I’m Osbert Lancaster, and at Thrivable Scotland I’m asking how can we build resilience, regenerate natural systems and heal society, so people and the rest of nature can thrive, whatever the polycrisis brings next.

If we’re going to regenerate nature, we need to know what state nature’s in right now and whether it’s getting better or not. While remote sensing is really powerful in many situations, sometimes you need to be hands on, on the ground or even in the water.

So I met up with Rebecca Lewis who has built up a citizen science network that is generating open access data about the health of rivers across Scotland and heard how this data is starting to improve water quality and biodiversity at scale.

From my conversation with Rebecca Lewis you will:

• Hear how Rebecca started volunteering in her local river and went on to leading a network of trained, volunteer citizen scientists who monitor the health of rivers at sites across Scotland.
• Learn how the data is collected, and how the project engages with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and is helping form catchment partnerships.
• Gain practical advice from Rebecca’s experience if you’re considering developing a citizen science project.

In the second segment of the show, I’m joined by co-host Morag Watson, climate and energy policy speciaist, and guest listener Nadine Andrews, systems thinking and nature connection practitioner, to discuss my conversation with Rebecca. Our reflections include:

• The power of making the hidden world visible for engaging people with nature.
• How becoming more aware of the state of nature can lead to a sense of powerlessness.
• The importance of such projects offering a genuine sense of agency, where people can see that their actions are having a meaningful effect.

Connect:

• Guest: Rebecca Lewis, Scotland & Northern Ireland Manager, Buglife
• Guest Listener: Nadine Andrews
• Co-host: Morag Watson
• Host, me Osbert Lancaster

Learn More:

• Buglife
• Guardians of Our Rivers Project
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• Climate Psychology Alliance

From the Thrivable Scotland Bookshop:

• Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (source of the "world of wounds" quote)

Be part of the Thrivable Scotland community:

• Subscribe to my Notes for a Thrivable Scotland
• Join our upcoming events
• Email me with questions or comments: pod@thrivablescotland.com

When we want to make social and environmental change, our culture, institutions and education encourage us to assume people need more information, skills, resources etc before they can act.

Anthony Morrow and his team at one of Scotland’s largest housing associations take the opposite approach. They support tenants and local communities by believing that people are already capable, recognising and focusing on their existing strengths.

From my conversation with Anthony Morrow you will:

• Learn about Asset Based Community Development and how using this approach Anthony and his team have prevented homelessness and transformed lives, while saving money for Sanctuary Group and for society.
• Hear why housing is fundamental to sustainability, not just because people need stable homes to thrive, but also because of the connections between housing, health, climate and more.

In the second segment of the show, I’m joined by co-host Morag Watson and guest listener Ruchir Shah to draw out key insights from my conversation with Anthony, including:

• How this strength based approach can be applied in other contexts.
• The importance of upstream prevention and the difficulty of attributing results to specific projects and funders.
• The relationship between stories and data when trying to engage people and get support from managers, colleagues – and politicians.

I’m Osbert Lancaster, specialist facilitator and host of the Thrivable Scotland podcast.

Connect:

• Main Guest: Anthony Morrow
• Guest Listener: Ruchir Shah
• Co-host: Morag Watson
• Host: Osbert Lancaster

Learn More:

• Sanctuary Scotland
• ABCD Training and Resources - Cormac Russell and Nurture Development
• Scottish Violence Reduction Unit
• Shumela Ahmed - Resilience Learning Partnership
• Gary Stevenson: Refugee Riots – Salience and Storytelling

From the Thrivable Scotland Bookshop:

• The Power of Mattering by Zach Mercurio

Be part of the Thrivable Scotland community:

• Subscribe to my Notes for a Thrivable Scotland
• Join our upcoming events
• Share your feedback pod@thrivablescotland.com

If you're working to make the world a better place, I think you'll find my new Thrivable Scotland podcast inspiring and useful.

I'm Osbert Lancaster and after working in sustainability for 30 years I've decided we need to try a fresh approach.

In this short trailer I'll tell you how Thrivable Scotland came about and what you can expect, including:

👉 The three key elements of this new approach: focus on thriving, not survival; focus on the present, not the future; focus on what's working, not what's wrong.

👉 How I'll be interviewing people across Scotland who are building resilience, regenerating natural systems and healing society.

👉 How with my co-host Morag Watson and guest listeners, I'll be discussing how lessons from successful projects can be shared, scaled and applied in different contexts.

Listen to this trailer to find out more!