Sustain Change Grow

Shall you trust your intuition and when? Should you take a prescribed medication is X%? How to distinguish facts from fakes? Can algorithms make better decisions for you? To what extent and when you should or not rely on artificial intelligence assistants? Do bigger and more complex models help economists make better predictions and implications about the world? What is the difference between risk and uncertainty and how this difference should shape your decisions? In this episode, I discuss these and other questions with Gerd Gigerenzer. Gerd is a German psychologist, director emeritus of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition (ABC) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy, and vice president of the European Research Council (ERC). Gerd is the author of multiple books, including popular science books, about risk literacy, how to make decisions in uncertainty and intuition. Gerd Gigerenzer | Max Planck Institute for Human Development (mpg.de) Welcome to the Harding Center for Risk Literacy | Harding-Zentrum für Risikokompetenz Ted Ed: Why people fear the wrong things Amazon.fr - Calculated Risks: How to Know When Numbers Deceive You - Gigerenzer, Gerd - Livres HOW TO STAY SMART IN A SMART WORLD: Gerd Gigerenzer: 9780241567432: Amazon.com: Books Amazon.com: The Intelligence of Intuition eBook : Gigerenzer, Gerd: Kindle Store The episode is available on YouTube Music, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram: Sustain_Change_Grow Like the episode, Subscribe to the podcast and Share it around if you like it. It will help the others to learn about it. And think about sharing your views and suggestions by writing to me at [email protected] The podcast reflects only my own views.   00:00 Introduction 01:31 Defining Intuition and Its Importance 03:10 The Interplay Between Intuition and Deliberate Reasoning 04:36 The Validity of Intuition in Expert Domains 10:23 Challenging the Flawed Perception of Intuition 23:42 Replacing Paternalism with an Appreciation of Intuition 33:28 The Effectiveness of Heuristics in Decision-Making under uncertainty 41:05 Complex Models and AI in Decision-Making 43:33 Heuristics vs. Complex Models in Uncertain Environments 49:32 Understanding Technology and Being in Control 52:34 The Importance of Risk Literacy 01:05:36 Misunderstanding Relative Risks in Health Decisions 01:18:19 The Need for Better Education on Risk Literacy

Climate change is bringing significant changes to peoples’ lives and threatening existence of certain cultures. Summers become hotter, countries face more floods and with larger impacts, island countries risk disappearing due to sea level rise, etc. We hear more often about the need to spend more money on adaptation measures to get prepared to changing conditions and reduce death toll of extreme climate events. Where do countries stand in terms of preparedness? What are the true barriers to efficient adaptation measures? Do we have all necessary technologies and solutions to address climate risks? How much money do we need and do we spend enough on adaptation measures? In this episode, I discuss these and other questions with Sourav Kumar Biswas, Landscape planner and spatial analyst with 13+ years’ experience in urban planning, climate adaptation, territorial economic strategy, blue economy, resilient infrastructure, and leveraging nature-based solutions at site and metropolitan scales. Sourav has worked in multiple countries: from Republic of Marshall Islands (Oceania), India, Nepal, Afghanistan, China, to North and South America. Sourav explains how nature-based solutions can help countries get prepared for climate change, compares their cost and efficiency with traditional, so called “grey”, solutions, discusses the importance of the focus on local solutions specific to context not only of a country but even municipality, identifies main institutional barriers to effectively manage adaptation measures, and much more. Sourav Kumar Biswas |LinkedIn Urban design | Spongecollaborative The episode is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram: Sustain_Change_Grow Like the episode, Subscribe to the podcast and Share it around if you like it. It will help the others to learn about it. And think about sharing your views and suggestions by writing to me at [email protected] The podcast reflects only my own views. 00:00 Introduction 03:06 Understanding Adaptation to Climate Change 13:00 Nature-Based Solutions for Resilience 21:42 Implementing Nature-Based Solutions in Chennai 31:30 Proactive Management of Ecosystems in the Face of Sea Level Rise 35:45 Challenges and Future Directions 37:09 Shifting Financing Towards Adaptation 39:01 Nature-Based Solutions vs. Gray Solutions 44:45 Capacity Building and Institutional Reform 50:00 The Role of Multilateral Institutions 56:37 Changes Needed in Academia 01:07:01 The Importance of Long-Term Thinking and Collaboration 01:13:32 Two most inspiring books

People naturally simplify the world to make it easier to understand and make decisions. Economists create models that help governments and other economic agents make informed decisions. At which point economic models stop being just models and start defining the way we look at the world? How much economic models with their focus on GDP growth and liberal markets contribute to the problem of climate change and other environmental problems? Do we need to change the economic paradigm to be able to solve these problems? Can pricing of carbon emissions or biodiversity be part of the solution? What is the role of nature in the economic models and how economic profession should evolve to fit better the changing world? In this episode, I talk with Romain Svartzman, Research Fellow at Bocconi University (Institute for European Policymaking) & Senior Executive Fellow at SDA Bocconi whose research focuses on developing scenarios of ecological transition including relationship to nature, geopolitics of critical metals and reforms of the international monetary and financial system, and assessing their economic and financial implications. We discuss all these questions regarding the development of the economic thinking and the role of nature in the economics. At the end of the episode Romain suggests a list of books on how economists can think better and beyond simple profit maximization paradigm. (10) Romain Svartzman | LinkedIn The episode is available on Google podcasts / YT Music, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram: Sustain_Change_Grow Like the episode, Subscribe to the podcast and Share it around if you like it. It will help the others to learn about it. Share your views and suggestions by writing to me at [email protected] The podcast reflects only my own views. 00:00 Introduction and the Importance of Interdisciplinary Dialogue 04:02 Challenging the Mainstream View of Economics 10:57 Methodological Individualism and a Market-Based View of the World 19:02 The Role of Nature in the Current Economic Paradigm 31:43 Nature as an Externality in Mainstream Economics 33:39 The Limitations of Carbon Pricing 41:13 Towards a Holistic Approach to the Ecological Transition 41:38 Balancing Global and Local Approaches 45:16 The Importance of Systemic and Structural Changes 52:41 The Role of Ecological Economics 59:18 Moving Beyond GDP: Alternative Indicators 01:05:03 Challenges and Opportunities for Young Economists

Listen to the episode to know what real-life problems were solved by replacing policemen by clowns in city streets. When you hear about creativity, do you think it is a particular quality that is reserved for artists? How creative would you consider yourself in your everyday life and at work? Do you necessarily have to write books or do painting in order to be creative? Creativity is an inner quality of each human being. Creativity is like a muscle, it can be trained. Creativity helps us find original solutions to difficult problems, and it may be the needed tool to solve climate change and other societal challenges. In this episode, I talk with Stephen Boucher, CEO of Dreamocracy, a public-interest serving consultancy that promotes "collective creativity for the common good" as well as founder and manager of NGO “Smarter Together”. Stephen has more than 25-years of experience in policy and politics. He is an ardent advocate of creative approaches in public policies and helping change makers become more creative. With Stephen, we discuss what is creativity, how everyone can nourish and nurture their creativity, how public policies need to become more creative to be able to address current challenges. Stephen generously shares practical information, resources and tools that one can apply to think more creatively in individually and collectively. (15) Stephen Boucher | LinkedIn         Home - Dreamocracy Collective Intelligence for stronger democracy - Smarter Together (smarter-together.org) The Routledge Handbook of Collective Intelligence for Democracy and Go Hope Matters – Greystone Books Ltd. Creativity Speaker David Burkus on "The Myths of Creativity" and how innovation really works (youtube.com) DIY Toolkit | Nesta The episode is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram: Sustain_Change_Grow Like the episode, Subscribe to the podcast and Share it around if you like it. It will help the others to learn about it. And think about sharing your views and suggestions by writing to me at [email protected] The podcast reflects only my own views.   00:00 Introduction 01:27 The Role of Imagination in Solving Climate Change 20:27 Understanding Collective Intelligence 22:56 Exploring Collective Creativity and Creative Thinking 32:30 Creativity in Public Affairs and Administration 33:30 Inspiring Stories of Creative Solutions 35:44 The Creative Solutions to traffic delinquencies in Bogota, Colombia 38:12 Characteristics of Creative Solutions and the Importance of Timeliness 43:38 The Four Phases of the Creative Problem-Solving Process 45:05 Divergent and Convergent Thinking in Creative Problem-Solving 49:19 Identifying Creative Strengths with the Foresight Test 54:03 The Three Key Ingredients for Creativity

Clean energy investment must reach $4.5 trillion per year by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C according to the International Energy Agency report. That’s a significant amount of investment, though this reflects about 4.5% of the world GDP. While the technology for renewable energy exists and the capacity keeps growing, this energy still poses difficult questions. Renewable energy is still expensive and requires significant initial investments. The respective roles of markets and governments are important to speed up the transition to cleaner energy, and sole market approach may not work or at least not quick enough as required by the climate emergency. On the other hand, the use of renewable energy poses serious questions regarding other planetary boundaries, and electrification of all energy use may not be possible or optimal. In this episode, I talk with Mario Samano, an Associate professor of Economics at HEC Montreal who works on regulation and market competition in energy markets, including renewable energy and we discuss all these questions regarding renewable energy, where markets can help and where there are their limits.  Is energy transition feasible and what market mechanisms and government interventions are needed to achieve the transition? Mario Samano (hec.ca) (15) Mario Samano | LinkedIn The episode is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram: Sustain_Change_Grow Like the episode, Subscribe to the podcast and Share it around if you like it. It will help the others to learn about it. And think about sharing your views and suggestions by writing to me at [email protected] The podcast reflects only my own views. 00:00 Introduction 01:03 The Importance of Energy and Types of Energy Sources 08:17 Renewable Energy and its Benefits 13:35 Challenges of Intermittency and Feasibility of 100% Renewables 21:51 The Levelized Cost of Electricity and Comparing Energy Sources 29:43 Storage Solutions in Renewable Energy 33:09 Concentrated Solar Power and its Challenges 34:09 Concentrated Solar Power and Energy Storage 36:04 Challenges in the Energy Network Infrastructure 37:02 Transporting Renewable Energy to Cities: The Transmission Line Problem 39:55 Government Intervention and Regulation in the Renewable Energy Industry 51:24 Sustainability of Renewable Energy: Considering Environmental and Social Costs

Can money be a force for good? Can investments bring well-being and empowerment? You would think that’s exactly what investments should normally do. Unfortunately, in the current liberal market economies investments very often extract benefits for investors, or capital holders, while people and communities as well as the nature suffer. However, there exist investors who are looking for making good with their money, favoring benefits for the society and environment over financial return. This is called Impact Investing. In this episode, I talk with Tom Adlam, an Impact Investing Expert with over thirty years progressive financial and investment experience, predominantly in East and Southern Africa. Since January 2023, he has been working on an advisory basis on a range of impact investing-related assignments, including the Global Steering Group for Impact Investing (GSG), Palladium International, Ecorys, and Agri-Frontiers. We discuss with Tom what exactly Impact Investing is, what challenges such investors face, and how Impact Investing can become a mainstream. While the idea of impact investing seems very attractive, there are multiple challenges on its way. Tom Adlam | LinkedIn The episode is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram: Sustain_Change_Grow Like the episode, Subscribe to the podcast and Share it around if you like it. It will help the others to learn about it. And think of sharing your views and suggestions by writing to me at [email protected] The podcast reflects only my own views.

Got a question about heat pumps? Never heard about it previously? In this episode, my guest Tom Gosling will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about heat pumps. To start with, heat pumps is a solution to reduce carbon emissions related to heating. As you may know, heating relies mostly on gas and sometimes on coal. Heat pumps use electricity but much more efficiently than electric heating and thus much cheaper. Tom will unveil some myths about heat pumps and will explain that heat pumps work well in cold winters too! Heat pumps can be used for heating as the name suggests but also for cooling. What a nice feature during our burning summers, isn’t it? There are barriers on the spread of heat pumps, and Tom will discuss at length policy implications to make heat pumps more affordable and installation speed up to the required level to address climate change. Tom Gosling is a seasoned board adviser with 20+ years of experience in corporate governance and responsible business, including 15 years as a Partner at PwC. In 2020, Tom decided to pursue a portfolio career. Now he is an Executive Fellow at London Business School and the European Corporate Governance Institute. He works on issues related to corporate governance, responsible business, and sustainable investing. In 2019, Tom started took a pledge to reduce carbon footprint of his family by half in ten years. He shares his journey on his website which I highly recommend to visit for more details and inspiration. You can listen to the previous episode (#20) with Tom on middle class approach to decarbonisation. Tom’s blog about his experience to install a heat pump https://www.tom-gosling.com/blog/this-has-to-get-easier The episode is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram Feel free to share your views, suggestions and critics by writing to me to [email protected] The podcast reflects only my own views. #heatpump, #sustainability, #decarbonisation, #climatechange, #sustainablelifestyle

Wondering how these three topics are related? My todays' guest is Miyoko Schinner. Miyoko founded and lead until 2022 a $ 260 million brand of vegan cheese, called Miyoko Creamery. To a large extent, Miyoko re-invented vegan cheese and made it popular in the United States. What is key is that Miyoko is a true defender of animal rights and undertakes multiple actions to remove animals from the food chain, from producing delicious vegan cheese to generously sharing her recipes, to founding non-profit organisations for the animal cause. Current western food traditions based to a large extent on consumption of meat and dairy products lead to a lot of adverse effects such as up to 25% of total human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, animal suffering due to the way animals are treated in industrial farms, human health problems such heart diseases and diabetes. Eating animal products in quantities currently consumed is absolutely unsustainable. As Miyoko argues this is a very recent human history, while old history knows very different examples such as an 8-century long Japanese vegan society. We will also talk about many other topics such as history of vegan diet, how venture capital or financial system in general can influence the food system, barriers for transition to low-carbon economy in the agriculture, or simply relationship between work-efficiency-diet and happiness.  Miyoko’s LinkedIn profile if you are interested in reaching her out regards Vegan Style Brand https://www.linkedin.com/in/miyoko-schinner-6a47204/ Miyoko’s YouTube channel for easy vegan recipes: https://www.youtube.com/@thevegangoodlifewithmiyoko 3:25 – Queen of vegan cheese 5:20 – Creation of first vegan cheeses 7:45 – Processed cheeses mostly consumed in the US contain no milk 11:00 – SAD – Standard American Diet and plant-based movement 13:35 – Changing a habit of eating cheese in Europe; vegan cheeses in France and Italy 14:55 – Evolution of food and eating habits 17:23 – Where is money in food production 18:57 – The role of investors in shaping the economy and the food system 22:00 – Miyoko creamery development: the story of becoming an international brand 26:15 – Multiple regional brands as an alternative to national and international brands 27:27 – Smaller VC market in Europe: a curse or a blessing 30:40 – Is there too much of innovation… 31:24 – What should we be thinking about if we want to change the world 32:45 – Are there more vegans today than thirty years ago? 35:10 – People have been eating plant-based food for thousand years 37:37 – We could make peasant food look sexy 38:13 – Everybody is an impact investor today 40:25 – The right to use word “butter” for vegan products 43:49 – Vegan diet is sufficient for human health 47:17 – Leading non-profit organisations for animal rights 50:50 – LEAP organisation: Leaders for Ethics, Animals and the Planet 52:14 – Converting farms into growing crops 53:37 – Dairy farmers and ranchers are having hard times to meet their needs 56:03 – We need government programs instead of investors 56:30 – Aka Steve Jobs’ departure from Miyoko Creamery 58:28 – New projects 1:00:25 – Creating Vegan Lifestyle Brand 1:00:40 – YouTube Channel for cooking vegan at home 1:05:45 – Getting back to the kitchens and restoring eating together habits 1:12:48 – Book recommendations 1:15:00 – Historical traditions of eating vegan food 1:15:55 – Japan was vegan for 800 years 1:17:13 – To get in touch with Miyoko New episode is published every second Tuesday. It is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram Share your views, suggestions and critics by writing to me to [email protected] The podcast reflects only my own views. #vegan, #vegancheese, #climateaction, #sustainability, #animalrights

Food constitutes the most intimate relationship between us and nature. Though the food that we eat now can be almost called unnatural. Yes, it is full of calories but very poor in nutrients. And we can just imagine what effect has this unnatural food on our health. The way this food is produced has a huge negative effect on nature, climate and biodiversity. Luckily, solutions exist. Today, I am talking to an amazing woman, an entrepreneur who was curious to ask questions about the way her supply products were produced. After digging deeper into the problem, she found a new business opportunity and launched a company that benefits people, both consumers and producers, but also nature and biodiversity. And that’s what we are going to talk today about: how food can be good for you and for nature. We also touch upon financing issues for regenerative agriculture and insetting credits (not to be confused with carbon offsetting credit). Marcela Flores is a founder of Tierra Foods company that is inspired by the indigenous knowledge to produce highly nutritious food while also reducing carbon emissions, restoring biodiversity and valuing local communities.   https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcela-flores-98547223/ https://tierra-foods.com/ Book recommendations from the Episode: Isabella Tree “Wilding” and Jim Collins “From Good to Great” 1:50 – How it all started. Growing business from the kitchen 3:30 – First realizations of how food is grown 4:00 – Alternative options to grow food 5:30 – What regenerative agriculture is 6:00 – Problems with the current agriculture practices 13:30 – Windscreen effect 14:30 – Value of the insects 16:10 – High concern about the environmental problems but hope is present 17:12 – Success of the concerted effort to solve ozone layer problem 18:10 – Tierra Foods’ approach helps reverse biodiversity loss 19:02 – Trees create rain: the magic of nature 19:50 – Tierra Foods’ business model. Agroforestry is key 21:00 – Natural carbon absorption capacity of nut bread trees (Brosimum Alicastrum) 21:50 – Edible nutritious seeds from the trees 23:15 – Reforestation with maximum benefits 23:50 – Scientific approach to measure and reporting nature and climate benefits 24:18 – Carbon insets 25:10 – Helping companies to reduce emissions from their supply chain 26:20 – Carbon insets vs carbon offsets 27:29 – What about biodiversity credits? 28:00 – Bio-economy: Working with living forests and indigenous people 29:30 – Just pay and decent work for people 30:54 – Getting inspired from indigenous people 33:47 – Collaboration with academics 34:31 – Uptake by large food corporations of the proposed solution 36:00 – Low-carbon transition: learning by doing and by failing 37:39 – Science-based targets for companies 42:18 – Beware greenwashing 46:40 – The role of finance 47:10 – Regenerative agriculture neither riskier nor more expensive but it takes time for transition 48:20 – Need for blended finance to support the transition 52:20 – Personal vs corporate responsibility 55:10 – Venture capital seeks quick money and not suited to finance the transition 57:20 – Struggles of a female entrepreneur 1:00:20 – Two most inspiring books: Isabella Tree “Wilding” and Jim Collins “From Good to Great” New episode is published every second Tuesday. It is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram Feel free to share your views, suggestions and critics by writing to me to [email protected]

L'economie qui cherche a croitre sans cesse, le business qui cherche a avoir de plus en plus de profits, les consomatteurs qui cherchent a consommer de plus en plus, et tout cela en epuisant des resources naturelles et en d’etruisant la planete. Est-ce que cela a du sens? Comment on peut re-penser notre facon de produire et de vivre? Quel est le role du business et de chacun d’entre nous dans la transition? Dans cet episode, j’ai le plaisir d’acceuillir Pierre Pointard, un entrepreneur a impact, fondateur de la companie Rutabago, un animateur de 2tonnes, un associe de Team for the Planet et simplement une personne qui cherche a re-penser sa facon de vivre pour avoir plus de sens, plus de satisfaction et moins d’impact sur l’environment. Pierre partage son histoire passionant de l’entrepreneriat, de la creation de Rutabago - la companie de box repas bio, les defis et le succes d’une companie qui vise a faire mieux et a faire differement. On discute avec Pierre ce qui est derriere le label Bio, pourquoi il vaut mieux eviter de manger des tomates en hiver. On touche aux jeux serieux comme 2tonnes ou Fresque du Climat et l’importance de parler autour de soi du changement climatique et de la transition. Et bien sur, on parle de Team for the Planet - une association pour promovoir et financer des solutions pour la planete. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-pointard/ Pour calculer ton imprint carbon: https://nosgestesclimat.fr/ Pour s’inscrire a l’atelier de 2tonnes: https://www.2tonnes.org/ Pour s’inscrire a l’atelier de Fresque du Climat: https://fresqueduclimat.org/ New episode is published every second Tuesday. It is available on Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Follow me on Instagram Please share your views, suggestions and critics by writing to me to [email protected] 2:07 – Creation de la companie de box repas bio Rutabago 6:00 – L’agriculture biologique chez Rutabago 7:19 – Circuit cours et des produits moins transformes 8:15 – Gouvernance et collaborateurs 8:55 – Entreprise sociale et solidaire 10:02 – Entrepreneur vs Entrepreneur a impact 12:35 – Mission des entreprises 14:16 – Le role du capital et des benefices 19:00 – Nouvel age de l’humanite 21:13 – La publicite et le besoin de se faire connaitre par une jeune entreprise 25:55 – L’agriculture biologique, la philosophie et le label bio 32:50 – Accompagnement des petits producteurs avec la philosophie 35:46 – Des serre chauffes avec de l’energie verte 36:30 – Regle a trois: sobriete, efficacite, substitution 38:24 – Si pas l’energie, c’est d’autre limites que l'on va toucher 39:36 – Resoudre le probleme de l’emballage 41:50 – Impact de la viande 44:44 – Changer des habitudes et traditions 45:35 – Accompagnement de la transition et changement 47:55 – La suite de Rutabago apres 2022 51:45 – Apres-Rutabago pour Pierre 52:48 – Animation de l’atelier de jeu serieux 2tonnes 55:34 – 2 tonnes, il s’agit de quoi? 57:03 – Est-ce que les individus devraient agir pour reduire l’impact? 58:20 – Messages cles de 2tonnes: principaux axes d’action 1:01:55 – Le role des citoyens pour reduire l’impact 1:03:00 – L’emploi et les actions pour reduire l’impact 1:05:10 – Le succes des jeux serieux 1:08:30 – Eco-anxiete 1:09:10 – Imaginons un meilleur monde 1:11:20 – Team for the Planet 1:13:20 – Le business, commencait-il a penser plus a l’impact positif? 1:14:25 – Financement des projets de Team for the Planet 1:21:15 – Defis des entreprises a impact 1:22:00 – Ralentissement: Nouvelles reflexions par rapport a la vie personnelle 1:25:45 – Redefinir le travail 1:31:40 – Deux livres pour les entrepreneurs