How to avoid doomerism: Eirik and Scott make the case for stubborn optimism.

In a casual conversation, we explore upcoming technologies from new ways of storing energy straight out of a sci-fi movie to "nighttime solar panels".

Might talking about and focussing on such innovations alleviate our collective climate anxiety?

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How did a hip-hop loving redneck get to become a fighter for sustainability?

What makes a happier and more productive workplace?

And how can we create a movement in which we recognise and appreciate the contribution of every single person, even if they come in different forms an intensities?

Our own Scott Denton answers these, and many related questions, in our first ever interview.

• [00:04] Introduction
• [01:12] Starting to think about sustainability
• [04:16] What is "enkelfähig"?
• [09:23] Motivating others
• [12:46] Finding happiness by giving back
• [16:41] "Enkelfähigkeit" in our personal and work lives
• [23:22] Accepting any effort & trusting the process
• [28:56] Not everyone is in a position to choose
• [33:27] Credits

• Laloux, Frederic. 2014. Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness. Nelson Parker. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20776175-reinventing-organizations.

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Both Ukraine and Russia are large exporters of raw materials as well as agricultural goods. Those, in turn, frequently get processed abroad and then further feed into many different industries from chemical to foodstuffs.

How might those industries be impacted by the war in Ukraine; and will there be any ripple effects? Why is the region called the bread basket of the world? Why do our computers need neon gas? And, if we can't prevent disasters, how can we deal with them?

All of this, and more, coming up.

• [00:06] Introduction
• [01:26] Disrupted Supply Chains
• [11:08] Optimizing for Fragility vs. Resilience
• [17:55] Disrupted Logistics
• [26:02] Over-Consumption
• [28:45] Resilience and Risk Management
• [31:51] Disrupted Services
• [36:50] Reform or Catastrophe
• [39:57] Credits

To donate to the Pines Forest School mentioned in the last episode, go to www.pinesforestschool.pl/donate. To donate to the UN Refugee Agency, go to donate.unhcr.org.

• BBC News. 2022. ‘Ukraine War Could Hit Global Growth, OECD Warns’, 17 March 2022, sec. Business. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60777498.
• Bloom, Jonty. 2022. ‘The Risk Management Experts Now in High Demand’. BBC News, 10 March 2022, sec. Business. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60660760.
• ‘In Memory of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution’. n.d. Accessed 24 April 2022. https://www.dri.ne.jp/en/.
• Kayyem, Juliette N. 2022. The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58340989-the-devil-never-sleeps.
• Kreye, Andrian. n.d. ‘Der Kapitalismus ist Opfer der Mehrfachkrisen’. Süddeutsche.de. Accessed 24 April 2022. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/welthandel-krieg-hunger-1.5552465.
• Lionni, Leo. 2012. Frederick. New York: Knopf. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1307531.Frederick.
• McGrath, Matt. 2022. ‘Climate Change: “Madness” to Turn to Fossil Fuels Because of Ukraine War’. BBC News, 21 March 2022, sec. Science & Environment. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60815547.
• Sato, Ichiro, Beth Elliott, and Clea Schumer. 2021. ‘What Is Carbon Lock-in and How Can We Avoid It?’, May. https://www.wri.org/insights/carbon-lock-in-definition.
• Simchi-Levi, David, and Pierre Haren. 2022. ‘How the War in Ukraine Is Further Disrupting Global Supply Chains’. Harvard Business Review, 17 March 2022.

As the heartbreaking human impact of the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine becomes more and more apparent, we are taking a step back to look at issues surrounding this war.

In this first episode on the subject, we are beginning to wonder how we got here and how we can get back to a Plan A. In particular, we will investigate Germany's and the European Union's perceived dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

Is the dependence really that great and how did it come about? How does resolving the, seemingly suddenly revealed, security issues of such a dependence intersect with the long-planned European Green Deal?

Finally, Scott brings us back to the reality on the ground. As depressing as it is, and as even worse as it will inevitably get, he saw touching examples of selfless aid being given to Ukrainian refugees when he visited Warsaw, Poland. Specifically, we will learn why a Brit by the name of Saul is trying to get Ukrainian children into the woods…

A brief note about the state of this episode: Due to the topicality of the subject matter at hand, we somewhat rushed the recording and publishing of this episode. We are planning to either follow it up with a second, more polished, episode shortly, or to re-upload this one with a better presented fossil fuel segment and additional segments on other supply chain considerations.

• [00:00] Preamble
• [02:11] Introduction
• [07:07] The situation right now in Warsaw, Poland
• [09:48] The EU's / Germany's fossil fuel dependency on Russia
• [19:18] How is the EU reacting?
• [22:47] Could additional sanctions result in a violent response?
• [25:50] To be continued; Poland's open door; and the power of Hip Hop
• [31:19] Epilogue
• [34:35] Credits

To donate to the Pines Forest School mentioned in this episode, go to www.pinesforestschool.pl/donate. To donate to the UN Refugee Agency, go to donate.unhcr.org.

• Bauchmüller, Michael, Bastian Brinkmann, and Benedikt Müller-Arnold. n.d. ‘Energie aus Russland: Gas-Embargo mit Risiken und Nebenwirkungen’. Süddeutsche.de. Accessed 23 March 2022. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/gas-embargo-russland-1.5550565.
• BDEW. n.d. ‘Endenergieverbrauch nach Verbrauchergruppen - Zehnjahresvergleich’. Accessed 14 March 2022. https://www.bdew.de/service/daten-und-grafiken/endenergieverbrauch-nach-verbrauchergruppen-zehnjahresvergleich/.
• COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS REPowerEU: Joint European Action for More Affordable, Secure and Sustainable Energy. 2022. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2022%3A108%3AFIN.
• Germany, Süddeutsche de GmbH, Munich. n.d. ‘Schritt für Schritt weg von Russ­lands Öl und Gas’. Süddeutsche.de. Accessed 23 March 2022. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/wissen/wie-unabhaengig-kann-die-eu-von-erdgas-aus-russland-werden-e111346/.
• Oltermann, Philip. 2022....

Join us for our first Factoid Friday episode, where we briefly introduce and discuss interesting news items and studies we came across that touch on sustainability and resilience, either in the context of business, the environment, politics or society.

Today's factoids are all about private land ownership and land usage. Is Bill Gates really the largest private owner of farmland in the US? Why is a Danish business tycoon reforesting the Scottish Highlands? And who is ridding New Zealand of its out of control invasive gorse infestation?

All of this, and more, on today's Plan-A Factoid Friday!

• 00:05 Introduction
• 00:39 Private accumulation of farmland
• 07:03 Fossil fuel companies reforesting
• 16:48 A role for government?
• 24:09 Private re-wilding efforts
• 32:02 Let nature solve it
• 38:06 Credits

• Weinberger, Hannah. ‘Bill Gates Is Investing Big in American Farmland | Crosscut’. Accessed 17 March 2022. https://crosscut.com/environment/2021/02/bill-gates-investing-big-american-farmland.
• Gates, Bill. ‘Bill Gate’s Reddit AMA Answer’. Reddit Comment. *R/IAmA*, 19 March 2021. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/m8n4vt/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_and_melinda/grid8pt/?context=3.
• Monbiot, George. ‘Carbon Offsetting Is Not Warding off Environmental Collapse – It’s Accelerating It’. *The Guardian*, 26 January 2022, sec. Opinion. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/26/carbon-offsetting-environmental-collapse-carbon-land-grab.
• ‘What’s a Carbon Tax?’ Accessed 17 March 2022. https://www.carbontax.org/whats-a-carbon-tax/.
• Caron, Justin, Stuart M. Cohen, Maxwell Brown, and John M. Reilly. ‘Exploring the Impacts of a National u.s. Co2 Tax and Revenue Recycling Options with a Coupled Electricity-Economy Model’. *Climate Change Economics* 09, no. 01 (February 2018): 1840015. https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010007818400158.
• Wildland | Scotland. ‘Conservation’. Accessed 17 March 2022. https://wildland.scot/conservation.
• Happen Films. *Man Spends 30 Years Turning Degraded Land into Massive Forest – Fools & Dreamers (Full Documentary)*, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VZSJKbzyMc.
• ‘Newsletters – Hinewai Reserve’. Accessed 18 March 2022. https://www.hinewai.org.nz/newsletters/.
• Quaglia, Sofia. ‘Tropical Forests Can Partially Regenerate in Just 20 Years without Human Interference’. *The Guardian*, 9 December 2021, sec. Environment. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/09/tropical-forests-can-regenerate-in-just-20-years-without-human-interference.
• Poorter,...

What do happier employees, more productive businesses, sustainability-focused societies and a healthy planet have in common? They are all enkelfähig.

We explain the term, a German compound word roughly meaning behaving in a manner compatible with multi-generational prosperity, and why we consider it to be the missing piece to positively re-frame the conversation around today's economic, societal and environmental challenges.

How can we, first, talk about the issues more positively, and then draw up a Plan A for our companies, personal lives, governments and civic groups to achieve a more sustainable future with increased prosperity and happiness for all and greater resilience towards the challenges of tomorrow.

• 00:03 Introduction
• 01:47 Discovering "enkelfähig"
• 16:49 Why start a podcast
• 24:51 The themes we plan to explore
• 32:46 What to expect from future episodes
• 41:06 Towards a Plan A!
• 42:55 Credits

Sponsored by Mellontiko — We help companies and organisations become resilient and achieve sustainable prosperity.

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