FEASTA and EHFF

In this podcast, Seán Ó Conláin and Caroline Whyte spoke with Harjeet Singh. Harjeet is the Global Engagement Director at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative (FFNPT). He is currently also a member of the United Nations' Technical Expert Group on Comprehensive Risk Management. Topics covered in our interview included the history of the FFNPT initiative, its current status, and the next steps that are being planned. We discussed the limitations of the UNFCCC COP climate negotiations process and the need for a complementary global fossil fuel phase-out framework, and to ensure that those who are most responsible for the climate crisis are obliged to respect this framework. We identified strong alignment between the Treaty initiative and the “Cap and Share” fossil-fuel-phase-out campaign that Feasta is working on with a group of partners, and we discussed possible next steps for the Treaty initiative.

Caroline Whyte interviews four of Feasta's delegates to the COP28 climate summit which took place in Dubai, in November 2023: Hania Imran (Pakistan), Angel Smith (USA), Theresa O'Donohoe (Ireland) and Barbara McCarthy (Ireland). Topics discussed include: - the influence of civil society on COP negotiations - the potential for ‘side-treaties' that develop alongside the UNFCCC process - the shadow cast at the COP28 by war and militarisation - the under-representation of delegates from war zones and Small Island States - the dangerous power of corporate lobbyists - the Loss and Damage Fund: pluses and minuses - the manipulation of the negotiation process by some to suppress certain voices - the complexity of organising protests during COPs - the important work being done by Climate Action Network International - and whether it's better to attend or to boycott COPs

Thobile Chittenden, network co-lead of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), speaks with Seán Ó Conláin about her early childhood at the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa and how that experience has influenced her, leading eventually to her decision to join the WEAll global amplification team. Topics covered in their conversation include the importance of people and communities being seen and recognised in order to heal from past traumas and abuses, the frustration generated by attempts to achieve progress within a corporate world which has not changed its core values, and the need to bring about global economic system change in order to support grassroots activism. Thobile and Seán also discussed the recent ‘Art of the Wellbeing Economy' event that was held in Dublin in December 2025, as part of the WEAll Ireland Hub's cultural creatives project.

David Somekh and Caroline Whyte interviewed Professor Jane Gray of Maynooth University Department of Sociology on her research on resilience in times of crisis. We discussed two projects that she recently led which explored the ways in which families coped with the wake of the Great Financial Crisis and, in the case of Ireland, how the Family Income Supplement affected them. Topics discussed included differing understandings of poverty and hardship, the need to avoid placing all of the burden of overcoming poverty and other difficult challenges on individuals or individual households, the circumstances which make it particularly hard for families to 'bounce back' from adversity, the role of commons in helping people to meet their needs during times of crisis, and the importance of support that is broadly based, rather than narrowly targeted.

Seán Ó Conláin and Caroline Whyte spoke with Molly Scott Cato. Molly was formerly a Professor of Green Economics and speaks for the Green Party of England and Wales on Economy and Finance. She recently published a book on Sustainable Finance (Springer, 2022). Between 2014 and 2020 Molly represented South West England and Gibraltar in the European Parliament. She was a member of the Parliament's Economics and Monetary Policy committee and the Parliament's rapporteur on sustainable finance. Molly studied PPE at Oxford University and took a PhD in Economics from the University of Wales. She is an expert on resilient local economies, cooperatives and social enterprise, sustainable finance, monetary policy and tax policy. Topics covered in our discussion included Molly's experience as an MEP and her reflections on the European Parliament's activities, the dynamics within the UK which led to Brexit, the challenges involved in achieving environmental and social progress within flawed political systems, and the importance of the arts and culture in bringing about change.

In this month's podcast, David Somekh of the EHFF and Caroline Whyte spoke with Bogi Eliasen, the Director of Health at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS). Bogi initiated the Nordic Health 2030 process and has a key role in both the global Future Proofing Health Index and Movement Health 2030, that aspires to improve health by applying a new health paradigm. His current focus is facilitating the shift and building bridges between the fields of personal and public health. He calls himself a knowledge broker, whose expertise lies in combining various fields of knowledge. Conversation topics included whether the goal of healthcare should be to have a good healthcare service or good health, how to support the 90% in living more healthily and sustainably, the best measurements of health to use in Wellbeing Frameworks, and the fact that countries are a social construction and we need global action.

Caroline Whyte spoke with Katy Wiese, the Policy Manager for Economic Transition and Gender Equality at the European Environmental Bureau, and Jan Mayrhofer, the Policy and Advocacy Manager for Sustainability at the European Youth Forum. Katy and Jan discussed the recommendations in their co-authored report 'Escaping the Jobs and Growth Treadmill,' their impressions of the European Parliament's recent Beyond Growth conference - including Katy's experience on a panel discussing shorter working hours - and some potential next steps at the EU level to help achieve a post-growth, wellbeing-oriented European economy.

David Somekh and Caroline Whyte interview futurist Bill Sharpe, author of the book 'Three Horizons: the Patterning of Hope'. Bill explains how he came to be working in this area, the potential offered by the Three Horizons method, and describes some recent projects in healthcare and regenerative agriculture.

Seán Ó Conláin and Caroline Whyte exchange some initial thoughts on the European Parliament's recent conference, ‘Beyond Growth: Pathways Towards Sustainable Prosperity in the EU,” which they both attended from May 15-17. They considered it a seminal event and felt it was far too rich an experience to sum up in a half-hour podcast, and so they plan to discuss it further in future podcasts. In this podcast they shared their overall impressions, placing the conference in the context of highly unbalanced world trade system that strongly favours the Global North, and of a potential and very worrying swing to the right in next year's European elections. They also exchanged views on talks from the conference on economic models, the fiscal framework and the financial system, which were given in Plenaries 5 and 6 by Gael Giraud, Phillipa Sigl-Glöckner and Ann Pettifor.

David Somekh of the EHFF and Caroline interviewed Laura Rayner, who is a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels. Laura is currently working on the Wellbeing Economy Policy Lab, which is a crosscutting work programme to analyse how the EU can develop and implement policies leading to a more equitable, socially inclusive and regenerative economy. The Lab's objectives are to help build a political consensus for a wellbeing economy, and to formulate wellbeing-oriented policy recommendations through multi-disciplinary dialogues and analyses.

Caroline Whyte spoke with Sarah McKinley, who is the director of community wealth building programs for The Democracy Collaborative, working out of her home office in Brussels, Belgium. Sarah's background is in community development and has worked with community development organizations at different levels, including with the Greater Southwest Development Corporation, a Chicago-based community development corporation, and the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations in Washington DC.  Sarah explains what Community Wealth Building is, its relationship to social enterprise, how she came to be working in that field, and how Community Wealth Building can help us to visualise and plan towards a more regenerative economic system.

Many people would agree that we need to change the way in which we measure progress and move past the current narrow focus on GDP. Ireland, along with many other countries, has been developing a wellbeing framework that contains a dashboard of indicators which are intended to give a snapshot of how Ireland is doing in many different areas, including health, education, employment and the environment. But can these wellbeing frameworks really help to bring about a transformation of the economy? Seán Ó Conláin and Caroline Whyte speak with Margreet Frieling, the knowledge co-lead at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), about her experience in New Zealand wellbeing framework and in WEAll, working with policymakers worldwide on wellbeing frameworks.

David Somekh of the EHFF and Caroline Whyte spoke with Jim Garrison. Jim is the founder of Ubiquity University, whose founding purpose is to develop learning experiences grounded in the world's wisdom traditions blended with practical interpersonal and entrepreneurial skills.  Jim has a doctorate in philosophical theology from Cambridge University and has been active throughout his life in the anti-war, anti-nuclear, citizen diplomacy and environmental movements. He worked closely with Mikhail Gorbachev in the State of the World Forum. Since the pandemic began, he has been co-hosting a series of webinars called "Humanity Rising". Topics covered in the discussion include climate disruption, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Cuban missile crisis and the power of the youth movement.

Seán Ó Conláin and Caroline Whyte interviewed Anne Barrington, who is the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance in Ireland, and Uuriintuya Batsaikhan, an economist based in Brussels who oversees the research projects at Positive Money Europe. Topics covered in our discussion included the challenges faced by those trying to provide affordable housing in Ireland, the impact on the housing supply of the ECB's monetary policy and other EU policies such as the Growth and Stability Pact, the effects of the current energy crisis, the need to mitigate climate disruption, and the role played by ideology in current Irish housing policy. We also explored some ways forward, including the Unlock campaign for providing mass retrofitting of housing in Europe that is being spearheaded by Positive Money Europe, and potential changes to the treatment of housing under Irish law.

David Somekh and Caroline Whyte spoke with Lars Münter. Lars works on international relations for the Danish committee for health education, and he also manages the communication for Nordic Health 2030 and is a member of the EHFF's Advisory Group and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance's Danish hub. Topics covered included the impact and implications for community health from the COVID pandemic, the need to shift emphasis in the healthcare system away from ‘illness care' and towards empowering patients and helping to build community capacity, synergies between the changes needed in the healthcare system and those needed in the broader economy, the energy system, and the education system, and possible ways forward.

Cristina Ciampaglione, originally from Italy, is an artist and arts manager who has worked on a range of arts projects in Ireland and is a Project Manager with The Walls Project, which uses street art as a tool of engagement between communities and artists. She recently coordinated - and spoke at - an event on Art and Climate Change at the Italian Institute of Culture in Dublin. In this podcast, she speaks with Seán and Caroline about how she came to be working as an arts manager, and about the enormous role which she believes the arts can play in improving life by empowering people and helping to create a vision for the future.

In this month's podcast, David Somekh, the network director of the European Health Futures Forum (EHFF) who often co-hosts our podcasts, spoke with Caroline Whyte. Topics discussed include the challenge of breaking down silos and employing systems thinking and scenario thinking, the importance of health literacy, the need to move away from 19th-century models of healthcare, and the challenge of persuading people to change their mindsets. David explains how the EHFF came to be created and why it focusses on the overall ‘health ecosystem', and its interconnectedness with the ‘wellbeing economy' model which seeks to identify the overall outcomes we want in society rather than trying to constantly expand GDP. David also talks about the roots of the Wellbeing Economy Hub for Ireland, which both Feasta and the EHFF are involved in.

Seán Ó Conláin speaks with ecologist Julien Carlier about his research, including his doctoral thesis on mapping the ecological benefits of greenways, his current work on mapping High Nature Value farmland and forestry, and his impressions of the new CAP programmes which aim to pay farmers for restoring biodiversity on farmland.

Caroline Whyte and David Somekh of the European Health Futures Forum speak with Davie Philip about Communities of Practice. Davie is a community catalyst, climate coach and facilitator at Cultivate, the Sustainable Ireland Cooperative. Since 1997 Davie has been active in Ireland promoting sustainability, community resilience and cooperative approaches to meeting our needs. He was a founding member of Feasta and also of Sustainable Projects Ireland Ltd. the company behind the ecovillage project in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary where he is now based. From 2016 to 2021 Davie sat on the Council of ECOLISE, the European network for community-led initiatives on climate change and sustainability, and from April 2019 to 2021 he was a co-president. He, Caroline and David are all core members of the Wellbeing Economy Hub for the island of Ireland. Davie explains what Communities of Practice are and why they're useful, and he and David exchange insights on their experience with them.

Our guest this month is Professor Theda Skocpol, who is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University, and the founder and director of the Scholars Strategy Network. Professor Skocpol has extensively researched the social and political dynamics that can bring about major changes in social policy in the US. Her most recent book, co-authored with Caroline Tervo, is ”Upending American Politics: Polarizing Parties, Ideological Elites, and Citizen Activists from the Tea Party to the Anti-Trump Resistance”.   We discuss her 2013 report “ ‘Naming the Problem: What It Will Take to Counter Extremism and Engage Americans in the Fight against Global Warming”, which came out in the aftermath of a failed attempt at climate legislation in the US that took place in 2010. The report also supports Cap and Dividend, or Cap and Share, a climate policy that's advocated by members of Feasta's climate group. Mike Sandler, who is a member of Feasta's climate group and the current Chair of the Feasta Board of Trustees, and who also manages the Commons-Share and Dividends for America websites, joined Caroline Whyte for the interview.

Seán Ó Conláin and Caroline Whyte spoke with Chris Smaje. Chris is based in Somerset in the UK and worked as an academic sociologist and anthropologist for some time, but then changed focus to the practice and politics of agroecology. He now coworks a smallholder farm. He has written several books, including, most recently,' A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity, and a Shared Earth'. He writes the blog Small Farm Future and has also written for various publications, such as The Land, Dark Mountain, Permaculture magazine and Statistics Views, as well as academic journals such as Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems and the Journal of Consumer Culture.

To kick off our 2022 series, Caroline Whyte of Feasta and David Somekh of the EHFF spoke with Isabel Carlisle, the director of the Bioregional Learning Centre in Devon in the UK. Isabel spoke about her earlier career as an archaeologist and in the art world, and how she became involved in the climate movement and bioregionalism. She described a collaborative community project which the Centre is working on to figure out effective ways to keep the river Dart clean and to save water, and how the Centre is also helping to put the ideas of the Economic Doughnut to work at a regional level. We talked about coordinating local action in different places through global networks such as the Regenerative Community Network and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, and about ways in which bioregional thinking could be useful to the new Wellbeing Economy Hub for the island of Ireland.

Caroline Whyte and Seán Ó Conláin speak with Gerry McGovern, who is a specialist in identifying and reducing digital waste and the author of the book 'World Wide Waste: how digital is killing our planet and what we can do with it'. Gerry has written eight books about digital design and has appeared on numerous media including the BBC and CNN. The Irish Times has described Gerry as one of five visionaries who have had a major impact on the development of the Web. Among topics discussed are the astounding difference in data use between a landline audio call and an online video call and the connection between digital waste, the concentration of power and poor working conditions.

Bill O'Dea, a specialist in mycology, talks with Seán Ó Conlaín and Caroline Whyte about the immense contribution that fungi make to the biosphere, their nutritional value, the threats they are facing, the complex symbiotic relationship which they have with each other and with other species, and how this relationship could help to provide inspiration for the societal and economic changes that are needed to achieve a sustainable economy.

This podcast includes two interviews/discussions, one with Jakob Hafele of the Zoe Institute for Future-Fit Economies and the other with Lars Münter of the Nordic Health 2030 Coalition. Both of their organisations are members of the global Wellbeing Economy Alliance, but have come to it from different angles. Jakob talks about his work on the EU level to help enable the economy to function independently of economic growth, and his reading of the current situation in the EU and worldwide, while Lars argues that health and environmental advocates need to make more precise use of the language of money along with other measurements, such as environmental and satisfaction indicators, in order to better communicate the potential of their work. Both discussions take place with Caroline Whyte.

In this podcast we look at potential ways to get beyond the time-consuming, and sometimes quite heated, arguments between those who believe that aggregate ‘green growth' is possible and those who believe that environmental constraints will oblige us to adopt a different economic goal. Beth Stratford, an economics researcher who is a fellow at the New Economics Foundation and the co-author of the report ‘The UK's Path to a Doughnut-Shaped Recovery', outlines an agenda that she believes both degrowth advocates and green growth advocates should be able to sign up to. She describes four strategies for reducing growth dependency in the economy while simultaneously improving societal wellbeing. Political feasibility and the challenges of movement-building are also discussed. Seán Ó Conlaín, David Somekh and Caroline Whyte participated in the interview.

This podcast continues with the theme of transformation catalysts which we also explored in last month's eán Ó Conlaín interviews Steve Waddell, who is the lead steward of the global Bounce Beyond movement which accelerates initiatives working to make regenerative, life-centered economies realizable at scale as “next economies” communities. Steve has a Ph.D. in sociology and a Masters in Business Administration from Boston College and is the author of numerous books on economic and social transformation.

Seán Ó Conláin interviews Dr Sandra Waddock on her decades-long research into the role that certain organisations can play in bringing about societal change on a profound level.

Sean O'Conlain and Caroline Whyte speak with Mary McManus, who has worked in the Welfare Rights Advice sector in Belfast for over 20 years, and from Seán Mc Cabe, the Executive Manager of the Climate Justice Centre of TASC, the Irish-based Thinktank for Action on Social Change, about the potential offered by Community Wealth Building.

Crises and collectivity by FEASTA and EHFF

The latest instalment of our podcast series ‘Bridging the Gaps’ begins with an interview by David Somekh of the European Health Futures Forum of Tsvetelina Filipova, who is involved in All Policies for a Healthy Europe, an intersectoral initiative that brings together a diverse group of NGOs, think-thanks, associations, companies, and individuals. Tsvetelina is chairing the initiative's environment group and she describes a report which the group has just published. David and Caroline Whyte then go on to interview Eloi Laurent, who is an economist based in Paris and a ‘convert’ to ecological economics. Eloi talks about the strong links between justice, a healthy environment and human health, and how the fight to reduce inequality is the best basis for environmental activism.

Seán O’Conlaín and Caroline Whyte speak with Mark Garavan, a lecturer in social care at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology. Mark has a doctorate in the sociology of environmental activism and is the author of the book Compassionate Activism, and he is also a Feasta Director. Topics covered include the environmental and economic pressures behind the COVID-19 pandemic, the social effects of the lockdowns, the sources of the anger that many people are feeling now, the reasons behind the rise of the far right, the role played by social media and other new technology, and things that could be emphasised in a vision of a more positive future so as to aid our transition from the existing economic system.

Seán O·Conlaín and Caroline Whyte speak with Mark Garavan, a lecturer in social care at the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology. Mark has a doctorate in the sociology of environmental activism and is the author of the book Compassionate Activism, and he is also a Feasta Director.  Topics covered include the environmental and economic pressures behind the COVID-19 pandemic, the social effects of the lockdowns, the sources of the anger that many people are feeling now, the reasons behind the rise of the far right, the role played by social media and other new technology, and things that could be emphasised in a vision of a more positive future so as to aid our transition from the existing economic system.

We interview Argentianian economist and Wellbeing Economy Alliance member Mariana Mirabile, who has a PhD in development economics and is a partner of Systems Innovation, on the reasons behind her shift in orientation away from a neoclassical approach to economics and towards ecological economics, and the potential for using narratives to achieve system-level economic change in order to help address the many challenges we're facing.

We hear from Oonagh Duggan, who is the head of advocacy for the conservation of birds and their habitats at Birdwatch Ireland and is on the Steering Committee of the Environmental Pillar, and also from Easkey Britton, who is a prominent and highly skilled surfer, as well as an academic with a PhD in Environment and Society.

In this podcast we explored the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, and of the general economic context in which lockdown is occurring, on young people. We heard from Jonathan Laszlo, a health care researcher living in Belgium; Tommy Hickey, a law graduate living in the Dublin area; and Amber Wilmott, an A-level student in southern England. David Somekh joined Caroline Whyte as co-interviewer. Topics discussed include the biggest challenges that young people in industrialised countries are facing, the things that governments could be doing better, and the most unexpected aspects of the lockdown.

This podcast features Feasta's summer intern, Nadia Hansen, interviewing Dundalk-based social worker Dr Washington Marovatsanga on cultural competence, enforced absence, the relationship between power and knowledge production, the problematic history and orientation of social work, and how a Global South philosophy of collectivism could help us to overcome the environmental and social challenges we're all facing.

David Somekh of the European Health Futures Forum interviews Stewart Wallis, Chair of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, about the need to change track economically so as to optimise societal well-being, and how such a change might be brought about.

Governments around the world are currently rethinking their approach to the economy and reflecting on their overall goals, and this is triggering many questions about how best to structure organisations, large and small, so as to improve our chances of achieving those goals. This podcast includes interviews with people at an international gathering organised by the NGO Metaphorum. They are working on applying the cybernetician Stafford Beer’s Viable Systems Model in different domains in order to help restructure organisations in a way that can maximise the autonomy of the people involved, ensure that vital needs are being met and enable easy communication. Projects range from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to a community-based health project in the a UK town. Interviewees include Jon Walker, the co-author (with Angela Espinosa) of the book “A Complexity Approach to Sustainability”; Ian Kendrick, a strategic innovator; and Mike Bewick, a former senior advisor in the UK’s National Health Service.

We interview Manuel Grebenjak of the Stay Grounded network, and Professor James Faulconbridge, head of the Organisation Work and Technology Department at Lancaster University, about the future of tourism and business travel in the wake of Coronavirus - bearing in mind the need to urgently reduce travel's environmental impact - and the effects of the Coronavirus on the cultural norms associated with business travel.

We interview Dr Evelyn Forget who describes the social and health effects of a basic income trial carried out in Canada in the 1970s. Then, Paul Harnett and Laura Bannister make a case for a World Basic Income that would go to everyone on the planet, as a way to help counter the COVID-19 outbreak.

In this second podcast of our series Bridging the Gaps we hear a short talk by Anne Ryan on the concept of ‘enough’, from Feasta’s December 7 event ‘Living well in the face of climate and ecological crises’ (which was featured in our first podcast of this series). Then guest host David Somekh of the EHFF interviews two ethicists, Richard Turnbull of the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics and Henk Den Uijl, policy advisor at NVTZ (Dutch society for board trustees in health and social care), with all three giving their reactions to Anne’s talk.

This podcast features recordings from a seminar organised by Feasta in Dublin on December 7 2019. Through a combination of interview-style conversation, presentation and small-group discussion, this event explored the mental and emotional toll of our increasing awareness of climate change and environmental destruction with a view to building up resilience, both personal and community. Speakers and interviewees included psychologist and Feasta trustee John Sharry, Feasta administrator Morag Friel, Extinction Rebellion activist Leontien Friel Darrell, sociology lecturer and Feasta trustee Mark Garavan, social activist and Environmental Pillar representative Theresa O'Donohue, and climate campaigner and journalist John Gibbons.

Revitalising Irish farming by FEASTA and EHFF

For our fifth podcast we welcome guest host David Somekh of the European Health Futures Forum. David hosts a round table discussion with three guests: Zuzanna Cichon, a master student in Global Health at Maastricht University who is currently in Barcelona working on her thesis about the predictive capacity of climate variables for dengue epidemics in Venezuela, and who provides an overview of the state of global health; Matthijs Zwier, who is involved with the Health Pact project in Utrecht which facilitates a collaborative movement to help citizens have direct input into the development of a healthy and happy urban life for everyone; and Mike Bewick, a doctor and former national deputy medical director for the NHS in the UK, who describes some of the major changes that are happening in health care.

A discussion with economist Mary Mellor and currency innovation strategist Graham Barnes about the potential for changing to a growth-neutral and fairer financial system.

We hear the poet Paddy Bushe reading his Migrant Poet's Ecological Manifesto. Then we're joined by Claire Holohan in an interview with Órla O'Donovan, who has done extensive research into the commons as an alternative to state- or market-based ownership.

Measuring the immeasurable? by FEASTA and EHFF

Zheng Xiaoqiong reads her poem 'Assembly Line' in her native Sichuan dialect, followed by an English version read by the translator Yu Yan Cheng, and finally a Mandarin Chinese version.

In this podcast, one of a six-part series by Feasta and the European Health Futures Forum with co-hosts Seán Ó Conláin and Caroline Whyte, we hear from two young participants in the climate strikes and from Professor Barry McMullin on the possibilities for decarbonising Ireland.