The Squirrel News Podcast

The solarpunk movement creates utopias of how the future might look if humanity succeeded in solving major contemporary challenges. Jeremy Dela Rosa and Nico Shi are part of it. In this episode, they tell us why the world needs new utopias that are open to technological progress, and how they connect communal living with benevolent AI.

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Leon Wolf

Links

www.agartha.one

www.jeremy.love

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Nick Hudson and his organisation E2AC (entertainment to affect change) are bridging the gap between two worlds: entertainment and non-profits. In this episode, Nick explains to us, how he came to create a "philanthropic Netflix", how E2AC inspires movie lovers to take action, and why donating and supporting a cause can be addictive.

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Leon Wolf

Links

E2AC Website: www.e2ac.org

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

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Please donate now to help us continue our work.

In a new medical trend, more and more doctors are prescribing outdoor pursuits and social activities instead of drugs and medication. Solutions journalist Julia Hotz has spoken about this topic on our podcast before. In this episode she returns to talk with us about the book she has written on the subject in the meantime: "The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging."

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Leon Wolf

Links

Julia Hotz, The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging. Simon & Schuster

Julia Hotz (Website)

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

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Please donate now to help us continue our work.

Prejudices about Jews are still widespread today. Yet many young people in Germany have never consciously met a Jew. The project ‘Meet a Jew’ aims to change this by bringing Jewish volunteers together with school classes and clubs. In this episode, project coordinator Masha explains what the encounters achieve and why many participants are amazed by them.

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Leon Wolf

Links

Project website

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

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Please donate now to help us continue our work.

In this special, personal episode, we continue our conversation about history with a special guest and a special project in which Jonathan's father recently rediscovered the story of Kurt Klein and Gerda Weissmann Klein: two Jews who left Germany during and after World War II, married and became very well-known in the US due to Gerda's book "All but my life" – but remained almost unknown in Germany. In this episode, we speak with their son Jim Klein about how his father Kurt saved Oskar Schindler, lessons from his mother for politics today, and the meaning of re-establishing contact with a left-behind part of family history.

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Leon Wolf

Links

Gerda Weissmann Klein: All But My Life

Project Website "Kurt Klein" (in German)

Gerda und Kurt, Graphic Novel (German)

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

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Please donate now to help us continue our work.

In this episode, Ed and Jonathan, a Jew in LA and Jonathan a German in Berlin, reflect on current political events and their personal relation and experience with it: The rise of the far-right AfD in Germany, mass protests against it, and how Germany deals with the past in general; and on the other hand, the possible comeback of Donald Trump, racism and antisemitism in US history.

By the way, we’re just getting started. Much more to come in our next episodes.

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Leon Wolf

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

Find our more about Squirrel News on our website or read our latest news.

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Please donate now to help us continue our work.

Can psychedelics like MDMA drive positive social change? Journalist Rachel Nuwer wrote a book on "MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World", and in one chapter she describes how taking the drug in a scientific study seems to have helped a former white nationalist leader change his extremist beliefs. In this episode, Rachel explains how this could be possible, how MDMA could have similar effects on others and where the limits are.

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Leon Wolf

Photo: Gil Gonzalez

Stories discussed

How a dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist, BBC

Rachel Nuwer, I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

Find our more about Squirrel News on our website or read our latest news.

Download our app or subscribe to our newsletter.

Please donate now to help us continue our work.

When thinking about global development, toilets are not the first thing that comes to mind. But facilitating access to toilets for everyone has surprising benefits for health, nutrition, safety, education and the economy. In this episode, Sarika Saluja, General Manager of the World Toilet Organisation, explains why universal access to toilets is more important than we'd think, why even governments are not sufficiently aware of that and how the situation has been improving over the last years.

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Mathias Warzecha

(00:4:17) Introduction of Sarika

(00:5:00) Whats the World Toilet Organisation and what do they do?

(00:7:52) Wow do we get a different view about this issue?

(00:10:20) Why is the design of Toilettes different all around the world?

(00:11:55) Why is access to toiletts more important than medicine?

(00:13:52) Are governments aware about this important problems?

(00:15:12) Whats the 6 sustainable development goals?

(00:16:10) Why do people, especially women, in developing countries stop eating and drinking in the evening?

(00:18:32) What leads to sanitation issues?

(00:21:43) India has made significant progress in recent years by constructing over 111 million toilets?

(00:23:08) The program in India is the biggest program by a government in the world?

(00:24:08) How do job opportunities in India increase due to toilets?

(00:25:50) What is the World Toilette Colleague?

(00:29:08) When do you think everyone in the World will have access to a toilette?

Stories discussed

Half of India couldn’t access a toilet 5 years ago. Modi built 110M latrines – but will people use them? CNN

World Toilet Organisation Website

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

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Please donate now to help us continue our work.

A popular saying goes: “nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come,” and the four-day work week (without any salary cuts) seems to be exactly such an idea. More and more companies around the globe are introducing it. In the UK, the world's largest trial so far has just ended with positive outcomes regarding health, productivity, revenues, job satisfaction and more. In this episode, Dale Whelehan, a behavioural scientist and the new CEO of the NGO 4 Day Week Global, tells us why he wasn't surprised about the results and how the positive outcomes are interconnected.

Hosted by Jonathan Widder; edited by Mathias Warzecha

Stories discussed

Four-day week: ‘major breakthrough’ as most UK firms in trial extend changes, The Guardian 

A hundred UK companies sign up for four-day week with no loss of pay, The Guardian

Four-day week 'an overwhelming success' in Iceland, BBC

4 Day Week Global Website

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

Find our more about Squirrel News on our website or read our latest news.

Download our app or subscribe to our newsletter.

Please donate now to help us continue our work.

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What can citizens do to contribute to halt global warming? Dan Edelstyn and Hilary Powell set out their plan to turn their London street into a community solar power station. In this episode, Dan tells us why they use art and filmmaking to promote their project, how they crowdfunded the necessary money and how the couple is inspiring more and more neighbourhoods and public institutions to follow their model.

Hosted by Ed Crasnick and Jonathan Widder; edited by Nicolas Antochewicz

Photo: Peter Searle

Links

The ‘solar punks’ turning their London street into a community power station, Positive News

Power to the people: the neighbours turning their London street into a solar power station, The Guardian

Film „We the Power“

Project website

Squirrel News

Squirrel News is a free, curated news service.

Find our more about Squirrel News on our website or read our latest news.

Download our app or subscribe to our newsletter.

Please donate now to help us continue our work.