What Could Possibly Go Right?: Recent Episodes
Vicki Robin
In this interview series sponsored by Post Carbon Institute, Vicki Robin, activist and best-selling author on sustainable living, talks with provocative thought leaders about emerging possibilities and ways humanity might step onto a better, post-pandemic path.
Vicki Robin, the once and possibly future host of What Could Possibly Go Right?, breaks her hiatus to share the first episode of We Are the Great Turning, an intimate kitchen table conversation with the elder ecophilosopher and guide Joanna Macy.
As Joanna approaches the end of a long life dedicated to healing our imperiled planet, she begins the conversation with Jessica Serrante, her student and dear friend, “standing afresh with what it’s like to live on Earth at this moment.” As we look into the face of the climate crisis, injustice, and war, difficult feelings arise; all are welcomed.
You are invited to join them at Joanna’s kitchen table, and invited into a deeper sense of your belonging and love for our world.
In this episode you'll find:
- How to connect with the great possibilities that still exist for us even in these precarious times Joanna reflects on her awakening of environmental consciousness
- Jess reflects on how meeting Joanna changed her life
- Love, laughter, heartbreak, and the Work That Reconnects
- Bonus Exercise: “Open Sentences”—a practice for partners
Check out the full podcast here or search for "We Are the Great Turning" in your podcast app of choice.
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Complete Show Notes
Douglas Rushkoff makes another appearance on our podcast, sharing his latest thoughts on What Could Possibly Go Right? Listen to his previous interviews in episodes 52, 84, and 97.
Douglas Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. Rushkoff’s work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and one another. Named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT, his twenty books include Team Human, based on his podcast.
Recorded while 2022 was coming to a close, we hope you'll enjoy this casual chat between Douglas and Vicki.
- The need to “adopt and invent alternative narratives of success that involve mutuality, rather than singularity; that are collective and communal, rather than alienated and isolated”
- The importance of tolerating ambiguity, having a tender heart and embracing difference
- The “idea of asking the right questions at the right times… to reduce the cognitive harm imposed by propagandists and media people who don't have our best interests at heart.”
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Laura Oldanie is a green living and money coach who blogs at Rich & Resilient Living, where she explores money and lifestyle choices for a regenerative future. Her goal is to help people achieve financial freedom and live their best lives in socially and environmentally conscious ways that equally value people, planet, and profit.
She received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2009 and has been exploring how to earn, spend, invest, and manage her money to bring about the change she wants to see in the world ever since. She has been a sought-after source of knowledge on regenerative investing, and her work has been featured in Forbes, Your Money or Your Life, Good Housekeeping, CNBC, All Star Money, ChooseFI, The Firedrill Podcast, the Permaculture podcast, and many others!
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The “possibilities for us to think more holistically, more resourcefully about wealth and what constitutes wealth”
- The need to “think about retirement planning on a climate challenged planet”, and to build resilient homes and communities
- The self-actualization and joy elements that come from resourcefulness and creative frugality
- Thinking beyond socially responsible investing to more regenerative and meaningful opportunities
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For over fifty years, through twenty books and one Pulitzer Prize finalist, Susan Griffin has been making unconventional connections between seemingly separate subjects. Whether pairing ecology and gender in her foundational work Woman and Nature, or the private life with the targeting of civilians in A Chorus of Stones, she has shed a new light on countless contemporary issues, including climate change, war, colonialism, the body, democracy, and terrorism.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- An exploration of the boundaries or “binding” of gender
- The relationship between matter and spirit
- The value of writing, “a sort of miracle, of something being created”
- That “people need meaning… as much as food, water, and air” and that meaning often comes through stories
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Margaret Wheatley, Ed.D. began caring about the world’s peoples in 1966 as a Peace Corps volunteer in post-war Korea. As a consultant, senior-level advisor, teacher, speaker, and formal leader, she has worked on all continents (except Antarctica) with all levels, ages, and types of organizations, leaders, and activists. Her work now focuses on developing and supporting leaders globally as Warriors for the Human Spirit. Margaret has written ten books, including the classic Leadership and the New Science, and been honored for her pathfinding work by many professional associations, universities, and organizations.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The idea of life affirming leadership, “on what cultivates life, what cultivates growth” and “adapting to circumstances”.
- The call to be “of dedicated service at the local level where we can still create good lives… embodiments of good human beings, which is the ultimate gift that we can offer.”
- The need to “get our egos out of the way” and move to a “place of right action and right work”
- The question of seeing “what's needed here, and then, am I the right person to contribute at this time?”
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For over 35 years, Alisa Gravitz has led Green America, the national green economy organization that develops marketplace solutions to social and environmental problems with a key focus on climate, regenerative agriculture, labor justice and responsible finance. As part of Green America's Center for Sustainability Solutions, which focuses on transforming supply chains, Alisa Gravitz co-chairs innovation networks on carbon farming, regenerative agriculture, climate safe lending, solar and clean electronics. Ms. Gravitz’s board service includes Ceres, Yes! Media, Network for Good, the Non-GMO Project and Underdog Foundation, along with Green America.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The progress in the renewable energy field around the world
- The importance of our own individual steps towards climate action, both in impacting the issue and influencing society’s leaders
- The significance of regenerative agriculture for environmental and social benefits
- The role of pathfinders, early adopters, and fast followers in driving positive change
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Anne Stadler is a pioneering elder and board member at Sourcing the Way. Her specialty is offering services that support self-organizing individual and collective leadership. She opens space for the emergence of spirited leadership and inspired forms for collective evolution. A founder and organizer of local, national, and international peace efforts, and an award-winning television producer at KING 5-TV in Seattle Washington, Anne has decades of experience in guiding the formation of emergent communities.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- Learning what love is in your life, guiding and pulling us forward through even bleak times and problems
- Appreciating “all these little bubbling initiatives that people undertake out of love” that are creating change
- Realizing that “We live in an emergent reality. We're creating the future all the time, or we're being drawn into it.”
- Exploring the principles of Open Space for community building
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Riane Eisler is a social systems scientist, cultural historian, futurist, and attorney whose research, writing, and speaking has transformed the lives of people worldwide. Her newest work, Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future, co-authored with anthropologist Douglas Fry, shows how to construct a more equitable, sustainable, and less violent world based on Partnership rather than Domination. Dr. Eisler is founder and president of the Center for Partnership Studies (CPS), dedicated to research and education.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That “there's still this distracting argument between capitalism or socialism” and that “yes, we need enlightened government policies, but we really need to go deeper and wider and beyond”
- The focus on four cornerstones for partnership or domination systems: family/childhood, gender, economics, narratives/language
- The use of social wealth economic indicators as better measures for quality of life
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Fran Korten is former executive director, publisher and contributing editor for YES! Magazine, where she wrote about opportunities to advance a progressive agenda in politics, economics, and the environment. She lives in Bainbridge Island, Washington, with her husband, author David Korten.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The encouraging increase in voter turnout, especially amongst younger people
- The learnings we can take from the “people over profit” Mondragon model in Spain’s Basque region
- The benefits of ranked choice voting in elections, resulting in more collaboration and civil dialogue in the political process
- The positive shift in our respect for Indigenous people
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Kristin Ohlson is a writer living in Portland, Oregon. Her newest book is Sweet in Tooth and Claw: Stories of Generosity and Cooperation in the Natural World. Her last book was The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers and Foodies are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet, which the Los Angeles Times calls “a hopeful book and a necessary one…. a fast-paced and entertaining shot across the bow of mainstream thinking about land use.” She appears in the award-winning documentary film, Kiss the Ground, speaking about the connection between soil and climate health.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
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“Cities and human societies are marvels of cooperation”
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“There are a lot of people in journalism… who are looking for the solutions and looking for positive examples to spread around”
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That “every living thing has a mutualism, a mutually beneficial relationship with other living things”
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That “a big part of it is storytelling… when something brilliant has happened in these small incremental steps of healing relationships or the natural world; to tell the story, multiplies it”
Support the showComplete Show Notes
Douglas Rushkoff makes another appearance on our podcast, sharing his latest thoughts on What Could Possibly Go Right? Listen to his previous interviews in episodes 28, 52, and 83.
Douglas Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. Rushkoff’s work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and one another. Named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT, his twenty books include Team Human, based on his podcast. Others include bestsellers Present Shock, Throwing Rocks and the Google Bus, Program or Be Programmed, Life Inc, and Media Virus. He also made the PBS Frontline documentaries Generation Like, The Persuaders, and Merchants of Cool.
As 2022 comes to a close, enjoy this casual chat between Douglas and Vicki.
- The need to “adopt and invent alternative narratives of success that involve mutuality, rather than singularity; that are collective and communal, rather than alienated and isolated”
- The importance of tolerating ambiguity, having a tender heart and embracing difference
- The “idea of asking the right questions at the right times… to reduce the cognitive harm imposed by propagandists and media people who don't have our best interests at heart.”
Support the showComplete Show Notes
Kritee Kanko is a climate scientist, Zen priest, Educator & founding spiritual teacher of Boundless in Motion. She is an ordained teacher in the Rinzai Zen lineage of Cold Mountain, a co-founder of Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center and faculty for many organizations for courses at the intersection of Ecology and spirituality. She has served as a scientist in the Climate Smart Agriculture program at Environmental Defense Fund.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The sense of belonging that comes from taking time to slow down and share your authentic truth
- The need for healing our collective trauma, to allow us to bond and move forward
- The emergence of ancestral resilience that can bring us together
- The tension between freedom and boundaries in belonging
Connect with Kritee Kanko
Website: boundlessinmotion.org
Support the showComplete Show Notes
Geneen Marie Haugen, PhD, grew up as a free-range wildish kid with a run amok imagination. She is a guide to the experiential, intertwined mysteries of nature and psyche with the Animas Valley Institute, and is on the faculty of the Esalen Institute, Schumacher College, and the Fox Institute for Creation Spirituality. Her writing has appeared in many journals and books, including Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth; Thomas Berry: Dreamer of the Earth; Parabola Journal; Ecopsychology Journal; DailyGood.org; High Country News; and others.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The power in our unique creativity and imagination as human beings
- The value of becoming more receptive to the dreams and consciousness of the community, earth and universe around us
- The increasing awareness of traditional Indigenous and ecological knowledge in the Western worldview
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Gwendolyn Hallsmith is the Executive Director of Global Community Initiatives, a non-profit organization she founded in 2002, and has just celebrated their 20th anniversary. She is the author of six books on sustainable community and economic development and has worked with communities all over the world to foster caring communities, vibrant local economies, good governance, efficient services, and healthy ecosystems. She founded Vermonters for a New Economy to work on economic solutions at the state level, and the Headwaters Garden and Learning Center, an ecovillage in Cabot, VT.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- Transitioning away from capitalism into new ways of thinking; a “caring economy”
- Alternative examples for money and ownership, such as timebanking, neighborhood caring models, universal basic income, and sharing economy
- The need to make changes in three systems of food, energy and money
Resources
- Song: “The End of Capitalism Rag” by Global Community Initiatives https://youtu.be/BK_MgvD7QAc
- www.global-community.org
- www.neweconomyvt.org
- www.headwatersvermont.org
- www.facebook.com/TheNewEconomistas
Support the showComplete Show Notes
Hear from our host Vicki Robin in another solo episode, as she shares a topical theme for “What Could Possibly Go Right?” including:
- Ideas for creative solutions and alternative arrangements to address America’s housing issues
- Recognizing the intersection of population pressures, the wealth gap, and the climate crisis
- Transforming the idea of the American dream, that “we can discover the freedom of belonging as we end isolation as a symbol of wealth and privilege.”
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Per Espen Stoknes, a psychologist with PhD in economics, is a TED Global speaker, and serves as the director of Centre for Green Growth at the Norwegian Business School. An experienced foresight facilitator and academic, he’s also serial entrepreneur, including co-founding clean-tech company GasPlas. Author of several books, among them Learning from the Future (2004, in Norwegian), Money & Soul (2009) and the “Outstanding Academic Title of 2015” award winning book: What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming (2015). Per Espen has also served as member of Norwegian Parliament.
He answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The work of Earth4All in encouraging a change to systems thinking to address the multiple threats to our survival
- The need to shift our identity beyond self-interested individuals, to earthlings sharing a commons in need of preservation
- The call to let go of American exceptionalism and recognize the innovation taking place across the globe
Resources
- Book: Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity (2022) https://www.earth4all.life/book
Support the showComplete Show Notes
With the mid-term election underway in US this week, we feature a replay of our interview with Heather Cox Richardson, as heard on episode 8 in July 2020.
Heather Cox Richardson is Professor of History at Boston College and an expert on American political and economic history. She is the author of six books on American politics and is a national commentator on American political history and the Republican Party. She is also a leading #Twitterstorian, explaining the historical background of modern political issues through Twitter threads, the co-editor of We’re History, a web magazine of popular history, and the author of Letters from an American, a chronicle of the Trump presidency since the Ukraine Scandal broke. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune.
Heather addresses the question of What Could Possibly Go Right? with a political focus. Her insights include:
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That the current condition is waking people up from autopilot and creating the realization they need to pursue change personally to create the society in which they want to live.
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A reminder that the beauty of a democratic system is getting to choose which direction to go.
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That the desire for equality of opportunity and access should no longer be pushed to the narrative of special interest in politics.
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The potential to innovate and create change through crowdsourcing government and society.
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That the American dream needs to be rewritten and move away from the heteronormative nuclear family as its centerpiece, to a more community-centered and diverse view.
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Sherri Mitchell is the Founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the global protection of Indigenous land and water rights and the preservation of the Indigenous way of life. Sherri is an author and cohost of the syndicated radio program Love (and revolution) Radio, which focuses on real-life stories of heart-based activism and revolutionary spiritual change. She was born and raised on the Penobscot Indian reservation (Penawahpskek). She speaks and teaches around the world on issues of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and spiritual change.
After her previous appearance on episode 68, Sherri returns to the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- “Start thinking about who are we beyond the stories that we tell”, including the narratives carried forward from problematic pasts.
- Learning to “sit in a space of rootedness and visualize the world that we most want to inhabit, then become a citizen who is able to live there, in a peaceful, just and equitable way”
- Getting energy from aligning ourselves with “those energies that were creating something new, that were about imagining and building the possibility of a new reality”
- Being conscious of our use of technology and aiming to “reconnect our bodies to the earth” and its teachings
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Joanna Macy, Ph.D, author & teacher, is a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology. A respected voice in movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she interweaves her scholarship with learnings from six decades of activism. Her wide-ranging work addresses psychological and spiritual issues of the nuclear age, the cultivation of ecological awareness, and the fruitful resonance between Buddhist thought and postmodern science. The many dimensions of this work are explored in her thirteen books, which include three volumes of poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke with translation and commentary.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- Choosing “to be starkly present in this moment and now” is a radical act
- “Don't be afraid of your sorrow or grief or rage. Treasure them. They come from your caring.”
- These emotions “will nurture in you a fierce clarity for what can be done”
- “There's so much joy and courage… in finding a purpose”
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Janine Benyus is the co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8 and Biomimicry Institute. She is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine’s work as a global thought leader has evolved the practice of biomimicry from a meme to a movement, inspiring clients and innovators around the world to learn from the genius of nature.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The inspiration we can take from systems in nature for ourselves and communities
- The value of a biomimetic approach to infrastructure development and business operations
- The difference in designing systems for positive output, beyond simply net zero
Resources
- Biomimicry 3.8 www.biomimicry.net
- Biomimicry Institute www.biomimicry.org
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Phoebe Barnard is an environmental and societal futures analyst and sustainability strategist, global change ecologist, biodiversity conservation biologist, climate risk and resilience specialist, policy wonk, and film co-producer. She is the chief executive officer at the Stable Planet Alliance and an affiliate professor at UW Bothell and UW Seattle. Phoebe works at the intersection of science, society, sustainability, policy, planning, and media storytelling.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- “Soldiering on through times of profound ecological angst” to make our positive contributions
- The importance of surrounding ourselves with “wonderful people… that are like-minded in their determination to make that positive future, that kinder, wiser, more humble, more sustainable civilization ahead happen.”
- That “these times call upon us to be the best kind of person that we can be” and “to bring out our most profound humanity”.
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Kinari Webb, MD, is the founder of Health In Harmony, an international nonprofit dedicated to reversing global heating, understanding that rainforests are essential for the survival of humanity, and a co-founder of Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI). Dr. Webb graduated from Yale University School of Medicine with honors and currently splits her time between Indonesia, international site assessments, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Guardians of the Trees is her debut.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The interconnectedness of nature and humanity, that rainforest health is linked to planetary and human health
- The importance of reciprocity and gratitude towards the communities living in and protecting our forests
- Using radical listening to respect and understand what communities truly need to solve problems
- The value of “recognizing there is enough for us all to thrive, but only when we all thrive. That it is actually the belief in not enough that creates the scarcity.”
Resources
- Book: Guardians of the Trees: A Journey of Hope Through Healing the Planet (2021) - Kinari Webb, M.D. www.guardiansofthetrees.org
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Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. He has written 20 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and What To Do When It's Your Turn (And It's Always Your Turn). Most recently, he organized the all-volunteer community project, The Carbon Almanac.
By focusing on everything from effective marketing and leadership, to the spread of ideas and changing everything, Seth has been able to motivate and inspire countless people around the world.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The Carbon Almanac project and book, is “a powerful tool to help us create change, right here and right now”
- That humanity finds ways to solve problems and live with situations, and perseverance is our best (and only) option
- That we're not just in the audience; we're participants with power
- The Rogers Curve of idea adoption and how it applies to activism
- That systemic change will come not from solo personal action, but from organizing groups toward common goals
Resources
- Book: The Carbon Almanac: It's Not Too Late (2022)thecarbonalmanac.org
Connect with Seth Godin
Website: sethgodin.com
Twitter: twitter.com/thisissethsblog
Facebook: facebook.com/sethgodin
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Please check out our newest podcast, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival featuring Richard Heinberg. How have humans become powerful enough to disrupt the world's climate, trigger the sixth mass extinction, and cause serious harm to the biosphere? And with all the abilities and technologies we've accrued, why do we so often oppress instead of uplift one another? Join us as we explore the hidden driver behind the converging crises of the 21st century. It all comes down to power - our pursuit of it, overuse of it, and abuse of it. Learn how different forms of power arose, what they mean for us today, and why giving up power just might save us.
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Bonus episode: With the recent passing of Hazel Henderson, Vicki Robin revisits her April 2020 interview with Hazel as part of her CoVida Conversation series. This earlier series inspired the What Could Possibly Go Right? podcast.
Hazel Henderson (1933-2022), D.Sc. Hon., FRSA, went virtual (her own words) on May 22, 2022, at the age of 89. A prolific writer, Henderson authored nine books and hundreds of articles leading to what is now known as sustainability and growing the “green” economy. Henderson is best known as a Lifelong Futurist who 40 years ago forecasted the need for the current transition from the fossil fuel era to the 21st century green economy worldwide in her groundbreaking book, The Politics of the Solar Age, (Doubleday, 1981) which was the lead review in the New York Times Book Review on Sept. 13, 1981. Her passion for the environment and her grasp of finance led to her creation of the global socially responsible investment industry single handedly. Her accomplishments are valuable and current going forward especially her advocacy to hold polluters accountable to the world’s stakeholders, not just the stockholders.
Read the full tribute on Hazel's website at https://hazelhenderson.com/
See also Vicki's tribute at https://vickirobin.com/hazel-henderson/
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Douglas Rushkoff makes a third appearance in our series, sharing his latest thoughts on What Could Possibly Go Right? Listen to his previous interviews in episodes 28 and 52.
Douglas Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. Rushkoff’s work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and one another. Named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT, his twenty books include Team Human, based on his podcast. Others include bestsellers Present Shock, Throwing Rocks and the Google Bus, Program or Be Programmed, Life Inc, and Media Virus. He also made the PBS Frontline documentaries Generation Like, The Persuaders, and Merchants of Cool.
Before our season break, enjoy this casual chat between Douglas and Vicki which included themes of:
- Exposing “the false premise of winning at capitalism”
- Exploring that life often gets better, not worse as we avoid consumerist comforts
- Rebuilding non-monetary social capital and being careful of the “transactional bias in the way human beings relate to each other”
Complete show notes HERE
Connect with Douglas Rushkoff
Website: rushkoff.com
Twitter: twitter.com/rushkoff
Follow WCPGR/Resilience
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
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Margaret Klein Salamon, PhD, is the Executive Director of Climate Emergency Fund. She is a clinical psychologist turned climate activist whose work helps people face the truth of the climate emergency and transform their despair into effective action. She founded and directed The Climate Mobilization from 2014-2020, advocating an all-hands-on-deck, whole society mobilization to protect humanity and the living world from climate catastrophe. She is the Founding Principal of Climate Awakening, a project to unleash the power of climate emotions through scalable small group conversations. She is the author of Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth, a radical self-help guide for the climate emergency
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The need for a widescale consciousness shift to prioritize climate mobilization
- The psychological defenses being used during this climate emergency, such as compartmentalization, wilful ignorance and intellectualization
- The drive to action from the “combination of morality with something new…like enlightened self-interest.”
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Margaret Klein SalamonWebsite: https://www.climateemergencyfund.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClimatePsych
Follow WCPGR/Resilience
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
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Betsy Taylor is president of Breakthrough Strategies & Solutions LLC. For over thirty years, she has built a solid reputation as a philanthropic advisor, social change leader, motivational speaker, and problem solver. For the past four years, Betsy has worked to build the field of regenerative agriculture through grant-making, network development, global convenings, and general cheerleading about the potential of our lands to sequester carbon pollution while boosting food security and habitat protection.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The increased resilience of healthy soil farms against climate change impacts
- The boost to food production and bio-diversity offered through regenerative agriculture practices. “It's phenomenal what the land will do if you just give it a break.”
- The value in shifting to bio-regional production and supply chains
Complete show notes HERE Register for The Dirt on Soil HERE
Connect with Betsy Taylor
Website: https://www.breakthroughstrategiesandsolutions.com
Follow WCPGR/Resilience
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
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Helaine Olen is an award-winning opinion writer for the Washington Post Opinion section. An expert on money and society with a deep understanding of public policy, she writes, speaks and consults on issues including Social Security, retirement, healthcare, student loans and women’s financial issues. Helaine has appeared on The Daily Show, Frontline, C-Span, the BBC, MSNBC, All Things Considered, Marketplace and more to share her forward-thinking commentary on politics, economics and consumer and regulatory issues.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The “Great Resignation” and Americans’ changing relationship with work
- The need to insist on dignity in our working lives
- The call “to not confuse your needs, with corporate needs or government needs”
- The benefits of building better social safety nets and increased government support
Complete show notes HERE
Connect with Helaine Olen
Website: http://helaineolen.com
Twitter: twitter.com/helaineolen
Follow WCPGR/Resilience
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
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Dr. Britt Wray is a Human and Planetary Health Fellow at Stanford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her research focuses on the mental health impacts of the ecological crisis. She is the creator of Gen Dread, the weekly newsletter about “staying sane in the climate crisis” and the author of Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis (2022). She has hosted several podcasts, radio & TV programs with the BBC and CBC, and is a TED speaker.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The “profound moment of collective wake up” and the eco-anxiety we find ourselves in
- The impacts of the climate crisis on young people and their feelings of despair and betrayal
- The importance of acceptance and “leaning into that vulnerability and lack of control” for outcomes, while still taking action
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Britt WrayWebsite: www.brittwray.com
Newsletter: gendread.substack.com
Instagram: instagram.com/gen_dread
Twitter: twitter.com/brittwray
Follow WCPGR/Resilience
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
Support the show
Stacy Mitchell is co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a national research and advocacy organization that fights corporate control and works to build thriving, equitable communities. She directs its initiative to decentralize economic power and level the playing field for independent businesses. She has produced many influential reports and articles, designed local and federal policies, and collaborated to build effective coalitions and campaigns.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The problems of monopoly power by big corporations
- The positives in the current shifts to reign in of corporate power
- The reimagining of what the economy could be and how it could serve us
Complete show notes HERE
Connect with Stacy Mitchell
Website: www.ilsr.org
Website: www.stacymitchell.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/stacyfmitchell
Instagram: www.instagram.com/stacyfmitchell
Facebook: www.facebook.com/localselfreliance
Follow WCPGR/Resilience
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
Support the show
Sarah Crowell is a dancer and choreographer who has taught dance, theater, mindfulness and violence prevention for over 35 years. She founded the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company, which was the subject of two documentary films, and won the National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award. Sarah has facilitated arts integration, violence prevention, cultural humility, and professional development sessions with artists and educators since 2000, both locally and nationally, and is the recipient of many awards including the KPFA Peace award.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That choosing to feel joy despite "the world's madness" is an act of revolution and of service
- The value of providing spaces for young people to be heard and uplifted
- The subtle difference between supremacy and hierarchy
Complete show notes HERE
Connect with Sarah CrowellWebsite: www.destinyarts.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sarah.crowell.378
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sarahcrowell65
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Christina Baldwin is a writer, wanderer, and teacher on the trail of community and story; she is co-founder, with Ann Linnea, of PeerSpirit, Inc. and The Circle Way Process, bringing modern structure and application to the human heritage of circle. Christina is the author of 7 books, including (with Ann) The Circle Way, A Leader in Every Chair; Storycatcher; Life’s Companion; Calling the Circle; and The Seven Whispers, Spiritual Practice for Times Like These. She works cross-culturally and internationally instilling circle process wherever it can flourish and in the Art of Hosting network.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The “need for story to survive” and to capture our humanness
- That journal writing and archiving allows us to process experiences for greater understanding
- The role of story in healing trauma and organizing our insights
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Christina BaldwinWebsite: https://peerspirit.com
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Stephanie Rearick is the Founder and former Co-Director of the Dane County TimeBank (DCTB) – a 2800-member time exchange, and Creative Director of Mutual Aid Networks, a new type of networked cooperative. In addition to her work in timebanking and growing grassroots-up economic and community regeneration, Rearick is co-owner of Mother Fool’s Coffeehouse.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That “mutual aid networks are found throughout all living systems”
- That by contrast, our money system “widens the gap between the haves and have nots, and causes a competitive situation”
- That systems of mutual aid and care are the key safety nets in times of disaster
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Stephanie RearickWebsite: https://www.mutualaidnetwork.org
Website: http://stephanierearick.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.rearick
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanierearic
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Nate Hagens is the Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF), which focuses on educating and preparing society for the coming cultural transition. Allied with leading ecologists, energy experts, politicians, and systems thinkers, ISEOF assembles road-maps and off-ramps for how human societies can adapt to lower throughput lifestyles.
Nate holds a Master's Degree in Finance from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont. He teaches an Honors course, Reality 101, at the University of Minnesota.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- Learning how to thrive, think positively, and sharpen your “sword” to be more effective in the things that you care about
- The importance of coping mechanisms to deal with the frenetic stimulation, stress and worry of our current times
- That we can be examples of people living differently, away from conspicuous consumption and towards a higher standard of ethics, empathy and kindness. “Those people in turn then act as a stabilizing force for the entire community when things get tough.”
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Nate HagensWebsite: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NJHagens
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Kristi Nelson, Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living, is also the author of Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted. Her life’s work in the non-profit sector has focused on leading, inspiring, and strengthening organizations committed to progressive social and spiritual change. Being a long-time stage IV cancer survivor moves her every day to support others in living and loving with great fullness of heart.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The place of gratefulness in intersectionality and finding a way through polarization
- That “living gratefully opens us to that granularity”, that makes space for more to be understood, seen, heard, and reckoned with
- The relationship between grief and gratefulness “honors and recognizes the beauty and truth of what is being shifted”
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Kristi Nelson
Website: https://kristinelson.net
Website: https://gratefulness.org
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Stephen Dinan is an author, speaker, and the founder and CEO of The Shift Network, an organization that delivers virtual summits, courses, and trainings on spirituality, peace, holistic health, psychology, parenting, enlightened business, shamanism, indigenous wisdom, and sustainability.
Stephen helped create and directed the Esalen Institute’s Center for Theory & Research, and is a member of the Transformational Leadership Council and Evolutionary Leaders. He is the author of Sacred America, Sacred World: Fulfilling Our Mission in Service to All and Radical Spirit.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- How small efforts and initiatives inspire others and create a larger scale for change
- The growing mainstream traction of psychedelics will help shift consciousness and generate innovation
- Recognizing dysfunctional polarization and seeking synthesis that “respects some of the wisdom that might be held on both sides”
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Stephen Dinan
Website: https://www.stephendinan.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephenDinan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephendinan
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Hear from our host Vicki Robin in this solo episode, as she reflects on the themes emerging from “What Could Possibly Go Right?”, including:
- The challenges of cultural scouting and remaining open to seeing the whole picture within “growing social insanity”
- The limiting nature of polarized thinking, seeing things in binaries, and overgeneralization
- That navigating this unraveling together requires empathy and “leaning on the insights from all points of view”
- Local examples of what’s going right, including in food resilience, climate crisis action, and social responsibility within the FIRE community
Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Akaya Windwood facilitates transformation. She advises, trains, and consults on how change happens individually, organizationally, and societally. She is on faculty for the Just Economy Institute and is founder of the New Universal, which centers human wisdom in the wisdom of brown womxn. She was President of Rockwood Leadership Institute for many years and directs the Growing Roots Fund, which supports young womxn’s finance and philanthropic learning and leadership based in generosity and interconnectedness. Akaya is deeply committed to working for a fair and equitable global society while infusing a sense of purpose, delight, and wonder into everything we do.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The notion of individualistic leadership being a “toxic myth” and that we can’t create change alone
- That aging brings a certain responsibility, to mentor the next generations of leaders and assume that power of eldership
- That acknowledging our individual calling and attending to our particular work will reduce overwhelm as our communities work together on issues
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Akaya WindwoodTwitter: https://twitter.com/AkayaWindwood
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/akaya.windwood
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Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Peter Lipman is the former (founding) chair of Transition Network and Common Cause Foundation. He also chaired the UK government’s Department for Energy and Climate Change’s Community Energy Contact Group. He’s been a teacher, a co-operative worker, an intellectual property lawyer, and worked at UK charity Sustrans, latterly as external affairs director, before setting up Anthropocene Actions, a community interest company that promotes fair, loving, and ecologically regenerative societies.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That cultural change towards empathy and connection will help address challenges and “be an enormously important part of that having a go, that holding that belief that we can do better”
- The call to experiment more, “take more risks and be much more loving, and see where it gets us”
- The need to find peace with paradox; “it's about acting now with urgency… from a place of calm and not seeking to control outputs, outcomes; of kind of going with what emerges”
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Peter LipmanWebsite: https://www.anaction.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/peteralipmanFollow WCPGR/Resilience
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Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Helena Norberg-Hodge is a linguist, author, filmmaker, the founder of the international non-profit organization, Local Futures, and the convenor of World Localization Day. A pioneer of the ‘new economy’ movement, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social, and ecological well-being for more than thirty years.
In addition to authoring her latest book Local is Our Future, Helena produced and co-directed the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness, and is the author of Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, described as “an inspirational classic”.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That localization offers people a better connection with nature and each other; smaller, slower, more satisfying, and human scale
- The call to resist the dominant trend of “top-down pressure towards monoculture, a competitive, ever faster, ever-larger scale global economy”
- The growth of local food movements, including farmers' markets and small scale agriculture
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Helena Norberg-HodgeWebsite: https://www.localfutures.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LocalFutures.TheEconomicsofHappiness
Twitter: https://twitter.com/localfutures_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/localfutures_
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Sherri Mitchell is the Founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the global protection of Indigenous land and water rights and the preservation of the Indigenous way of life. She was born and raised on the Penobscot Indian reservation (Penawahpskek) and teaches around the world on issues of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and spiritual change. She is also a co-host of the syndicated radio program Love (and revolution) Radio, an author, and a Post Carbon Institute board member.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The return to the land and reparations movements that are “really about reconnecting to the sources of our survival”
- That young mentors can facilitate our understanding of “newly emerging language that's helping us identify all of the places where we've been stuck”
- That binary thinking no longer serves us and “limits us from becoming all of who we have the potential to be”
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Sherri MitchellWebsite: https://sacredinstructions.life
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sacredinstructions
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Billy Wimsatt is founder and Executive Director of the Movement Voter Project, an organization that works to strengthen progressive power at all levels of government by helping donors – big and small – to support the best and most promising LOCAL community-based organizations in key states – with a focus on youth and communities of color.
Billy has 20 years of experience in journalism (published in Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, etc), social entrepreneurship (co-founded several organizations including the League of Young Voters, Ready for Warren, Solidaire, and Rebuild the Dream), philanthropy (co-founded Solidaire and consults for individual donors and family foundations), and consulting (Obama Campaign, MoveOn.org, Rock the Vote, Ohio Democratic Party, Green For All).
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The growth of a "multifaceted movement of movements", recognizing the intersectionality of current issues
- The dual aims of campaigning to win elections and (more importantly) to win at reconnecting as humans.
- "Our greatest tool has to be love and building beloved community, because we can never actually change things sustainably with fear."
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Billy Wimsatt
Website: https://billywimsatt.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/billywimsatt
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillyWimsatt
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Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Tami Simon hosts the popular Sounds True podcast, Insights at the Edge, which has been downloaded more than 20 million times. With its guiding principle “to disseminate spiritual wisdom”, Sounds True has grown into a multimedia publisher that has produced over 6,000 titles, has been included twice in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing companies, and is North America’s leading publisher of spoken-word spiritual teachings. She is also the founder of the Sounds True Foundation, which is dedicated to bringing spiritual education to people who would otherwise not have access.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The power in our reservoirs of energy and health, “the potency and glory of the very right, present moment”
- The translation of worry and grief into “constructive action, or letting go”
- That we should lean into what we're each inspired by and called to do
- The connection we create by using devotional vocabulary and other bridging language
- The transformation of business leadership and “unleashing of human potential at work” through wisdom-based education
Complete show notes HEREConnect with Tami Simon
Website: https://www.soundstrue.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soundstrue
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soundstrue
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soundstrue
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, bestselling author, and a renowned lecturer who has keynoted conferences and led workshops on the impact of commerce upon the environment. Hawken has consulted with governments and corporations throughout the world and has appeared in numerous media including the Today Show, Bill Maher, Larry King, Talk of the Nation, and has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Washington Post, Business Week, Esquire, and US News and World Report.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The dysfunction of capitalism, and its distinction from the ancient human values of commerce
- That the climate conversation is often exclusive and uses “othering language” and concepts that are not easily understood
- By contrast, “regeneration is innate to being a human being” and “provides a sense of purpose, meaning and dignity to people's lives everywhere in the world”
Complete show notes HERE
Connect with Paul Hawken
https://paulhawken.com
https://regeneration.org
https://www.instagram.com/paulhawken
https://www.instagram.com/regenerationorg
https://www.facebook.com/regenerationorg
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Toyia T. Taylor is the Founder and Executive Director of We.APP and is a highly sought-after educator and motivational speaker, who has used her voice to inspire audiences nationally and internationally. Toyia has dedicated her life to community service, social justice and performing arts. Her awards have included the Wonder of Women (WOW) Award, the National Council of Negro Women Incorporated, Style and Substance Award, and the Education for Social Justice Award from Girls for Gender Equity, Incorporated. Her original poems, Brooklyn Love and Blue Note Room, have had classical selections composed to them that were debuted at Carnegie Hall.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That today’s young people are creating self-authored identities, “claiming who they see themselves to be, and how they don't want to be put into boxes.”
- That in encouraging the younger generations “to speak their truth and to speak with purpose”, we are reminded to do this in our own lives.
- That “there's power in gathering”, allowing us to “work on the inner connection, self reflection, being vulnerable with others, in a space that is brave and healing”
- The call to show up and do the work, “even when I don't feel like it. The hopes of what is to come are greater than the sum of me as an individual.”
- The aspirations for the E1-T1 (Each One-Teach One) Global Citizen Academy for children of all backgrounds, communities, and cultures.
Connect with Toyia Taylor
Website: theweappstudio.com
Facebook: facebook.com/weappSeattle
Instagram: instagram.com/weapp_act_present_perform
YouTube: youtube.com/c/WeappStudio1218
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Learn More: https://bit.ly/wcpgr-res
Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth, and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The exploration of the “perfect design for thriving life as human being here”
- The responsibility to understand the consequences of humanity’s actions on our interconnected world
- The realization that the “modern world paradigm is a choice”
- The co-witnessing of today’s issues and retelling of our old stories can “change the trajectory into the future”
- The reconciliation between the masculine and feminine, and that “men are not the patriarchy; the paradigm is the patriarchy”
Connect with Pat McCabeWebsite: www.patmccabe.net
Facebook: facebook.com/womanstandsshining
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Learn More: https://bit.ly/wcpgr-res
Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Since 1967, Dr. Susan Campbell has been a couple’s therapist, relationship coach, speaker, workshop leader, trainer of professional coaches, college professor, certified Radical Honesty trainer, and founding teacher of the Getting Real work. The Getting Real work is a body of communication and awareness practices that foster personal healing and social evolution. She has written eleven books on relationships, including several best-sellers.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That “you can't solve the problem at the level of problem was created”
- Examples of “relational technologies” that can address polarization
- That sharing our vulnerabilities creates human connection, relationship, and respect; needed in order to influence and find resolution
- That often, “it’s the most marginalized people who have the best perspective on the problem”
- That “people getting perspective on their filters is another way of getting above the level of the problem”
- That through “creative problem solving, energy gets released”
Connect with Susan CampbellWebsite: www.susancampbell.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/drsusan99
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Learn More: https://bit.ly/wcpgr-res
Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Miki Kashtan is a “practical visionary”, exploring the application of the principles and tools of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to social transformation. She is an author, certified NVC trainer, and co-founder of Bay Area NVC (baynvc.org). Miki teaches and works with organizations, visionary leaders, activists, and others to support the transition to a world that works for all.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That having big practical problems to face will bring us together, against our conditioning towards “scarcity, separation and powerlessness”
- That finding the noncontroversial “essential nugget” of agreed principles will create goodwill between opposing sides and pave a way to find solutions.
- That “if you come to a togetherness about solving a problem, it doesn't matter what your opinion is any longer because you know that you have to come up with a solution that isn't going to work only for you.”
- That collective wisdom will enable us to solve big problems, especially through mutual influencing. “I hear what's important to you. I don't yet know how to do it, but I now care about it and I'm changed.”
Resources
- convergentfacilitation.org
- thefearlessheart.org
- Self-study NVC course: Making Life Work. For You. For Everyone. No Exception.
- Book: The Highest Common Denominator: Using Convergent Facilitation to Reach Breakthrough Collaborative Decisionsby Miki Kashtan
Connect with Miki Kashtan
Website: mikikashtan.org/
Twitter: twitter.com/MikiKashtan
Facebook: facebook.com/MikiKashtan/
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Learn More: https://bit.ly/wcpgr-res
Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
In another solo episode, our host Vicki Robin shares her recent reflections on themes emerging from the “What Could Possibly Go Right?” inquiry, including:
- The lessons from studying polarization in ourselves and in wider society
- That “we need to soften the animosity and find cracks where the light comes in”, negotiating and learning so we can work together on the big problems we are facing
- That “we are a nation of neighborhoods”, adapting to change as best we can in our communities
- The fact that “life goes on, is what is always going right, no matter what”
Connect with Vicki Robin
Website: vickirobin.com
Twitter: twitter.com/vicki_robin
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Learn More: https://bit.ly/wcpgr-res
Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Ann Randolph is an award-winning writer and performer. She has performed her solo shows in theaters across the U.S, garnering awards along the way including the Los Angeles Ovation Award for “Best Solo Show” and the San Francisco Bay Critic’s award for “Best Solo Performer.” Mel Brooks produced her first big hit, Squeeze Box, Off-Broadway.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That in these times, more people are feeling compelled to tell their stories and speak their truths
- That our stories of flaws and shame can give others permission to live authentically and to be fully themselves
- That healing, integration, and transformation can come from sharing stories
- That preaching rarely works when trying to change minds, but vulnerable story-telling will create impact
- That finding commonality in our human experience allows for unity in conflict
Resources
- Online non-religious church of sharing stories: www.happycockchurch.com
Connect with Ann RandolphWebsite: www.annrandolph.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/annrandolph12
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ann.randolph.56
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Learn More: https://bit.ly/wcpgr-res
Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
John de Graaf is an author, award-winning documentary filmmaker, speaker, and activist “with a mission to help create a happy, healthy and sustainable quality of life for America.” He was the Executive Director of Take Back Your Time and co-founder of The Happiness Initiative. Since 1977, he has produced more than 40 documentaries, and dozens of shorter news stories and films. He is the author of books including international best-seller Affluenza, Running Out of Time and Hot Potatoes.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That beauty in nature and the built environment can be a uniter in our polarized communities.
- That greening local neighborhoods can have broader positive implications, like reducing violence and having a healing influence.
- That experiments in increasing vacation time or introducing four day workweeks can make workers healthier, happier and more productive.
- That movements towards simplicity, sustainable living and getting outdoors has been boosted during the pandemic.
Connect with John
Website: https://www.johndegraaf.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.degraaf.71
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
Learn More: https://bit.ly/wcpgr-res
Support the show (https://www.resilience.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-podcast-vicki-robin/supportthepodcast/)
Sky Nelson-Isaacs is a physics educator, speaker, author, and musician. He brings together the connection between synchronicity, physics, and real-life using research and original ideas. An educator with nine years of classroom experience, with experience in the industry as a software engineer, Nelson-Isaacs is also a multi-instrumentalist and professional performer of award-winning original musical compositions.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The importance of wholeness in synchronicity; “from the whole, we get solutions from unexpected places.”
- The need for “a certain mindset of openness and receptivity” to see opportunities through the noise.
- The understanding that many of our “systems entice us, not towards wholeness, but towards separateness”.
- The value of vulnerability in creating connection; “If I sit with you, and you have a different view from me, and I want to understand and expand my view, I have to sit with insecurity and uncertainty.”
Resources
- “Wholeness: Transforming Our Relationship to Power” (Part 1 & 2) https://synchronicityinstitute.com/blog/2021/7/15/wholeness-transforming-our-relationship-to-power-part-1 and https://synchronicityinstitute.com/blog/2021/7/20/wholeness-transforming-our-relationship-to-power-part-2
- “How do we define Wholeness?” https://synchronicityinstitute.com/blog/2021/1/18/to-be-whole
- “How a Science of Wholeness Can Change Leadership” https://synchronicityinstitute.com/blog/2021/8/13/how-a-science-of-wholeness-should-change-leadership
Connect with Sky
Website: https://synchronicityinstitute.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skynelsonisaacs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skynelsonisaacs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nelson_sky
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
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Kamea Chayne is a Hakka-Taiwanese creative, writer, the author of Thrive, and the host of the Green Dreamer podcast. Known for her perceptive commentary and incisive questioning, she's interviewed over 200 sustainability, social justice, and public health thought leaders.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That "we just have to constantly reiterate and hone and create synergies with other people who have diverse different views."
- That "collectively we might be able to come up with new ideas that wouldn't have happened if we were to think and ideate separately in silos."
- That we are "increasingly waking up to the reality that infinite economic growth is fundamentally incompatible with supporting circularity and the regeneration of life".
- That "when we orient growth towards the right things, whether that be relationships, intimacy, or complexity, that is what actually can bring us stability".
- That there's a growing awareness of the need to "realign our deep yearnings as people, as interconnected communities, as Earth".
Resources
- Green Dreamer Podcast: greendreamer.com/podcast-1
- Book: Thrive by Kamea Chayne
Connect with Kamea Chayne
Website: greendreamerkamea.com
Instagram: instagram.com/greendreamerkamea
Twitter: twitter.com/kameachayne
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
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William Ury, co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, is one of the world’s best-known practitioners of negotiation and mediation. William is co-author of Getting to Yes, a fifteen-million-copy bestseller translated into over thirty-five languages, and most recently author of the award-winning Getting to Yes with Yourself.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That anger is a fuel essential for change, but the key is in whether it is deployed constructively or destructively.
- That there's a third side that unites us in conflicts.
- That zooming out and changing your perspective to the "balcony" can rechannel your energy.
- That there are three transformations needed to reframe and address conflict.
- The working through of a live example of these mediation techniques with Vicki.
Resources
- The power of listening - William Ury, TEDxSanDiego https://youtu.be/saXfavo1OQo
Connect with William Ury
Website: www.williamury.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/williamurygty
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In this bonus episode, Post Carbon Institute brings together the hosts of its two podcasts: What Could Possibly Go Right?and Crazy Town.Our host Vicki Robin sits down with the guys from Crazy Town to cover climate change, empathy, the stages of grief, and other related topics.
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Roman Krznaric is a public philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to change society. His latest book is The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short Term World. His previous international bestsellers, including Empathy, The Wonderbox and Carpe Diem Regained, have been published in more than 20 languages.
Kate Raworth is a renegade economist focused on making economics fit for 21st century realities. She is the creator of the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries and co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab.
Together, they address the one core question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That Doughnut Economics offers a model to “meet the needs of all people within the means of the Living Planet”.
- That “one of the ways that the world changes is through empathy”, which can overcome our social divides.
- That we need to be good ancestors and “step into the shoes of people in tomorrow's world as citizens of the future.”
- That recognizing and respecting boundaries is good for our own and the planet’s health, while also being a means to unleash our creativity.
Resources
- Empathy Museum - www.empathymuseum.com
- Doughnut Economics Action Lab doughnuteconomics.org
Connect with Roman Krznaric
Website: www.romankrznaric.com
Twitter: twitter.com/romankrznaric
Connect with Kate Raworth
Website: www.kateraworth.com
Twitter: twitter.com/kateraworth
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buildresilience
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Our host Vicki Robin takes a turn in the hot seat, asking herself “What Could Possibly Go Right?” After more than 50 episodes in the program, Vicki reflects on the emerging themes and shares thoughts as a cultural scout, including:
- The four acceptances she is making to find more serenity and avoid burnout in activism
- The benefits of returning to ritual, connection, and cultural liveliness
- That "we're all working against an outdated, outmoded paradigm, that must fail to liberate the creative energies of humanity"
- That "the capacity for empathy and compassion for spaciousness and calm is the missing piece in this struggle with our climate, environmental and social circumstances"
- That intersectionality is now firmly anchored in movements for justice and positive change
Connect with Vicki Robin
Website: vickirobin.com
Twitter: twitter.com/vicki_robin
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Douglas Rushkoff makes a return appearance to the series with fresh insights on our core question of What Could Possibly Go Right? Listen to his previous interview on episode 28.
Douglas Rushkoff is an author, documentarian, and host of the popular podcast, Team Human. Rushkoff’s work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and one another.
He addresses our question a second time with thoughts including:
- The importance of contentment in “just less” and acknowledging the enoughness we have already
- The striving for connection with others, in a context where the “human organism has reached its peak of loneliness and is trying to find itself again”
- That the “digital realm is so much about choice” and we can use technology for light or dark
- The need for real-life interactions as an antithesis to technologies which “are intentionally decalibrating; they destabilize you and your nervous system”
Connect with Douglas RushkoffWebsite: rushkoff.com
Team Human: www.teamhuman.fm
Twitter: twitter.com/rushkoff
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Dany Sigwalt, Executive Director at Power Shift Network, has spent much of her career moving between movement building and youth leadership development, working to marry the two into one cohesive strategic reality. She cut her organizing teeth providing solidarity childcare for housing rights advocates in DC, fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and with the Occupy DC movement. She joined Power Shift Network in 2016 as Operations Director and has been supporting the organization in exploring better distribution of leadership energy for long term sustainability ever since.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The reflection time during the pandemic supporting being more “thoughtful and intentional in our activism”
- The legacy of Black feminists in identifying language and providing analysis of the intersectionalities in systems causing harm
- The growing collective consciousness in activism and the “willingness not to leave anybody behind in the work that we're doing”
- That “young folks have always been at the forefront of social movements”, understanding that they’ll live the longest in whatever reality we build, while also having had “less time to be indoctrinated”
- The benefits of policies that have impacts across different issue areas, such as the Green New Deal
- The power-building of mutual aid, through developing relationships and local resiliency; reducing “the level of control that the normative economy has over our lives”.
Connect with Dany SigwaltWebsite: powershift.org
Facebook: facebook.com/powershiftnetwork
Twitter: twitter.com/powershiftnet
Twitter: twitter.com/danysiggy
Instagram: instagram.com/power_shift
Instagram: instagram.com/danysiggy
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhatCouldPossiblyGoRightPodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Dr. Katharine Wilkinson is an author, strategist, teacher, and co-host of the podcast, A Matter of Degrees. Dr. Wilkinson co-founded and leads The All We Can Save Project with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, in support of women leading on climate. Her books on climate include the bestselling anthology All We Can Save (2020, co-editor), The Drawdown Review (2020, editor-in-chief and lead writer), the New York Times bestseller Drawdown (2017, lead writer), and Between God & Green (2012).
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That “at our very best, we as human beings are active and generative collaborators with lifeforce... in these relationships of reciprocity and almost play with the planet's living systems.”
- The “different kind of leadership that women are bringing in droves on climate”
- That dialog about solutions is often about scale and speed; yet, we would benefit from considering solutions at depth with “heart-centered wisdom” and love as a powerful leverage point
- The value of “making our hearts public”, bringing feelings and stories into climate conversation
- That what could go right is “in the onslaught of the quest for power and profit and prestige, that maybe these things could actually be replaced with care and courage and connection and community and creativity.”
Resources
- The All We Can Save Project: www.allwecansave.earth
- Book: All We Can Save: www.allwecansave.earth/anthology
- Podcast: A Matter of Degrees: www.degreespod.com
Connect with Katharine Wilkinson
Website: kkwilkinson.com
Twitter: twitter.com/drkwilkinson
Instagram: instagram.com/drkwilkinson
Follow WCPGR on Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhatCouldPossiblyGoRightPodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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John Wood, Jr. is a national leader for Braver Angels, a former nominee for Congress, former Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, musical artist, and a noted writer and speaker on issues of political and racial reconciliation.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The optimism that “we come to remember the higher-minded traditions of moral and social idealism that have inspired this country towards social progress in the past, such that we might rally towards some of these ways of engaging in politics and relating to one another in our own current time”
- The lessons that can be taken from the nonviolence tradition taught by Martin Luther King, Jr.
- The importance of seeking mutual understanding and goodwill, to leverage these into collaboration and shared work to improve our local communities and government
- The fostering of empathy and respectful recognition of others’ experiences towards “laying the foundation for more durable social progress”
- The many organizations such as Braver Angels that are incubating social innovation and stimulating change
Resources
- Braver Angels braverangels.org
Connect with John Wood Jr
Website: braverangels.org
Facebook: facebook.com/TranscendingPolitics
Twitter: twitter.com/JohnRWoodJr
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Penny Livingston is internationally recognized as a prominent permaculture teacher, designer, and speaker. She has been teaching internationally and working professionally in land management, regenerative design, and permaculture development for 25 years. She holds an MS in Eco-Social Regeneration, has 3 diplomas in Permaculture Design, and has been studying the Hermetic Tradition of alchemy and herbal medicine making all over the world.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with insights including:
- That there’s a growing interest in permaculture and expanding ecological literacy.
- That permaculture “is a solution-based design system… rooted in observing natural ecosystems and how we can design our human settlements to have the same level of stability and resiliency.”
- That conventional civil engineering is turning to permaculture solutions now.
- That studying permaculture will help decision-makers to understand community economics and boost local resilience.
- That a deconstructionist involves looking at a problem backwards, “to arrive at the systemic core cause and not just treating the symptoms.”
- That a focus on regeneration is needed, not just sustainability. “We have to start giving back more than what we take, because we've been working on a deficit.”
Connect with Penny Livingston-StarkWebsite: pennylivingston.com
Website: regenerativedesign.org
Facebook: facebook.com/RDIpermaculture
Instagram: instagram.com/penny_livingston
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Jeremy Lent is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. He is the Founder of the Liology Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering an integrated worldview that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on the Earth.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The increasing recognition of our shared humanity and connection, “even in the face of the forces of separation that are potentially driving us to destruction”.
- The potential of the Internet to shift human consciousness and provide “massive epic possibilities that we haven't even begun to even conceptualize”.
- The fear underpinning polarization and the reminder that white supremacy “doesn't just oppress the people who are not white as a result, but oppresses the white people who think that they're maintaining their privilege... (who) have to always stay on the defensive and tired and worried about losing, rather than actually sharing a space with others, where it's not a zero sum game.”
- The analogy of unraveling the tightly woven rug of our society and structures, to reweave into a better, resilient pattern of meaning.
- The benefits of a “shift away from a growth-oriented wealth-accumulating world” to “an ecological civilization... founded on connectivity, on the power of symbiosis between humans and non-human nature.”
Resources
- The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning by Jeremy Lent: https://www.jeremylent.com/the-patterning-instinct.html
- The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe by Jeremy Lent: https://www.jeremylent.com/the-web-of-meaning.html
Connect with Jeremy Lent
Website: www.jeremylent.com
Facebook: facebook.com/JeremyRLent
Twitter: twitter.com/JeremyRLent
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Juliet Schor is Professor of Sociology at Boston College, a member of the MacArthur Foundation Connected Learning Research Network, and co-founder of the Center for a New American Dream. Schor’s research focuses on consumption, time use, and environmental sustainability. Her books include After the Gig: How the Sharing Economy Got Hijacked and How to Win it Back (2020), The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need (1998), and The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure (1992).
She is also the vice-chair of the board of the Better Future Project, one of the country’s most successful climate activism organizations.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The growing global climate movement and activism
- The success of experiments in universal basic income and services
- The increasing rates of democratic engagement and activation
- The rising popularity of a four-day workweek, without losing productivity
- The benefits of de-legitimizing of extreme wealth
Resources
- Center for a New American Dream www.newdream.org
- Better Future Project www.betterfutureproject.org
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Eric Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Citizen University, Director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship & American Identity Program, author of several popular books, and former White House speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and later as the President’s deputy domestic policy adviser. He has served as a board member of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Washington State Board of Education, and the Seattle Public Library. He is a co-founder of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility.
Eric addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That Citizen University is working to foster a culture of powerful citizenship
- That “all great endeavors are collective endeavors”
- The “incredible surge of mutual aid” we’ve seen during the pandemic
- The importance of civic catalysts, who “may not have the title, authority or formal office of a leader, but they're the ones who make it happen.”
- That “you can't possibly change another person's mind if you yourself aren't willing to have your own mind changed or your own heart opened.”
Resources
- Book: “Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America” by James and Deborah Fallows
- Book: “You’re More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Change Happen” by Eric Liu
- Book: “Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy” by Eric Liu
- The Better Arguments Project https://betterarguments.org
Connect with Eric LiuWebsite: https://citizenuniversity.us
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericpliu
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
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Christabel Rose Reed is a yoga teacher, yoga therapist, and activist. She is on a mission to link inner transformation with social change and empower people to embark on the entwined journey of inner and outer healing.
In 2015, Christabel and her sister Ruby founded Advaya, the London-based system change initiative that organizes around the principles of radical regeneration and joyful revolution. Since then they have launched a media platform called EarthSpace and organized over 150 events including full-day immersions, panel discussions, retreats, pilgrimages, circles, and festivals.
Christabel addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That we need to engage more with our imaginations, to look beyond the false solutions that are being presented to us, and to “envisage the kind of future that we know deep down we want and that we know are possible.”
- That “our understanding of what our purpose is has been shifted, because so much of our stability has gone” and despite that, we could “harness this opportunity, this pause, in order to co-create futures that can truly thrive.”
- That online events can bring together more speakers and audiences across geographic limitations, giving "accessibility to new narratives and new stories."
- That despite their benefits, online events can sever the deeper human connection and community building that comes from meeting in-person.
- That we should avoid feeling overwhelmed by large scale in systemic change, instead focussing on our own small impacts we can make.
- That "cultivating the love within us, for each other and for this incredible life that we've been blessed with" can create a different world of creativity, fearlessness, compassion and joy.
Resources
- Regenerative Activism: https://www.regenerativeactivism.com
- EcoResolution: https://advaya.co/my-eco-resolution
- Guardians of the Forest course: https://advaya.co/events/series/guardians-of-the-forest
Connect with Christabel Rose ReedWebsite: https://advaya.co
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christabelrosereedyogateacher
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christabel_rose
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/buildresilience
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildresilience
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Richard Heinberg is an author, Senior Fellow-in-Residence of the Post Carbon Institute, and widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost educators on the need to transition society off fossil fuels. His forthcoming book, POWER: LIMITS AND PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL is now available for pre-order.
Since 2002, Richard has spoken to hundreds of public, government, and business audiences around the world, and has made countless appearances on radio and television. He is the award-winning author of fourteen books and a recipient of the Atlas Award for climate heroes (2012) and the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education (2006).
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That there are many definitions of power - energy transfer, ability, authority, domination.
- That the adoption of fossil fuels was the most consequential event in human history – providing many benefits, but at enormous cost of climate change, resource depletion, pollution and crowding out other species.
- That we have to relearn and apply the wisdom of power self-limitation, “in a way that enhances our experience of life”.
- That “native cultures, indigenous cultures, had ways of conserving resources and sharing resources and preventing some people from getting a lot more powerful than others.”
- That today’s social fabric is woven of vertical social power, whereas pre-agricultural societies were characterized by horizontal power of “we can all do this together”.
- That we need to consider: “How do we use power responsibly, in order to overcome some of these unhealthy systems of power that have gotten out of control?”
Pre-order POWER: LIMITS AND PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL: https://power.postcarbon.org/preorder/
Connect with Richard HeinbergMonthly Museletter: http://bit.ly/pci-subscribe
Website: https://richardheinberg.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richardheinberg/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/richardheinberg
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May East is a sustainability educator, spatial planner, and social innovator. Her work spans the fields of cultural geography, urban ecology, and women’s studies. Designated one of the 100 Global SustainAbility Leaders three years in a row, she leads a whole generation of regenerative designers and educators in 55 countries working with community-based organizations and intergovernmental agencies in the development of policy guidance and projects strengthening climate resilience, food security, and livelihood action.
May addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with insights including:
- The importance of edge-work, ”not about the dying of the old world, or the emergence of the new world, but the edge between the two.”
- That edge isn’t marginal, but is actually at the center of change.
- The potential of ”ecotone” areas, the buffer zones in nature where different landscapes meet. These edges of high intensity and diversity provide conditions for new species and life.
- Her coined concept of “sociotone”, recognizing that societies in tension is where new structures will emerge.
- That serendipity happens in the edge and that surprise is not a question of luck, it is a question of alertness and enactment to turn these into something useful.
- That we need to move beyond sustainability to regeneration. “We need to train ourselves to become regenerative practitioners at the edge, because if we maximize edge, we maximize diversity and potential of life.”
Connect with May EastWebsite // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram
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Andrew Revkin is one of America’s most honored and experienced environmental journalists and the founding director of the new Initiative on Communication and Sustainability at Columbia University's Earth Institute. He has held positions at National Geographic and Discover Magazine and won the top awards in science journalism multiple times, along with a Guggenheim Fellowship. Revkin has written acclaimed books on the history of humanity’s relationship with the weather, the changing Arctic, global warming, and the assault on the Amazon rain forest.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That we need to be aware of narrative capture and being misled by stories or avoiding truth.
- That we should engage in more conversations with others who have different views, and stay in curiosity rather than debate.
- That we need to work through the trauma of recent times and “look for compassionate intervention in our traumatized psyches”.
- That the resilience of an ecosystem to environmental stress is a function of the diversity of responses and species; we need the “edge pushers”
- That like the “Serenity Prayer”, we should embrace “the perfect imperfectness of our nature as humans”.
Resources
- Article: “Complicating the Narratives”
- Article: My Climate Change
- Video: We are perfect*: Andrew Revkin at TEDxPortland
- Article: My Lucky Stroke
Connect with Andrew RevkinWebsite // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram
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Jodie Evans is the co-founder of CODEPINK and the after-school writing program 826LA. She has been a visionary advocate for peace for several decades. Whether in board rooms or war zones, legislative offices, or neighborhood streets, Jodie’s enthusiasm for a world at peace infuses conciliation, optimism, and activism wherever she goes.
Jodie addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That the war economy is in the structures around us that are violent, oppressive, extractive, and destructive. “We won't end war until we end the war economy”.
- That we need to lean into the peace economy, which is life, community, planet Earth, parenting, the commons, healing.
- The war economy thrives on alienation and self direction. The peace economy is about connection and community engagement.
- That we should not get caught in the “folly of fretting”. “Everything is about action because if we don't act, we let the banality and the brutality of it undermine our capacity to act.”
- The peace economy examples of sharing and abundance found in supporting homeless youth in Venice Beach and creating land trusts for commons to reemerge.
- That we should ask, “How do we use our wild imaginations together to create something absolutely fresh and new? What am I doing today to create the conditions conducive for life?”
Resources
- 21 ways to divest from a war economy
- Safe Place for Youth (SPY)
- Lead with Land
- Two Rivers Farms
- Greenhorns (see also episode 18 https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-10-13/what-could-possibly-go-right-episode-18-severine-von-tscharner-fleming/ )
- Soul Fire Farm
Connect with Jodie EvansWebsite // Facebook // Twitter
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Victor Lee Lewis is a progressive life coach, trainer, speaker, and Founder of the Radical Resilience Institute. As a social justice educator, Victor brings a unique, socially progressive vision to the work of personal growth, personal empowerment, and emotional health.
He addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That many esteemed institutions and structures that we deeply believe in are counterfeit to what we really want and need.
- That humanity and life can’t bear another century of white supremacy, patriarchy, and Western enlightenment-based education.
- That “we need to unpack and detox our notions of freedom and liberty”, which has typically been construed in racial terms in the United States of America.
- That liberation is a nonlinear process and much has changed, even if progress isn’t always obvious.
- That this is an infinite game. “We're not trying to win it, we're not trying to complete it. We're in an infinite game that we want to keep going. I'm not trying to live forever. I'm trying to see that life lives forever.”
- That “as things fall apart, opening our hearts as well as our minds, and taking courage may yet carry us through.”
Resources
- Book: "I Seem To Be A Verb" by Buckminster Fuller
- Blog post: “An Easter Sermonette” by Vicki Robin https://vickirobin.com/an-easter-sermonette/
- Current Conversations Episode #307 with Victor Lee Lewis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZ9n7wtSxY
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Glacier Kwong is a political and digital rights activist born and raised in Hong Kong. She is the founder of the NGO Keyboard Frontline and is a Research Fellow at Hong Kong Democracy Council in the US. In self-exile in Germany, she is pursuing her PhD in Law at the University of Hamburg, with her research focusing on data protection and surveillance in Hong Kong and China.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- “We don't persist because we see hope. We only see hope when we persist.”
- Self-care is part of the revolution. “Activism, at its core, is fighting for the better livelihood of people,” so taking care of your well-being is aligned with these goals.
- We should honor the freedom and the privileges we have; use them well and not take them for granted.
- We should not suppress our feelings of sadness during our activism. Being upfront with these emotions shows our humanity and gives validation to others feeling the same way.
- “We have one million reasons to give up. But we only need one to continue the fight; that is, we know that what we're doing is right.”
Connect with Glacier KwongTwitter // Instagram
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Alan AtKisson has been working professionally in sustainable development since 1988 and has been recognized internationally as a pioneering innovator and thought leader in the field. He currently serves as Assistant Director-General of Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, where he leads the Department of Partnership and Innovation. Alan is a musician and an author whose books include bestseller Believing Cassandra: How to be an Optimist in a Pessimist’s World.
Alan addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with insights including:
- That sustainability concepts and the sustainable development sector are moving from cutting edge to mainstream.
- That the recent increase in digital meetings has made sector conversations more accessible and inclusive. “We both arrived through the same digital fibers, into the same digital space, speaking to each other on the same terms.”
- That the “entire financial system is at this tipping point moment of really embracing a sustainable development perspective, where the most influential leaders in the world are making public statements about diversity, environment and climate change.”
- That there’s power in long-term institutional change, driven by good people who work in government bureaucracies.
Resources
- Sustainable Seattle
- Book - “Believing Cassandra: How to be an optimist in a pessimist’s world” by Alan AtKisson
- Song - “Dead Planet Blues” by Alan AtKisson
- Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
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Kay Taylor is an evolutionary astrologer, author, and teacher who has been integrating soul-centered astrology with a range of healing wisdom for over 35 years. Author of Soul Path Way, Kay runs the Soul Path School to train individuals in intuitive mastery, psychosynthesis, and astrology. She maintains a thriving full-time consulting practice based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The shifts in consciousness in key periods of recent history, creating greater connection and awakening.
- That as old structures are coming down, we should “stay in our hearts, be love, and work with each other” as new structures emerge.
- That our global connectivity through the internet can be the “training wheels” for humanity’s growing physic capabilities.
- That we need to be careful with our thoughts, words and information with which we engage, directing those towards manifesting what we want to go right.
- That “it's essential for people who are feeling discouraged to come into small levels of gratitude. To connect to things that are outside that viewpoint, to see the beauty... all the ways that we can remind ourselves that most humans are truly good, and want the best for everybody.”
- That we can see bridges to scientific and rational realms, such as when considering planetary impacts on tides or looking at energy and particle movements.
Resources
- Book: Soul Path Way by Kay Taylor
- Richard Tarnas, Archetypal Cosmology, and Deep History
Connect with Kay
Website // Facebook // LinkedIn
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Hailing from Celina Tennessee, Trae Crowder is a standup comedian, writer, and self-proclaimed “Liberal Redneck.” Trae gained national attention (or notoriety, depending on your viewpoint) with his viral video rants and has been performing and touring his particular brand of Southern-fried intellectual comedy for over a decade.
Trae addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” through his socially aware comedic view, sharing thoughts including:
- That there’s inexorable positive progress in social issues over time, despite setbacks in the short-term.
- That each new generation makes advancements in social awareness; for today’s young people, “the default position seems to be one of wokeness.”
- That in spite of stereotypes, “in any given state, 40 something percent of people voted blue, but the state still shows up red on a map.”
- That when considering issues such as racism, the wider USA needs to avoid “using the South as a scapegoat, and in doing so, act like they don't have those problems where they live.”
- That we could all use more empathy to understand others’ perspectives and experiences in our day-to-day lives.
Resources
- wellRED podcast
Connect with Trae Crowder
Website // Facebook // Twitter // YouTube
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Ellen Bass is an award-winning poet, author, and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her poems appear frequently in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and many other journals. Her poetry books include Indigo, Like a Beggar, The Human Line, and Mules of Love. Her nonfiction books include the groundbreaking The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth. Bass founded poetry workshops at Salinas Valley State Prison and the Santa Cruz, California jails, and teaches in the MFA writing program at Pacific University.
From her view as a poet, Ellen addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with insights including:
- There’s growing interest and diversity of poetry enthusiasts, in addition to increased accessibility and connection through our virtual communities now.
- “Poetry is so nourishing, and sustaining, and gives us a chance to grieve, and gives us a chance to celebrate.”
- The best poetry combines the personal with political.
- It's not what you do when you're getting to the end of your rope; it's what you do when you're AT the end of your rope.
- Poetry is about discovery and the process of being transformed. “Why I think most people write poems is so that at the end, they will not be the same person they were before they wrote the poem.”
Resources
- Living Room Craft Talks by Ellen Bass
- Book: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Connect with Ellen Bass
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Dr. Jem Bendell is the Founder of the Deep Adaptation Forum and a Professor of Sustainability Leadership with the University of Cumbria. He works as a researcher, educator, and advisor on social and organizational change, with over 25 years of experience in sustainable development initiatives in over 20 countries. In 2018, he authored the viral Deep Adaptation paper, downloaded around a million times.
Jem addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That “people are changing their lives because of their anticipation of collapse, to relate more openly and wanting to do what's right, come what may.”
- That “holding space for each other and our difficult emotions has led to a new quality of engagement.”
- That Deep Adaptation invites people into a different way of talking about crisis response and emotions - fostering compassion, curiosity, and respect.
- That sustainable development may be a delusion, but we can ready ourselves for societal disruption to help others with our skills and networks.
Resources
- Auroville intentional community, southern India
- Book: “How Everything Can Collapse” by Momentum Institute
- Paper: Deep Adaptation by Jem Bendell
- International Scholars Warning on Societal Disruption and Collapse
Connect with Jem
Website // Deep Adaptation Forum // Twitter // Facebook group
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New York Times best-selling author Kim Stanley Robinson joins Vicki Robin this week. Widely recognized as one of the foremost living writers of science fiction, Robinson is the author of more than twenty books, includingThe Ministry For The Future, the best-selling Mars trilogy, and the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt, and 2312. In 2008, he was named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine.
From his perspective as a utopian science fiction writer, he answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That science fiction, literature, and arts have “become a kind of a necessary tool of thought for thinking our way forward”.
- The value of the Paris Agreement in ensuring the rights of future people and all living beings to a livable world.
- The risk of reaching wet-bulb temperature levels where a high enough heat and humidity combination is fatal to humans.
- That we do have enormous scientific and technological powers, but our inaction comes down to matters of capitalism and pursuit of monetary profit. “We're in an economic system that will not pay us to do the right things.”
- The idea of carbon coins and carbon quantitative easing for positive impact.
- The benefits of significantly increasing the world’s land surface left to animals.
Resources
- Book: The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Book: Half Earth by E. O. Wilson
- Book: How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire by Andreas Malm
Connect with Kim Stanley RobinsonWebsite // Facebook
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Michelle Singletary is an author and award-winning personal finance columnist. She writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column “The Color of Money”, which appears in The Washington Post. She is a frequent contributor to various radio programs and has appeared on national talk shows and television networks.
She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- That the joy of this pandemic could be a lasting effect on people reaching out and helping their neighbors; that people tend to rise to the occasion in emergencies and realize that we are all in this together.
- That on a financial level, the pandemic has revealed the minimal possessions we really need and that human contact is what we’re craving.
- That we need to resist the urge to narrow down to single sources of news and instead keep our minds open to other points of view.
- That none of us are successful if our neighbors remain in poverty.
- That there are ongoing impacts of intergenerational trauma for Black Americans, in addition to microaggressions, redlining, discrimination in hiring, and more.
- That you need to align your finances and resources to what you truly value.
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Starhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, founder of Earth Activist Training, and a prominent voice in modern earth-based spirituality and ecofeminism.
She answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” with thoughts including:
- The boost in people being politically engaged this past year, tuning up and caring for democracy “like an old creaky car”
- That more people paying attention to climate change and increasingly understanding the infrastructure changes and action that is needed
- That turning to permaculture and regenerative land management is one of the key things we can do around climate change
- That fostering interconnection and compassion can help people avoid getting sucked into a “game version” of life
- That “we have to offer a way for people to participate in reality, and feel themselves, and let them be heroes, to feel like we are doing something really great for the world, for each other, for our communities.”
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The third set of What Could Possibly Go Right? kicks off with host Vicki Robin reflecting on past episodes, sharing her motivation for creating this series, and revealing what she hopes to find as we embark on a new set of interviews.
Her thoughts include:
- That cultural scouts have this “carefully cultivated sense of looking squarely at reality and trying to pick a path, a critical path forward on behalf of the common good”.
- That cultural scouts have an educated sense of the future, with perspectives often gained through living at the margins.
- That justice is at the center of many interviews, whether it’s racial, economic, intergenerational, interspecies or ecological.
- That guests are framework-fluid, able to see more clearly by not being stuck in one story or worldview.
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Our host Vicki Robin reflects on the interview with media theorist and author Douglas Rushkoff, as heard on episode 28 of “What Could Possibly Go Right?”
Connect with DouglasWebsite: rushkoff.com
Twitter: twitter.com/rushkoff
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Douglas Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. Named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT, his twenty books include the recently published Team Human, based on his podcast. Others include bestsellers Present Shock, Throwing Rocks and the Google Bus, Program or Be Programmed, Life Inc, and Media Virus. He also made the PBS Frontline documentaries Generation Like, The Persuaders, and Merchants of Cool.
Rushkoff’s work explores how different technological environments change our relationship to narrative, money, power, and one another. Through this lens, he answers the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” including:
- That our immersion in online networking technologies is making us long for “organic kinship”, and causing overwhelm and distrust as our evolutionary social cues are missed.
- That what could go right is we emerge from this isolation and dominance of screens to being more willing to reconnect with other human beings in person, more readily establishing rapport, solidarity and mutuality.
- That civics is about feeling responsible for neighbors and community, even if you don’t always like them.
- That we “learn to see that unpredictability as the novelty and weirdness and joy of being a living entity in the now.”
- That we need to get rid of our addiction to exponential growth, extraction and repression of others, and refocus on the commons. Rather than “using the stick of devastation”, we use the “carrot” of fun to make working together more appealing than ongoing competition.
- The encouragement to: “Find the others. You don't have to do this in isolation. They're all over the place. Just look into people's eyes and you'll get that instant moment of recognition of, Oh, there's another one. Let's do this together.”
Resources
- Zebras Unite
- Platform Cooperative Movement
- Enspiral Network
Extra reading
- The Privileged Have Entered Their Escape Pods - Douglas Rushkoff on One Zero, Medium
Connect with Douglas RushkoffWebsite: rushkoff.com
Team Human: www.teamhuman.fm
Twitter: twitter.com/rushkoff
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Our host Vicki Robin reflects on her conversation with author and moral philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore, as heard on episode 27 of “What Could Possibly Go Right?”.
Connect with KathleenWebsite: riverwalking.com
Website: musicandclimateaction.com
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Kathleen Dean Moore, Ph.D., is an Author, Moral Philosopher, Environmental Advocate. She served as Distinguished Professor of Environmental Philosophy at Oregon State University, where she wrote award-winning books about our cultural and moral relations to the wet, wild world and to one another. But her increasing concern about the climate and extinction crises led her to leave the university, so she could write and speak full-time about the moral urgency of climate action.
Kathleen shares thoughts on What Could Possibly Go Right? including:
- That “sometimes it feels like the whole world is burning to its foundations, but the foundations are still there, and they're holding a space for the future.”
- That “almost every major change in US history has been the result of a rising wave of moral affirmation,” of the “conscience of the streets”.
- That we need to remember our shared moral foundations, of the “human decency deep in the earth” and the ideals our nation aspires to.
- Using the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to call out the oil, gas and fracking industries for violations of human rights through contributing to climate change.
- The Blue River Declaration by an assembled group of philosophers, which asks “three fundamental questions... What is the world? What are human beings? And therefore, how shall we live?”
- That as human beings with imagination and understanding, “we have a responsibility to be the meaning makers of the universe.”
Resources
- Permanent Peoples' Tribunal
- Blue River Declaration
- Book: Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril by Kathleen Dean Moore
- Book: Great Tide Rising: Toward Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary Change by Kathleen Dean Moore
Connect with Kathleen Dean MooreWebsite: riverwalking.com
Twitter: musicandclimateaction.com
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Host Vicki Robin is joined by Sherri Mitchell today to reflect on episode 26 of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” They discuss what Julian Brave NoiseCat had to share about this big question, especially with an Indigenous perspective.
Sherri Mitchell is a Lawyer, Indigenous Rights Activist & Educator. Learn more about Sherri at sacredinstructions.life
Connect with Julian Brave NoiseCatWebsite: julianbravenoisecat.com
Twitter: twitter.com/jnoisecat
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Julian Brave NoiseCat is Vice President of Policy & Strategy for Data for Progress and Narrative Change Director for the Natural History Museum. A Fellow of the Type Media Center, NDN Collective and the Center for Humans and Nature, his work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and other publications. Julian grew up in Oakland, California and is a proud member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq'escen and descendant of the Lil'Wat Nation of Mount Currie.
Julian provides his insight on What Could Possibly Go Right? including:
- Individual stories that show the resilience and creativity of Indigenous people, “post-apocalyptic people”.
- The story of a Blackfoot man named Cowboy with an idea for reverse colonization.
- The grit and leadership of Cheyenne Brady, former Miss Indian World titleholder, in increasing census participation and ensuring Native people are counted.
- The commitment to tradition by Navajo medicine people David and Bess Tsosie, combined with adaptability to the modern-day context - such as transitioning their healing practice to a socially-responsible telehealth model in the midst of pandemic.
- That “the ability for people to retain a sense of community, a commitment to who we are as people, and to create and make beauty at the other side of truly devastating circumstances” does provide hope.
Connect with Julian Brave NoiseCatWebsite: julianbravenoisecat.com
Twitter: twitter.com/jnoisecat
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Our host Vicki Robin considers her interview with author and journalist, Judith D. Schwartz, as heard in episode 25 of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” She discusses stories of regeneration and metaphors of seeds for the open-mindedness and possibilities that are sprouting. "The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
Connect with JudithWebsite: judithdschwartz.com
Twitter: twitter.com/judithdschwartz
Facebook: facebook.com/judith.d.schwartz
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Judith D. Schwartz is an author who tells stories to explore and illuminate scientific concepts and cultural nuance. She takes a clear-eyed look at global environmental, economic, and social challenges, and finds insights and solutions in natural systems. She writes for numerous publications, including The American Prospect, The Guardian, Discover, Scientific American, and YaleE360.
Bringing insights from her latest book, “The Reindeer Chronicles”, Judith addresses the question of What Could Possibly Go Right? including:
- That “we are a part of nature and to keep ourselves separate from nature is really causing our own demise, as well as the demise of all that we love around us.”
- That increased interest in home gardening is a gateway to larger engagement in the natural world and environmental restoration.
- That mainstream news highlights when things go wrong, but “when something goes the way it's supposed to go, it isn't news, so we're never paying attention to how the natural world works or how communities function when they're going well and serving the people in them.”
- That slowing down and staying in one place during the pandemic has encouraged us to pay attention to smaller things and gives “permission to love where I am in a very different way, as opposed to that being the backdrop and then real life happens elsewhere when I leave.”
- That there is opportunity in the degraded landscapes throughout the world, including restoring the heartlands and rangelands of US.
- That regenerative agriculture projects, such as by Commonland, give people reasons to stay or come back to the land. These include 4 Returns: of finance, of nature, of social capital or community well-being, and of inspiration.
- That a connection to nature can happen anywhere, even a permaculture lesson around a city tree by a New York City sidewalk.
Resources
- Book: “Cows Save The Planet” - Judith D. Schwartz (2013)
- Book: “Water in Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World” - Judith D. Schwartz (2019)
- Book: “The Reindeer Chronicles” - Judith D. Schwartz (2020)
- Commonland, Netherlands - restoration projects www.commonland.com
Connect with Judith D. SchwartzWebsite: judithdschwartz.com
Twitter: twitter.com/judithdschwartz
Facebook: facebook.com/judith.d.schwartz
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Our host Vicki Robin reflects on “What Could Possibly Go Right?” episode 24 with author and America's #1 progressive talk show, Thom Hartmann. She shares that despite any reluctance we might have, we are all political animals with a duty to engage and learn. In Thom’s words, "Democracy begins with you. Get out there. Get active. Tag, you're it!"
Connect with ThomWebsite: thomhartmann.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ThomHartmannProgram
Twitter: twitter.com/Thom_Hartmann
YouTube: youtube.com/user/thomhartmann
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For more than a decade, Thom Hartmann has been the #1 progressive talk show host in the United States. His show, The Hartmann Report, is aired on hundreds of radio and television stations across the country. He is also a New York Times best-selling author of 24 books and the founder of numerous commercial and charitable organizations.
Recorded in the lead up to the US presidential election, Thom shares his thoughts on What Could Possibly Go Right? including:
- The Supreme Court decisions in the 1970s that paved the way for corporate money to influence political parties for decades since.
- The more obvious use of voter suppression as a tactic in this year’s election.
- The coalitions that exist in each party and how they interact.
- The “general misapprehension of the role of a politician, even among some politicians”.
- The “great man theory of history” doesn’t serve us well and we should look to elect towards a movement, rather than individual leader.
- That “democracy is not a spectator sport. It's about all of us getting involved, that everybody needs to get active and, Tag. You're it!"
Connect with Thom Hartmann
Website: thomhartmann.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ThomHartmannProgram
Twitter: twitter.com/Thom_Hartmann
YouTube: youtube.com/user/thomhartmann
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Our host Vicki Robin ponders her interview with Vanessa Andreotti on “What Could Possibly Go Right?” She reflects on Vanessa’s perspective that there is an awakening and return to the essence as other elements of our lives are stripped away and we uncover the tender, painful places of our hearts.
Connect with Vanessa
Website: decolonialfutures.net
Website: ubc.academia.edu/VanessadeOliveiraAndreotti
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Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti holds a Canada Research Chair in Race, Inequalities and Global Change at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She has extensive experience working across sectors internationally in areas related to global justice, global citizenship, and Indigenous and community engagement. Drawing on different critiques of colonialism and human exceptionalism, her research examines the interface between historical, systemic and on-going forms of violence, and the material and relational dimensions of unsustainability within modernity. Vanessa is one of the founding members of the Gesturing Decolonial Futures Collective (decolonialfutures.net) and “In Earth’s CARE”, an international network of Indigenous communities located mostly in Canada and Latin America.
Vanessa provides her insight on What Could Possibly Go Right? including:
- The analogy of flood and that it is only when rising waters reach your “bum” that we can swim; seeing the possibilities and relating to our surroundings differently than when water is at the knees and we still walk. The teachings from high stakes, high-risk struggles are very different from low-intensity struggles.
- The gradual disillusionment and dissatisfaction we’re experiencing, as we realize “our comforts, enjoyments, securities, and consumptions are actually based on violence and unsustainability somewhere else.”
- That there is difficulty, pain, and discomfort to come for many people to come; and “unless we develop the capacity to face this with stamina, maturity, sobriety, accountability, responsibility, and humility - we may end up in a very destructive place.”
- The understanding from Indigenous teachings that living well is not separated from dying well; “not being haunted by pain but also seeing pain as an inevitable teacher in all of this.”
- That we should declutter the distractions and addictions, especially of consumption; not only consumption of stuff but also relationships, experiences, critique, and ideas about the world as we know.
- That “this collective pain can only be held with collectivized hearts. An individual heart is overwhelmed by collective pain.” We need to shed individual arrogance and narcissism, and see ourselves as “cute and pathetic in this enormity of what's going on”.
- That language is a living entity that moves the world. “By saying what we observe, but also what needs to move, we are moving it in many ways.”
- The call for maturity in our young civilizations, for growing up, for showing up differently to each other into the world at large.
Connect with Vanessa
Website: decolonialfutures.net
Website: ubc.academia.edu/VanessadeOliveiraAndreotti
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Our host Vicki Robin reflects on her conversation with long-time activist Kumi Naidoo, as heard on episode 22 of “What Could Possibly Go Right?”
Connect with Kumi Naidoo
Website: kuminaidoo.net
Twitter: twitter.com/kuminaidoo
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*Join us in December for a special Zoom call with Vicki! When you donate any amount to support the show, we'll invite you to join a live, online call with Vicki on Thursday, December 10. ***
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"Let's not let those that brought humanity to this point of destruction get away with the injustices that it created."
Kumi Naidoo is recognized internationally as a forceful advocate for human rights, gender equity, economic justice, and environmental justice. A seasoned activist in South Africa during its struggle against apartheid, his long career of deep commitment to people and the planet has included serving as Executive Director of Greenpeace International and as Secretary General of Amnesty International.
Kumi’s current roles include Professor of Practice, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University; Global Ambassador, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity; Visiting Fellow, Oxford University, and Honorary Fellow, Magdalen College.
Kumi shares his thoughts on What Could Possibly Go Right? including:
- That we need to reassess how we measure wealth as GDP, a broken system for measuring the value of people and work.
- That we suffer from affluenza, “an illness where we have come to believe that a meaningful, prosperous, decent, dignified life comes from more and more material acquisitions.” and that climate change “is fundamentally a problem of consumption and inequality”.
- That activism needs humility and to “listen more to people on the ground”. Instead of appealing to those in power, activists should support the powerless to speak for themselves, whose “voices bring an urgency that only those that suffer an injustice can bring, with the kind of eloquence, power and passion that makes it hard for the media, policymakers and those in power to ignore.”
- That we need more genuinely democratic systems across the world with a fair chance to run for office, instead of displaying only “the form of democracy without the substance of democracy”.
- That the analogy of the spider and the starfish shows the strength of decentralized versus centralized forms of organizing and mobilizing.
- That understanding the biggest contribution we can make to the cause of humanity is “not giving your life, but giving the rest of your life,” with perseverance, stamina, and courage to see those injustices dislodged.
- That it’s not good for mental health for us to see injustice and not express it and to bottle it up inside of us.
- That even “the pessimism of our analysis can be overcome by the optimism of our action”.
Resources
- Book - The Spider and the Starfish: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
Connect with Kumi Naidoo
Website: kuminaidoo.net
Twitter: twitter.com/kuminaidoo
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/postcarbon
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*Join us in December for a special Zoom call with Vicki! When you donate any amount to support the show, we'll invite you to join a live, online call with Vicki on Thursday, December 10. ***
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Our host Vicki Robin considers Lynne Twist’s insightful response to “What Could Possibly Go Right?”, especially the importance of the stories we choose to tell ourselves.
Connect with Lynne
Website: soulofmoney.org
Twitter: twitter.com/lynne_twist
Facebook: facebook.com/TheSoulOfMoneyInstitute
Instagram: instagram.com/soulofmoney
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Lynne Twist is the Founder of the Soul of Money Institute and author of the best-selling book "The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life.” Over the past 40 years, Lynne has worked with over 100,000 people in 50 countries in the areas of fundraising with integrity, conscious philanthropy, strategic visioning, and having a healthy relationship with money.
She is a Co-Founder of The Pachamama Alliance — a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest to preserve their lands and culture. In addition, Lynne serves on a number of nonprofit boards including the Fetzer Institute, The Institute of Noetic Sciences, Bioneers, Conscious Capitalism, and Women’s Earth Alliance.
Lynne brings a soulful connection to the question of What Could Possibly Go Right? including:
- That we need to move from a “you or me” mindset of scarcity, to a “you AND me” paradigm of enoughness; that our institutions, governance and even religion are rooted in this scarcity we need to shake off.
- That as in Marianne Williamson’s words, "The rehearsal is over. The curtain is up."
- That this pandemic is like “a morning sickness, for a civilization that's pregnant with a new birth of itself.”
- That there are links between our current transition in time, with Baha’i prophecies and predictions by shamans of the Andes and Amazon
- That in every breakdown, there are the seeds of a breakthrough - though they can be hard to find.
- That we are starting to see through a pinhole of awareness, “an aperture that is opening as things fall apart. It gets wider and wider and wider.”
- That we should consider young people as “our elders in universe time” and appreciate the wisdom they bring.
Resources
- Marianne Williamson marianne.com
- Buckminster Fuller bfi.org/about-fuller
Connect with Lynne
Website: soulofmoney.org
Twitter: twitter.com/lynne_twist
Facebook: facebook.com/TheSoulOfMoneyInstitute
Instagram: instagram.com/soulofmoney
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Our host Vicki Robin is joined by Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute and one of the world’s foremost educators on the need to transition away from fossil fuels. They reflect on the interview with Tzepora Berman, as heard on Episode 20.
Connect with Tzeporah
Website: Tzeporahberman.com
Website: stand.earth
Facebook: facebook.com/Tzeporah
Facebook: facebook.com/standearth
Twitter: twitter.com/Tzeporah
Twitter: twitter.com/standearth
Connect with Richard HeinbergWebsite: http://richardheinberg.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richardheinberg
Twitter: https://twitter.com/richardheinberg
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Tzeporah Berman has been designing environmental campaigns and working on environmental policy in Canada and beyond for over twenty years. She currently is International Program Director at Stand.Earth. She is an Adjunct Professor of York University Faculty of Environmental Studies and works as a strategic advisor to a number of First Nations, environmental organizations and philanthropic foundations on climate and energy issues.
Tzeporah’s thoughts on What Could Possibly Go Right? include:
- That we have the highest level of engagement around climate change than ever, as the former “invisible threat for the future” becomes tangible with impacts in our daily lives.
- That recent changes in technology, renewable energy pricing and engagement from civil society is creating political space for decision makers to actually act and stand up to the fossil fuel industry.
- The creation of a new global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, “a campaign for something that is commensurate with the scale of the actual problem” and addresses fossil fuel production, not only emissions.
- That moving to renewable energy is also about redistributing power; an entirely different model than that of fossil fuels on which industrial society was built.
- That social change isn’t linear and many great moments in history happen at tipping points.
- That more people lose their homes today as a result of climate change than war.
- “We need big bold breakthroughs, because we are racing against the clock… This is our moment to propose some significant bold shifts and new ideas to change the landscape.”
Resources
- FossilFuelTreaty.org
Connect with Tzeporah
Website: Tzeporahberman.com
Website: stand.earth
Facebook: facebook.com/Tzeporah
Facebook: facebook.com/standearth
Twitter: twitter.com/Tzeporah
Twitter: twitter.com/standearth
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Our host Vicki Robin is joined today by Asher Miller, Executive Director of Post Carbon Institute and co-host of Crazy Town. They reflect on Alnoor Ladha’s interview from What Could Possibly Go Right? Episode 19, touching on future designs needed for society, the power of language, and our connection to spirituality.
Connect with Alnoor LadhaPolitical Strategist, Writer, Activist & Board Member at Culture Hack Labs
Website: culturehack.io
Twitter: twitter.com/alnoorladha
Twitter: twitter.com/CultureHackLabs
Facebook: facebook.com/alnoor.ladha
Facebook: facebook.com/culturehacklabs
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Alnoor Ladha is a political strategist, writer and activist, with a focus on the intersection of political organizing, systems thinking, structural change and narrative work. He was the co-founder and Executive Director of The Rules (TR), a global network of activists, organizers, and others focused on changing the rules that create inequality, poverty and climate change. He is a co-founder of Tierra Valiente, a post-capitalist community and healing center in the jungle of northern Costa Rica. He is a board member of Culture Hack Labs and The Emergence Network.
Alnoor brings spirituality and big picture thinking to today’s conversation on What Could Possibly Go Right? including:
- The question of “for whom” when asking what could go right, plus the understanding that right and wrong isn’t binary
- The debunking of the belief that the pandemic, climate crisis or impending financial recession are a disruption on progress as “the way things were supposed to be”
- That embracing uncertainty and being at peace with ambiguity is cultivating a more resilient character for us
- That we need to fundamentally rethink our economic operating system, away from a globalized system of extraction when only a few people are holding the power. A post-capitalist reality may be emerging.
- That this is the moment for us to say what we actually stand for, not just stand against. What do we want to live for and what are our values?
- That we've inherited a story in a system that doesn't serve the majority of humans; and as none of us are outside the system, there is no such thing as apolitical
Resources
- The Rules therules.org
- Culture Hack Labs culturehack.io
- Tierra Valiente braveearth.com
Additional reading by Alnoor Ladha
- What is Solidarity? - Kosmos Journal
- The Poverty of Progress - New Internationalist
- The ‘lungs of the Earth’ are really its heart: an Indigenous cure to save the Amazon - The Correspondent
Connect with AlnoorWebsite: culturehack.io
Twitter: twitter.com/alnoorladha
Twitter: twitter.com/CultureHackLabs
Facebook: facebook.com/alnoor.ladha
Facebook: facebook.com/culturehacklabs
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Vicki Robin and Jason Bradford, Post Carbon Institute Board Director, reflect on her interview with Severine von Tscharner Fleming on Episode 18.
Connect with Severine
Website: greenhorns.org
Twitter: twitter.com/greenhorns
Facebook: facebook.com/thegreenhorns
Instagram: instagram.com/thegreenhorns
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Severine von Tscharner Fleming is a farmer, activist, and organizer based in Downeast Maine. She runs Smithereen Farm, a MOFGA certified organic wild blueberry, seaweed, and orchard operation which hosts summer camps, camping, and educational workshops.
She is a founder and board member of Agrarian Trust and current director of the Greenhorns, a 13 year old grassroots organization whose mission is to recruit, promote, and support the incoming generation of farmers in America.
Severine brings her influences and analogies from the agricultural space to “What Could Possibly Go Right?”, including:
- The “desire of humans to move geographically”, including a current fleeing and resettling driven by climate, ambition, hopes, and fears.
- The concepts of land commons and ocean commons, including for other cultures who care for crops and benefit collectively without private ownership.
- The need to transition stewardship of land owned by older generations to young farmers, and how to pass this on through purchase, gifting or passing on estates.
- That the word subsistence and its connotations may distract from the “shiny, glistening abundance”.
- That those willing to do the reparations and healing of the land for our collective good should earn an enduring right to subsistence.
Resources
- Greenhorns greenhorns.org
- Agrarian Trust agrariantrust.org
- Global Earth Repair Conference globalearthrepairfoundation.org
- Somali Bantu Association somalibantumaine.org
Connect with Severine
Website: greenhorns.org
Twitter: twitter.com/greenhorns
Facebook: facebook.com/thegreenhorns
Instagram: instagram.com/thegreenhorns
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhatCouldPossiblyGoRightPodcast
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Our host Vicki Robin reflects on politics and our role in democracy, following her interview with Claudine Schneider on Episode 17.
Connect with Claudine Schneider
Website: www.ClaudineSchneider.com / www.RepublicansforIntegrity.org
Twitter: twitter.com/GOP4Integrity
Facebook: facebook.com/RepublicansForIntegrity
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Claudine Schneider was the first woman elected from Rhode Island to the U.S. House of Representatives and was the first Republican Representative to serve the state in more than 40 years. She is Co-Founder of the Republicans for Integrity and is a progressive leader in policies related to climate, energy, environment and ecological economics.
Claudine brings the themes of racial inequality, job development, politics and the environment to this conversation on “What Could Possibly Go Right?, including:
- The Black Lives Matter movement is awakening corporate sensitivities and encouraging change.
- There are well-thought-out ideas available for national police reforms, focusing on strategy, technology and science.
- Job losses can be addressed in part by pursuing opportunities in the renewable energy sector and environmental initiatives, such as creation of power micro-grids and net zero energy buildings.
- Everybody can be an agent of change and needs to remember that as consumers, employees and community members, we can drive positive action.
- Businesses are increasingly recognizing that corporation action has benefits for both profit and social/environmental progress.
- While more people are getting engaged in politics right now, we should continue to educate ourselves and encourage others to register to vote.
Connect with Claudine
Website: www.ClaudineSchneider.com / www.RepublicansforIntegrity.org
Twitter: twitter.com/GOP4Integrity
Facebook: facebook.com/RepublicansForIntegrity
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Our host Vicki Robin reflects on her conversation with Jane Davidson, as heard on Episode 16.
Connect with JaneWebsite: www.janedavidson.wales
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaneBryngwyn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Futuregenlessons-from-a-small-country-103201268058732/
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Jane Davidson is the author of #futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country, the story of why Wales was the first country in the world to introduce legislation to protect future generations. She is Pro Vice-Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. From 2000-2011, Jane was Minister for Education, then Minister for Environment, Sustainability in the Welsh Government.
Jane shares her thoughts on “What could possibly go right?” including:
- The desire to take out short termism from politics, and encourage every country to factor future generations into their thinking.
- The Brundtland Commission’s definition of sustainable development is important in making sure future generations can meet their own needs, through our actions in the present.
- That Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act makes it the only country in the world to have put the Sustainable Development Goals into law.
- The bringing of four pillars into decision making is key for sustainable development - social, environmental, economic and cultural.
- The exciting sense that Britain has returned to loving nature during this time of COVID.
- That you need visioning, truth telling, learning and loving to inspire positive change.
Connect with JaneWebsite: www.janedavidson.wales
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaneBryngwyn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Futuregenlessons-from-a-small-country-103201268058732/
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Today, our series host Vicki Robin answers the question herself of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” In interview with Amy Buringrud of Post Carbon Institute, Vicki shares what she’s learned from the series’ guests so far, including:
- That this moment of humility has us recognizing that our cleverness fits on the head of a pin and our ignorance is vast.
- That his period of time has revealed to us the shadow of our bright light; removing our blinkers and bringing many to an embarrassed awakening of “How could I have missed that?
- That we are connecting more to a higher or deeper source that has us part of a harmonious whole.
- That a sense of social solidarity is needed to get through the challenges together.
- That business is relocalizing and rediscovering its purpose as being for exchange within communities, not simply to generate profit for shareholders.
- That there’s an immense sense of insufficiency on a planet where there's enough.
- That there’s a growing drive in people to reconcile their personal finances with the ecological and social conditions in this world.
- That the gift in this big question is the encouragement to see positives in what is emerging and an expectancy of beautiful and beneficial things.
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Rob Hopkins is an author and a Co-Founder of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network. He approaches the question of “What could possibly go right?” with a fascination in the power of imagination for our future. His insights include:
- That we need to create the conditions for the human imagination to re-emerge.
- That trauma, anxiety, loneliness and systemic problems have caused our imaginations to shrink, which can put at risk our ability to reimagine everything needed in these times.
- That to some extent, COVID has provided us some space for us to think in a different way and pause to “take a collective breath”.
- That we may each emerge from lockdown as different people than we went in, in a profound and extraordinary way.
- That we need to be wary of governments without imagination, which are only thinking of how to get back to the way things were.
- That this has been a phenomenal global act of love and solidarity in history.
- That any solutions will start with us, working together in communities with a sense of solidarity and mutual aid.
- That community movements need proper support and resources, with governments recognizing that allocating money effectively towards these has spin off benefits for public health, mental health and social cohesion strategies.
Connect with Rob HopkinsWebsite: https://www.robhopkins.net/
Twitter: twitter.com/robintransition
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Lyla June, musician, anthropologist, and activist, introduces us to the Seven Generations New Deal and how applying this has the potential to create “what could possibly go right”. Her interview insights included:
- That it’s hard to imagine what the world could be like, when we're so busy fighting what it's like.
- That economy is inseparable from ecology; you can destroy ecology to help the economy for only a short time, before your whole house of cards collapses.
- That the systems and conceptual frameworks that got us into this climate crisis will not get us out of it.
- The value of respecting indigenous science and looking to those societies with a proven track record of sustainability for solutions.
- That considering the inequity of who will have to pay for others’ climate mistakes, this reframing shifts emissions reduction from a scientific option to an ethical obligation.
- The importance of climate education and that everyone deserves to be informed from a multicultural perspective, not just the Eurocentric view.
- That we need visionary, forward thinking voices that push lawmakers to think completely differently.
- Visit www.sgnd.info to read more about the Seven Generations New Deal.
Connect with Lyla JuneWebsite: www.lylajune.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lylajune
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Peter Buffett is a musician, author, philanthropist and co-president of NoVo Foundation. With his varied background, he presents his thoughts on “What could possibly go right?” including:
- That we are in a rebirth moment, though this beauty and change can be a painful process.
- That we are “a species out of context” and the pandemic is changing our relationship to education, food, neighbors; everything is up for grabs.
- That homeschooling has children and parents alike reconsidering what education and learning can be.
- That there’s a rising wider awareness around the inequality of many systems.
- That those with privilege should be listening closely to others with fewer opportunities and move resources towards new imaginative spaces and a more equitable world.
- That in considering the question of “What could possibly go right?”, we need to think about whose version of “right” we’re looking at.
- That we need to hold space for vulnerability and recognition that we are all flawed human beings, working to heal from backgrounds with ancestral trauma - a beautiful but slow and sometimes painful process.
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Nina Simons considers our question of “What could possibly go right?” from her view as Co-Founder of nonprofit, Bioneers. As she does a joy dance that the not-so-great normal may be over, she shares these thoughts:
- That COVID-19 is presenting an opportunity to shift from an "I" consciousness to a "We" consciousness; to recognize we are all one family on this Earth.
- That a culture informed by patriarchy, capitalism and an extractive economy has oriented us towards activity and what’s outside, rather than reflection and what's on the inside.
- That there is a gift in having to shelter in place, allowing time for becoming more mindful of our inner state which can bring us into action in a whole different way.
- That our capacity to feel joy is related to our capacity to face the challenging, dark stuff within.
- That the Just Transition model recognizes the full interdependence of economy, ecology and culture; describing how we can shift from a system of extraction and exploitation, to one centered in caring, well-being and regeneration.
- That the absence of travel has meant a growing tendency to localize, to get to know our neighbors and to increase involvement in local politics and issues.
- That there’s an increased awareness that everything has always been uncertain, despite the illusion of certainty and security.
- That it’s not just about reclaiming power from the top, but for many in the middle range of having power and privilege to be willing to give something up and take risks for change.
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President & Founder of Hip Hop Caucus, Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., brings his perspectives on racial justice, youth empowerment, climate change, and faith to the big question of “What could possibly go right?” His insights include:
- How young people are communing with their spirituality and are using it to focus their fight for justice.
- How the current state of the country now is akin to a heart attack for someone who has been ignoring the things that make themselves healthy.
- How we've been investing in things, not to bring us together, but to tear us apart.
- How the current urgency and passion in the racial justice movement is driven by understanding that if we don't get it right now, it'll have disastrous effects moving forward.
- How it isn’t the change but the transition that can throw you for a loop.
- How the first thing to do in this “healing crisis” is to realize what got us to this point and to work through that pain of awareness.
- How we cannot do the work regarding climate justice if it doesn't have a racial justice framework.
Connect with Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.Hip Hop Caucus: hiphopcaucus.org/
Twitter: twitter.com/revyearwood
Instagram: instagram.com/revyearwood/
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For today’s “What Could Possibly Go Right?” Carolyn Raffensperger brings her perspective as an environmental lawyer and Executive Director of the Science and Environmental Health. She shares these ideas:
- The impact of applying the "precautionary principle" towards preventing suffering; this idea of taking positive action in the face of scientific uncertainty and the likelihood of harm.
- That there is an opportunity to rethink what government is for; working to avoid preventable suffering by promoting the well-being of its people instead of over-emphasizing economic growth.
- That the long-time work of activists has provided a bank of solutions, and that the focus now should be in cross-conversation and efforts across sectors.
- That the overarching frame of racism has shifted our picture of other issues and systems, such as economics, capitalism, the environment and public health.
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Heather Cox Richardson addresses the question of What Could Possibly Go Right? with a political focus. Her insights include:
- That the current condition is waking people up from autopilot and creating the realization they need to pursue change personally to create the society in which they want to live.
- A reminder that the beauty of a democratic system is getting to choose which direction to go.
- That the desire for equality of opportunity and access should no longer be pushed to the narrative of special interest in politics.
- The potential to innovate and create change through crowdsourcing government and society.
- That the American dream needs to be rewritten and move away from the heteronormative nuclear family as its centerpiece, to a more community-centered and diverse view.
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Activist Tim DeChristopher presents his views on our big question with themes of identity, environmentalism and spirituality.
- How the pandemic has disrupted the flimsy “identity-making” of capitalist culture, as people feel called toward more authenticity and human connection.
- How social media may hinder creativity and empowerment, including in responses to social crises.
- How a renewed relationship to mortality and vulnerability will have a profound impact on how we move into the next period of history on earth.
- How a new and different mindset could be the greatest gift that we get out of this disruption.
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In today’s episode, Severn Cullis-Suzuki gives her perspective that spans from addressing the UN at age 12 through to her life-long activism for environment and Indigenous rights. Her insights include:
- The serendipity that led to speaking at the UN’s Earth Summit in 1992 and the impact of this message that went viral.
- The disconnect between what we value as individuals and what our society upholds.
- The care of earth and its natural systems as fundamental to indigenous values.
- The opportunity within this current moment of global humility for mainstream society to learn from ancient cultures who’ve survived and can show us the way.
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Dr. Susanne Moser brings her work’s emphasis on climate change adaptation to the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?” Her insights include:
- That hope requires uncertainty. “If you're completely convinced that we're doomed, or if you're completely convinced all is going to be fine, you don't need hope... Only if the future isn't written can we possibly wish for hope.”
- How these last few months are encouraging people to open up conversation in areas that previously felt off limits.
- The feeling of breaking apart and collapse is often a crucial piece in enabling transformation to begin.
- Considering how to add greater resilience into our systems to reduce vulnerability in the midst of complex, compounding events.
- The focus on basic needs in Maslow’s hierarchy during crises, especially safety.
- That if we're not emotionally safe or politically safe to express our differences, we do not have community safety.
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Food Revolution Network Co-Founder Ocean Robbins shares his vision and recent observations of our world, including:
- The complexity and ingenuity within us and all lifeforms, supporting resilience and the ability to meet challenges in creative ways none of us could have imagined.
- Calling in as much joy, love and beauty as possible into our world, within a greater context of awe, respect and reverence.
- Acknowledging our moral obligation to be on the right side of history and bring our lives into alignment with our values.
- The learning potential in this current large experiment in mass cooperation, including for climate change action.
- The challenge of food justice and lifestyle-induced illness, with links to poverty and race.
- The positive benefits for health and food security from the resurgence in backyard gardening and “Victory Gardens” during the pandemic.
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Young Women Empowered’s Victoria Santos approached our big question with a focus on social justice and racial equity. Her passionate insights included:
- The pandemic and recent protests provide the opportunity to reveal who we are to each other and who we can be to each other.
- That COVID-19 is having a disproportionate burden on people of color, indigenous people and the disenfranchised.
- That this isn’t just a crisis of today; that it has been accumulating for generations and we need to get to work to dismantle systems of oppression.
- That for real change to happen, people need to feel the pain; not just feel inconvenienced.
- A vision that we wake up and begin to figure out how to live in harmony with the planet, with other species, and with each other.
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In today’s episode, Bill McKibben, author, environmentalist, and Co-Founder of 350.org shares his perspectives on “What Could Possibly Go Right?” including:
- Learning from the pain and trauma of the current crises in a destabilized planet.
- Reconnecting with the physical reality of the world outside of our online lives.
- Knowing speed matters in our response to climate change, as well as understanding that actions will be disruptive but necessary.
- Recognizing that social solidarity and a unified, fair society is what’s required to tackle big issues like climate change.
- Being aware of the new scariest words in the English language.
- Realizing the opportunity in channeling the large unemployed labor force towards activities to transform our energy system and response to climate
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Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage and Co-Founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, shares insight into the current perfect opportunity for wage change in the food service industry, including:
- How the pandemic has laid bare the troubles with tips-based pay structures, such as the ineligibility of many service workers to qualify for unemployment benefits due to sub-minimum wages.
- How the shut down during the pandemic is allowing for reconfiguration and reimagining of the restaurant industry.
- That employers are now more willing than ever to move towards a full livable minimum wage for their workers.
- Treating those in the food industry as other skilled professionals with livable wages and not reliance on tips.
- The realization of consumers about how essential our service workers are and the role diners can play in encouraging restaurant owners towards positive change.
Connect with Saru JayaramanOne Fair Wage: onefairwage.site/
Twitter: twitter.com/sarujayaraman
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