of Washington and Burlington, all events are now confirmed.
America, let’s make this happen
Zoom call – 2pm EDT, Sunday, August 18
For each of the stops on the tour, there are already one or two local organisers involved, sometimes a whole organisation – but to make the best of this, I’d love to connect in advance with readers on the ground in the places I’ll be visiting and those who can help with carrying word of these events to different networks. If you think that might be you, then join me this Sunday, when we’ll be getting together on Zoom to talk about how to make this happen.
Early-bird rate for the Chicago Retreat
Over the weekend of September 14-15, the folks from
are hosting a two-day retreat around my work. This is a chance to go deeper into the questions in At Work in the Ruins, bringing them into dialogue with your own stories, experiences and lines of thinking. There’s an early-bird rate of $250 for anyone booking before August 20.European Ecovillage Gathering
Ängsbacka, Sweden, August 20-25
Anna, Alfie and I will be travelling to Värmland next week, where I’ll give the Saturday keynote at the European Ecovillage Gathering. This is a significant trip, as it’s a return to the place where Anna and I met, thirteen years ago this summer, the first time we’ve been back there. It’s a five-day event and there are still places available. Full details here.
EcoGather (online event)
Saturday, August 31 – 11am EDT
As part of the build-up to the American tour, the EcoGather network has arranged this free online event where I’ll be speaking about “the work that’s called for now”. The event will be hosted by Nicole Civita, EcoGather’s Network Weaver. Full details here.
Omställningsforum: Gathering for a Resilient Society
Uppsala, October 11-13
I’m giving the keynote at this year’s annual gathering of the Swedish Transition network, down the road from us in Uppsala. This event is sold out, but it’s possible to put yourself on the waiting list. Full details here.
Kairos Club
London, October 29
This will be my one public event in the UK this autumn, a chance to talk about where At Work in the Ruins has led over the past eighteen months and what is coming next. Details coming soon on the Kairos website.
Evolve Magazine (online event)
November 29, 6pm CET/12pm EST
For those who read German, there’s a long interview with me in the latest issue of Evolve magazine, speaking to Elizabeth Debold. The theme of the issue is “Spiritual resilience and the crisis of democracy”. Elizabeth and I will pick up our conversation (in English) for an online event in November. Full details here.
Lund University
December 3
Finally, a save-the-date announcement for anyone in or near the Swedish university town of Lund, where I’ll be taking part in a workshop around At Work in the Ruins in early December. Details for this one coming in the next few weeks.
Thanks again to all who have been in touch since I shared news of the tour. I’ll be working back through emails over the next few days, so if I owe you a reply, it should be coming soon.
OK, this tour of a few parts of North America, east of the Mississippi.
You're in Toronto 2 days before I get back to the city. Bummer! Would have loved to see you in person.
9/18 in Washington DC - do you have a time and location set?