Date |
Event |
Jan 7 2023 |
The Cicadas interrupt the Dharma Talk
Reflections on Forest Meditation Centre, near
Lismore, NSW, Australia
CHRISTOPHER TITMUSS JAN 7, 2023
Published in November 2022, Living and Working
Together tracks the 50-year-old history of the
Dharmananda Community in The Channon, near Lismore,
NSW Australia. Around 40 people, including
present and past community members, contributed to
the book (A4 format), which also includes around 100
photographs, colour and black and white, spread over
the 50 years. Jen Ireland of the Community, who
compiled and edited the publication, invited me to
write a reflection of teaching in the forest centre.
Online: Listen
to Full Talk
PDF: Transcript
& Links
|
Dec 1 2022 |
Great day in Melbourne
yesterday. I emailed one of my
heroes, Tyson Yunkaporta, author of the brilliant
"Sand Talk" and asked him if we might have a yarn on
his podcast "The Other Others". https://anchor.fm/tyson-yunkaporta Lo
and behold he replied at once, "how about between 1
and 2 to-day?" So ... we had a great rave together
and at 5.30 he emailed me "Yau, here's the link
bruz" https://anchor.fm/tyson.../episodes/Eco-Warrior-e1rj0rs Cool!Then
a deep ecology talk at the wonderful Black Spark
Cultural Centre https://www.facebook.com/black.spark.cultural/
and to-day begins the Entheogenesis Australis
conference. https://gardenstates.org.

|
Sept 22 2022 |
Interesting to look back at the podcast I
did for Derrick Jensen’s “Resistance Radio” in 2018.
"In the light of our huge success
in stopping
mining in Los Cedros and other
important areas in Ecuador this year, I find the
description of our campaign as I saw it back in
2018; pretty illuminating.
But the best bit,
for me, was the more philosophical, deep time
tangent that the conversation took at one point,
musing on the implications of extinction.
PDF: Transcript
of Derrick
Jensen’s “Resistance Radio”
Actual Podcast:
https://derrickjensen.org/2018/01/john-seed-resistance-radio/
|
Sept 11 2022 |
Some great music fell into my life this
week.
"The Great Turning" from my
friends Kelly and Donna, Still on the Hill: https://youtu.be/Ybeaf6_ETTc .
Sweet! They organised deep ecology workshops for me
in Fayetteville Arkansas long ago and then we
reconnected recently..
A gorgeous
new song from Howard Eynon. The land on Bruny
Island that he is stewarding will host my February
Tasmania Deep Ecology Workshop .
-
And to top it off my friend Subhira wants
me to help organise some gigs so he can bring his
quintet out from Chile next month when he’s been
invited to the Port Fairy Festival https://youtu.be/sCur0la2_CE
I feel the presence of the Angel of Music.
This was the verse we added we added to "Angel
of Sunshine" . It came through Doug Ferguson and
me and someone else I’ve forgotten, on the banks of
the Evans River during a deep ecology workshop in
the 1980’s.
Angel of Music, I hear you
calling Pour your vibrations down over me Into
my spirit your sweet song is falling In your
embrace, may we live in harmony.
|
Sept 9 2022 |
HOW I CAUGHT DEEP ECOLOGY - REFLECTIONS ON
THE 4Oth ANNIVERSARY by John
Seed
Back in 1982, somewhere between
the Nightcap and Franklin actions I was searching to
understand the ubiquitous psychological or spiritual
sickness that allows modern humans to imagine that
we can somehow profit from
the destruction of our own life support systems.
Paul Ehrlich: “We are sawing off the branch that
we’re sitting on”. James Lovelock: “Its as if
the brain had decided it was the most important
organ in the body and started mining the liver.”...Read
more
Click >> To Read John's Full Story
|
Sept 6 2022 |
"Deep Ecology" by Daniel
Mirante

Art by: Daniel
Mirante >> See Full Size Photo and Link to Daniel's
Website
|
Sept 3 2022 |
Memoirs of the Rainforest Information Centre
“I’m so grateful to Divish Petrof
for the 2nd of the “memoirs”
of the Rainforest Information Centre” which I asked
him to write (see July 9 this year for the first
instalment). Brings so much flooding back from the
heydays of activism. In particular, his mention of
the 1989 rainforest benefit in
Brisbane with music
by The Wallies (my son
Bodhi, then aged 12 and his friend the late and
sorely missed Emu) caused me to find this
classic video by Andy Caffrey of the North American
rainforest roadshow of the
same year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asr6pd1Ltas .
Some great clips including the Wallies singing Steve
Tripp’s legendary “Once Upon a Planet” (starting at
4m25s)
which led me to Steve’s own recent version of this
great and uplifting song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9pyXyefYvI .
Andy
Caffrey’s video also has a short but sweet deep
ecology rave (7m40s)
as introduction to “Expanding Universe” and The
Wallies singing “Lay Down Your Whopper Baby” inside
a Vancouver Burger King to
protest BK destroying rainforests in Costa Rica for
cattle pasture (30m15s).
|
Sept 1 2022 |
Workshop in the forests of the Arcoora Arts
and Ecology Training Ground

Such a beautiful workshop in
the forests of the Arcoora
Arts and Ecology Training Ground in
the foothills of the Border Ranges, one of the
national parks we helped bring into being with our
direct actions. I look forward to singing this song
again and telling a few stories from long ago at the
Nimbin Town Hall on Saturday night Oct 22 as part of
the 40th anniversary
celebration of those actions and the declaration of
the Nightcap National Park.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1018409028786726
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch7G_fzJ4j6/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
|
Aug 17 2022 |
Skye Cielita Flor shared a post:
Check
out this new podcast conversation between Leilani
Navar of Turning Season Podcast and John Seed
Some of the topics explored are:
• how
John found his calling in rainforest protection
(part psychedelics, part being willing to help a
neighbor, and part lucky accident) • why he likes
to attend a group Experiential Deep Ecology workshop
about 10 times a year (like all of us, he still
needs to remember to remember) • one practice
that you can easily do on your own • the recent
Rights of Nature win in Ecuador • how he’s able
to relate to this ecologically “on the brink” time
with passion, but without hysteria •and a glimpse
through his words of what it’s like to expand your
identity through time, through the cosmos, and
through different life forms on Earth It’s such a
special opportunity to hear from John Seed,
especially after his 6-year struggle with cancer,
when he couldn’t engage in leading workshops or
activism like he had been. "John Seed is
founder and director of the Rainforest Information
Centre in Australia. He’s been involved in direct
actions to protect Australian rainforests since
1979. He’s a well-loved leader and teacher of Deep
Ecology, and collaborator with Joanna Macy in the
early development of the Work that Reconnects. In
1988, Joanna Macy and John Seed co-authored the book
Thinking Like a Mountain: Toward a Council of All
Beings with Pat Fleming and Arne Naess."
https://turningseason.com/episode17

|
Aug 8 2022 |
DEEP ECOLOGY AND THE CONSERVATION OF ECUADOR
RAINFORESTS:
John Seed is
offering 2 deep ecology workshops on the N Coast
this year near
Kyogle (August 26-28) and near Nimbin (October
21-23). 25% of proceeds support the protection
of Ecuadorean rainforests.
See John's 2022
Schedule here:>>

Click
to View Full PDF
|
July 12 2022 |
Deep Ecology Online: Practices
for Awakening & Resilience in a Changing World
One of the facilitators was my
old friend and colleague Dr
Eshana Bragg. To-day she wrote on her
Facebook page:
Click
to View Letter
|
July 12 2022 |
John Seed recites Poem by Drew Dellinger "Word
to the Mother"

Click
to View Video
|
July 11 2022 |
John Seed Sings "Born To Be Wild" Music
by John Seed
Click
to View Video | Click
for Audio Only on SoundCloud
|
July 9 2022 |
John Seed Excerpts from Redwood Summer 1990
with The Wallies (musical group of Emu and Bodhi
Seed) News Clips from the Redwood Summer and
Music by John Seed
Click
to View Video
|
July 9 2022 |
A letter from Divish Petrof (1st
installment)
I had a visit a couple of weeks
ago from Divish Petrof, an activist who worked with
us at the Rainforest Information Centre but we
hadn’t been in touch since the ‘90’s. We sat around
the fire and I was amazed how well he remembered
stuff that I had long forgotten. He agreed to write
some of his memories down for our archives and today
I received the first instalment.
Remembering the Rainforest Information Centre - Pt.1
Click
to View Letter
|
April 29 2022 |
River and John
Click
to View Full Size Photo
|
Dec. 2 2021 |
Los Cedros Biological Reserve Dec. 2, 2021
In December 2021, Ecuador's
Constitutional Court decided in favour of protection
for Los Cedros Reserve from mining.
Seven of
nine judges voted to revoke the environmental
license of mining companies Cornerstone Capital
Resources and ENAMI, forcing them to cease
operations within the reserve.
The exciting
thing about this 117-page ruling is its declaration
that Cornerstone and ENAMI have violated three sets
of constitutional rights:
- the rights of
nature;
- the rights of nearby communities to
safe water and a clean environment;
- the
rights of communities to consultation regarding
environmental impact.
The court also ruled
that companies failed to follow due process with
environmental and water permits for the Rio
Magdalena mining concessions which cover Los Cedros.
This ruling creates a precedent in Ecuador as more
than 2 million Ha of similarly threatened “Bosques
Protectores” and a worldwide precedent for the
Rights of Nature
Click
to View Story in THE GUARDIAN:

Los Cedros
Reserve. Photo: Roo Vandegrift
|
Dec. 1 2021 |
Los Cedros Biological Reserve Dec.
1, 2021 Monumental victory in Ecuador as the
Constitutional Court ejects mining companies from
our Los Cedros Biological Reserve. Click
to View Story:
|
Nov. 10 2021 |
“Interview by Steven
Wyatt, ex Financial Review
journalist and ex China correspondent for that
paper, for his alternative history of Byron Bay" Click
Here to View:
|
Nov. 1 2021 |
Photos of John and his Son
River. Click
Here to View:
|
Aug. 25 2021 |
Some photos from the last
couple of years Click
Here to view:
|
Jan. 16 2019 |
Update: "Actually,
I have to credit Acacia courtii and
some sweet friends for assisting the immunotherapy" Click
Here for: link from "Acacia courtii and some sweet
friends"
|
Jan. 16 2019 |
“We’re doing well, River just
turned 5 and is a delight.
A biopsy late 2017
found that the tumour had returned. The scans had
been indicating this for 6 months but prof Miyazaki
(cyberknife surgeon) categorically stated it was
only scar tissue and advised against the biopsy. By
the time I had the biopsy and scan December 2017 it
was tracking towards the brain stem and last January
I was booked in for surgery with Ben Panizza in
Brisbane to remove eye, exenterate the orbit
followed by a hole in the back of my skull for
further surgery followed by radiation.
However, the final MRI before the op showed that the
cancer was too far advanced and he called it off and
this was precisely what made me eligible to
participate in the trial of a new immune-therapy.
This stopped the tumour advancing and then, after 8
months of fortnightly treatments at RNSH, my October
MRI showed the volume of the tumour had
precipitously dropped to 30% and last month it was
down to 15% of its former glory.
So … Dr.
Miyazaki saved my eye twice - 4 years ago with his
cyberknife and again in 2017 with his mistaken
diagnosis! “
|
Jan 15 2019 |
Johns Son River and Grand daughter Jala

|
Dec. 31 2018 |
Update:

Click Photo for Full Size
|
Aug 5 2018 |
This could be the game-changer we’ve been waiting
for. A court in the Azuay Province of Ecuador has
rejected the Government’s appeal and the
Chinese-owned Rio Blanco gold mine has been
stopped! See the excellent
article about this issue written last week
before this historic decision.
|
Aug 3 2018 |
Megan left for a workshop yesterday leaving
River (RIVER GALAXY) for a week for the first time.
Next Wednesday he and I will fly to Cairns. Friday
we’ll pick Megan up at Cairns airport and drive to
my first gig with the families
at Kowrowa, a small indigenous -community out of
Kuranda, (out of Monamona Mission in the 60's). Next
morning we head to the Coalessence
Festival, Mission Beach for a deep ecology
workshop and to meet Bodhi and family (IMAGES 6008,
6012, 6014, 6016) there for the weekend before we
repair to a week together at Cape Trib then deep
ecology gigs in Kuranda and
Cairns and home again jiggety jig.
|
Aug 1 2018 |
Melbourne RAG's superb research into the Aussie
miners who hold the lions share of the contested
concessions threatening to lay Ecuador's rainforest
biodiversity to waste
|
July 16 2018 |
Important article on the economic damage caused by
the mining industry, written by Alberto Acosta Ecuadorian
economist former Minister of Energy and Mines.
Former president of the Constituent Assembly. Former
candidate for the Presidency of the Republic of
Ecuador. ENGLISH..... ESPAÑOL.
|
July 15 2018 |
Thanks to Davide Nicastro, the Hope St Warehouse
residents and all the musicians for last
night’s rave party which raised $11,000
for Los Cedros legal defense
|
July 11 2018 |
About 40 activists from Students of Sustainability,
Friends of the Earth and the Melbourne Rainforest
Action Group descended up BHP's headquarters in
downtown Melbourne today, locking down the lifts
and blockading the main entrance for an hour until
police intervened. We held Ecuador-related
campaign signs and handed out
leaflets. Several TV news networks came to cover
the action, with the ABC (the national
broadcaster) covering all the various student
actions targeting various government agencies
|
July 8 2018 |
Great deep
ecology workshop, 40 participants, first time
I’ve had to turn people away from a full workshop in
20 years, booking 2 more in Nov-Dec, $1900 raised
for Los Cedros. Thanks so much Mycelium
Studios for donating this
incredible space. Melbourne rocks! Afterwards, one
of the Mycelium gang, Ivanna,
took some great portraits
of me
|
July 7 2018 |
Brendan
Condon from The
Cape Ecovillage near Melbourne
recently gave a talk at our Narara
Ecovillage where he described the
totally passive (open source) designs that they have
created and started building down there which now
achieve over 9 NatHERs stars and require
minimal cooling OR heating. Today Brendan
showed a couple of us around his project and we went
to visit some of the houses they have built . We
were stunned by the comfort on a wild weather day
in July and particularly by the economics – they can
now build one of these houses with zero energy bills
at a tiny 3% premium over the cost of a well-build
conventional house costing $3000 to $3,500/year in
energy bills (ie 3 year pay-back period and then no
energy bills for the life of the building). This is
the future.
|
July 1 2018 |
Students of Sustainability are a
totally kick-ass group of uni students from
around the country that get together at a different
campus each winter, this year in Melbourne. They
organise direct actions following each of their
conferences and I was able to negotiate for this
years actions to include one at BHP’s HQ in Collins
St – they want to attack BHP around Aussie uranium
mines among other things and happy to include
Ecuador in the mix. I’ve gone to 6 or 8 of their
gatherings during the last 20 years and will once
again give a deep ecology workshop at this one next
week.
|
April 28 2018 |
John Plays Guitar for the Kids

Click
to view Full Size Photo Here or (See the
FB link) >> Click
Here
|
Sept 24 2017 |
Los Cedros Summary Update Click
Here
|
Sept 3 2017 |
A weekend of deep ecology events in
Bathurst NSW to benefit Los Cedros. Friday
night a talk on deep ecology for “Green
Drinks” organised by the Sisters of Mercy “Rahamim
Ecology Centre”. They posted a video
of my talk onto youtube as well as
a 5-minute
clip and the two Drew Dellinger
raps I opened and closed with: The
Universe Jam and Word
to the Mother. Then a gorgeous weekend
of experiential deep ecology. The best part is
that, in spite of being the facilitator, I’m
able to fully participate as well and, just as
for the other participants, I get to soak in the
healing and empowerment returning so refreshed to my
family and work.
|
May 10 2017 |
My old friend, the permaculture legend Jeff
Lawton, posted my Los
Cedros rave to his news site and
also filmed a passionate 7-minute video which went
out to some 60,000 subscribers to his “Friday Five”
|
April 2017 |
Los Cedros, the Biological Reserve in NW
Ecuador which we launched back in the late ‘80’s
with the help of a grant from the Australian
Government’s development assistance bureau is facing
its most serious threat – The Ecuadorean government
has secretly signed a mining agreement covering Los
Cedros and other “protected” areas with the Canadian
company “Cornerstone
Capital Resources inc”. Many of the
international scientists who have worked at Los
Cedros have signed a letter attesting to the irreplaceable
scientific value of this, the best -forested
watershed in Western Ecuador. You can support this
fight by signing the petitition here: http://rainforestinfo.nationbuilder.com/save_los_cedros
|
Sept 16 2014 |
My son River (9 months) and granddaughter Jala (4
months) |
July 12 2014 |
“Megan River and I have joined the Narara
Ecovillage. Click
here for YouTube Video |
June 7 2014 |
“One
month old today, my granddaughter Jala Star Seed,
welcome, blessings of the Universe pour upon you
endless from the eternal fountain” Here’s
her 6-month old uncle, my son River with his mama
and nagymama |
May 17 2014 |
Me and River at his first blockade
the day before the NSW Government caved in in the
face of people power and suspended Metgasco's
licence to frack and their share price plumetted to
5c.
www.flickr.com/photos/csgfreenorthernrivers/sets/72157644077911055/ |
May 7 2014 |
Hallelujah! My grand-daughter was born this
morning. |
April 24 2014 |
A glorious Easter in the rainforest and some
memories sparked by the death of Neville Wran.. con't
> |
Apr 9 2014 |
Photos of our son River 6 weeks to 4 months Note*
When the page opens-Doubleclick top left photo,
click on "slideshow" top middle, move cursor to
bottom of screen and hit play |
Feb 11 2014 |
River is 2 months old today, endless delight, plenty
to keep us both busy. Booked my first gig since his
birth - offering some deep ecology at the Regrowth
Festival March 1-2 - hope they dont schedule me
while Bodhi
Seed is playing - Saturday 11.30am DJ
SeeD, 1.30pm with Lub
Dub and midnight with Syren
link |
Feb 3 2014 |
“The naming of our son “River" |
Dec 23 2013 |
Wedding lunch Megan and John |
Dec 11 2013 |
11/12/13 The birth of our son. Hallelujah! |
Nov 26 2013 |
Organised a great evening with world-leading Amazon
rainforest conservationist - Atossa Soltani at
the University of Technology and launched Amazon
Watch Allies Australia |
Nov 23 2013 |
Beautiful 8-minute piece on ABC's 7.30 Report last
night about the launch of the events celebrating the
60th anniversary of my 93 year old mother, Judy
Cassab's first painting exhibition.Nov 14 2013
organised fund raising for sustainable agriculture
in Zimbabwe and screening "The Chikukwa Project"
film premiere in Sydney July 8 2013 With Dana Lyons
and NEO, the great band that he somehow persuaded to
come down from Darwin, at our benefit for food
security in Zimbabwe at Chapel by the Sea, Bondi
Beach link photo dana |
Nov 23 2013 |
Beautiful 8-minute piece on ABC's 7.30 Report last
night about the launch of the events celebrating the
60th anniversary of my 93 year old mother, Judy
Cassab's first painting exhibition. |
July 8 2013 |
With Dana
Lyons and NEO, the great band that he somehow
persuaded to come down from Darwin, at
our benefit for food security in
Zimbabwe at Chapel by the Sea |
May 31 2013 |
Book Launch - Stories of the Great Turning What a
great night, 120 people celebrating The Great
Turning, Sydney Rocks! |
Nov 22 2012 |
Raised over $6000 (see Oct 24 post) . Crowdfunding
rocks! Thanks Do
Gooder. |
Oct 24 2012 |
Please help
us to stop invaders
from destroying the Los Cedros Biological Reserve in
the Amazon headwaters of Ecuador |
Sept 12 2012 |
Some reminiscences upon AID/WATCH’s 20th birthday
|1980 documentary first eco-blockade in the world |
Aug 25 2012 |
John Seed and Megan Wallace marry. |
July 16 2012 |
Do you think that humanity can find a way past the
current global environmental and social crises?
GLOBAL CHORUS: rainforestinfo.org.au/deep-eco/seed/global-chorus.pdf |
June 28 2012 |
CLIMATE CHANGE, DESPAIR & EMPOWERMENT, JOHN SEED &
RUTH ROSENHEK Social
Alternatives Vol. 31 No.1, 2012 |
June 8 2012 |
After our great experiential deep ecology workshop
at Mooncourt, Glenys and Taffy recorded “Child
of the Universe”
which I had sung to accompany the Cosmic
Walk . |
June 4 2012 |
completed due diligence and funded tree
planting in Kenya |
April 2012 |
engaging with food
security in Zimbabwe |
Feb 6 2012 |
keynote address to APNEC: “Deep Ecology & The
Conservation of Nature” now posted
to youtube. |
Nov 22 2011 |
Council of All Beings to-day, my last event in
Taiwan.. Yesterday keynote
address to APNEC: “Deep Ecology & The Conservation
of Nature”.
Earlier, an Ecopsychology
and Eco-Spirituality panel and before
that Ecophilosophy and
Council of All Beings at Providence University. Also
delivered some money I raised for the
aboriginal communities I met last time I was here,
to stop the dams that threaten their lands and way
of life. |
Oct 30 2011 |
uploaded a bunch of my music |
July 2 2011 |
UWS publishes SOCIAL
ECOLOGY including
my chapter The
Religion of Economics |
May 8 2011 |
Deep Ecology Mandarin website |
April 17 2011 |
Ecology or Extinction? Raise
your voice! Nothing
short of a revolution in consciousness can now
prevent the demise of the Cenozoic Era and all of
complex life. Is it really that bad? Find out. Check
out Chris Hedges, “This
Time We’re Taking the Whole Planet With Us” Derrick
Jensen, “Beyond
Hope”
Clive Hamilton, “Requiem
for a Species”
John Greer “The
Long Descent”
and Reg Morrison “Plague
Species“.
What to do? I reckon its time to get annoyed, I’m
organising a series of “Climate
Change, Despair and Empowerment”
workshops around Australia and see who else is
feeling annoyed. And you? |
March 31 2011 |
2011 Deep
Ecology tour of Taiwan, photo
essay |
March 21 2011 |
Sydney action against
the Borneo timber Mafia photos |
Feb 28 2011 |
Writing an article about
my great few days with kick-ass activists at the
Southern Forests Convergence in Tassie. |
Jan 25 2011 |
Played music with my son Bodhi at the most
excellent Rainbow
Serpent festival.
Also gave some deep ecology talks and workshops and
sang the
World Bank song.
Loaded some
of my music to
Reverbnation. A friend made a
slideshow to ”Word to the Mother”.
Getting ready for gigs
in Tasmania next month and
Taiwan in April. |
Aug 2010 |
Great news: following the 3000 emails which you sent
to environment minister Jairam Ramesh, news is in
to-day that Vedanta’s controversial bauxite mine on
Dongria Kondh tribal land at Niyamgiri in India has
been stopped. You can see the story
in The Guardian or
theMinistry
of Environment and Forests decision
itself on the ministry website. Furthermore, Ramesh
has been quoted as saying that Vedanta had
committed ” very serious violations of environment
act and forest right act,” and that his department
was looking at taking punitive action against the
company. The news sent Vedanta shares down 6%.
For more on this issue, see the amazing 10-minute
film: “Mine:
Story of a Sacred Mountain“ or
this great 5
minute clip and
a couple of recent
articles one
by Arundhati Roy
A great
new painting for
Arunachala (the sacred mountain we’ve been reforesting
for 20 years)
.
First music gig in 20 years with my son Bodhi.
Draft chapter ”The
Religion of Economics”
for”Handbook of Social Ecology”.
Indian Journal of Ecocriticism interview
with Swarna
3rd exhibition of “The
Two of Us”
– my sculptures along
with paintings by
my mother Judy
Cassab,
Canberra
July 31
Recent interview on
ABC Radio National “The Spirit of Things” – transcript
Have you been wondering what the “Maoist insurgency”
in India is about. Great
article by Arundhati Roy and interview
by Tehelka.
|