The Way Forward Regenerative Conversations

#7-Innovation inspired by nature -A conversation with Janine Benyus

In this episode we explore biomimicry, the bridge between biology and design.  We talk with Janine about how using nature-inspired strategies can help mankind solve many of the most pressing problems of our time.  Through her consultancy Biomimicry 3.8,  Janine works with large corporations and organizations to change their relationships with the built environment.  By looking attentively at nature, she helps them design ecological performance standards for their infrastructure which allow them to produce ecosystem services. These ecological gifts and flows are what you discover when studying healthy regenerative ecosystems.
Our guest Janine Benyus is an American biologist, innovation consultant and author of the groundbreaking book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.  She is co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8 a world leading bio-inspired consultancy B Corporation. She is also co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute, a bridge between biology and design, advancing the adoption of nature-inspired strategies to create more sustainable, efficient resilient and regenerative products and systems.  Janine has introduced millions to Biomimicry through her inspiring Ted Talks, keynote speeches and documentaries. 
We would like to thank our sponsors Elders Action Network “Building a movement of elders to address the environmental, governance and social issues of our time“ and Blueprint “Enhancing the well-being of men and communities.”
You can reach us at the email address thewayforwardrc@gmail.com

#6-Business and Regeneration-A conversation with KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz

In this episode we explore the role of business in moving the paradigm from sustainability to regeneration in our response to the crises of our time.    Focused on profit, market share and growth, corporations have rightfully earned much of the distrust that the public feel.  Continuous growth on a finite planet appears ludicrous to many now. Can businesses and corporations reinvent themselves for the challenges of 21st century?  In this far-reaching podcast we explore how the organization Sustainable Life Media/ Sustainable Brands has been at the forefront of leading the way to help corporations become more sustainable and regenerative.  We learn how businesses often have more flexibility, international reach, and resources to lead change initiatives than governments do.
Our guest, KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniaz is Founder and CEO of Sustainable Life Media/Sustainable Brands.  She describes founding the organization because she and few others saw the need for business to adopt systems thinking and address sustainability.  A long-time friend of our hosts Dr. John Izzo and Alain Guathier, she was instrumental in bringing them together which ultimately resulted in this podcast.  Prior to launching Sustainable Life Media in 2004, KoAnn lead a boutique consultancy for 2 years and worked 18 years in business-to-business media.
You can reach us at our email address mailto:thewayforwardrc@gmail.com  You can listen to our podcast on Podbeam or Apple Podcasts.
We would like to thank our sponsors Elders Action Network and Blueprint NGO.  Elders Action Network is building a movement of elders to address the environmental, governance and social issues of our time.

#5-Masculinity & Fatherhood-A conversation with Dr David Kuhl.

In this episode we explore the role of men and boys in a positive way forward. It is often said that men and the traditional masculine patriarchal model play a significant role in the creation and the persistence of the most crucial problems humanity now faces. Men and boys are falling behind across the globe with higher rates of death by suicide and addiction, increased homelessness, and decreased life expectancy. In this far-reaching podcast we explore what is happening with men and boys while having an important conversation about how men can become an even greater force for good in the way forward.
Our guest, Dr. David Kuhl, is a physician, author and co-founder of an NGO based at the University of British Columbia called Blueprint. After decades of practicing medicine including time as a pioneer in end-of-life care, Dr. Kuhl put down his stethoscope to dedicate himself to enhance the integrity and wellbeing of men and boys for the benefit of families and communities. He is the author of “What Dying People Want” and has been a guest on the Oprah show. He is doing leading edge research on the positive impact of Fathers.
You can reach us at our email address mailto:thewayforwardrc@gmail.com  You can listen to our podcast on Podbeam or Apple Podcasts.
We would like to thank our sponsors Elders Action Network and Blueprint NGO.  Elders Action Network is building a movement of elders to address the environmental, governance and social issues of our time. .  Blueprint is catalyzing a global conversation about the state and impact of men in the world.  Together they are mobilizing men to be a force for good. 
 

#4 Materialism The Elephant in the Room-A conversation with Molly Young Brown

While capitalism continues to be the dominant economic system with benefits we describe as innovation, wealth, and prosperity, there is a dark side.   Materialism, consumerism, and the financial pressure for continuing economic growth all come with a steep price to pay which includes enormous environmental and social justice impacts that endanger life on Earth.      
Our guest today, Molly Young Brown, believes that our society is in the midst of a Great Turning from an Industrial Growth Society to a Life Sustaining Society.  Molly’s unique areas of study and experience have prepared her well to help guide us on the Way Forward to regeneration.
Molly earned a master’s degree in humanistic and transpersonal psychology and a Master of Divinity.  She has extensive training and coaching experience in Psychosynthesis. 
 Molly describes her life’s work as based on living systems – which move towards integration, wholeness, learning, complexity, and self-organization.  She describes human beings and all their organizations as living systems.  She holds possibilities for all of us because living systems are always open to evolution, change and adaptation.
She describes herself as being steeped in psychosynthesis and then discovering the work of Joann Macy.  She found this was a logical extension of the work she had been doing and allowed her to bring what she had learned about herself into service to the larger world.
Molly sees us all interconnected. Therefore, in the Work That Reconnects she talks about honoring our pain for the world.  This helps us move beyond denial and paralysis by taking action on behalf of life.
Molly talks about how the Great Unraveling is happening because of our need to possess, control, and extract. These needs underlie the current trend toward fascism and authoritarianism all over the world.
Molly has published several books on Psychosynthesis and co-authored, with Joanna Macy, two editions of the book Coming Back to Life. She trains facilitators of the Work That Reconnects and edits the online journal Deep Times: A Journal of the Work that Reconnects.
Molly describes how the Elders Action Network has taken a lead at addressing the issues of our time with the intent of leaving future generations a more loving and sustainable world by offering a doorway to elders to become empowered to make a difference.

#3 Networks may save us-A conversation with David Ehrlichman

Welcome to The Way Forward: Regenerative Conversations Podcast # 3.   I am Jim Burke the producer.
While top-down hierarchal organizations have historically been good at addressing complicated issues, we are now faced with complex problems that need a new way of organizing that engages collectively many people who can feel ownership of the issues.   For David Ehrlichman (ehrlichman@converge.net) one of the biggest challenges our civilization faces in the way forward, is how we as humans organize and concentrate power
Our hosts Alain Gauthier and Dr John Izzo talk with David about his journey co-founding Converge and Hats Protocol and writing the book “Impact Networks: Create Connection, Spark Collaboration, and Catalyze Systemic Change”.  We learn that in his early work with non-profits David felt that he was just addressing the symptoms of a massively broken system.  He began asking himself how he could work across organizations and even across sectors.  This led to his work integrating network science and systems thinking into cross-sector multi-stakeholder collaborations.   David talks about a quality of leadership that is facilitative and not directive, where it supports people coming together and discovering what they can do collectively.  David sees this as a deliberate process which allows for emergent results. It is planful, but it plans for emergence. He shares with us that his personal mission [in life] for many years has been to catalyze others to make their greatest contribution.  He feels hopeful because he sees a paradigm shift happening with the increasing focus on networks as a different type of organizing structures.
You can email us at "thewayforwardrc@gmail.com"

#2 The New Role for Elders-A conversation with John Sorensen, founder of Elders Action Network

Welcome to The Way Forward: Regenerative Conversations podcast number two:
The United State has long history of voter’s rights activism and a history of repeated efforts at voter suppression.   Our guest today, John Sorensen, now in his 80s, finds himself and the organization that he founded Elders Action Network at the forefront of the getting-out-to vote movement. 
Our hosts Alain Gauthier and Dr John Izzo talk with John, an entrepreneur and former aerospace engineer with a PhD from Stanford, about his journey where he sold his company at the age of 65 and discovered himself spiritually dead.
He shares with us the journey and lessons learned which led him to the founding of Elders Action Network.  An organization which has created a movement of elders to address the social, environmental and governance crises of our time.
 
 Contact us at “thewayforwardrc@gmail.com
 
 

The Way Forward: Regenerative Conversations Introduction

John, Alain and Jim as elders talk about why they came together to create this podcast in service of a regenerative future for all and the planet.  This podcast is sponsored by the Elders Action Network.