Sympathetic Fibers: Recent Episodes
Joe Mazur
Sympathetic fibers is a podcast dedicated to examining pressing global issues, the linkages between them, and the young people responding to the transformational challenges of the 21st century.
It's finally time to tackle the big one: climate change. I sat down with Beijing-based climate analyst and activist Xi Xi to better understand the good, the bad, and the ugly of climate action. Maybe pessimism is a virtue after all?
Required Reading: The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
I sit down with practicing medical doctor turned public health professional Dr. Ruby Wang to discuss everyone's favorite topic, the wonderful world of COVID! And also much, much more.
Required Watching/Reading:
Royal Society of Medicine COVID-19 Series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbHUo7Qy-tA&list=PL1yY3WBVbNWAUNRjD5SUeC9R-G9vT8Gvq&ab_channel=RoyalSocietyofMedicine
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
I sit down with Dr. Mitz Serofia and Kirstin Pareja, two young advocates for mental health from Iloilo City in the Philippines, to talk about access, stigma, and the economic and human costs of untreated mental health issues.
Required Reading:
Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
I sit down with conservation photographer Kyle Obermann to learn about a series of exciting environmental protection efforts underway in China...and find out what a Takin is.
Required Reading: Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth.
The Sichuan Takin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_takin
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
I sit down with former EdTech entrepreneur Ted Chen to discuss the theory and practice of online education in China and beyond. Required reading: Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life by Diane Tavenner.
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
I sit down with China-based filmmaker and food activist Jian Yi to discuss the ethical and social implications of the global rise in animal protein consumption and its impact on our health and the natural world. Required reading/viewing: Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/EAT What's for Dinner? (directed by Jian Yi) https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Dinner-English-Subtitled-Jian/dp/B00TOUQN80 Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
Joe and guest host Helena Javitte sit down with Chenai Chair, a Johannesburg-based research manager for the World Wide Web Foundation, to talk about digital inequality and its intersection with gender, economic, and social power structures.
Required reading:
Global Information Society Watch 2013: Women's rights, gender and ICTs
https://www.apc.org/en/pubs/global-information-society-watch-2013-womens-right
Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era is Transforming Kenya
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/D/bo31262836.html
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
Joe and guest host Helena Javitte sit down with Pardis Emami Naeini, a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University to talk about digital privacy, user experience, the internet of things, and putting a "nutrition facts" label on smart devices.
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
Joe sits down with Marlon Nombrado, the Manila-based co-founder of Out of The Box Media Literacy Initiative, to talk about fake news, misinformation, and a new educational framework for teach digital literacy.
Out of the Box Media Literacy Imitative website:
https://www.ootbmedialiteracy.org/
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
In today's interconnected world, no issue exists in isolation and the challenges that we face as a global society are thornier and more tangled than ever before.
In this podcast, we'll be doing a series of deep dives into the tough problems that define the world in 2020, how they're related to each other, and the inspiring young people who are working to address them, both within in their community and across the globe.
Together we'll explore the ties that bind on Sympathetic Fibers brought to you by Global Shapers Beijing II Hub.
Music: https://www.purple-planet.com