Quotes, Themes and Tearoom chit-chat from the NENA Conference 2025
Quotes, Themes and Tearoom chit-chat from the NENA Conference 2025
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What can we do together that we can't do alone?
Michelle MaloneyWhat can we do together that we can't do alone?
~~~
This is a collection of quotes and themes gathered haphazardly from presentations and conversations during the NENA conference. Capturing the energy and ideas from a collective as inspiring and diverse as NENA is an impossible task. So, please accept this incomplete, and sometimes inaccurate, snapshot.
Bayo's quotes stood out to me. He captures the tensions and dissonance of this work with a remarkable precision. So, these form the structure of my reflections.
My apologies for incomplete, blended or incorrect quotes. Comments, corrections and conversation are welcome!
~ with gratitude to the inspiring NENA community
- Kate Patterson
"We need to...
like crustaceans...
walk sideways into new realities.
"We need to...
like crustaceans...
walk sideways into new realities.
Otherwise, we will keep walking into fire, integrating into the burning house."
Bayo Akomolafe Otherwise, we will keep walking into fire, integrating into the burning house."
from www.bayoakomolafe.net
Tension between urgency of change in current systems and stepping sideways.
We don’t need fancy new economics,
just tax fossil fuels.
We need to put on the brakes to stop hurtling in the wrong direction.
If all we do is plan for the future, we aren't going to stop the appalling present.
Richard DennissThe Australia Institute
----
Insane trade is the result of policies designed for globalisation.
Henry ColemanLocal Futures - Economics of Happiness----
Capitalism Must Die
Mark Diesendorforf----
Wellbeing Indicators are in the “Cool Story Category”.
Sounds great. But it isn't used. 130 indicators is to many.
We need a top 6 - that do get used.
Sally HettBoards should have a Nature representative director
- just as some boards in France have an Employee representative.
---
How do we go local?
But also compete with the big guys?
----
The idea we can defeat capitalism. Is a result of capitalism.
Capitalism's greatest invention is the anti-capitalist.
Bayo Akomolafe----
“Don’t fight to get back into the burning house”
“Don’t fight to get back into the burning house”
Bayo Akomolafe
Transformational change is possible. Australia has done it before -
from Medicare to minimum wages
– and we can do it again.
Next Economy - The Economy We Could Have
----
To enable change we need to work with the existing system but with the aim of replacing it with a better one.
Andrew Gaydon----
Women did not get the vote by asking nicely or waving reports!
Richard Denniss---
If you look after land for long enough, you are helping build a conscience. It is important to build a collective conscience.
Ethics is doing.
If ever there was a cross roads.
This is it.
We need to overcome the indifference - this is a way to overcome the conscience.
Obligation to look after land is the key.
----
----
Relationality. Not transactionality.
----
----
Teaching at uni is so wrong.
We need to be teaching for the future.
----
Keep Calm
and
Localise Now
Keep Calm
and
Localise Now
----
Degrowth: transcending capitalism
Degrowth is not about negative growth.
We need to get within planetary boundaries - so may be negative growth for a time.
More, it is a repoliticization of the depoliticised. - questioning economic growth.
It is inherently questioning the socioeconomic system of capitalism.
----
I wouldn’t talk to my uncles about "Degrowth."
Q: Do we need to “code switch” the term "Degrowth"?
A: Talk about people in their everyday lives.
- people working less - contributing on how they work.
Don’t need a term. Talk in concrete terms.
Also... pick if you need to have the conversation.
----
Falling might very well be flying
– without the tyranny of coordinates.
Bayo AkomolafeFalling might very well be flying
– without the tyranny of coordinates.
The essence is the practice of "Holding the dissonance. "
The way through is to hold increasing tension of opposites in a way that it must be held, without fighting it, with mindfulness and openness to discover the path forward.
Catherine Reynolds---
We don't know what the future looks like... But we might know what our values and principles are.
Sally Hett---
Local is a direction - not a radius.
-->> Localisation
-->> Decentralisation
-->> Bioregionalism
These are process.
The law of the land is local.
Towards diversity, interdependence, rationality.
---
On Bioregioning:
Make it real, get specific.
Sit under a tree and ask “What does this place need to be healthy?"
We need to learn to love, understand, & connect to our place.
Michelle Maloney---
Small farms can feed the world.
Local councils need to be supporting local agriculture. How to keep food flowing locally is important.
---
Local food networks become essential in times of crisis.
Connecting to wild food isn’t just calories. It is connecting to community and place.
Local. resilient. Powered by community.
Tianda WilliamsYouForage
---
Local councils are setup to fail.
0.5% of revenue - 90% of resources.
Water, state forests, natural resources.
Bellingen in particular is imbalanced.
Jennie FentonGreens Councillor - Bellingen---
"The lessons of our times is to look for the cracks"
...and to "breathe into them long enough that new worlds can seed"
Bayo Akomolaife"The lessons of our times is to look for the cracks"
...and to "breathe into them long enough that new worlds can seed"
Gently, slowly, meandering streams of transitions are happening across regional Queensland.
Richer, more nuanced conversations are happening, helping to build a more regenerative economy.
Sara Hicks Gecko Environment Council---
We are moving at the speed of trust.
Warwick SmithDirector of Wellbeing Economy at the Centre for Policy Development---
We are Stewards.
Look after land.
Look after the thing that invented us.
There is reciprocity. We must look after it forever.
---
Do the work.
Reject dichotomies.
Understand the system.
Bronwyn Morgan----
There’s not a single lever. This is a hard grind.
It’s all gonna take time.
But if we believe it’s never gonna happen. They’ll win.
And if we believe it’s gonna happen tomorrow. They’ll win.
Richard Denniss---
It’s an iterative process.
Symbolic steps are important. It’s not going to happen overnight.
Jonathon CassellGreens Councillor - Coffs Harbour
----
Can we outsmart the system until it catches up with us?
Rob Pekin
Roadmap to Regenerating Food Futures - Food Connect Report
----
Have seen a 15% premium for regenerative products in wool market.
Global buyers are wanting and seeking regenerative product.
Helen LewisHolistic Management Verified Land to Market
Digital View of Electricity
Marginal cost is now free.
So, what local communities do differently?
Recycle, water treatment, etc...
Think of energy infrastructure like investing in another room in the house.
Plus now it can be moved in an EV .
Tearoom Response:
Can we think of baking batches sourdough for our neighbours in the same way that we view "Digital" electricity?
The marginal cost is almost 0.
This is valuable in a relational or 'gifting' economy.
What else can be revalued?
Modernity has experts. It doesn’t have elders. This is a crisis of relations. Not expertise.
Bayo AkomolafeModernity has experts. It doesn’t have elders. This is a crisis of relations. Not expertise.
Don’t be against something.
Be for something - be an attractor.
---
Support the work of the Indigenous land and sea management projects
---
---
We are stuck with who we are - work with it.
If you see a system from the outside. Change it.
Embrace your outsider-ness.
If you see injustice. If something looks weird. Jump outside your box. Give someone a hug. Take it on.
Don’t conform with injustice.
Michelle Maloney---
Centre practice around morals & courage.
Think of yourself as an Elder. Not an expert. Always work in relation.
Kiran Kashap---
Maverick Professionals can create “elbow room” - beyond system compliant fixes.
Legal, financial & built environment professionals are gatekeepers, that can create the elbow room for the sector to accept change.
Bronwyn Morgan----
Asking questions outside the spreadsheet, is essential for being a professional maverick.
And understand the existing system first.
Catherine Reynolds---
This is my tribe. These are my people.
overheard at morning tea---
Have a team meeting between your head and your heart.
Outside.
In nature.
No shoes.
If things aren’t flowing.
Get them in sync.
---
"I Feel the Love! " 💕
"I Feel the Love! " 💕
Times are urgent: We must slow down.
Times are urgent: We must slow down.
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