Rethinkers

You might have heard of the UN “30 by 30” pledge in the media, which aims at protecting 30% of the earth’s biosphere by 2030. A goal that applies to biodiversity both on land and sea. This goal is highly ambitious, and is particularly difficult to implement on the High Seas - vast areas of the sea owned by no one and hence beyond the jurisdiction of any one nation. Who decides how and where to protect these areas? In today’s conversation with geographer and social scientist Nadège Legroux, we try to shed some light on these questions.

Nadège Legroux is a PhD candidate at the University of Paul Valéry Montpellier III, where she is working on her pluridisciplinary thesis on marine conservation between the French Agency for Development and the Environmental Humanities Laboratory (UMR SENS, Montpellier). Her research focuses on the Costa Rica Thermal Dome, an offshore phenomenon that drives marine biodiversity in geographically fluid ways.

00:03:00    Environmental threats to marine ecosystems with a historical perspective 

Dans cet épisode, je parle avec le photographe animalier Laurent Geslin de son documentaire "Le Lynx". Le film suis une famille des lynx dans le massif du Jura en Suisse. La beauté de ce documentaire m’a énormement touché, et c’était donc un grand honneur de interviewer Laurent Geslin sur sa philosophie par rapport à la nature. Laurant Geslin partage sa vision sur la manière dont son travail de photographe peut avoir un impact positif sur les problèmes environnementaux. Il nous explique également comment son travail lui permet de dialoguer avec des groupes des personnes très differentes, comme par example des scientifiques et des chasseurs. Finalement, il partage quelques mots de sagesse sur la manière don’t le fait de ralentir dans la nature peut nous permettre de découvrir tout un univers incroyable sans avoir à chercher loin. Cet épisode est une  invitation à s'asseoir sous un arbre dans la fôret et à prendre le temps de observer la vie autour de nous.

In this episode, you'll be learning about trees. As many of you may already know, tree planting campaigns are a very popular solution to climate change. You’ve probably all heard slogans such as “buy a tee plant a tree”.  And planting trees sounds easy enough, right? Unfortunately, the reality is not quite as simple, and many tree plantations fail. And when they do fail, they tend to impact the local communities they’re implemented in negative ways. 

Recently I’ve read a very inspiring article discussing the pitfalls and limitations of tree planting efforts as a solution to climate change. I’ve had a chance to virtually sit down with two of the interdisciplinary scientists who worked on the paper, namely with Divya Gupta (Assistant Professor at the State University of New York in Binghamton) and Vijay Ramprasad (Senior Fellow at the Center for Ecology Development and Research in Dehra Dun, India).

During this conversation, you’ll learn about some of the important ecological services forests provide. You’ll also learn about why it is so challenging to successfully plant trees in order to sequester carbon. And, most importantly, Divya Gupta and Vijay Ramprasad share their thoughts with us on how we could rethink the way we go about planting trees, be it by including local communities in projects, by focusing on protecting existing forests instead of planting new ones, or simply by taking a good look at our own carbon footprints. 

In episode six we hear from Manuel Stucki & Philipp Portenier on the topics of creativity, being content and lowering expectations. This conversation fits the broader theme of this podcast series, which is to shed some light onto the question of how to be human in a warming world. Manuel is a physiotherapist and semi-professional musician. Philipp holds a masters degree in philosophy and is also an ordained buddhist monk from the Soto Zen school. Manuel and Philipp have been lifelong friends and live in Switzerland. They share a passion for music, enjoy engaging in philosophical conversations and are very interested in the role that time or “having time” plays in our daily lives.

During the conversation, Manuel and Philipp share with us why they believe that boredom is important for creativity and how they go about the sometimes tricky business of being content with the way we spend our time. They also tell us why it is valuable to think of time spent together with other people not simply as time spent together but rather as time shared together. We hear from Manuel’s and Philipp’s own personal experiences and also get some insights from Philipp’s perspective as a zen monk.

Récemment j’ai eu le plaisir de interviewer le musicien, compositeur et multi-instrumentiste Mathias Duplessy. Fortement inspiré par la musique traditionnelle, il compose et joue entre autres avec les groupes Trio Cavalcade et Violins of the World. Il a également composé de nombreuses musiques de films. Au cours de l'interview, Mathias Duplessy nous explique comment sa musique est inspirée par la nature, comment différents types de musique peuvent évoquer différents sentiments, et pourquoi la musique traditionnelle lui semble donc importante pour nous permettre de nous connecter avec la nature et la terre. Il partage également avec nous pourquoi il pense que l'art et la musique peuvent apporter de la lumière au monde, et pourquoi il s'intéresse à la philosophie et au stoïcisme.

In this episode, I talk to writer and beekeeper Helen Jukes about her book "A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings". This first book of hers was listed as Book of the Year, Book of the Month or Book of the Week by various different outlets and was also shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag non-fiction award. Helen Jukes tells us how she got into beekeeping. We talk about how this experience has changed her perception of the world and her relationship with her surroundings. We also discuss how activities such as beekeeping can help us in slowing down and calming that inner drive to always be busy and productive.

00:01:15 Of becoming a beekeeper

In this episode, my friend Laurence and I talk about the upsides and downsides of global food trading schemes. Laurence tells us how agricultural practices have already influenced local climates during historical times and explains what role global power dynamics play in our food systems. She shares with us why she thinks food trading schemes are of global importance to increase our resilience towards the effects of climate change. Finally, we discuss why young people's voices in international relations matter, and why diversity is so important.

00:01:01 Of becoming interested in environmental sciences

Dans cet épisode, David nous raconte sa traversée des Alpes à ski et il nous explique pourquoi il a renoncé à sa voiture. En outre, il nous parle de comment il a adapté son mode de vie pour pouvoir accéder facilement à la montagne sans voiture, y compris pour son travail de guide de montagne. Nous discutons également du concept de la sobriété et du fait qu'elle peut nous aider dans la transition énergétique. David nous explique pourquoi il pense que notre société devrait repenser son image de la réussite, et pourquoi l'acte de partager est précieux.

00:01:03 La traversée des Alpes à ski

In this episode, Sophia and I talk about her approach to veganism, meat alternatives and why dietary schemes aren’t the one silver bullet for fixing our food systems. We also discuss social justice and our relationship to food. Finally, Sophia gives us some ideas of what truly sustainable food systems could look like.

00:01:40 Sophia’s personal story