Outrage and Optimism revisited and The Way Out Is In
The podcast series Outrage and Optimism has already been placed on the shelf in May last year but perhaps it needs the dust blowing off and re-engaging with it. That’s certainly what I have done. Well, to tell the truth, I have not visited it very often until now but I will come to that in minute. As Jane Wood pointed out, the presenters' credentials are impeccable and the production quality is very good.
A recent podcast ties in with World Refugee Day and really made me think about how climate change is not just about a warming planet, odd weather, and resilient old farts who want to keep oil and coal as a mainstay to the economy. It is about the effects that it has on people whose lives and livelihoods are changed beyond recognition, forcing them to give up their land, their work, even their culture, and move in order to save their family. Listen to how many people have moved within China and Turkey; consider the effects of unprecedented floods, fires, and droughts. Like most, if not all, roots of migration, the need to look after your own is imperative. The safety of your family and yourself is imperative. If you can no longer grow food on the land what do you do?
I could go on but I think you get the idea. And, as well as listening to Outrage and Optimism, you could consider voting for them in the British Podcasts Awards - follow the link in their podcast page.
Now, I came back to Outrage and Optimism through another podcast, The Way Out Is In, subtitled Zen and the Art of Living. This is a long running series from Plum Village, France, a Zen Buddhist community set up by the late Vietnamese monk and peace-monger Thich Nhat Hanh. Mining the earlier episodes, I came across number 21 called Being the Change We Want to See in the World, a conversation with Christiana Figueres, ex-Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change, co-founder of Global Optimism, and one of the presenters of Outrage and Optimism.
While focussed mainly on various aspects of Buddhism, there are obviously many editions of The Way Out Is In that necessarily touch on various aspects of the world in general. The episode on 16th May 2024, Happy Farmers Change The World, talks to two of the people behind the Happy Farm agroecology project at Plum Village, and they discuss a broad range of topics including deep ecology, seasonal planting, producing food AND caring for the earth, and “reclaiming the nobility of the farmer”. And, of course, you should expect to also hear about mindfulness whilst working the land.
Anca Rusu