I’m chatting with historian, translator and author Moudhy al-Rashid in Wolfson College in Oxford, overlooking the gardens and pond. Moudhy works with the extraordinary record of cuneiform languages written on clay tablets with reed styluses. These open and period of deep history of some 3500 years between the two rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates. Most of the tablets records of daily life; some are great hymns and stories. We talk of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest surviving written story, and of the Hymns of Enheduana, the priestess and first named author in human history. We also talk of the Assyrian Palace Sculptures of approx. 600 BCE that depict the lion hunt of King Ashburnipal. Says Moudhy, “What I sense is that the artists seem to have been animal activists”, for they depict suffering. Every animal is clearly personalized.

Moudhy says of the Gilgamesh epic, where he searches for immortality and finds is the survival of the collective: “We’re here to look after each other.”

What do these cuneiform tablets advise us? “How to make sense of this bizarre gift we’ve been given, which is being on this planet together.”

Moudhy’s 2025 book is “Between Two Rivers”. She is writing a new book on the richness of individual lives in antiquity.

She recommends Sophus Helle’s gorgeous book on the “Hymns of Enheduana”, and Amanda’s Podany’s “Weavers, Scribes and Kings.”

In her book, Between Two Rivers, Moudhy translates a lullaby song sung by a mother to her child:

“Little one, who dwelled in darkness,

Now you’ve come and seen the sun,

Wy the crying? Why the worries?

What has made your peace undone?”

Website: https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/person/moudhy-al-rashid/

My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

I’m chatting with Jenny Tolhurst in her Danbury garden. She is the first female Lord Lieutenant of Essex, and has been in post for nine years. It is a multi-dimensional role across counties of the UK, representing and serving the monarch of the day. The man duties including organising royal visits, giving out King’s Awards for Volunteers and for Enterprise, and celebrating local action. She commends the rich voluntary work in the county on the environment and support for farmers. We talk about the day in 2002 when the seawalls were deliberately breached to create new marshland and reduce flood risk: “a glorious day” in late winter. Jenny is a sailor and painter: she is interested in light and playing with media.

“Don’t try to be precise,” she says. “Play more!”

Her objects are two bird sculptures by Essex artist Stephen Henderson.

She recommends two books: “English Pastoral” by James Rebanks, and “H is for Hawk” by Helen MacDonald.

Her recommendation: Go Sailing, Paint. “If you want to do it, you can.”

Website: https://essex-lieutenancy.org.uk/

My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."

In the churchyard of Great Henny church, I’m chatting in the breezy sunshine with Roger Morris, the Bishop of Colchester. He’s brought his purple hard hat. We’re at St Mary the Virgin church, one of six churches in the diocese of Chelmsford that has had to be closed because of the effects of climate change. Soils and ground experiencing severe wetting and then summer drying are moving, and 1000-year-old churches without foundations are moving too. At Great Henny both the east and west ends are cracking and sliding away. Two of the five marks of mission, he says, are foundational: challenging unjust structures, and addressing sustainability and the climate crisis. Other closed churches are at Twinstead and Little Wigborough. These profound threats have occurred only in the past five years or so.

The task is so huge, he says, yet Mother Theresa said of actions of individuals: “It might feel like a drop in the ocean, but the ocean is made of drops.”

Roger mentions the unseen heroines and heroes already taking action on climate and sustainability.

Roger recommends reading the new theology statement on sustainability due from The Synod in July 2026. He also says, change your energy provider to renewables, and don’t fly. The Church of England has committed to net zero in all its buildings by 2030. Even if they miss the target, it has helped galvanise action.

My new book will be supporting this podcast, and will be published in March 2027 by Unbreaking/5m. It’s called "Bamboo and Butterfly: Transformation and Story for Climate and Nature Recovery."