Cosmic

In this second episode of Summer Reflections, you will gain further insights about the future of the show and hear from a first project that was born out of the Cosmic network. The future holds promising opportunities for the Cosmic community!

It’s just you and me today. I am on a summer vacation, somewhere deep in the mountains - I am taking a break from interviewing and from my other projects - trying to use this time for reflection.

Punctuated by some of my favorite songs in my August playlists, I share some reflections about the future of the show (season 2 starting soon!), and tell the story of how Cosmic got started, 33 episodes ago.

Do you experience things deeply?

In a world where opportunities for immediate gratification are everywhere, I wanted to share an interview that will help us take a step back and recall what true commitment looks like, and why it’s worth pursuing in both your personal and professional lives.

Priscilla wanted to work with people. When she took a job at an environmental engineering firm in San Antonio, Texas, she thought she was part of the do-gooders, helping clean up after oil spills and making the industry greener. Until she got this one phone call…

I’ve always had a fascination for them, knowing they are at the very top of their game, able to coordinate a movement of 80 expert musicians and deliver a performance that is not only extremely precise, coordinated and tight, but one that can also take audiences into another dimension. We must be able to learn something from these guys!?

Across cultures, people don’t laugh about the same things. Can dramatic events be made fun of? Where is the limit? How to handle black humour? And what can satire do for social change?

"We are making some upgrades to the podcast production and publishing processes so we are rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes from this first part of the year."

We are making some upgrades to the podcast production and publishing processes so we are rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes from this first part of the year.

As the new composition of EU institutions is taking shape, I recalled this great discussion with ex-VP of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala, in her kitchen, after a long winter day in Brussels. If you haven’t heard it yet it’s a good moment to dive in.

It’s a positive story.

Across the Amazon, alliances of indigenous people are becoming more and more effective. Infrastructure projects are being opposed, international law is being harnessed and we even see governments facilitating a more sustainable vision for the sacred lands that hold so much of the Earth’s biodiversity and vital functions.

What does it mean to be human?

And what if emojis are taking over?

The development model of our societies clearly involves ethnocide: we kill languages and we kill cultures.

Are we paying attention?

How much does diversity of languages actually matter?

In Cosmic #23, we started a quest exploring what connects languages, culture & power.

In this episode, I take a deeper dive with someone who lived a unique range of experiences with the most remote communities on the planet.

How addicted are we to sugar? coffee? salt?

How come some psychoactive substances are heavily criminalized and some others, are widely encouraged through capitalistic market dynamics and enabling policies?