(Conversation recorded on September 3rd, 2024)

As the United States continues to play a major role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the risk of a direct engagement, possibly leading to a nuclear exchange, may now be higher than ever.

In this episode, Nate is joined by Professor Jeffrey Sachs to discuss the escalating tensions between the United States and other world powers - and whether there are possible avenues towards a more peaceful world order.

Has the U.S. taken on the characteristics of an imperial state - under the pretenses of security at all costs? As the world continues to become more globalized, how should we change the way we govern within and across borders? Is it possible to transition from foreign policies focused on dominance and control to those emphasizing interconnectedness and the sovereignty of all nations?

About Jeffrey Sachs:

Jeffrey Sachs is widely recognized for promoting bold and effective strategies to address complex challenges including the escape from extreme poverty, climate change, international debt and financial crises, national economic reforms, and the control of pandemic and epidemic diseases.

Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, and was also Director of the Earth Institute there from 2002 to 2016. He is President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Co-Chair of the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition, Commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development.

Based on his success in advising Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity movement away from central planning, he was invited first by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and then by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to advise on the transition to a market economy.

He spent over twenty years as a professor at Harvard University, where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees.

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(Conversation recorded on July 24th, 2024)

In the past century of abundant energy surplus, humanity’s globalized, large-scale approach to problem-solving has yielded remarkable benefits and innovations. However, as we face a future with reduced energy resources, mounting waste, and a biosphere in danger, the negative impacts of this approach are increasingly overshadowing its gains. How should we evaluate and change these tactics as we look to build future societies that can better attune with their environments and the health of the planet?

This week, Nate is joined by Daniel Christian Wahl, a leader and activist in regenerative living, for an exploration into what our lifestyles and communities could look like if we aligned human systems—like agriculture, economy, and community planning—with the natural ecosystems of a specific bioregion to create more sustainable and harmonious ways of living.

How can small, incremental improvements made at the local ecological level create emergent benefits for the entire planet? What do we need to unlearn from past centuries of living in order to find balance with nature in the habitats and regions that we call home? How can individuals incorporate regenerative principles into their own lives today, regardless of their surrounding systems?

About Daniel Christian Wahl:

Daniel Christian Wahl is one of the catalysts of the rising reGeneration movement and the author of Designing Regenerative Cultures - so far translated into seven languages. He works as a consultant, educator and activist with NGOs, businesses, governments and global change agents. With degrees in biology and holistic science, and a PhD in Design for Human and Planetary Health, his work has influenced the emerging fields of regenerative design and salutogenic design. He is the winner of the 2021 RSA Bicentenary Medal for applying design in service to society and was awarded a two year Volans-Fellowship in 2022.

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(Conversation recorded on May 8th, 2024)

Without a systems lens, the full reality of the human predicament will never be understood. It is only when we adopt this kind of holistic, wide-boundary thinking that we are able to see the complexity and nuance of how the biosphere, geopolitics, economics, energy, and many other systems interplay with and influence one another. But historically, the scientific community didn’t utilize the power of systems thinking until a few groundbreaking individuals advanced and popularized that way of looking at the world.

Today, Nate is joined by one of the great systems thinkers, physicist and deep ecologist Fritjof Capra, to explore how his worldview has been shaped by his decades of work in physics, ecology, and community development – and his conclusions that addressing our ecological and social crises will require a broader shift in our values and philosophies.

How are science and spirituality deeply entangled, despite often being falsely separated in modern culture? How would our ideas of consciousness change if we understood the interconnectedness of all life, and our place within it? What could our societies look like if we emphasized the importance of maintaining deeper relationships with the natural world, and prioritized human wellbeing over economic growth?

About Fritjof Capra:

Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., is a physicist and systems theorist. He was a founding director (1995-2020) of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California. He serves on the faculty of the Amana-Key executive education program in São Paulo, Brazil and is a Fellow of Schumacher College in the UK. Capra is the author of several international bestsellers, including The Tao of Physics, The Web of Life, and The Science of Leonardo. He is coauthor of the multidisciplinary textbook, The Systems View of Life. Capra's online course is based on his textbook.

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(Conversation recorded on July 17th, 2024)

Addressing the risks we face on a global scale is a challenge that can feel both enormous in execution and personally daunting. When it comes to finding the motivation and inspiration to do such work, one of the best sources of insight comes from the visionaries and activists who have come before us, who know what it takes to battle – and successfully transform – entrenched systems of power. What advice and wisdom can we learn from their stories and experience?

In this episode, Nate is joined by Mamphela Ramphele, co-founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, which was instrumental in building the ideological foundation that galvanized the struggle for Liberation under the apartheid regime in South Africa, ultimately leading to its dismantling. She shares her wisdom gained from over five decades of movement building and liberation as a means of structural change; something that is deeply relevant to positive outcomes during the coming Great Simplification.

What does it mean to be self-liberated and what role does this process play in propeling shifts in cultural values? How can we work across and within generations to create movements that transcend immediate and near term-goals? Is it possible to create policies founded on a deeper set of values- - and could doing so encourage more people to become ‘Guardians of the Planet’?

About Mamphela Ramphele:

Dr. Mamphela Ramphele has had a celebrated career as an activist, global public servant, academic, businesswoman and thought leader. Dr. Ramphele was co-founder of The Black Consciousness Movement with Steve Biko that reignited the struggle for freedom in South Africa. She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology, is a medical doctor, and is the co-founder of ReimagineSA, the former co-president of The Club of Rome, and is the Chair at the Desmond Tutu IP Trust.

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(Recorded August 11, 2024)

The content of The Great Simplification (on Youtube and in real life) can be complex, nuanced and multi-faceted. In today’s Frankly, Nate offers reflections on a selection of viewers’ direct questions about the myriad topics covered on this channel.

The goal of this podcast is to integrate the head, the heart and the hands by building a generative conversation between many more humans. The learning process about upcoming constraints and opportunities will continue to be interactive and ongoing. By offering insightful responses to questions both personal and professional, this Frankly (and future AMAs) directly engages our online community to better understand the nuances of the reality we face and what might be some realistic pathways ahead.

What exactly is the relationship between energy and economic growth? What has Nate learned over the last 2.5 years of podcast recordings and what could be done differently? How might we better organize our infrastructure, communities and local politics to prepare for the upcoming Great Simplification? And of course, the question we’ve all been asking ourselves… How are Nate’s ducks??

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(Conversation recorded on July 25th, 2024)

Human overpopulation is often depicted in the media in one of two ways: as either a catastrophic disaster or an overly-exaggerated concern. Yet the data understood by scientists and researchers is clear. So what is the actual state of our overshoot, and, despite our growing numbers, are we already seeing the signs that the sixth mass extinction is underway?

In this episode, Nate is joined by global ecologist Corey Bradshaw to discuss his recent research on the rapid decline in biodiversity, how population and demographics will change in the coming decades, and what both of these will mean for complex global economies currently reliant on a stable environment.

How might the current rate of species loss result in a domino effect of widespread and severe impacts on the health of the biosphere? What are the key factors driving changes in population growth, and how do these vary across different countries and cultures? Could we stabilize these trends and achieve a sustainable balance between biodiversity and human population through targeted policies and initiatives — and how much time is left to act?

About Corey Bradshaw:

Corey Bradshaw is the Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Director of the Global Ecology Laboratory at Flinders University in South Australia. He is also the head of the Flinders Modelling Node of the Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage. He has completed three tertiary degrees in ecology (BSc, MSc, PhD) from universities in Canada and New Zealand, and a Certificate in Veterinary Conservation Medicine from Murdoch University.

In a world where human activity has precipitated the current Anthropocene extinction event, he aims to provide irrefutable evidence to influence government policy and private behavior for the preservation of our planet’s biowealth. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles, 13 book chapters and 3 books, including The Effective Scientist and Killing the Koala and Poisoning the Prairie.

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(Recorded August 5 2024)

As a problem-solving species, technology is an embedded part of the human experience – we assess, innovate, invent and adapt. But as we move out of the anomalous era we have just lived through and into less stable economic, social, geopolitical and ecological circumstances, humanity will require different kinds of innovation for a livable future.

In this Frankly, Nate offers preliminary guidelines for what might be termed ‘Goldilocks Technology’ – not too hot (dopaminergic gadgets) and not too cold (stone age tech) inventions for the future. Can governance upstream of designers and engineers use prices and policy to incentivize more appropriate and reliable technology? Can values and behavioral choices change demand, shifting the products available toward more sustainable options? What would the materials, supply chains, and disposal of technology that is ‘just right’ look like - and how would it change our wider boundary relationship with the biosphere?

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(Conversation recorded on June 25th, 2024)

Although artificial intelligence tends to dominate conversations about solving our most daunting global challenges, we may actually find some of the most potent ideas hiding in plain sight in the natural world around us.

In this episode, Nate is joined by Janine Benyus, who has spent decades advocating for biomimicry – a design principle that seeks to emulate nature's models, systems, and elements to solve complex human problems in ways that are sustainable and holistic.

What would our social and technological innovations look like if we started from the foundational requirement that they create conditions conducive to life? In what ways has biomimicry been inspiring projects for the last few decades, revolutionizing everything from energy production to food storage? How can we take biomimicry to a deeper level, changing the way we design and build to be attuned with local habitats and ‘return the favor’ to nature – helping foster cleaner and more resilient ecosystems?

About Janine Benyus:

Janine Benyus is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, in which she popularized an emerging discipline that emulates nature’s designs and processes to create a healthier, more sustainable planet.

In 1998, Janine co-founded Biomimicry 3.8, the world’s leading nature-inspired innovation and training firm, bringing nature’s sustainable designs to 250+ clients including General Electric, Google, Herman Miller, Levi’s, and Microsoft.

In 2006, Janine co-founded The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit that empowers people to create nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet. The Biomimicry Institute runs annual Design Challenges, a Global Network of tens of thousands of educators and entrepreneurs, and AskNature.org, the award-winning bio-inspiration site for inventors.

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