Pod of Gold: Recent Episodes
Mel Wymore and Steff Overbeck
Find comfort and inspiration from real people addressing winner-take-all economics and other root causes of climate chaos, inequity, and global unrest. On the road from wasteland to wonderland, this is Pod of Gold.
This is like no weaving you've seen before. In place of threads and looms, Ross Hall and the Weaving Lab employ collaboration and experiential learning to empower communities and promote universal wellbeing.
What if you could pick up a book and learn how to transform your entire community in a single hour? That's what Faye Cox is working on with her startup called Hourbooks. She's on a mission to empower people to live more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable lifestyles. Hourbooks is the gateway.
Currency is meant to connect. Gwendolyn Hallsmith, founder of the Headwaters Garden and Learning Center ecovillage, talks about how our money system has gotten out of balance and what it will take to get our world back on track. Bonus: she sings!
Jean Rossiaud is one of the masterminds behind Monnaie Léman, a new complimentary currency for the regions of Switzerland and France surrounding Lake Geneva. Listen as he talks through the benefits complimentary currencies can have for local economies and the planet.
What will it take to make air pollution a thing of the past? According to Kristian Lande, it's all about decentralizing data. His start up, AirVeraCity, aims to give people direct access to the information they need to take local action on air quality.
The coronavirus pandemic put the whole world on pause. Abigail Tisch, Ellie Gravitte, and Martha Epstein are taking that pause and turning it into an opportunity for global connection. Listen in to hear about the project they call the International Zoom Room and the learnings they've gathered so far from hosting conversations with strangers around the world.
Everyone is being heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. For folks living in New York City's public housing, the cost of entering a 'new normal' can be incredibly high. We got curious about how COVID-19 is impacting New York's vulnerable residents and what communities are doing to come together and support one another in the face of the pandemic.
What does it look like to put community participation at the center of sustainable development? Anna Cowen and John Ziniades talk through FLOW, a project that empowered underemployed youth in South Africa to map their community's needs and assets, connect them through complimentary currencies, and unleash their creative power.
Declan Kennedy is one of the early founders of the Global Ecovillage Network, empowering communities to grow in harmony with nature.
Two preschool teachers share their experience as part of the Red for Ed statewide walkout in Arizona, where teachers had been underpaid and undervalued. They mold the future in their classrooms, so why doesn't the state treat them like it?
A functioning economy should allow human life AND our planet to flourish, shouldn’t it? Take a bite out of Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics as she walks Mel and Steff through her vision of a balanced economic model.
Can we put a price on global health in the time of COVID-19? Mel and Steff interview Clarissa da Costa, an expert in infectious diseases, and Xinjing Jiang, a student from Wuhan, to discuss the potential fallout of the current pandemic. What lessons are we learning now that will make us more resilient in the future?
Ben Brangwyn and Inez Aponte live in Totnes, England, a town that is part of the Transition Network. Transition towns around the world have reimagined their local economy to support greater sustainability, enagagement, and happiness for all.
What if the government paid you an allowance? In this episode, Mel and Steff chat with Enno Schmidt and Marjukka Turunen, two experts on the practice of Universal Basic Income (UBI).
Polly Spain is president of her tenant association in a public housing development in New York’s Upper West Side. Join Mel and Steff as they step into Polly’s world and learn about the mechanisms that keep urban communities poor. In Polly’s words, ‘it’s an industry’.
Nobel nominee, Dr. Evelin Lindner, tries to live without money as much as she possibly can. Mel and Steff got curious about that choice and how it helps her spread her message of love.
Pod of Gold host, Stefanie Overbeck, shares the story of building a sustainable ‘Swiss mountain’ in the Dubai desert only to watch the foundation crumble underneath her.
Pod of Gold host, Mel Wymore, talks us through the 25 years of community activism experience in New York City that led him to an important realization about making a more lasting impact: tackling the money system.
Worried about climate chaos, inequality, and global unrest? Podcast hosts, Mel and Steff, want to introduce you to the people out there who are making a difference.