Nordic By Nature

In this episode ON GOOD COUNTRIES, you will hear from Simon Anholt, an internationally renowned policy advisor who has helped almost 60 nations use the Good Country Equation for education and development (see www.good.country).

In this episode ON NARRATIVES, we hear from four people working to shape more constructive narratives of our relationship to nature in order to increase environmental protection; First, we hear from Tom Crompton, founder of the Common Cause Foundation in the U.K., then, Paul Allen from the Centre of Alternative Technology in Wales, followed by Yuan Pan at Cambridge University and finally Rewilding expert Paul Jepson.

In this episode ON CONNECTED VOICES, you will hear from two guests prominent in the world of internet access and freedom of speech. First you will hear from Walid Al Saqaf, free speech advocate and software developer who focusses on the non-commercial use of Internet and its impact on democracy and freedom of speech. After Walid, you will hear from Bahraini civil rights activist, and blogger Esra’a Al Shafei founder of Majal.org, a network of digital platforms that amplify underrepresented voices in the Middle East and North Africa. The World Economic Forum listed Esra'a as one of 15 Women Changing the World, and she was featured in Forbes magazine's 30Under30 list of social entrepreneurs making an impact in the world.

In this episode, ON ART you hear a few words Ajay Rastogi, at the Foundation for the Contemplation of Nature introducing the voices of two Norwegian artists, Catrine Gangstø and Laila Kolostyák. Catrine and Laila are committed to using ART as a meeting point for engaging the local community in thinking about equity, identity and our inner and outer natural worlds.

This episode, ON KNOWLEDGE, features Ajay Rastogi, founder of the the Foundation for the Contemplation of Nature, Nadia Bergamini from Bioversity International and Reetu Sogani, women’s rights activist for Food and Nutrition Security and Climate Equity and Resilience.

In this episode ON ETHICS, Ajay Rastogi at the Foundation for the Contemplation of Nature in Uttrakhand, India, invites Dr. John Hausdoerffer, from Western Colorado University in Gunnison, USA, to speak about what constitutes Ethics today.

In thIS sixth episode, On Belonging, we meet three people who have thought a lot about what ‘home’ means to them and how that relates defines their relationship to a place. All were present at Standing Rock. Andrew and Kayla Blanchflower of Rogue Dwellings, and Yvette Neshi Lokotz of Star Nations.

The fifth episode of Nordic By Nature, On Happiness, presents two guests who have dedicated their careers to understanding the relationship of values to our behaviour, sense of wellbeing and impact on the wider world; Tim Kasser, who has extensively researched values and authored a book on Hypercapitalism, and Karma Ura, head of Gross National Happiness in Bhutan.

Episode 4: ON TRANSFORMATION features the voice of Swedish social entrepreneur, Tomas Björkman. Tomas is a former investment banker and progressive thought leader, who is exploring how to create new spaces and places for co-creation, personal and societal transformation, and community development through conscious social development.

In this episode ON INNER RESILIENCE, we hear four voices share their personal views on how they maintain inner equilibrium. Firstly, we learn about nature-centered mindfulness practice from Ajay Rastogi, at the Foundation for the Contemplation of Nature in the Himalayan village of Majkhali in Uttarakhand, India. Then you will hear Egyptian conservationist Noor Noor, who describes his own personal path into mindfulness – through his experiences of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Then Judith Schleicher explains how daily meditation has helped her with her conservation work, ever since she attended a 10-day Vipassana retreat in Peru 7 years ago. Lastly, we meet Christoph Eberhard, legal anthropologist and practitioner of the Chinese and Indian traditional arts Tai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong and Yoga. Christoph believes that dialogue is at the heart of meaningful transformation- dialogue with oneself, with others, with nature, and the beyond.

NOTE: This episode was update on 25.8.2019. This episode ON SURVIVAL features the voices of culinary curator Monika Kucia from Warsaw Poland, Daniel Christian Wahl, author of Regenerative Cultures, and Helena Norberg Hodge, author of Ancient Futures and founder of the NGO local futures.

This first episode ON ACTIVISM, presents the inspiring voices of peace activist Satish Kumar, Marijn Van de Geer from Extinction Rebellion, and Siti Kasim, human rights lawyer passionate about Orang Asli, the indigenous people in the Malaysian peninsula.