World Changing Ideas

On this episode of “Innovator’s Inspiration,” we're hearing how hive Co-founder and CEO Jenifer Willig was inspired to take on malnutrition through video games.

For more about Jen and Lifepack, check out ahive.com and lifepack.org.

According to UNICEF, severe acute malnutrition threatens an estimated 16 million children worldwide and claims the lives of approximately one million more. One of the most common interventions by the UN is to provide Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food packets.

Talib sat down with hive CEO and co-founder Jenifer Willig to discuss her work on creating a video game that helps fight malnutrition.

Last week, Andrew Yang released a book about his ideas on transforming our political and economic systems. Yang is most well-known for popularizing the idea of a universal basic income but it’s a concept that’s been around for centuries and now it’s having a moment on the local level.

In light of this, we wanted to revisit an episode from earlier this year where we covered a similar topic: guaranteed income.

Guests: Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui of Cambridge, Massachusetts and former Mayor Michael Tubbs of Stockton, California with Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. 

Over 2 billion people suffer from unsafe drinking water or lack access to a reliable source of drinking water.

Talib talked with Source Global CEO and Founder Cody Friesen about how his company collects water by using hydropanels. They harness the energy of the sun to draw water vapor from the atmosphere.

The company also just received $7 million from Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of Social Capital, to scatter the hydropanels across California’s Central Valley.

As part of our new initiative to bring you more context on the topics we cover, we’re starting a series we’re calling, “Innovator’s Inspiration.” Since our show is all about innovation, we wanted to really home in on what drives people to develop the ideas that ultimately solve those challenging issues we face.

Here’s a sneak peek at the upcoming interview with Source Global CEO and Founder Cody Friesen.

These days plastics contribute to 300 million metric tons of waste in the world. In the early 2000s, our plastic waste rose more in a single decade than it had in 40 years. 

But what if there was a way to intercept that plastic before it enters our oceans?

Talib talked with Lonely Whale Executive Director Dune Ives about the NextWave Plastics initiative that comprises a group of multinational companies committed to reducing plastic waste. She’s joined by a couple of representatives from two of those member companies: HP’s Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer Ellen Jackowski and Jane Abernethy, the Chief Sustainability Officer at Humanscale.  

We’re going to start bringing you bonus episodes to give you more context on the topics we cover and a chance to tune into some highlights from the show.

Today, we’re taking a look back at some moments that stood out this past year. First, Talib talked with ICON co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard about his company’s 3-D printer that builds houses. And then we checked in with Fernando Porto and David Python from the Brazilian shoe company, Cariuma to get a sense of what’s going on with sustainable footwear these days.

Solving hunger is something we’ve talked about on this show before. Back in June, we talked with Leah Lizarondo about the organization she founded to help the food insecure.

Talib sat down with Mick Ebeling, the founder of Not Impossible, a social innovation lab and production company and his Managing Director Adam Dole, who is also the cofounder of Bento, a mobile platform they created to end hunger. They discussed why Not Impossible strives to solve the world's absurdities and how Bento brings dignity to those who experience food insecurity.

Hey World Changing Ideas listeners, we’ve got a special episode for you today. It’s from the folks over at Inc. Magazine’s Planet Purpose podcast, which is hosted by Strawberry Frog CEO and Founder Scott Goodson, Dayo (DAY-oh) Founder and CEO Yolanda White and Strawberry Frog Head of Strategy Chip Walker.

On the show, they discuss how companies can focus on their purpose and transform their brands. They also break down the ways purpose-driven companies could be achieving better outcomes by activating purpose to the people who matter inside the organizations and out. 

In this episode, they interviewed Fast Company’s Social Media Producer Christina Royster and Fast Company’s Associate Editor Yasmin Gagne (YAHZ-minn GAAN-yeh) to get the Millennial point of view on how people can put purpose into their work. Christina and Yaz are also hosts of the Fast Company podcast, Hit the Ground Running, which you can check out every Tuesday on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

While reading may not be our most popular pastime (Americans still spend more than half their spare time watching TV), research shows there was an uptick in reading last year because of the pandemic. Even by Gen Z, the most digitally-oriented people who always seem to have their noses stuck in their phones.  

Talib sat down with award-winning author Alexander Kielland Krag and Gyldendal Executive Vice President Tom Christian Gotschalksen to discuss “This Stays Between Us,” which might be the first long-form story natively written for Instagram Stories.