Below you’ll find the latest schedule for our upcoming online events. For local (in-person) offerings visit here.
All conversations and discussions are on Zoom.
Also, directly below is a Google Calendar that includes Gaian events and holidays, the moon phases, and celestial events (last courtesy of the New York Times space calendar). For local Gaian Guild events, visit this page.
May Meditation Challenge (All of May)
Back by popular demand, in May we’ll encourage each other to get outside and meditate more. Extend your meditations by a few minutes, or add an extra at noon or in the evening. This is a chance to deepen your meditation practice. Not really competitive, but gamified a bit to help nudge your meditation to a deeper level. Learn more here.
Discussion of the Nature Record (May 12, 2pm ET)
There was a major report on nature published recently (independently after it was shuttered by the Trump Administration). It’s open for comment and may be interesting to discuss as a group, particularly chapter five on nature connection. Comment on the report as you read (before our discussion) or after! If you have time, feel free to read other chapters, particularly the one on culture and relationships (Chapter 11). Join via Zoom.
#DoNothingforttheClimateDay (May 14, all day!)
On the second Thursday in May, we will do nothing for the climate and the planet today! That means slowing down. Take a walk, call a friend, cook a meal, meditate, forest bath, skip work if you can (take it easy at work if you can’t–why not?). Slow down the wheels of ‘progress,’ growth, and ecological trespass. Learn more here.
May Meditation Challenge Celebration (May 29, Time TBD)
Join us to celebrate a month spent a bit more in harmony with Gaia’s rhythms. Swap stories and join in the camaraderie of a challenge well met. All are welcome–even if you meditated just one extra time! Zoom link is here.
Gaian Responses to AI (June 11, 2pm ET)
Artificial intelligence has been in the works for decades if not longer, but generative large-language models really exploded into the public sphere in late 2022. Since then, many concerns have come into view. There are so many, in fact, that the ten-letter IMPACT RISK acronym has been developed to help us remember them all. For a concise overview, see AI-IMPACT-RISK.com.
As Gaians, a general skepticism toward such “innovations” may seem like a given, but both Gaia and AI have a way of eluding expectations. James Lovelock viewed AI as the next stage of our evolution; he didn’t live to see the current iterations, but he did know a thing or two about Gaia. And then there’s Gaia Wakes, the 2005 book by Topher L. McDougal, which proposes that Earth is developing an AI-enabled planetary brain. Dismissed by some as techno-optimist drivel, it has been received as both dystopian and hopeful in other circles for its de-centering of human agency. In any event, AI is becoming so integrated into so many systems that many of us depend upon that avoiding it is impossible. It’s affecting us all, like it or not. So let’s discuss it. Be forewarned, we have no easy answers waiting up our sleeves. This conversation is an opportunity to build community and exchange ideas. On Zoom at: https://xula.zoom.us/my/bart.everson