For those of you who think solar PV is still some fringe technology without the ability to disrupt fossil fuel dependence – think again. In this episode we again talk to Anders Norlén who has become a bit of an expert on the field in renewable power generation. We promise you will – which seems rarer and rarer – hear some pretty good news.

NOTE: There are some feedback effects in the sound of this episode, due to triple Skype connection. Apologies for this, we hope your listening experience will still be ok!

Also see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmyrbKBZ6SU

Sara Heinrich joins us to discuss what teaching should be in the future. Do we really need teachers? Not at all according to one example: the university called “42” that provides peer-learning on-line, tuition fee free education! We also question the classroom as such and the physical infrastructure of the school. But maybe the physical meeting with teachers, and peers, has a role to play? Yes probably.

We have talked quite a lot in this pod already about how to create agricultural systems that can feed the world while at the same time regenerate the productive land AND do so without using fossil-based resources and/or fertilisers

However, it is admittedly hard to imagine any larger-scale agricultural practive without the use of at least some fuels. But what if you could grow your own fuels? In this episode we explore some new ideas about how to use some of the arable land to contribute to the demand for carbon-based fuels, needed in agriculture as well as elsewhere.

We discuss the recent debate article from the Swedish National Institute of Economic Research that is criticising the circular economy policy makers. 

The article we discuss can be read online (in Swedish): http://www.dn.se/debatt/cirkular-ekonomi-okar-inte-sysselsattningen/

We really penetrate into the economic models behind the future predictions on job creation and circular economy, but spend most of the time discussion the role of policy makers in enabling economic transition and the benefit of taxes vs. market mechanisms.

It seems like the COP21 in Paris was only yesterday! And yet here we are, a year later, in a world that is in many ways different from what it was then. 

In this episode, we try to keep our eyes on the prize and talk about what actually happens in the course to implement the Paris agreement, and Alex is as usual well on top of the juciest stuff from COP22 in Marrakech. Mats mantles the role of celebrity / political correspondent and yes... eventually we talk about the US election effect on the future of the UNFCCC

In episode 39 of the podcast, we talk City & Country. Inspired by Po Tidholm who recently published his book “Norrland” (Swedish for The North) and then turned it into a series of three episodes named “Resten av Sverige” (The Rest of Sweden) broadcasted on Swedish television. While it is with sadness the guys confirm and discuss the depopulation of the rural areas of Sweden and the rest of the world, Mats & Alexander find a lot of hope in new technology that could facilitate distributed manufacturing and on-line businesses, and permaculture that could revive the agriculture and “production of ecosystem services”.

Link to Resten av Sverige (in Swedish) http://www.svtplay.se/video/10416454/resten-av-sverige/resten-av-sverige-avsnitt-1

We interview Alysia Garmulewicz, who studied on 3D printing and distributed production in Oxford and is now professor at the University of Santiago in Chile. 

Besides describing what distributed production really means, this episode brings you musings about its implications, both from and environmental and economic perspective. What does it mean for resource recycling= What are the political implications? What can we learn from the growth of renewable energy? Listen and find out!

Being environmentalists trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in every sector of the economy Mats & Alexander are really worried that all the flying they are doing is simply cancelling out all the hard work they are doing with recycling, buying less stuff and eating less meat. How bad is flying for the climate? And could it be justified? Are some flights more valuable than others? And are there any technological fixes to the use of fossil fuels in the aviation industry? These questions are bounced back and forward over the globe in this Skype conversation, that in itself did not require any flying at all.

Fuelled by the release of an recent, heavily critizesd quasi-science 'self-help' books, Mats frustration spills over and he just HAS to rant about these quack doctors for a while. The Secret, communicology, the list can be made long...

Alex suggests how such quick fixes might be a substitute for religion and spirituality, and that maybe we need something like that. We then discuss how to acquire spirituality without being ripped off by fraudulent theories and practices.

A week delayed we can finally give you this ground breaking episode of the podcast, hosting the world famous forest programmer and entrepreneur Thomas Backlund. We talk about what made Thomas give up his rental contract on an apartment in Stockholm, sell most of his belongings and move out into the Swedish woods. Is this a model for the future? And can the forest provide new inspiration to our world in much need for creative ideas?

Link to Thomas's TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOIVeuL_wXA