Rachel Donald

How can we become good ancestors? Permaculturist and educator, Kara Huntermoon, says the hobbies we pick up now can be skills we pass on to our children, even if we never have to use them ourselves.

How we create knowledge is as important as the knowledge itself. This is the message of this week’s guest, Aboriginal scholar and author, Tyson Yunkaporta. In his explanation of the importance of learning through living, and living with learning, Tyson points to the how the discourse around decolonisation has granted expertise based on identity rather than experience.

Reverend Billy, the leader of the Church of Stop Shopping, is hellbent on spreading the gospel of the anti-consumerist life and the non-materialistic approach to finding meaning and joy. Environmental journalist Rachel Donald interviews the good reverend.

Environmental journalist/podcaster Rachel Donald interviews Gaya Herrington, an internationally recognized sustainability researcher and economist, about the limits to growth and the role of businesses in making a global transformation to a wellbeing economy.

Political polarization, particularly in the United States, is being inflamed by structural forces, including the dominance of two parties and winner-take-all representation. Lee Drutman, senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America, speaks on reforms like proportional representation and multi-member districts, and why we should view democracy more like a living, evolving ecosystem than a problem to fix.

Jennifer McCoy, professor of political science at Georgia State University and nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discusses the influence of “political entrepreneurs” and the implications of a world facing increasing resource constraints, which can exacerbate polarization and conflict within and between nations. Professor McCoy offers examples of nations that overcame pernicious polarization and points to “win-win” strategies for navigating the 21st century’s challenges.