“Climate Optimism.” Now those are two words you don’t see together very often! In this episode, Anne Therese Gennari (mercifully) gives us a fresh perspective on how we can carry our concern about climate change. In her new book, The Climate Optimist’s Handbook, she moves our mental chatter from the gloom of anxiety and guilt, to the thrill of possibility and enthusiasm for all that is happening to improve the future.

Chapters

Here’s something that rarely happens on the internet: a celebration of how technology can be used to amplify social connection, instead of amplifying social division. Yes, THIS interview is a celebration of a leap in human potential. Meena Palaniappan is the founder of a technology/communication platform—Atma Connect—that has reached 12 million people and is well-designed so that it is likely to change the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the near future.

Chapters

00:00 - Intro & Welcome

03:02 - Importance of Networks

05:28 - Neighborliness at Scale

08:17 - Impact of Warnings

09:18 - Social Media Dynamics

10:10 - Nested Architecture

15:14 - Origins of AtmaGo

19:51 - Disaster & Unity

21:46 - Life Serving Systems

25:49 - Focus of AtmaGo

31:38 - Tech for Good

36:21 - Universal Contribution

39:50 - Creative Energy

41:12 - Support Atma Connect

42:33 - Final Thoughts

Renowned National Geographic Photographer Dewitt Jones shares with us a life-changing habit, available to us all: celebrate what’s right with the world. The perspectives he shares today can open up a radically improved landscape of possibilities for you and I. As a bonus, today’s video episode contains some of his most inspiring images: stunning views of the night sky, time lapses of water rushing in on the shore beneath a gorgeous sky, beautifully-lit hot air balloons reflecting off the water below, and more. This is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Need a little reminder to summon up some courage, joy, hope or kindness? Artist Gary Hirsch has created 92,000+ hand-drawn robots on the back of dominos that are helping people worldwide get through challenging moments. Gary is also an expert in helping us use the art of “improvisation” to work through challenging moments that could use some fun and creativity. Maybe both areas of expertise are connected. In this episode, you’ll find out how!

Watch the episode on YouTube!

00:00 - Intro & Welcome

Brandi Parker, has some uplifting and even “freeing” new ways for us to think about our lives as consumers (with less guilt and shame.) She’s helping us all—industry included—get clarity about who should be responsible for the things we need to “throw away.” Instead of consumers bearing the burden for the “end of life” for everything we buy, she is proposing that the brands we love should be responsible for what they’ve made and put out into the world. And we can push them to do that!

The University of Maryland and its Do Good Institute is on the leading edge of a little-known, but titanic and positive shift. Turns out, student expectations are changing in a momentous way: Gen Z has aspirations that may make them the most positively impactful generation in history. Today we talk to the Do Good Institute’s Jenny Cox and Nathan Dietz about this shift and get some stories from this leading edge.

-- TIME STAMPS --

00:00 Intro & Welcome

02:54 What Do College Students Want
09:40 University of Maryland
11:28 Facts & Trends 
19:35 Break
22:34 Legacy Stories

30:00 Values Driven Consumers
37:19 The Future of Education
46:37 Jobs Today vs Jobs Yesterday
51:17 Busted Myths
54:27 What Do You Wish People Knew?

1:01:28 Closing

If you had any doubt about the next generation coming up in colleges today, Kiarra Danielle Lucas will fill you with confidence in Gen Z. Today we all get a new perspective on how children can practice a kind of radical optimism, in the worst circumstances, and use it to build remarkable futures for themselves and others. Kiarra is an 18-year-old inspiration for anyone who thinks their circumstances limit their potential and her vision for the future might be just the spark you need to find exactly what you are built to contribute.

00:00 Intro & Welcome

02:54 How We Met
04:04 Big Dreams
10:10 New Beginning
15:30 Break

18:10 Taking Advantage of Opportunities

20:49 Walking in Kiarra’s Shoes
25:48 Acting Out of Fear or Love
30:50 Original Courage
34:17 What Do You Wish People Knew?
37:18 What has to Happen Next?
39:57 How do I Support?
42:30 Closing

Kristina McKean has a story that demonstrates exactly why we should not wait to start building lives of meaning and purpose. Kristina found a way to take the skills of her working life and combine them with her lifelong passion for animal welfare. Now, she finds joy every day in her work and the impact it’s having on wildlife and a new generation of very young philanthropists through her work at The Elephant Project.

-- TIME STAMPS --

00:00 Intro & Welcome

02:28 The Elephant Project

09:47 Saying No To Elephant Rides

14:49 Challenges Facing Elephants

20:05 Break

22:44 Love and Bananas

30:39 Partnerships

32:54 Travel Lessons

37:15 Kristina’s Work with Dogs 

44:25 Original Courage

46:46 Gaining Inches

51:38 What Do You Wish People Knew?
54:30 Closing

Sunni Brown is an intrepid and inspiring “creative” who is zooming through our world, project after project, sparking bursts of hidden potential everywhere she goes. She was named one of the “10 Most Creative People” on X (formerly Twitter), and she has been featured in every major U.S. publication: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, and CBS Sunday Morning, the latter of which has celebrated her work twice! And so will you, once you’ve enjoyed her infectious positive energy.

--TIME STAMPS--

00:00 Intro & Welcome

03:01 Life Motto

11:50 1+1 = 11

16:40 We can’t be in a Rush Through Life

19:01 Curiosity

25:28 Break

28:51 Something We All Have in Common

33:45 Visual Thinking

37:12 Sunni’s Books

40:40 Deep Self Design

45:14 Zone of Genius

47:48 Human Contribution

01:05:39 The Benefits of Zen

01:08:58 What Do You Wish People Knew?
01:11:20 Closing

Daniel Kish has a natural ability that has amazed over 2 billion people on this planet. He is often referred to as “The REAL Batman” because he has no eyes and yet he “sees” the world with sound, much like bats and dolphins do. He has traveled the globe unaccompanied for 25 years teaching tens of thousands to live independent lives with this remarkable adaptation. In this rousing conversation, Daniel shows how this works – and asks us all to let go of our fear of the unknown.

-- TIMESTAMPS --

00:00 Intro & Welcome

03:00 Adaptation

9:13 Self Determination

31:32 Daniel’s Upbringing

41:18 Break

44:22 The Donut Story

48:52 Daniel as a Teacher

55:46 Modern Day Challenges for Blind People

1:00:59 Neutralizing Fear of the ‘What If’

1:02:47 The Power of Awe

1:06:07 What Do You Wish People Knew?

1:12:53Closing