Osbert Lancaster
@osbert.realise.earth
What if we created the conditions for people & the rest of nature to thrive – whatever happens? Facilitator. Improv.
📍Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland
Thrivable Field Notes https://notes.realise.earth
Podcasters of Edinburgh https://heylo.group/podedi
📍Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland
Thrivable Field Notes https://notes.realise.earth
Podcasters of Edinburgh https://heylo.group/podedi
That was weird. The bread pudding we just had for dessert with cream cheese, turned out to be savoury with herbs, not sweet!
The excitement of a surprise bag from our local artisanal bakery on @toogoodtogo.bsky.social !
The excitement of a surprise bag from our local artisanal bakery on @toogoodtogo.bsky.social !
November 26, 2025 at 7:12 PM
That was weird. The bread pudding we just had for dessert with cream cheese, turned out to be savoury with herbs, not sweet!
The excitement of a surprise bag from our local artisanal bakery on @toogoodtogo.bsky.social !
The excitement of a surprise bag from our local artisanal bakery on @toogoodtogo.bsky.social !
Believe that road building just creates more traffic and shifts bottlenecks to another junction? You might want to sign this petition.
pentlandhouse.com/cbxpetition/...
pentlandhouse.com/cbxpetition/...
Stop the £55 Million A701 Relief Road – Stop the A701 relief road
Sign the petition as guest user
pentlandhouse.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Believe that road building just creates more traffic and shifts bottlenecks to another junction? You might want to sign this petition.
pentlandhouse.com/cbxpetition/...
pentlandhouse.com/cbxpetition/...
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
www.ember.to
Use China made e-buses. Obviously electric trains are way more environmentally friendly but with constant surplus of renewables in Scotland you could classify them as mobile storage units.
Use China made e-buses. Obviously electric trains are way more environmentally friendly but with constant surplus of renewables in Scotland you could classify them as mobile storage units.
Electric bus between Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Kinross, Edinburgh Airport and more
Travel by electric bus between Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Stirling, Kinross, Fort William, Inverness, Edinburgh Airport and more. Brand-new buses, affordable fares and real-time tracking.
www.ember.to
November 22, 2025 at 10:50 AM
www.ember.to
Use China made e-buses. Obviously electric trains are way more environmentally friendly but with constant surplus of renewables in Scotland you could classify them as mobile storage units.
Use China made e-buses. Obviously electric trains are way more environmentally friendly but with constant surplus of renewables in Scotland you could classify them as mobile storage units.
“I don’t think I want a map of everything I’ve ever read. I want a mind free to read what it needs. I want memory that forgets gracefully. I want ideas that resurface not because I indexed them, but because they mattered.”
bulletjournal.com/blogs/bullet...
bulletjournal.com/blogs/bullet...
I Deleted My Second Brain
For years, I had been building what technologists and lifehackers call a “second brain.” But over time, my second brain became a mausoleum. Instead of aiding memory, it froze my curiosity into static ...
bulletjournal.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:48 PM
“I don’t think I want a map of everything I’ve ever read. I want a mind free to read what it needs. I want memory that forgets gracefully. I want ideas that resurface not because I indexed them, but because they mattered.”
bulletjournal.com/blogs/bullet...
bulletjournal.com/blogs/bullet...
Fascinating story, and in the light of political chaos and machinations these days, great to see two public bodies standing firm on transparency in face of bullying. (Scottish Environment Protection Agency + Scottish Information Commissioner)
www.theferret.scot/navy-try-kee...
www.theferret.scot/navy-try-kee...
Navy made legal threats to try and keep nuclear pollution secret
Emails reveal that naval chiefs piled pressure on environment watchdog to hide details of radioactive contamination on the Clyde.
www.theferret.scot
November 23, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Fascinating story, and in the light of political chaos and machinations these days, great to see two public bodies standing firm on transparency in face of bullying. (Scottish Environment Protection Agency + Scottish Information Commissioner)
www.theferret.scot/navy-try-kee...
www.theferret.scot/navy-try-kee...
Seeking out positive news stories is often promoted as an antidote to doom scrolling. I’ve tried it, and I continue to do it, but I often find that instead of being inspired, uplifted and given hope, I feel unsettled and disempowered.
notes.realise.earth/archive/why-...
notes.realise.earth/archive/why-...
Why positive news can be disempowering
Unpacking the pitfalls of 'positive news' and introducing my new podcast: Thrivable Scotland, Thrivable Planet.
notes.realise.earth
November 21, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Seeking out positive news stories is often promoted as an antidote to doom scrolling. I’ve tried it, and I continue to do it, but I often find that instead of being inspired, uplifted and given hope, I feel unsettled and disempowered.
notes.realise.earth/archive/why-...
notes.realise.earth/archive/why-...
This would improve the quality of most meetings immeasurably cw AI notes:
👉an alternative is to “agree on shared actions or headline summaries to be shared with others or as an input into project-management processes.”
👉an alternative is to “agree on shared actions or headline summaries to be shared with others or as an input into project-management processes.”
If people in your team or organisation are using AI notetakers as a way of coping with too many meetings and a culture of presenteeism, there's not a technological fix for this. The answer is to have fewer, better organised meetings www.careful.industries/blog/2025-11...
November 21, 2025 at 7:36 AM
This would improve the quality of most meetings immeasurably cw AI notes:
👉an alternative is to “agree on shared actions or headline summaries to be shared with others or as an input into project-management processes.”
👉an alternative is to “agree on shared actions or headline summaries to be shared with others or as an input into project-management processes.”
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
I launched Not-Ship: a newsletter using data to understand this age of uncertainty. Why? I love data and I think we could all use a bit more of it.
If you agree, please help me keep this thing going for as long as we can. 💙
First step: Sign up to get it in your inbox each week
www.not-ship.com
If you agree, please help me keep this thing going for as long as we can. 💙
First step: Sign up to get it in your inbox each week
www.not-ship.com
Not-Ship
A newsletter charting the age of uncertainty
www.not-ship.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I launched Not-Ship: a newsletter using data to understand this age of uncertainty. Why? I love data and I think we could all use a bit more of it.
If you agree, please help me keep this thing going for as long as we can. 💙
First step: Sign up to get it in your inbox each week
www.not-ship.com
If you agree, please help me keep this thing going for as long as we can. 💙
First step: Sign up to get it in your inbox each week
www.not-ship.com
Polycrisis bingo! Climate, nature, inequality, food supply, pollinators, ocean currents, democracy…
What else should be on the card?
What else should be on the card?
November 19, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Polycrisis bingo! Climate, nature, inequality, food supply, pollinators, ocean currents, democracy…
What else should be on the card?
What else should be on the card?
Podcasters of Edinburgh! Let’s talk podcasting on Monday at One Canon, Canonmills.
www.heylo.com/event/-Oc9wO...
www.heylo.com/event/-Oc9wO...
November 19, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Podcasters of Edinburgh! Let’s talk podcasting on Monday at One Canon, Canonmills.
www.heylo.com/event/-Oc9wO...
www.heylo.com/event/-Oc9wO...
I’ve just called on the UK to cancel its £1 billion of funding for a climate and human rights disaster in Mozambique. Add your voice:
act.globaljustice.org.uk/node/4383?ut...
act.globaljustice.org.uk/node/4383?ut...
Tell the UK: Don’t Fund a Total Disaster in Mozambique
In 2020, Liz Truss promised almost £1 billion of UK funding to a gas power plant in northern Mozambique that would be a climate and human rights disaster. French fossil fuel giant TotalEnergies owns t...
act.globaljustice.org.uk
November 19, 2025 at 6:42 PM
I’ve just called on the UK to cancel its £1 billion of funding for a climate and human rights disaster in Mozambique. Add your voice:
act.globaljustice.org.uk/node/4383?ut...
act.globaljustice.org.uk/node/4383?ut...
Transparent collective action, including *equitable* rationing, pricing and subsidies:
- A 50-liter daily limit per person was imposed
- Tariffs rose steeply, with high-use households paying up to ten times more
- Low-income households received additional subsidies to ensure fairness
- A 50-liter daily limit per person was imposed
- Tariffs rose steeply, with high-use households paying up to ten times more
- Low-income households received additional subsidies to ensure fairness
"The impact was dramatic. Water use fell by more than 55% in under two years, from 1.2 billion liters per day to about 500 million.When rains finally returned in 2018, the reservoirs refilled. But the deeper lesson endured: transparent, collective action can shift behavior on a massive scale"
Can Tehran use the Cape Town model to escape a water crisis 'Day Zero'?
As Iran’s capital Tehran endures its worst water crisis in living memory, few recent global cases offer clearer lessons than Cape Town in South Africa in 2018.
www.iranintl.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Transparent collective action, including *equitable* rationing, pricing and subsidies:
- A 50-liter daily limit per person was imposed
- Tariffs rose steeply, with high-use households paying up to ten times more
- Low-income households received additional subsidies to ensure fairness
- A 50-liter daily limit per person was imposed
- Tariffs rose steeply, with high-use households paying up to ten times more
- Low-income households received additional subsidies to ensure fairness
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
It seems like many people are groping, in their own various ways, toward some version of, "we need more meatspace interactions and real-world relationships." Revive unions, revive local politics, revive the social practices of gathering & talking repeatedly.
November 17, 2025 at 10:20 PM
It seems like many people are groping, in their own various ways, toward some version of, "we need more meatspace interactions and real-world relationships." Revive unions, revive local politics, revive the social practices of gathering & talking repeatedly.
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
Den Haag will close this 300m stretch of road on Monday and turn it into a cycle path, despite a 1,800 signature petition and attempts from right wing politicians to scrap it. Bravo!
November 17, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Den Haag will close this 300m stretch of road on Monday and turn it into a cycle path, despite a 1,800 signature petition and attempts from right wing politicians to scrap it. Bravo!
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
The plan has admirable goals and some fine ideas. Talks about the problems of lack of passive surveillance and community infrastructure isolated by major roads - populated by drivers who predominantly do not reside in the area.
The plan: install some seats and a bit of landscaping.
Score: 1/10
The plan: install some seats and a bit of landscaping.
Score: 1/10
November 17, 2025 at 8:50 PM
The plan has admirable goals and some fine ideas. Talks about the problems of lack of passive surveillance and community infrastructure isolated by major roads - populated by drivers who predominantly do not reside in the area.
The plan: install some seats and a bit of landscaping.
Score: 1/10
The plan: install some seats and a bit of landscaping.
Score: 1/10
No Substack, I did not enjoy this post - it was f@cking depressing. But worth reading all the same.
November 17, 2025 at 8:40 PM
No Substack, I did not enjoy this post - it was f@cking depressing. But worth reading all the same.
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (“SLAPPs”) are abusive lawsuits which suppress public participation; used by powerful actors to suppress freedom of expression in the public interest.
Scottish Govt has committed to adopting anti-SLAPP legislation
www.abdn.ac.uk/law/news-eve...
Scottish Govt has committed to adopting anti-SLAPP legislation
www.abdn.ac.uk/law/news-eve...
Anti-SLAPP Research Hub Model Law Endorsed by the Scottish Government: Legislation to be Introduced
www.abdn.ac.uk
November 17, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (“SLAPPs”) are abusive lawsuits which suppress public participation; used by powerful actors to suppress freedom of expression in the public interest.
Scottish Govt has committed to adopting anti-SLAPP legislation
www.abdn.ac.uk/law/news-eve...
Scottish Govt has committed to adopting anti-SLAPP legislation
www.abdn.ac.uk/law/news-eve...
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
Can you suggest a guest - working in Scotland - for our new podcast?
Thrivable Scotland, Thrivable Planet is a podcast for people building a better world, people hungry for genuine hope and meaningful action amid the climate, nature and political crises.
Thrivable Scotland, Thrivable Planet is a podcast for people building a better world, people hungry for genuine hope and meaningful action amid the climate, nature and political crises.
November 14, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Can you suggest a guest - working in Scotland - for our new podcast?
Thrivable Scotland, Thrivable Planet is a podcast for people building a better world, people hungry for genuine hope and meaningful action amid the climate, nature and political crises.
Thrivable Scotland, Thrivable Planet is a podcast for people building a better world, people hungry for genuine hope and meaningful action amid the climate, nature and political crises.
Tax justice is human rights justice.
Professor Angela O’Hagan, Chair, Scottish Human Rights Commission, sets out why fair and progressive taxation is essential to realising rights like housing, health, and education in Scotland. #TaxJusticeScotland
taxjustice.scot/blog/tax-jus...
Professor Angela O’Hagan, Chair, Scottish Human Rights Commission, sets out why fair and progressive taxation is essential to realising rights like housing, health, and education in Scotland. #TaxJusticeScotland
taxjustice.scot/blog/tax-jus...
Tax justice is a human rights issue - Tax Justice Scotland
taxjustice.scot
November 17, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Tax justice is human rights justice.
Professor Angela O’Hagan, Chair, Scottish Human Rights Commission, sets out why fair and progressive taxation is essential to realising rights like housing, health, and education in Scotland. #TaxJusticeScotland
taxjustice.scot/blog/tax-jus...
Professor Angela O’Hagan, Chair, Scottish Human Rights Commission, sets out why fair and progressive taxation is essential to realising rights like housing, health, and education in Scotland. #TaxJusticeScotland
taxjustice.scot/blog/tax-jus...
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
A reminder that the Cowgate closed in one direction for more than 18 months so a Virgin Hotel could be built. If that could be done at short notice why not to protect people from DYING?! Edinburgh has its priorities but why is it always student flats, cars, hotels and not people?
Ahead of the @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social Transport and Environment committee meeting on Thursday members of @edcriticalmass.bsky.social protested about lack of action on Cowgate
November 17, 2025 at 2:31 PM
A reminder that the Cowgate closed in one direction for more than 18 months so a Virgin Hotel could be built. If that could be done at short notice why not to protect people from DYING?! Edinburgh has its priorities but why is it always student flats, cars, hotels and not people?
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
Open data friends,
If you could recommend only one resource (book, website, organisation, social media account, video, tool, other) what would you recommend to someone starting on their #opendata journey?
Something that will help them learn and explore.
If you could recommend only one resource (book, website, organisation, social media account, video, tool, other) what would you recommend to someone starting on their #opendata journey?
Something that will help them learn and explore.
November 17, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Open data friends,
If you could recommend only one resource (book, website, organisation, social media account, video, tool, other) what would you recommend to someone starting on their #opendata journey?
Something that will help them learn and explore.
If you could recommend only one resource (book, website, organisation, social media account, video, tool, other) what would you recommend to someone starting on their #opendata journey?
Something that will help them learn and explore.
What's the difference between an "executive" summary and a summary?
Surely we've got beyond the 1970s idea of flattering people by refering to them as "executives"? (cf Likely Lads for those of us old enough to remember)
Surely we've got beyond the 1970s idea of flattering people by refering to them as "executives"? (cf Likely Lads for those of us old enough to remember)
November 17, 2025 at 11:37 AM
What's the difference between an "executive" summary and a summary?
Surely we've got beyond the 1970s idea of flattering people by refering to them as "executives"? (cf Likely Lads for those of us old enough to remember)
Surely we've got beyond the 1970s idea of flattering people by refering to them as "executives"? (cf Likely Lads for those of us old enough to remember)
“Being difficult needs us to be compassionate and collaborative. To build systems, processes, and indeed societies that meet everyone’s needs, rather than the needs of a dominant few. It’s much more difficult than being competitive. It’s hard work, requiring patience, empathy, and understanding.”
November 17, 2025 at 9:59 AM
“Being difficult needs us to be compassionate and collaborative. To build systems, processes, and indeed societies that meet everyone’s needs, rather than the needs of a dominant few. It’s much more difficult than being competitive. It’s hard work, requiring patience, empathy, and understanding.”
Reposted by Osbert Lancaster
The corollary of confiscating jewellery from asylum seekers is, of course, that any type of benefits claimants are now potentially liable to similar thinking.
November 17, 2025 at 9:17 AM
The corollary of confiscating jewellery from asylum seekers is, of course, that any type of benefits claimants are now potentially liable to similar thinking.