Greetings!
A beautiful autumn is taking shape here. I can feel the changes all around me, from different birdsong as migrating friends happen by, to dramatic shifts in the leaves from one day to the next. It’s exhilarating — out come the woolly hats and mitts!
It feels especially exhilarating to me because I’m changing my approach to living my purpose – which is to foster the shift to an economy that works in service of life. It feels like a big inner shift to go along with the wardrobe change.
Today’s newsletter is an update on this new approach. It’s a bit of a sales pitch, so if that’s not for you, feel free to skip. Rest assured I’ll continue to write and share what I find as openly as I can along the way.
And now... I’m excited to tell you more about what I’m up to.
I guide people towards industrial healing
Whether as a writer, speaker, or advisor, I offer guidance on the journey to an economy that works in service of life, one where all industry is a force for healing. Granted, this is what I have been doing in some way for the last twenty years. But after a few months in the Matereality trenches, and a lot of reading, writing, listening, and dreaming, I now offer my expertise in more tailored ways.
I serve as an advisor to senior decision-makers within companies – these are people who sense the need and opportunity for transformation. I also support individuals who seek guidance and experienced perspective to help them lean into their roles. More details and a few examples of what my clients say about me, here.
I am also a provocative public speaker — highlighting what is required and possible as we evolve towards a new economy. I present in English, French, and Portuguese. I love speaking to academic and corporate audiences, as well as on podcasts. I share more about my approach as a speaker, along with feedback from previous hosts, here.
If I can support you or someone you know with these services, please get in touch.
Why not be more “social”?
A few savvy friends have been nudging me to use social media platforms to generate revenue, so I can continue to create my “corporate art” (such as Matereality) independently while earning passive income. This is definitely a thing that people do (the “passive income” part, not so much the “corporate art” part).
However, I don’t want to earn a living through advertising revenue, which is what that amounts to. I am on YouTube, which can be ad-supported but I have no intention to flick that switch (even if I qualify one day based on my stats – which will likely take a while as long as I produce corporate art such as this piece exploring the food system that I published the other day).
I am seeking to live based on the principles I believe are needed in an economy that serves life, not based on revenue generated by advertising, using opaque algorithms, for companies who are nowhere close to working in service of life. In a cli-fi short story I published a couple years ago, Tomato A, 2035, I expanded on what the algorithms could look like when we get it right. On our way there, I’m going to do my thing sans ads.
So anyway, that’s what I’m up to. Thanks for checking it out, and I welcome your feedback. I feel excited in that different-birdsong-changing-foliage kind of way. And I know there is lots of unknown terrain ahead.
Now here’s a bit more news just for (even more) fun.
Accidental Intergenerational Podcast Week
Did I mention how much I love being a podcast guest? (I list some of those loving adventures here). Imagine my delight at joining Episode #148 of Manda Scott’s Accidental Gods podcast, released last week. We had an expansive, beautiful conversation. I hope you enjoy it, too!
The very next day my mom made her podcast début! She shared her wisdom on the importance of aging in place and healthy communities on Episode #21 of Sarah Climenhaga’s Toronto Perspectives podcast. Sarah is running for Mayor of Toronto and as part of her campaign she is featuring the views of other candidates (yes, you read that right – she is spotlighting other people running “against” her — that attitude definitely lives in an economy in service of life). She also features local residents with important knowledge and perspective (such as my aging-in-place volunteer extraordinaire mother) on the podcast. If you live in Toronto, this is interesting stuff. If you believe in building strong communities during these turbulent times, this is also interesting stuff. Go, Mom! And Go, Sarah!
Erratum
In my most recent newsletter, I mentioned the letter I wrote to the CEO of Scott’s Miracle-Gro, Jim Hagedorn, about his product killing my compost worms in spite of his company’s purpose being to “Gro [sic] More Good”. It turns out that I inaccurately named them as “the sole marketer” for Roundup (aka glyphosate) for the US and China. In fact, they are the “sole marketer for consumer products” containing Roundup. Other companies are responsible for the sale of Roundup products to large-scale agricultural producers using glyphosate on the vast majority of commodity corn, soy, wheat, oats, barley, and more. I am sorry if this statement caused any undue harm. Also thank you to those who read, commented, and shared my letter! I’m still waiting to hear back from Mr. Hagedorn. I guess he’s been busy.
How can you help me?
While this note is really meant to let you know how I might help you, if you’ve read this far you might well be among a neat group of people who have been supporting me in lots of ways, spanning back years or starting last week — by reading my stuff, giving me feedback, or contributing financially. Being any of those people is helpful, so thank you!
If you like, you can also support me by subscribing to and/or sharing my work, especially on Medium, and by pointing people to my website. Amplifying my work this way is actually a big help.
But wait, there’s more!
There’s lots else going on, including Matereality, writing, and various video adventures. I share a quick update every Friday by way of my Medium Shorts. You can sign up to receive notifications of those if you fancy, and you can also subscribe to the whole platform. (If you do subscribe, I’d be mighty grateful if you used this link.) Again if you’d rather not pay for a subscription (though did I mention, it’s ad-free?) all articles can be accessed behind the paywall, here.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? That’s the spirit of why we’re here together now, so don’t be shy. I look forward to serving you and others in new and exciting ways. If there is anything I can do for you, please feel free to be in touch. Meanwhile, onwards into the new season.
Yours in connectedness,
Lorraine
