Rob Hopkins

Of all the 17 episodes of this podcast so far, this is the one that I had to go off somewhere quiet afterwards for a while to digest. It is a very powerful and fascinating discussion. My two guests are extraordinary, and I feel so blessed that they could make the time to join me in this wonderful What If exploration.

In Episode 16 of ‘From What If to What Next’ we explore the question of play. Play is a devalued aspect of both childhood and adulthood which has been declining now for decades, and its decline has had many knock-on effects across society. What would it be like if we decided to give it a huge boost, to create the ideal conditions for a re-emergence of play across education, economics, planning, and so much more? What might that look like?

In this podcast we explore how different the future would be if we were to cultivate a culture of better understanding and loving weeds. How would it affect the world around us, and how would it affect us? And how does the way we talk about that dazzling diversity of plants that we dismiss as ‘weeds’ give insights to how many people ‘other’ groups of people such as immigrants? What does our attitude to weeds tell us about ourselves?

One of the things I love most on my ‘From What If to What Next’ podcast is stories of people bringing imagination to their activism, of impactful, thought-provoking projects that engage our imagination and our playfulness. One of the very best examples of this that we’ve ever seen is The Bank Job in Walthamstow, London, the work of printmaker Hilary Powell and filmmaker Dan Edelstyn, once described as “an act of generosity rare in the art world”.

On Tuesday I was a keynote speaker at the Philippe de Woot Award Ceremony organised by UCLouvain in Belgium. The award gives a prize to the best dissertation written on the subject of corporate social responsibility. This  year’s event was online, and I was the keynote speaker. Usually when I do talks I don’t write them down first, but this time I had to, so I thought I would share it with you.

I am joined for this episode by Roman Krznaric, author of the recent book ‘The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short Term World’ and one of Britain’s leading popular philosophers, and also by Jane Davidson, author of ‘#futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country’, Pro Vice-Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and former Minister for Environment and Sustainability in Wales where she proposed legislation to make sustainability the central organising principle of government – the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act.

It is my honour and privilege to share with you our twelfth episode of ‘From What If to What Next‘.  In the US, as elsewhere, vast amounts of money are poured into mass incarceration and brutal and violent policing. What if instead that money was invested into the communities that bear the burnt of this […]

I found myself wondering if I would actually pull the interviewer up on her starting of every single question in the interview with the word “but”. Would it be outrageous to challenge one of Luxembourg’s leading journalists during her own interview? I decided I would. After all, it wasn’t like I was likely to get asked back at any point.

Welcome to Episode 11 of From What If to What Next. So many of those who listen to this podcast are trying, in one way or another, to bring about change in the world. Whether it is the more confrontational activism demonstrated by groups like Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter, or grassroots organising and working to build the alternative, we are all trying to understand how to be the most effective activists we can possibly be.

I am just back from a 2 week speaking tour of Luxembourg and France, meeting Transitioners, giving talks and promoting the book ‘Et Si’. Here is my write-up of the tour, containing photos, links, videos, and all sorts of odd memories from a hectic but inspirational couple of weeks.