Roisin Markham

So how was your week?

These are my notes written without AI to filter through my week of work, activism and life. They are structured around reflections, insights, a question for you and resources.

As we begin Q2 with a quarter of the year gone, we have 4 years and 9 months to 2050. The year Ireland has legally committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 51%.

I am currently sitting under the Crann Fia Úll, crab apple tree in the middle of our garden. She has burst into leaf, soft green ovate clusters bright against a blue sky.

I am grateful for being in the sun, in a county that is stable politically. I’m thankful I have a garden, within which bees and goldfinches find food. I think of the devastation of Gaza and the rubble, floored cities, murdered families, olive trees ripped from the ground.

Reflection

As March slips into April we have had a fairly intense week globally: wars and genocide intensify and the global economy has been shocked with US tariffs. Value in the stock markets have crashed.

Value is a theme for me right now both in business and within the question I live with, but let me come back to that.

My own week really felt the weight and intensity of things. Does it affect you? What ways are you present to it?

The sadness and grief of the state of the world was amplified by marking the 10 year anniversary of my father’s death.

By the end of the week I had to take some time to be present to all of who he was and was not for me. I choose not to go stand over his grave but to walk in a place he loved, the Kilmacurragh Botanic Gardens in Wicklow. They have a significant collection of spring flowers and the gardens are spectacularly in bloom. The rhododendrons, vilified as an invasive species throughout Ireland are celebrated there with a vast collection.

This week I’d an interview for a part-time job. Four people were present in a 30 minute interview with me. No it’s not for a fractal director or chief anything job. It’s for a community engagement officer role on a cultural climate arts project, the salary is below the average salary in Ireland.

In my follow up email to thank them for the opportunity to interview, I went all out stating

“opens up profound opportunities for community conversations about resilience, adaptation, and the socio-ecological challenges we face, materiality and resource use, decision making and art. I can’t help wondering is it the opportunity to open a starting point for co-creating responses with communities, fostering collective imagination and action. 

As an eco-feminist designer and facilitator with a post-growth ethos, I see this as an invitation to interrogate power structures, amplify marginalised voices, and explore how community-led solutions can embody principles of equity, sufficiency, and ecological care. I am excited by the possibility of using my skills to collaboratively shape these dialogues and contribute to pro-environmental outcomes that align with the project’s vision.”

I closed a piece of work with a client, handing over files, tidying up access to software, clearing down my digital spaces for archive and deletion of files. This type of administration is so satisfying. There is something great about saying this is done, closed and complete and doing a digital mop up.

Thursday brought two pieces of joy – a booking for September for an event and having a great session introducing students to Doughnut Economics in SETU Waterford.

The student group were from 3 different courses brought together for the event – Visual Communications, Public and Social Health and Civil Engineering. Many thanks to the three lectures who paved the way for the event. The students gave some was really interesting feedback during the session: it was really hard to talk to a stranger about the three questions. We forget that young people come to things in very different ways to how we might. It’s critical to make space for their voices.

Dougald Hine’s newsletter arrived in my inbox and added a lot of food for thought. His book At Work in the Ruins sits on my bedside shelf. I specifically mention Dougald’s newsletter as it contained a video as well as text and I thought it was interesting, different. He brought me to confront the question

What is the work that is mine to do?

it’s not the first time I’ve asked myself that. But it seemed more specific as it came with a rabbit hole into creative work as light work or heavy work. Which ties in well with me looking at an MA.

Insights

Rhododendron holds a significant early nature memory for me, playing in the Bog Garden in Lough Key Forest Park, Boyle. Sitting on the dark mucky peaty floor rhododendron shading the under story of the forest, black soft damp earth. Bright pink flowers strewn about like confetti. I’m there, me and another girl we are threading bright pink fallen blossoms into garlands, our Dads best friends deep in conversation.

I have the sense this week of trying to simplify even this post. Can we make it more simple, easier? Someone must have told me at some point that if something was easy or simple it was n’t good enough.

“The market self corrects” anyone else get the impression that we are about to get a harsh lesson in neoliberal economics. The market does not see itself nor does it correct. I could never see how the economy was going to crash in the tipping points of the poly crisis – I can now!

Ok 3 months in and I’m resisting the framework outline of these posts, this week I’ve added an extra bit at the end after resources. I may test a few different approaches over the next few weeks. I also notice that mid week I want to blog on specific topics but stop myself publishing them.

I’m asking myself a lot of questions right now about work, future alivelihoods and what’s is genuinely mine to do.

A question for you

How are you doing? Let me know what’s present and alive in your world for you right now.

Resources

Great podcast with Audrey Tang via Nate Hagens The Great Simplification, where they explore his amazing work in Taiwan in developing technologies that work for people & better policy making.

They discuss

• Shared Ethics of care by attending to feelings first
• AI as assistive tech in public conversation enhances not replaces humans, tasks only
• on common ground
• Plurality & tech – acceleration for democracy, decentralisation and defence
• Prosocial Media – ranked by the communities you belong to and how on common ground each post contributes to
• Liberal democracy as a social communication technology and how can we be innovative with it
• Participatory democracy- intergenerational solidarity where young people set the direction and senior people provide support and resources
• Facilitation, active listening – to scale up and out (ask me more about this)

“I care most about our ability to care” Aubrey Tang

Or listen on Spotify here.

A view to next week

This bit is new, if you are still reading. Thanks for being here.

Tomorrow I offer Courtown Regeneration Partnership Group a presentation of the Community Circular Economy Report that I developed last year for Courtown Community Council. Truth be known I’d rewrite it with an extended scope if there were resources for that. As it is our business BDT Consulting co-funded the report. My showing for ongoing work is. currently not resourced but this is why

As I’ve said Courtown is our Canary in the goldmine, it has been for a long time.

I’m hoping I can support a community that needs an alternative solution then to business as usual. Let’s see how it goes.

Tuesday I’m participating in a Sectorial piece of research with a systems workshop, BDT Consultancy is funding my capacity to be there.

Thursday there is an excellent event at IMMA for the creative sector being run in partnership with Native Events – The Realise Summit. I’d love to go but have several pieces of work I need to complete and sign off for clients.

Then Friday it’s a big Friday for the Future global event and Oxfam conference in Cork – Ground Up: climate justice forum, running over two days. I’ll be there on the Friday and am offering an introduction to doughnut economics in the morning. Check here for all the details.

Till next week.