What is the World Ethic Forum? Five years in, we still stumble on the question. But we know much of what it isn’t: not a project, not an attempt to fix one problem or offer one solution for one sector, in one region. So what are we? In this bonus episode, recorded after our 2026 gathering in Kenya, we reach for a metaphor that seems to fit: a sourdough mother. Something where the purpose is not to grow larger, because the whole point is to give it away, one piece at a time, so that others can use it to bake their own bread. We speak about what it means to be the starter rather than the loaf, and to metabolise the world together. A bonus conversation with World Ethic Forum co-leads Luea Ritter and Anaïs Sägesser.

Show Notes

• Blog: Public event on the microbiome
• Blog: Beyond cosmological narcissism, kinship with mountains

How do you hold complexity together as a collective, without it fragmenting into silos, or blending into some sort of chunky soup? In this episode of our introductory series, we explore the seven thematic strands that structure the World Ethic Forum’s inquiry: where they came from, and how they weave together. These are not separate topics, but different ways into the same core question: how to cultivate a culture of care and kinship rooted in radically shared aliveness. This is the sixth episode in this series with World Ethic Forum co-leads Luea Ritter and Anaïs Sägesser.

Show Notes

• Thematic Strands
• Blog: A gathering of the kinship group

Ontology, cosmology, epistemology, ethical biome: get ready for the big Greek words. In this episode, we unpack what we call our conceptual lens, a layered model we use to make sense of our own work. But we are not only geeking out, or showing off our academic credentials. We are also talking about dreams, care work, grieving, and connecting to the land. This is the fifth episode in a six-part series with World Ethic Forum co-leads Luea Ritter and Anaïs Sägesser, on cultivating a culture of care and kinship.

Show notes 

• Paper: Inquiry into the Prerequisites for Co-creating a Culture of Care and Kinship https://rsdsymposium.org/world-ethic-forum/
• Blogpost: What Happens at a Firekeeper Gathering https://www.worldethicforum.com/what-happens-at-a-firekeeper-gathering/
• Blogpost: Understanding wider ways of knowing https://www.worldethicforum.com/understanding-wider-ways-of-knowing/
• Blogpost: Collective Practices and Collective Capacities https://www.worldethicforum.com/collective-practices-and-capacities-for-radically-shared-aliveness/
• Donella Meadows: https://donellameadows.org/ 
• Presencing Institute https://www.presencing.org/ 
• Arne Naess (Deep Ecology): https://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/download/44/39/102

Yes, I stay, no matter what. In this episode, we speak about firekeeping as a long-term commitment to tending the flame, so that a group can become a vessel strong enough for deep inquiry. We look into melting armours, bearing with dissonance, accepting vulnerability, and how it all hangs on the daily practices that keep each firekeeper well-tuned, like a musical instrument. This is the fourth episode in a six-part series with World Ethic Forum co-leads Luea Ritter and Anaïs Sägesser, on cultivating a culture of care and kinship.

Show notes 

• Blogpost: What is Firekeeping and What are Firekeepers https://www.worldethicforum.com/what-are-firekeepers-and-what-is-firekeeping/
• Blogpost: What Happens at a Firekeeper Gathering https://www.worldethicforum.com/what-happens-at-a-firekeeper-gathering/
• Blogpost: When Grief Enters the Circle https://www.worldethicforum.com/when-grief-enters-the-circle-transformative-learning-as-a-collective-practice/

What if leadership was about tending to the whole, not optimising for a part? In this episode, we speak about stilling the mind, listening to dreams, plants, and riverbeds, and making decisions with our wider ways of knowing. We also look into celebrating soil while it is still healthy instead of negotiating over it once damaged, and celebrate the power of ordinary beauty. This is the third episode in a six-part series with World Ethic Forum co-leads Luea Ritter and Anaïs Sägesser, on cultivating a culture of care and kinship.

Show Notes

• Paper: Towards an Ecocentric Leadership as Stewardship Framework https://www.researchgate.net/publication/396007701_Toward_an_ecocentric_leadership_as_stewardship_framework
• Blogpost: Understanding Wider Ways of Knowing https://www.worldethicforum.com/understanding-wider-ways-of-knowing/
• Blogpost: Generative Scribing and Social Field Resonance https://www.worldethicforum.com/methods-for-collective-wisdom-generative-scribing-and-social-field-resonance-at-the-world-ethic-forum/
• Holacracy:  https://www.holacracy.org/ 
• Sociocracy: https://www.sociocracy.info 

Culture is not something you can make alone. In this episode, we get practical: what has the World Ethic Forum actually learned about growing a culture of care and kinship? We speak about finding the whole world in a sip of water, and what shows up when a group goes deep. We discuss emotions that are individual and collective at once, and the craft of acknowledging them without getting entangled. We also look into the details of design, preparation, and internal curation that make our gatherings possible. This is the second episode in a six-part series with World Ethic Forum co-leads Luea Ritter and Anaïs Sägesser, on cultivating a culture of care and kinship.

Show Notes 

• Blogpost: Co-creating a Culture of Care and Kinship https://www.worldethicforum.com/co-creating-a-culture-of-care-and-kinship-our-learning-journey/
• Blogpost: When Grief Enters the Circle https://www.worldethicforum.com/when-grief-enters-the-circle-transformative-learning-as-a-collective-practice/
• Blogpost: Updates From the Hearth https://www.worldethicforum.com/update-from-the-hearth-a-conspiracy-of-breath/
• Blgopost: Between Elements and Screens https://www.worldethicforum.com/between-elements-and-screens-practising-kinship-in-a-digital-field/
• Holacracy:  https://www.holacracy.org/ 
• Sociocracy: https://www.sociocracy.info 

What is it like to be in relationship with a mountain, or with a grasshopper? This first episode of the World Ethic Forum podcast explores kinship with the more-than-human. We go back to childhood memories, picking cherries and talking with a tree, to trace a connection that was never lost, only silenced, waiting to be nurtured again. And we find that by returning to it, together, we expand our capacity to hold the intensity of our times. This is the first episode in a six-part series with World Ethic Forum co-leads Luea Ritter and Anaïs Sägesser, on cultivating a culture of care and kinship. 

Show Notes 

• Blogpost: Co-creating a Culture of Care and Kinship https://www.worldethicforum.com/co-creating-a-culture-of-care-and-kinship-our-learning-journey/
• Blogpost: Beyond Cosmological Narcissism https://www.worldethicforum.com/beyond-cosmological-narcissism-thinking-with-rivers-dancing-with-mountains-making-ourselves-eatable/
• Blogpost: Methods for Embodied Connection:  https://www.worldethicforum.com/methods-for-embodied-connection-exploring-somatic-approaches-for-futures-of-radically-shared-aliveness/