Utopia Dispatch

In this episode, George and Sarah speak to Rob Hopkins, author of the book From What Is to What If: Unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want. Rob is well known for his work as co-founder of the Transition Network and many other related initiatives. His latest book is strongly linked to our ability to solve the climate crisis and is a call to action to reclaim and unleash our collective imagination, told through the stories of individuals and communities around the world who are doing it now. In this conversation we hear all about why he wrote it and what he found along the way. Find out more: - Rob's podcast From What If to What Next - https://www.robhopkins.net/podcast/ - From What is to What If - https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/from-what-is-to-what-if/ - Untitled project - https://untitled.community Also listen to: - Episode 1.3 - Just Build It

In this episode, Sarah interviews Leila Fortunato, volunteer Director of Banister House Solar which is a community-owned and managed solar energy project in Hackney, London. Leila talks about her journey to becoming Director of a community solar project on her local housing estate, and all the benefits that projects like this can bring to communities. The Banister House project was launched with help from Repowering London, an organisation that has been empowering communities across London to fund, install and manage their own renewable energy supply. Find out more: - Banister House Solar: http://www.hackneyenergy.org.uk/banister-house/ - Repowering London: https://www.repowering.org.uk/ - Community Energy England: https://communityenergyengland.org/ - Community Energy Scotland: https://www.communityenergyscotland.org.uk/ - Community Energy Wales: http://www.communityenergywales.org.uk/

Join George as he explores one of the most important strands of the climate crisis; climate justice. It's a phrase that crops up again and again, but what does it mean and how does it inform how we should respond to climate change? Without understanding it, can we ever arrive at anything worthy of being called a solution? To help us understand, we hear from Dr Leon Sealey-Huggins about the origins of global climate injustice and the imperative for incorporating this understanding into our actions. Leon is a lecturer on the Global Sustainable Development Programme at the University of Warwick. His research looks at the social and political relations of climate change, with a particular focus on the Caribbean region, and he investigates what climate justice means in the context of global historical, and present, inequalities. Links - [Bio] Dr Leon Sealey-Huggins https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/schoolforcross-facultystudies/gsd/aboutus/peoplenew/drleonsealeyhuggins - [Twitter] Dr Leon-Sealey Huggins https://twitter.com/Leon_Ayo - [Book Chapter] 'The Climate Crisis is a Racist Crisis‘: Structural Racism, Inequality and Climate Change, Dr Leon Sealey-Huggins http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/103485/13/WRAP-climate-crisis-racist-crisis-structural-racism-inequality-climate-change-VoR-Sealey-Huggins-2018.pdf - [Article] ‘1.5°C to stay alive’: climate change, imperialism and justice for the Caribbean, Dr Leon Sealey-Huggins https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2017.1368013 - [Article] Extreme weather linked to CC https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/climate/climate-and-extreme-weather - [Data] Cumulative carbon emissions https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions#cumulative-co2-emissions - [Data] Emissions by region https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions#emissions-by-world-region - [Wiki] Cyclone Idai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Idai - [Wiki] Hurricane Irma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Irma - [Wiki] Colonialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism#Premodern - [Article] Philip Hoffman https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/europe/2015-10-07/how-europe-conquered-world - [Article] Apartheid in Global Governance https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2019/10/16/apartheid-in-the-global-governance-system - [Site] CARICOM Reparations Commission http://caricomreparations.org Music - April 16 by Nathan Cheetham https://soundcloud.com/nathancheetham/april-16 Sound Effects - distant blasts by suburbanwizard https://freesound.org/people/suburbanwizard/sounds/455513/ - marching concrete loop by stib https://freesound.org/people/stib/sounds/240732/ - ganpati celebration in street clapping chanting horns cowbell distant surf india by kyles https://freesound.org/people/kyles/sounds/451417/ - tykki laukaus big gun cannon 76 mm single shots gunshots by ylearkisto https://freesound.org/people/ylearkisto/sounds/332935/ - atlantic ocean waves by tim-kahn https://freesound.org/people/tim%20kahn/sounds/197714/ - vanhan ajan sota taistelu miekkailu ancient old time battle combat horses snorting and galloping men shouting and barking fencing swords clanging mix by ylearkisto https://freesound.org/people/ylearkisto/sounds/258207/ - marchingband by daveincamas https://freesound.org/people/daveincamas/sounds/43799/ Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Join George, Ollie and Sarah as they continue to search for the people, stories and ideas that can help us to solve the climate crisis, and build a better future at the same time. In this episode, the team talks to Mariama Kamara, Founder and Director of Smiling Through Light, and Leila Fortunato, volunteer Director of Banister House Solar - two brilliant women putting solar energy in the hands of the people. Mariama grew up in Sierra Leone, and set up a company as a way to empower local...

Join George, Ollie and Sarah as they continue to search for the people, stories and ideas that can help us to solve the climate crisis, and build a better future at the same time. In this episode, the team talks to Natasha Parker from Global Action Plan, and Claire who runs the blog Wantless. Natasha's work connects the environment and our mental wellbeing, through consumer culture. She runs programmes at Global Action Plan and does research at the Centre for Sustainable Prosperity...

Join George, Ollie and Sarah as they continue to search for the people, stories and ideas that can help us to solve the climate crisis, and build a better future at the same time. In this episode, the team talks to Prof. Mike Berners-Lee, author of the book There Is No Planet B. Mike tells us how the climate crisis is just one symptom of a series of connected human issues which are defining our time as the Anthropocene. He walks us through issues such as food, transport, energy and...

In the fifth episode from the STIR to Action festival, we hear all about how the new economy can drive sustainability and form a new political power with Paul Chatterton and Grace Blakeley. Paul Chatterton is a Professor of Urban Futures at the University of Leeds and author of the book, Unlocking Sustainable Cities. He talks to us about the idea of sustainable cities and how the new economy can help to unlock them. Grace Blakeley is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy...

Join George, Ollie and Sarah as they continue to search for the people, stories and ideas that can help us to solve the climate crisis, and build a better future at the same time. In this episode, the team look into the crystal ball of possible Climate Futures with James Goodman, former Director of Futures at Forum for the Future. Spoiler alert: there are some bleak futures coming our way if we don’t act now. But don’t despair! This episode also features Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of the...

In this fourth episode from the STIR to Action festival, we hear all about community ownership and how to put power back in the hands of communities. Nathan Brown from Co-op Culture and Cooperantics and Tom Carman from Ethex take us through the nuts and bolts of community ownership and community shares. They tell us what it's all about, and why it’s so important for moving towards an economy that is fair, inclusive and democratic. The STIR to Action Festival: Playground for the New Economy...

Join George, Ollie and Sarah as they continue to search for the people, stories and ideas that can help us to solve the climate crisis, and build a better future at the same time. In this episode, they hear from Joanna Haigh and Ajay Gambhir from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London to learn about the science behind climate change and how we can mitigate the crisis. Joanna Haigh was Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London, and co-director of the Grantham...

In this third episode from the STIR to Action festival, we hear about mental health and the economy, as well as new decentralised, collective ways of working. Sally Zlotowitz, from Psychologists for Social Change tells us about the ways in which the economy invisibly shapes our mental health and what needs to change. Nati Lombardo and John Gieryn talk to us about Enspiral, the collective that is exploring new ways to work that centre on trust, respect, and openness, sharing money,...

The team are back. Join George, Ollie and Sarah as they search for the people, stories and ideas that can help us to solve the climate crisis, and build a better future at the same time. In this first episode, they hear from Rob Hopkins about the link between the power of imagination, and the very real threat of the global heating. Rob Hopkins co-founded Transition, a movement to rebuild communities in the face of economic instability and climate breakdown by taking practical steps to reduce...

In July, George and Sarah packed their camping gear and headed to the STIR to Action Festival that featured a packed programme of thinkers and doers running workshops and giving talks about the new economy. In this second episode from the festival, we hear about framing the new economy and a house building revolution. Daniel Stanley, from Cohere tells us all about framing, storytelling and messaging to make the new economy movement more inclusive. Irena Bauman and Matt Murphy, from an...

The first episode of Utopia Dispatch Live! In July, George and Sarah packed their camping gear and headed to the STIR to Action Festival. Like any other festival it had big tents in a field, toilets that smell unfamiliar, and music. However, its main feature was a packed programme of thinkers and doers running workshops and giving talks about the new economy. In this episode, find out what the new economy is, and listen to some of the people helping to shape it. You'll hear from Cat...

The climate crisis is a terrifying monster of our own creation. The question everyone is asking: Can we stop it? We have the capabilities, but there are barriers. The changes that need to happen in our lives and societies are huge, and there are people, governments and organisations who are resistant to taking action because they would rather maintain the status quo. People are rising up to shift the course of history, but we need more than fear to build the future. We need a vision. What...

In this episode we interview Indra Adnan and Pat Kane, co-initiators of the Alternative UK, a new political platform to reimagine politics in the United Kingdom. Through political laboratories and meet-ups across these islands, they are launching a "friendly revolution". To find out more about the Alternative UK visit thealternative.org.uk

In this episode we interview Niels Koldewijn from the Elos Foundation and Instituto Elos - a social education organisation based in Brazil that strengthens people’s capacity to realise their dreams and transform their reality. We talk about how to imagine the best possible world and the tools to make it possible - starting within your own community. https://www.elosfoundation.org https://institutoelos.org

In this episode, we interview Darren Webb, a lecturer in Education at the University of Sheffield and all round thinker on all things utopian. We talk social and poltical crises, different facets of utopianism, and practical considerations about how we get to a better future. To see more from Darren you can find him on Twitter @dlcwebb or find research by him on his the University of Sheffield website page.

George speaks with Ruth Potts, campaigner, writer and educator, about our crisis of imagination and why we need to build more joyful, appealing visions of the future.

George speaks to Alex Williams about his book Inventing the Future - Postcapitalism and a World Without Work, co-authored with Nick Srnicek.